”Positive energy is meant to give people confidence and hope, encourage people to love others and life as well as to pursue good things. Everything we do is ultimately for the sake of spreading positive energy.” Lu Wei
How wonderful to be surrounded by positive energy! Who wouldn’t want to wake up feeling positive and energized every day?  There’s a way; through Feng Shui your environment can surround you with the energy you need to nourish you on a daily basis.
One of the most powerful ways to create positive change is to apply the Bagua Map to your home and enhance each area. The results can be magical!

The Bagua:
One of the most powerful and important tools in Feng Shui is the Bagua (Ba-gua) Map, represented as a grid of nine sectors.  I call this the “Treasure Map” to enhancements.  The Bagua comes from the Chinese Book of Changes, “The I Ching,” and literally means “eight trigrams.” These trigrams form the basic building blocks, or treasures that hold the most significance in our lives: career, knowledge/self cultivation, family/health, wealth/prosperity, fame, love/marriage, children/creativity, and helpful people/travel.  Each of these building blocks is represented in the Bagua map, and is formed around a ninth sector which is the overall center, or grounding element of your life.

Using the Bagua:
This grid, illustrating the nine sectors (treasures) of your life is intended to be superimposed over the floor plan of your home.  The home’s main entrance is always located at the bottom of the grid, (in the knowledge, career or helpful people sector). Stand facing the front entrance of the building as if you were about to step inside. This is called the “Mouth of Ch’i” and will be your vantage point for determining the orientation of the Bagua map for the whole building. Once you have identified where your entrance falls in relation to the map, you can identify where the remaining areas of your environment fall.  Now your home can begin to tell the story, and shed some light on issues you may be facing in your life.
If your life is working perfectly then you’re probably already intuitively practicing Feng Shui, and you have balance and positive energy flowing through your home. However, if any of the sectors or building block areas are stuck, or missing thereby causing you stress then personal enhancements using the Bagua Map are the way to go. The key is to activate and keep the Ch’i (vital energy) flowing inside through your home.

Missing Areas:
The ideal shape for a Feng Shui friendly house is rectangular, with all the corners within the Bagua. We know that in the western culture few houses are built like that; most have one or more corners missing. In a class I recently taught, while mapping the diagram of their homes students were dismayed to discover how many areas of their homes were missing, which in turn explained some of the stressors they were experiencing in life. The four corners are the most important and can be closed in or “anchored” on a variety of ways.

Anchoring Missing Bagua Areas:

1) Structurally – You can literally complete the missing area with a structure such as a room addition, a porch, adding a deck, arbor, trellis etc. as long as the structure has enough substance to be considered part of the building.

2) Symbolically – You can also complete the missing area by placing a symbolic addition; something that defines the missing area. You can do this by locating the exact corner and placing a large item representing the Bagua area (examples but not limited to):
* Wealth – Fountain, purple gazing ball, purple leaf tree
* Love – Two seat bistro set, large red flowering plant, red gazing ball
* Helpful People – Boulder, sculpture, white metal seating, silver gazing ball
* Knowledge – Large tree, statue, blue or green gazing ball, wooden seating

3) If there is no room for a symbolic addition – You can locate the missing corner and do one of the following:
* On lawn – Bury a quartz crystal with its point up at the exact corner (also use inside anchoring)
* On cement – Mark the  exact corner with a small symbol such as a heart, tree, circle or triangle (also use inside anchoring)*
4) Inside Anchoring – Mirroring the indented walls closest to the missing Bagua area will make the indentation seem to disappear, and enhance the circulation of Ch’i within the missing area. This can also be done by hanging a 30 mm round faceted crystal in front of a window in the indented wall.  Use art and personal enhancements representing Bagua area in this indented area to further enhance the Ch’i.*
5) Enhance the Area in Every Room – Missing home areas make it important to enhance that location in every room. For instance if the Love area is missing from your home and you want to increase romance, place the Bagua at the entrance of each room, locate the love corner and place something red, a pair of items, a picture of a couple or a representation of romance in each of the back right corners.

Enhancements for Anchoring Missing Corners:
* Knowledge and Self Cultivation: Wood items, trees, blue or green tones, florals, stripes
* Wealth and Prosperity: Water features, flags/whirligigs, purple trees, purple, dark blue or red tones
Love and Marriage: Pairs of items, red or pink tones, seating for two, statues representing pairs, romantic art
Helpful People: Stone or metal sculptures, boulders, metal seating, white or grey tones, srt representing spiritual guides, mentors or mountains.

Keeping the Ch’i within the confines of your home keeps you surrounded and nourished with the positive energy you need to thrive. Anchor your Bagua and enjoy the difference!

Affirmations and Inner Work:
Remember that in Feng Shui, intent plays a significant role in enhancing any area of your home or business. That’s why all enhancements need to be made with intentionality. Write or state affirmations as if they have already happened. Examples or affirmations for anchoring: “My love area is anchored, enhanced and I am in a committed relationship”, “Prosperity is flowing my way”, “I am feeling calm and relishing in stillness”, Helpful people constantly surround me.”

Feng Shui at Work:
A client had the Love and Romance area outside both anchored structurally with and upper and lower deck and patio. She hung love birds from the deck, and red cushions and flowers adorn the patio set. In the lower patio she placed a red bistro set with two chairs and a statue of two kissing frogs she purchased on a trip to Hawaii.  She is now in a strong relationship and they love to eat outdoors on their deck together.
Friends of mine have a lovely L shaped home with a large lawn area where the missing Wealth and Prosperity Area was.  They  chose to enhance and anchor the area by planting a beautiful walking garden on the exact corner; including a mound where a large angel statue sits, purple flowers, gazing balls, and cozy bench for sitting and reflecting on all the riches in their life. New jobs and wonderful rental tenant opportunities have enhanced their prosperity.
Another client had a cute cottage with an open cement front port in the Helpful People area. She anchored the edge of the patio with a large plant in a white, round pot. (Round and white are both representations of the Helpful People Area) She was able to rent the property for a great price and buy a larger home for her family.
In my home, I am missing part of the Knowledge area, as it is outside of the Bagua, while the rest is in my master bedroom. To anchor it I placed a blue/green glass gazing ball at the exact location of the missing corner, and have a flower garden and miniature Magnolia tree completing the space outside of the bedroom window. The flowers adorning this area make it one of my favorite places to rest and be nourished by the view.                                                                                                                                                                                                      For questions or home consultations email at mtmccull@aol.com  and put “Feng Shui” on the subject line, or visit my website at www.fengshuibymaria.com, (where you can read past columns),   or Facebook “Feng Shui by Maria”, where I post pictures as examples to enhancements.

* I have a BLOG – Just go to the website and click on “Blog”: You can view many pictures and, I will respond to your questions quickly.
Until then…Blessings!

Maria McCullough is the owner / founder of Feng Shui by Maria (www.fengshuibymaria.com) and is a speaker and educator with over 20 years of experience. She specializes in residential, landscape  and business consultations. She is a graduate of the Western School of Feng Shui and has personally trained with Terah Kathryn Collins, founder of the Western School of Feng Shui, specializing in Essential Feng Shui® and author of numerous books including “The Western Guide to Feng Shui.”

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