10,000 Blessings Feng Shui Blog

Dragon Feng Shui at the Lan Su Chinese Garden

 

HARNASSING THE POWER OF THE DRAGON

The Chinese Dragon is look upon as the ultimate symbol of Good Fortune.  Over three weeks at the magnificent Lan Su Chinese Gardens in Portland, Oregon, you’ll learn about dragon cures and ceremonies and how they’re relevant to us in the 21^st century. 

Each talk is at 1:00pm and the talk is free with admission to the gardens.

I’d be honored and happy for your presence--please join me and do RSVP, thank you!

• June 8: “Feng Shui and the Dragon of Good Fortune”
• June 15: “Feng Shui and the Dragon of Safe Protection”
• June 22:  “Feng Shui and the Dragon of Business Success”

Asian Design Inspirations: Hotels

 

Here are some of my favorite pics from hotels all over Asia which I use for design inspirations for myself and clients--enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pics above from the following hotel groups: Pan Pacific, Shangri-la, Banyan Tree and China World Hotel.

 

Money Magnet 3 Coins on Red Ribbon

 
“3 Feng Shui Coins Tied by Red Ribbon” symbolizes accruing wealth by saying “Money is already here” and generates a prosperous mindset which enhances our business and wealth luck. They’re also ideal for client thank you gifts, employee recognitions, birthdays and house-warmings.  Use liberally!

Attract PROSPERITY in your HOME by placing these …

• Loose in your purse
• In your wallet or billfold next to your cash
• On investment files
• On retirement files
• Behind your deposit slips in your checkbook
• In the four corners of your home
• On your computer and laptops
• Beneath your land-line and cell phones
• Beneath your front door mat
• On the inside doorknob of your home (hang by red thread or ribbon rather than tape)
• Activate your vision boards
• Activate your journals of affirmations, goals, wishes and gratitude lists

 Attract PROSPERITY at your OFFICE or BUSINESS by placing them…

• In the cash registers, boxes or bags
• In the safe
• On your invoice and accounting books
• On each and every  important client file
• On all computers
• On all telephones
• On all fax machines
• Behind your deposit slips in your checkbook
• Underneath your desk chair
• In the four corners of your office
• On your computer and laptops
• Beneath your land-line and cell phones
• Beneath your front door mat
• On the inside doorknob of your shop (hang by red thread or ribbon rather than tape)

Order yours with any credit card here:

www.10kblessingsfengshuiboutique.com/red-envelopes-coins-ingots-wealth-vases

 

Feng Shui Boutique Grand Opening Today!

 

Please celebrate with me the GRAND OPENING of the…

10,000 Blessings Online Feng Shui Boutique! Auspicious, Timeless Remedies for Our Modern World

www.10KBlessingsFengShuiBoutique.com

One of the things I’m MOST excited about in opening this online store is to offer you everything I can think of to ensure your successful IMPLEMENTATION and FOLLOW-THROUGH with your cures so you can directly experience results!

 

Every purchase arrives with…

• A mindful and loving BLESSING of temple-grade incense, a beautiful ceremony and then and kept on an altar until purchase
• Done-for-you supplies so you can IMMEDITATELY place your cures (no need to run out to find things like screws, cup hooks or red ribbon—I did the errands so you don’t have to!)
• Your very own guides to “PLACING, EMPOWERING + CARING” for your Cures—it’s as if I’m there at your side, taking you by the hand and showing you EXACTLY what to do!
• HOME + BUSINESS BAGUAS (Feng Shui energy maps) as well as instructions on how to lay them over your space to help in place your cures

TODAY ONLY, each person who places an order before Midnight (EST) on April 27^th will receive these special gifts…

GIFT #1:

A bar of Jade Chocolate ’s most-delicious “Dragon’s Breath” made from 65% bittersweet dark chocolate, roasted sesame seeds, lapsang souchong tea and ground red chili.  Yum!

 

GIFT #2:

An MP3 recording of my brand new high-content audio class “Exactly What You Need to Know to Get Amazing Results from Your Feng Shui Cures” filled with special empowerments.

 

GIFT #3:

Gift wrapping in auspicious fook (which translates as “happiness”, “blessings” or “good fortune”) paper or glittery red and gold ribbons!

 

www.10KBlessingsFengShuiBoutique.com

So hope you can join me in these online festivities--it would be my great delight and honor to mail you a parcel.

Wishing you all Good Fortune, Gwynne

 

Celebrate this Full Moon's Lantern Festival

 
Today marks the end of the Year of the Rabbit Lunar New Year celebrations with the luckiest Full Moon of the year and the Lantern Festival. It's also the Chinese Valentine's Day as well as tTian Guan's birthday, the God of Heaven and Good Fortune.  It's also a lucky day for Rabbits today, so make some wishes and do some Feng Shui. Whew!  Here are some simple and delightful ways to celebrate...

To celebrate the Lantern Festival:

• Do the Sky Lantern Ritual to send your wishes to the God of Heaven and ask for his blessing.  If you’re a business owner, “the higher the lamp flies, the higher your business will soar”.
• Light red candles on your altar
• Eat sweet glutious rice balls symbolizing the Full Moon
• Walk with your family through streets carrying lighted lanterns as a symbol of hop
• Light candles outside your home to light the way for wayward spirits
• By looking at the Lanterns or buying a few Lanterns for the kids or the House, the Chinese will wish to be blessed by the Brightness, in-order to have Smoothness-in-whatever-oneself-does in the New Year.
  

To celebrate the Chinese Valentine’s Day:

• Unmarried women can write their wishes for a husband on 3 mandarin oranges (with an important trait you wish the man to have on each one) and toss them into flowing water closing your eyes and making a wish (and you men wishing for wives, throw apples!). Ask the God of Marriage who lives on the moon to send you this special person
• Light red candles or red lanterns and place them near the front door to welcome marriage chi into your home
• If you are in a couple, walk with lanterns and compose poems for one another

 To celebrate Tian Guan’s, the God of Heaven and Good Fortune, Birthday:

• Pray and meditate
• Don’t drink alcohol
• Have another family reunion dinner

 

If you’re a Rabbit:

• You could surround your statue of your Rabbit with 6 Wish-fulfilling Jewels (in gold to honor the metal rabbit this year) [you can order these from me, if you wish] to attract opportunities—each jewel has one wish.  Display this on your desk or in your living room.

 To take advantage of the Full Moon energy:

• Put out a vessel of clean filtered water and gather the moonlight to use for a special healing bath or house-cleaning
• Write your heartfelt prayerful wishes in red ink on beautiful paper (joss paper would be perfect!) and place inside a red envelope.  Burn the envelope and see your dreams coming true.
• Create a Feng Shui ‘moon mirror’ by leaving it outside to absorb the moonlight and use later for your Feng Shui cures

 

 

 

 

Celebrate the Lantern Festival in the Year of the Rabbit!

 

February 17^th is an incredibly auspicious day—it’s the final celebration of the Lunar New Year ending with the Full Moon, the Lantern Festival, the God of Heaven’s Birthday, Chap Goh Meh or the Chinese Valentine’s Day and a most-lucky day for Rabbits this year!

To celebrate the Lantern Festival:

• Light a Sky Lantern to send your wishes to the God of Heaven and ask for his blessing.  If you’re a business owner, “the higher the lamp flies, the higher your business will soar”.
• Eat sweet glutinous rice balls (symbolizing the full moon)
• Walk with your family through streets carrying lighted lanterns as a symbol of hope and so you’re blessed by Brightness
• Light candles outside your home to light the way for wayward spirits—do not blow these out but let them go out on their own

To celebrate the Chinese Valentine’s Day:

• Unmarried women can write their wishes for a husband on mandarin oranges and toss them into flowing water (and you men wishing for wives, throw apples!). 
• If you are in a couple, walk with lanterns and compose poems for one another

 To take advantage of the Full Moon energy:

• Put out a vessel of clean filtered water and gather the moonlight to use for a special healing bath or house-cleaning
• Write your heartfelt prayerful wishes in red ink on beautiful paper (joss paper would be perfect!) and place inside a red envelope.  Burn the envelope and see your dreams coming true.
• Create a Feng Shui ‘moon mirror’ by leaving it outside to absorb the moonlight and use later for your Feng Shui cures

Lighting Lamps for the Lantern Festival

 

With the Lantern Festival arriving with the Full Moon in February 17th in the Year of the Rabbit, here are some inspirations for you to collect brightness and celebrate the auspicious good fortune!  See the separate post on various ways to celebrate the Lantern Festival.

The above pic from www.sunset.com shows an old-style Chinese lantern filled with fairy lights.

 

Here are lotus lights to float upon the water.

 

Lanterns hung amidst the blossoms of a spring tree.

 
Paper lanterns.  www.lunabazaar.com has a wonderful collection.

 
An image of candles in glass jars from www.alkemie.blogspot.com

 
 

Traditional silk lanterns.

 

Sending up sky lanterns which rise by the heat of the fire!  See a post on my blog all about how to send your wishes to the Heavens with a sky lantern.

Day 2 Lunar Festival: Honoring Kuan Kong

 
 

If you’re a business owner, today's the day to pray to the God of Business (Kuan Kong) by making food and incense offerings and dedicating them to enjoy good business luck and prosperity in the coming year.  Traditionally, you offer things in sets of 5 and he loves banannas.  Note the sets of ingots in 5's, five banannas.  The newspaper holds joss papers specifically for him and will be burnt tonight.  5 sticks of incense was too much for my office and set off the fire alarm (!) so I "imputed" 5 sticks with the 1. 

I purchased this Kuan Kong in San Francisco from my joss papers teacher who blessed it for me at her temple--he's been an incredible benefactor for me!  I hadn't planned on ever having one, but I've really come to respect his fierceness and protection.

Feng Shui Consultant's House on Chinese New Year's Eve

 
 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Greet the Lunar New Year Like an Honored Guest with Feng Shui

 

The Chinese New Year begins on the New Moon and it’s believed that whatever happens this day determines your luck for the year… so welcome the energies of The Year of the Golden Rabbit with open arms, great joy, beauty and festivity as you would a beloved friend and honored guest!

1.  So, NO losing one’s temper, vulgarity, bad manners, swearing, slander, talk of death, harsh words, cooking, knives, dumping garbage, cleaning, sweeping, killing animals or borrowing money today.  If a dish is broken, say “peace throughout year” as quickly as possible.

2.  Say nice things to other people and have a beautiful smile for everyone!

3.  All day long keep: 

• the windows and doors open to allow new luck to fill the house
• the house well-lit!
• keep incense and red altar candles burning day and night to encourage longevity
• eat a minimum of two or more helpings of food at every meal as this symbolizes abundance of food for the New Year.  No eating meat, though, today, in honor of the Gods of Heaven and Earth coming.
• wish people “Gung hay fat choy!” (wishing you good fortune and happiness) at the same time placing your right hand in fist and cover with left hand, bow your hands twice.

4.  Wear your bright, new red clothes, shoes and purse! This is very auspicious as it symbolically leaves last year’s stale energies behind!

5.  Greet everyone with kind words and wishes.  The traditional greeting is “Gong Xi Fa Cai” or “Gong Hay Fat Choy” meaning “congratulations on your good fortune” or “wishing you a prosperous New Year by striking it rich”. 

6.  Make sure your first taste is of something sweet such as candy (!) or a sweet tea so that everything you say this year will be sweet and welcoming to the ears.

7.  Make sure to exchange Lucky Red Packets with your family members for money luck.

8.  Roll 8 cases or 88 or 8 single oranges (or baby kumquats) one by one through your front door (and every exterior door that comes into your home) and across your threshold as well as real coins, cash, gold chocolate coins and ingots into your home and business to symbolize filling them with an abundance of good luck and prosperity.  You can then share your oranges with guests and as gifts to neighbors.

9.  Then, visit temple to venerate the Gods.  Pay respect to the ancestors with luxury foods, incense and red candles.  Welcome the Deities of Heaven and Earth.  Then, visit your grandparents, then your parents then your friends.  Guests should bring gifts of oranges or tangerines with a red envelope, a potted flowering plant, candied fruits or New Years cakes. 

 MAY YOUR YEAR OF THE GOLDEN RABBIT BLESS YOU AND YOUR LOVED ONES WITH GREAT FORTUNE + HAPPINESS!!!

 

 

Make Your Own Feng Shui Money Tree for Chinese New Year!

 

There is an old Chinese legend about a money tree that has branches of coins and gold.  When you shake the money tree, the gold falls like rain from Heaven.

In Malaysia the Chinese put out Money Trees on the second day of the celebrations of the Chinese New Year.

Traditionally, one would use a kumquat (this is what business owners should use), a bushy pine, cypress tree or lucky bamboo plant that’s nestled inside a porcelain pot filled with five grains, including rice.  Red melon seeds and pine nuts are sprinkled over the top of the rice and grains.

If you don’t have a tree, you could also use gold branches and secured with the grains in a large vase.

Now you get to decorate!  Start with sparkling fairy lights or strings of electric red lanterns.  Then add:

 

• Feng Shui Coins hung by red thread or ribbon as if dripping off the tree
• Lucky Red Envelopes with images of gold ingots, Wealth God, and coins and filled with real money [hung by red thread through a hole-punch at top of envelope]
• Red lanterns
• Gold ingots
• Gold and silver coin garlands made of paper
• Symbols of long life (paper cranes and deer)
• Top with Liu Hai, a Taoist God of Wealth or the character for Happiness

Once you have your tree, you can do this very powerful visualization.   Imagine your own Money Tree in your garden and whenever you need cash, all you need to do is shake the tree and money notes will fall off, creating a windfall of prosperity.

 MAY THE YEAR OF THE GOLDEN RABBIT BRING YOU WINDFALLS OF PROSPERITY!

Inspiring Videos for the Chinese New Year

 

1.  Welcoming the God of Fortune into the Home

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gbVjIjtMxw&feature=related

 

2.  A Mini-Parade in San Francisco

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGA4SVlqaNM

 

3.  Various Lunar New Year Customs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=me-LH-fgS54

 

4.  A Special Dragon Dance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKsTts2KKJA&feature=related

 

5.  A Super-fun Kung Fu Welcoming the God of Fortune

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmR_VZMB41U&feature=related

Make Your Own Feng Shui Wishing Tree for the Chinese New Year

 

Make your very own “Wishing Tree”!  Although Taoist and Buddhist in its origins, this is a very popular ritual for everyone to do during the Chinese New Year as well as other festivals. Traditionally, they are placed outside (or, if it needs to be inside, near a window) so that the wind can carry your wishes to the Heaven Realm.

If you don’t have a tree to use, you could always take large branches and spray paint them gold and put these in a large vase stabilized with stones at the bottom.

Your tree could first be decorated with fairy lights or candle lanterns, if you wish.  Then, you have several variations to choose from:

1.  Write your wishes for the coming New Year on red and gold ribbons and then tie them to the branches of your Wishing Tree.  This is very similar to a Tibetan prayer flag, where your wish flutters in the wind.

2.  Write your wishes on red ribbon looped inside of a big golden medallion and then throw it up onto a tree branch trying to get it snag and stay. 

Here’s a short video to watch that:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-fS-9CFkPE&feature=related

3.  Write your name, birth date and wish on bright red and yellow joss papers (or red paper or bright paper inside a red envelope) attached to an orange.   Throw up onto the tree and try to snag it on a branch so your wish ascends to Heaven.  If the wish stays in the tree, it will be granted!  Here’s a sweet video of this…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FDDyjrFN0k

4.  Throw coins at red cards inscribed with gold calligraphied blessings.  If you hit the card with a coin, you get the wish!  The coins are then traditionally given to charity.

5.  You could also make a Tibetan version, where you cover a tree with birds, jeweled pendants, crystal spheres, lotus flowers, silk scarves and fruits.

 MAY ALL YOUR WISHES COME TRUE!

Fabulous Ways to Celebrate Chinese New Year's Eve!

 

CHINESE NEW YEAR’S EVE

February 2, 2011

Here are some fabulous ways to celebrate Chinese New Year’s Eve on February 2, 2011!

1.  Prepare your Lucky Red Envelopes called “Lai See”, “Hong Bao” or “Ang Pow”.  These are lucky money packets filled with crisp new uncirculated bills, shiny gold coins, chocolate coins or Feng Shui coins.  The number 8 is considered lucky (for its homophone for "wealth"), and $8 is commonly found in the red envelopes. They are considered incredibly lucky to give and receive. The more you give out, the more luck comes back to you!  You can send them to your Dharma Teachers, Helpful People, clients, Feng Shui consultants (!)

 2.  Make your “Money Tree” (see the how-to on this blog!)

 3.  Make your “Wishing Tree” (see the how-to on this blog!)

 4.  In the afternoon around 3:00pm it’s time to say good-bye to the current year by paying tribute to the Deities and Ancestors at the family altar.  One offers plates of cooked fish, duck, pork and/or chicken; oranges; sweet glutinous rice cakes; tea and wine; and candy.  Light candles, 3 sticks of incense and burn heaven money.  The family prays together. When the incense has burned half way down, the gods are considered to have had their meal—you get to now eat the rest!

5.  Turn every light on in the house all night to scare away any misfortunate chi of ghosts and sprits.

6.  Open the front door (traditionally, all night long!) to let the old year out.

7. Have a Reunion Dinner with the whole family and share a big feast. An empty chair and place setting represents someone not there.  Family members should be well dressed and the women should wear their jewels to signify a continuity of good fortune.  No one should look tired, worn out or unhappy. There should be an abundance of food on the table and everyone should have a least two helpings for good luck! Serve these symbolic foods such as

• Lettuce Rolls (Cantonese word for lettuce sounds like “rising fortune”); dumplings and spring rolls (their shape is similar to ingots or gold bars); leafy mustard greens for long life; tangerines (sounds like “luck”); oranges (sounds like “wealth”); pomelos (the Chinese word for pomelo sounds like the word for "to have"); black seaweed to increase wealth; egg dishes for rebirth; candy and sweet foods for a year full of sweetness; long, uncut noodles for longevity.
• The word for fish, "Yu," sounds like the words both for wish and abundance. As a result, on New Year's Eve it is customary to serve a fish at the end of the evening meal, symbolizing a wish for abundance in the coming year. For added symbolism, the fish is served whole, with head and tail attached, symbolizing a good beginning and ending for the coming year.
• Sticky Rice Cake symbolizes a rich, sweet life, while the layers symbolize rising abundance for the coming year. Finally, the round shape signifies family reunion.

8.  Now it’s time to keep vigil for the Lunar New Year! The sound of sleepiness in Chinese is similar to “trouble”. Not going to sleep means no trouble for the coming year!

• Some will stay up watching Chinese New Year television specials or playing mah-jong till midnight.
• There is an exchanging of red envelopes with family members.
• Kids stay up all night as believed their parents would live a longer life
• Children will put all Red Envelopes under the pillow when sleeping. They said children can sleep well without bad dream and become richer next year.
• The kids are promised the arrival of the Wealth God, Tsai Shen Yeh, and while they sleep parents slip a red envelope with money under their pillow signifying his visit.
• Many will choose to gather outside the temple after reunion dinner, as everyone wants to be the first person of the year to be blessed by the God in the incense stick race. One the first second of the Hour of the Rat (11:00pm), as soon as the temple's main gate is opened, people will dash into the temple to insert the incense stick into the incense container. The winner gets a big red envelope and will be very lucky in the coming year.

9.  At the stroke of Midnight:

• Set off firecrackers accompanied by gongs, drums and cymbals, to start off New Year with a “bang” and drive away the old chi of last year and any negative spirits.
• If you haven’t already, open all doors and windows to allow the old year to leave and bring in the good luck of the New Year!
• Light red candles and incense
• The young ones should bow and pay respects to their elders.
• Or go to the temple praying to bless the whole family for another prosperous New Year.  The first to place incense sticks in the censer at temple will be especially blessed.

 I sincerely wish you and your loved ones an extraordinary New Year!

 

 

Photos of Chinese New Year Festivities at My Home

 
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

These are all photos from our house from last year--will post new ones from this Year of the Rabbit at the end of the festival.

Hope these inspire you to celebrate the Chinese New Year even just a wee bit!

 

A Feast of Feng Shui Offerings for the Chinese New Year!

 

I'm so very excited--please see my menu of one-of-a-kind and "Done for You" offerings for the Chinese New Year and Year of the Golden Rabbit!

http://www.10KBlessingsFengShui.com/products/ChineseNewYear

The Feng Shui of Lanterns: Yang Chi in the Yin Night

 

 

 

Feng Shui and Fireworks!

 

Traditionally in China real firecrackers are used for the Chinese New Year, weddings, grand openings and for rituals in temples. They are also used for expelling or ‘blasting’ away harmful or negative energy (called “shar” or “sha” chi) and harmful spirits.

 

In Feng Shui, we use symbolic firecrackers as talismans to protect a home or business from burglary or accidents as well as to invite an ‘explosion’ or a ‘sparking’ in an area of your life or business that wants enhancing.

 

For example, in BTB Feng Shui there is a Secret Transcendental ritual called the “Five Buddha Firecrackers” which are a special grouping of 5 or 9 symbolic gold and red foil firecrackers that are very powerful for promoting your career, fame and wealth by placing them in a certain place in the respective trigrams of the Bagua of your environment with an accompanied visualization.

 

You can also use 1, 3 or 9 sets of stringed fake firecrackers at your front door or in the Fame and Recognition areas of your home and business and visualize your career “taking off” or your fame “sky-rocketing”. 

 

If there is some negative energy at your home or business, get some real fireworks during this season and light them outside at your front entrance with the intent of blasting away any inauspicious chi.

And don’t forget to buy some extra to save for the Chinese New Year in February!

 

Since we love light, color and sound in Feng Shui, watch some beautiful live fireworks and imagine your dreams bursting forth in magnificent glory up there in the Heaven Realm!

 

Please contact me (info@10KBlessingsFengShui.com) if you wish to purchase the fake strings of firecrackers or the Five Buddha Firecrackers.

 

Have a wonderful holiday week-end and may all beings everywhere be free!

Feng Shui and the Lucky Number 8

 

So, today is 8/8/08, an auspicious day for it's associations with money as the word for '8' sounds like 'wealth' or 'prosper' in Pinyin Chinese.  Also, when there is '88', it's akin to the calligraphy for 'double joy' or 'double happiness'!

In Asia, extraordinary amounts of money are proffered to have lots of 8's in their telephone numbers or driver's lisences.

So, my friends, this is a great day to do some wealth cures--at the very least, clear the clutter and deep clean in your wealth gua of your home and office, o.k.?!  See my previous post on prosperity actions/cures in the archives under Feng Shui tips if you need some inspiration.

Double Happiness and Much Prosperity For You!