By Susan Levitt

FOCUS ON YOUR KNOWLEDGE CORNER!

Snakes love knowledge, wisdom, and learning. So this year focus on your Knowledge corner. The Knowledge corner of each room is located in the near LEFT-hand corner from the entry. This corner represents the tri-gram Mountain in the Black Hat Ba Gua (Eight Tri-Grams) style of feng shui. This Knowledge corner is where you focus to increase your inner awareness, understanding, and spiritual development.

By Susan Levitt

It’s holiday season and time to celebrate! “Deck the halls with boughs of holly,” goes the seasonal carol, and from a feng shui perspective that’s a great idea. Adding festive decorations to your home and work can bring luck and improve your feng shui. Bright holiday decorations help elevate your mood, and the festive color red helps temper any holiday blues or seasonal affective disorder in wintertime. Add the color red during the holidays. Red adds fire to our lives. Red spurs us into action, strengthens motivation, and inspires passion for life.

A Christmas tree brings life into your home.

By Susan Levitt

NEW MOON IN GEMINI

Tuesday June 19 is a new Moon in the lively, mercurial Air sign Gemini. Sun, Moon, and Venus are all in Gemini, making this an ideal time for lively social gatherings and creative adventures. Short travels and trips are fortunate during this lunar cycle, especially before Mercury goes retrograde from July 14 – August 7. Good to network, make connections, and share ideas with close friends and family members. Under Gemini’s influence, everyone wants to chat and everyone has lots to say.

It’s easy to be inspired by Gemini’s fast energy, but equally as easy to become overwhelmed during this lunar cycle.

By Susan Levitt

My feng shui friend Janet was born in 1952, the year of the Water Dragon. This year 2012 is also a Water Dragon year, which occurs every 60 yeas. To commemorate the event, Janet purchased a bamboo plant in a Dragon container. She sent me an email from Austin with the below photo, asking if it’s auspicious to place this bamboo in her entrance. I told her it can be fortunate, and best if the Dragon faces the door.

The bamboo plant is healthy, but the container is not very attractive.

By Susan Levitt

STRUCTURE IN DRAGON YEAR 2012

Events occur quickly in this Water DRAGON year. It’s easy to let things pile up. But don’t! Clutter = chaos in feng shui. You don’t want to create clutter, only to find yourself drowning in stuff at the end of this Dragon year. You want to ride high and succeed in a Dragon year, not fall because you were unprepared when opportunity knocked — unprepared due to self-created unnecessary chaos from a cluttered and chaotic environment.

CLEAN OUT CLOSETS

If you haven’t done your spring cleaning yet, there’s still time to do it.

Spring is here and so are fresh vegetables, beautiful flowers, and aromatic herbs. If you’re not already, I’ll be you’ll be spending a lot more time in the kitchen in the coming weeks. Cooking is a great creative outlet for your energy, but it’s important to make sure your kitchen is properly aligned with basic feng shui principles. Here are a few tips for making your space clean, functioning and full of vibrant energy:

1. Food. Food is energy, so make sure you buy organic and local whenever possible, as this kind of food has the most positive vibrations associated with it. Choose bright colored produce and stay away from too many packaged foods.
    
2. Clutter. Keep things as uncluttered as possible.

 We all know the drill. Spring is the time for cleansing, renewal, and getting rid of the clutter in our lives. As you start tackling those closets full of junk, consider using some feng shui tips to help you get organized and bring more energy into your home. Try these tips:

• Bedroom. Get rid of anything in your bedroom that you haven’t used in the last few months. An especially important area in feng shui is under the bed. Make sure there’s no clutter underneath there, as it can block the flow of energy. Toss out old clothes and donate them to Goodwill.
   
• Health.

By Susan Levitt

While reading the memoir by British aritocrat Ivana Lowell “Why Not Say What Happened” I noticed many circumstances of bad feng shui in her life. Even though she was very wealthy and lived in stately manors, here is a description of an early childhood home in Mayfair, England:

“My mother’s idea of decorating was to place as many rickety antiques as could fit into a room onto a comparable number of worn antique rugs. The place was always untidy and unruly. If a television set in our living room broke, the replacement would simply be put on top.

By Susan Levitt

Friday the 13th is a very fortunate day that brings opportunities for inspiration, action, and change. Like April 1, April 13 is a powerful triple Dragon day when luck is increased threefold: a Dragon day, in Dragon month, during Dragon year 2012.

Luck is even stronger than on April 1 because Mercury is no longer retrograde since April 4 for clear communications. And the fiery red planet Mars is no longer retrograde as of April 13 for successful action.

Ride the wave of energy during this Dragon year peak because there won’t be another Dragon day like this for twelve years.

By Susan Levitt

Friday April 6 is a full Moon in the relationship sign Libra. Focus is on partnership, family, and friends. Love planet Venus is in the fun and flirty Air sign Gemini since April 3 so spread the love and lighten up. This full Moon of Dragon month in Dragon year is a good time for grand romantic gestures or artistic extravagance — all in the spirit of the magnanimous Dragon.

In all relationships, communications can improve because Mercury is no longer retrograde as of April 4. But Mercury is still in the Water sign Pisces so care and kindness go far.

By Susan Levitt

In this Water Dragon year 2012, a financial feng shui tip is the importance of no clutter in your home or workplace. If how to handle money is not clear to you, then you definitely must have no clutter hidden, stashed, or hoarded. Money is symbolized by water in feng shui. Money can flow like water in this Water Dragon year – if your home is clean and clutter free.

Perhaps you’ve heard about the wealth corner. In one system of feng shui, the wealth corner is the far left-hand corner from the entry of a room.

By Susan Levitt

RIDE THE DRAGON!

Water Dragon year started with a bang on February 23, 2012. Now is the time to follow your dream, make a big move, shoot for the stars — or at least keep up! Forward movement is key in this Dragon year. But do you get stuck thinking about the past? If past memories affect your ability to be present in the here and now, then it’s time for some Feng Shui tips to clear your energy so you can ride Dragon’s wave of transformation.

By Susan Levitt

2012 is the year of the WATER Dragon. Water is the most yin/feminine element, but yin is not considered weak in Taoist astrology and feng shui. Instead, Water is the most powerful element for it can move around any obstacle in its path without losing its essential nature. Water can, in time, dissolve the hardest mountains.

Dragon year is very powerful and intense. The volume is turned up, events can occur quickly, and it;s easy to be overwhelmed. In a Water Dragon year, it is helpful to have a Water room in your home for rest, healing, and retreat.

In feng shui, a Water environment is cool and dark, like a bedroom or bathroom.

By Susan Levitt

Happy New Year! Out with the old to make way for new growth!

New Year is a time for a new life cycle. Out with the old and in with the new! But so many of us hang onto old, worn out, and never used things. And this unused old stuff creates clutter. Creating clutter and little messes in your home can create messes in love, in money, in finances, and every other area of your life.

Clutter is the biggest problem that I see when I do feng shui consultations. One of the biggest misconceptions of feng shui is that it’s mostly about rearranging furniture.

By Mara Tyler

It’s that time of year again. But before you go buying tons of holiday decorations and cramming presents in your closets, it’s probably a good idea to Feng-Shui your home for the holidays. The added energy of clutter, Christmas trees, presents (and not to mention family members!) can change the vibrations of your home. It’s great to deck the halls and get into the spirit of the holidays, but do it right. A little preparation and a nod toward basic Feng Shui practices will keep your nest harmonious and cozy all winter long. Here are some ideas for things to incorporate into the nine areas that make up the ba-gua map of your home. 

• Fame/Reputation: For this area, add some bright, burning candles.

By Mara Tyler

As the year of the Metal Rabbit comes to a close, it’s time to start thinking about Water – the ruling element of Dragon year, 2012. While Metal years encourage us to be steely, stern, and single-minded when it comes to our relationships and goals, this isn’t so with Water. 

We’re all going to need to take a step back come 2012. It’s time for a different approach – one that’s softer, more fluid, and flexible.

By Susan Levitt

NEW MOON ECLIPSE in SAGITTARIUS
Thursday November 24 is a new Moon eclipse in the inspirational and truth-seeking Fire sign Sagittarius. Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, and the Node of the Moon (sense of fate) are all in Sagittarius, making this an encouraging time for new beginnings, creative innovations, and getting right to the heart of the matter. This new Moon is an eclipse, an absence of light when the shadow is seen. So use this Sagittarius fact-finding energy to dig a bit deeper to uncover the truth. The Moon trines Uranus today, an influence for something different that breaks routine, opportunities to be social, and perhaps a few unexpected surprises on this day of Thanksgiving. 

MERCURY RETROGRADE
On November 23, communication planet Mercury begins a three-week retrograde cycle until December 13.

By Susan Levitt

Saturday July 30 is a new Moon in the dynamic, creative, expressive, passionate, and daring Fire sign Leo the Lion. This new Moon also begins the month of the Fire Monkey. That’s a lot of Fire! And the Sun, Moon, and Venus are all in Leo, making for fun romantic adventures and appreciation of all things beautiful and extravagant.