Rat year 2020 is time to focus on creating a lovely home. Rat correlates to
the Western sign Cancer, the sign of home, family, and roots.
Sheep is a kind, sweet, and generous soul. Home is very important to Sheep. Sheep,
along with Sheep’s best friend Rabbit, need a safe, cozy home environment to return
to after dealing with the harsh world. Sheep, Rabbit, and Snake are the artists
of the Chinese zodiac.
2015 is a superb year to redecorate your environment. Sheep loves art and beauty
in their environment, and are bothered by things that are dirty or tasteless. So
keep your home tidy and nice all year long. Where to start? Start at the front door.
Clean out your entry to welcome all the good luck that will come into your home
and place of business in 2015. Clean out the front porch, entry hall, lobby, or
whatever the entry is where you live. Make this area clean, well lit, and inviting.
Check the entry’s lighting fixtures, add a fresh coat of paint, and a new rug to
welcome the New Year of the Sheep.
One of many styles of feng shui is to overlay a map of the eight tri-grams, called
ba-gua in Chinese.
Ba-gua focus to create abundance for Wood Sheep year is to emphasize the Helpful
People area. This is located in the near right corner from the entry. Sheep do better
when they have the support of others. Sheep bring peace and harmony to a group,
and group efforts are rewarded. Save independent action and risk for Fire Monkey
2016.
The second area for focus in Sheep year is the Knowledge corner, located in the
near left corner from the entry. Sensitive Sheep needs quiet time to replenish.
Create time for some soul searching, especially if you feel the need for some spiritual
or emotional recuperation after swift Horse year 2015. The Fire Sheep born in 1967
benefits greatly from developing the Knowledge corner.
Make sure that all areas are clean with no clutter! Don’t get stuck in life by living
with too much stuff. Avoid all clutter in Sheep year, or else you could experience
sadness or confusion. Bring in fresh flowers. If you have a green thumb, decorate
with healthy plants.
SHEEP LOVES BEAUTY!
Sheep 2015 is the time to decorate, be fancy, and treat yourself! And eat well.
One green smoothie a day suits delicate Sheep. And organize your wardrobe. Sheep
is very fashionable and pays attention to the details of clothing. Elegance matters
to genteel Sheep.
Attention to feng shui is important at New Year to welcome new opportunities. Clean
your home as if it is spring cleaning but done now. Move any piece of furniture
that has not been moved during this past year to clean behind and below it. Do not
start a new year and a new cycle in a messy or dirty home environment. If you have
clutter anywhere, now is the time to get rid of it. What is clutter? Any item that
you do not use. Clear out all closets, drawers, and storage areas if they have clutter
and are not organized and tidy.
FIRST THING SEEN
When entering your home, what is the first thing seen? Your eye goes somewhere,
so be observant in every room of your home. Make sure that the first thing seen
in each room is inviting, clean, and inspiring when you enter. You do not want to
see a pile of paperwork or any type of mess. Organize each room so that the first
thing seen sets a pleasant tone and makes the room inviting to enter.
The first thing seen should be so attractive that you want to be near it. Not everyone
has great artistic talents, but everyone can aspire to improve the beauty, comfort,
and general appeal of their immediate surroundings. Read a few interior design books
or magazines. Be open to cultivating your own sense art, beauty, and aesthetics.
PAY OFF DEBT
It is very fortunate to start the New Year with no debt. (A mortgage or a school
loan are not in this category.) If you have personal debt on New Year, get out of
debt in 2015 and organize your finances. And watch out for overspending this year!
Sheep “eat paper” meaning that Sheep can really spend, so do not start out Sheep
year with any financial problems.
PAINT ONE ROOM
The energy of any environment can be transformed completely by adding a couple of
coats of paint. If each room of your home has white or ivory walls, all that white
is too much of the element Metal which can lead to arguing and bickering. When the
weather warms up in summer of Sheep year (Sheep’s power season) be sure to paint
at least one room with color.
It can be a small room such as a bathroom, but all-white walls in a home is too
much Metal that leads to imbalance. Good colors for a small room are soft blue for
a bathroom or light green for a bedroom. Be sure the blue or green are restful and
not too bright. Yellow is good in the kitchen, or gold in the dining room. Which
room to paint? Paint the area that looks the most rundown and is in most need of
sprucing up.
ENERGIZE YOUR KITCHEN
Every room of your home or office has a Helpful People corner to focus on in Sheep
year. But the most important room this year is your kitchen because that is the
room of the element Wood, and 2015 is the year of the Wood Sheep. Fix your kitchen,
a minor yang room. Start by standing at the entry of your kitchen. Then observe
what is in your Helpful people corner. Really look at your kitchen to clean it up,
and then make it the kitchen that you really want. Do the work. The next room to
transform is your bedroom, a yin room in this yin Sheep year.
FLOWERS AND PLANTS
In a Wood year, it’s fortunate to add plants, flowers, and healthy bamboo to your
home and workplace. Fresh flowers bring fresh aroma that clears the air for New
Year, especially if your home feels dark, over heated, or musty. Add beautiful flowers
to welcome the New Year and to increase abundance. And plants offer fresh oxygen
to improve health. The energy of a room is brightened by the addition of flowers
and plants. So be sure to add fresh cut flowers or a healthy plant to your home
for New Year.
At work add green house plants with round leaves such as a lily (peace plant), jade,
pothos, Chinese evergreen, or orchids with round leaves. If you do not have a green
thumb, bring in fresh flowers on Monday to the office, or add silk flowers in lively
colors. If you do add a fish tank or fountain, be sure you can commit to the work
involved in maintaining a tank or fountain. But a fountain in this Wood year is
fortunate because Water is the mother of Wood, meaning that water added to wood
(plants) helps growth.
Lucky flowers are orchids, peonies, and lilies. Chrysanthemums have a scent that
not everyone likes, so pay attention to scent. Roses are fine in a home or office,
but remove them if there’s arguing (influence of the rose’s thorns.) Avoid thorny
plants like a cactus, indoors or outdoors. Instead, grow lush plants that have soft
round leaves like a jade plant or philodendron.
Outdoors, it is more fortunate to have plants that stay ever green and do not ever
lose their leaves. Bamboo is especially lucky in feng shui because as it grows,
the new growth is stronger and longer. Bamboo sways gently in the wind, meaning
that it is easily adaptable to change. But be sure your bamboo does not dry out
and become yellowed. If you have bamboo, keep it watered and transfer it to a larger
container when it outgrows the container it was in when you bought it.
Be sure that your plants stay healthy throughout the year. If not, recycle the withered
plant and replace it with a fresh, healthy one. A bouquet of fresh flowers is excellent
to add beauty, fragrance, and luck, but be sure to recycle the flowers when they
lose energy and begin to wilt. No dead or dried flowers, and no potpourri.
Silk flowers are superb in feng shui because they are a wonderful way to add light
and life to your environment. If you bring home a lovely orchid, after the flower
wilts, cut away the dead stalk and insert a good-quality silk orchid into your container.
Then your orchid seems to be always in bloom — instead of a dead stalk tied to a
wooden stake. And you’ll have an orchid that always appears to be in bloom!
You can purchase what is referred to as a “money plant.” This potted plant usually
is decorated with gold or red charms. But this type of plant tends to get leggy
as it grows, with long stringy branches weighed down by the charms. So this money
plant is not your best choice. A lush round jade plant is better choice than the
so-called money plant.
PAINT COLORS
Paint colors correlate to the five Taoist elements of Fire, Earth, Metal, Water,
and Wood:
FIRE/HEART/LIVING ROOM – In Chinese medicine, the element fire is represented by
the heart. The living room is the heart of the home. Your living room is best in
bright and lively Fire colors red, purple, and all shades of red or with bright
accents to stimulate conversation and activity.
EARTH/STOMACH/DINING ROOM – In Chinese medicine, the element earth is the stomach.
The dining room is where we eat and digest food. The dining room is best in earthen
tones of gold, terra cotta, or other soft yin colors. Red paint in a dining area
is too stimulating and people eat too fast.
METAL/LUNGS/BEDROOM – In Chinese medicine, the element metal is the lungs. The bedroom
is where we sleep and breathe deeply while resting. Best bedroom colors are white,
cream, and soft pastels. Avoid bright big prints on bedding and drapery, especially
in a child’s room, because it is too yang and not restful.
WATER/KIDNEYS/BATHROOM – In Chinese medicine, the element water is the kidneys,
and therefore correlates to the bathroom. Paint this room in a soft, quiet, and
calm color for peaceful elimination of waste and for soothing bathing or showering.
Light blue is fine.
WOOD/LIVER/KITCHEN – In Chinese medicine, the element wood is the liver. Wood is
used in a kitchen to feed the cooking fire. The kitchen must be kept very clean
because this is where food is prepared, so white walls are best. But green accents
or a plant are recommended to introduce the Wood element into this Wood room.
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