THE YEAR OF THE HORSE IS HERE! It arrived on Jan. 31 and its effects can already be felt. Can you feel it? Are you READY for this positive change?

“Hold on to your hats, folks, and realize that you won’t be able to, nor will you want to, slow your horses in the New Year ahead!” said Karen Carrasco of the Western School of Feng Shui. “This will be a promethean year, the beginning of all beginnings. Full of uplift, optimism and compelling inspiration, we will be guided into purposeful action of the most elegantly simple and powerfully fruitful kind.”

The Horse Year is considered a fortunate year that brings luck and good things. As we move toward Valentine’s Day we learn that this year will have a powerful effect on romance. It’s a time for finding a new love, improving an existing relationship, having children, or getting rid of a relationship that is no longer working.

No matter what happens, be aware that positive changes are taking place.

How can you use the power of Feng Shui to help you harness and focus this romantic energy? This is a perfect time to use the Feng Shui Bagua to ENHANCE YOUR LOVE AREAS, VISUALIZE AND MAKE AFFIRMATIONS.

Harnessing Horse Year’s power for love and the Bagua

The Bagua comes from the Chinese philosophy, “The I Ching,” and literally means “eight trigrams,” with the center acting as the core or grounding as the 9th sector. In the Feng Shui Bagua (Ba-gua) Map, the Love and Marriage area is in the back right corner of your home or business. This area is called “Receptive Earth,” meaning that to truly love another person you must love yourself.

Once you truly love yourself, then you can open your heart and be totally receptive to your partner. So begin the Year of the Horse by loving yourself, and appreciating how amazing you are.

On Valentine’s Day, ask yourself, “Are my romantic relationships everything I want them to be? If your answer is anywhere along the lines of “no,” “not really,” “maybe,” “kind of” or “what romantic relationship?” then now is the time to enhance your relationship corner.

Enhancements in this area are particularly helpful if you want to attract a love relationship, you want to improve a relationship you are currently in or you want to develop or improve a nurturing, healthy, happy relationship with yourself.

In whichever room this area resides, basic Feng Shui principles can help you nurture and strengthen yourself and your relationships, and even send out the energy to help you find your perfect soul mate.

The element for this area is Fire, and the colors are red, pink or white. Representations of this element can be used inside and outside of your home or business.

Enhancements inside your home or business

• Photos, paintings, collages or figures depicting you and your significant other

• Pairs of items (lovers, doves, hearts, candles, vases, figurines, etc.)

• Art with a romantic theme

• Quotes, affirmations and sayings pertaining to love and marriage

• Items that have a personal association to love and marriage (romantic vacations/honeymoon mementos)

Enhancements outside your home or business

• Garden art representing pairs

• Items, flowers, plants in the color of the red spectrum

• Bistro table with two chairs or a loveseat for two

A missing Love and Marriage area

If your Love and Marriage area is missing from your floor plan, you can anchor the area by doing one or a combination of the following cures:

• Planting a pair of large, red flowering plants at the spot of the missing corner

• Planting a tree and hanging a wind chime representing a pair (hearts or lovebirds)

• Placing a table and two-chair set, or a large sculpture representing a loving pair; my husband and I have hugging stone frogs that we purchased on a romantic trip to Hawaii

• If the area outside is not accessible, you can symbolically anchor from the inside by hanging a 30-millimeter, round-faceted crystal, or placing a mirror and/or a picture of a romantic representation on the wall by the missing corner.

• If the missing area happens to be a parking lot, you can draw a small symbol of a heart in the exact location, closing off the corner.

Master bedrooms

Master bedrooms are one of the most important rooms in the house. They need to be turned into romantic boudoirs by adding the same Feng Shui Love and Marriage enhancements as you did in the Love and Marriage area of your home, regardless of the location of this room in your house.

The ideal location for a master bedroom is the far back right corner; unfortunately not all homes are built this way. As you decorate your bedroom, it is always important to incorporate some of the red spectrum to bring in fire, pairs of items and romantic representations.

Common mistake: pictures of children, family and friends in your master bedroom. The master bedroom is a place for romance and intended to be a romantic boudoir; it should not be overly filled with pictures of children, mothers/fathers, in-laws and extended family. The Children and Creativity and the Family, Friends and Health areas of your home are ideal locations for family pictures.

If you are single and looking for a relationship, you should design the room as if two people are already living there. For example, make sure to use two nightstands, two lamps, and leave room in the closet. This signifies the intent that you want to share your life with your soul mate. Walls should be any of the colors of natural skin tones; from light cream, pinks and peaches to warm reds and dark browns. Because the feeling should evoke warmth, coziness and fire, blues, greens, whites, gray and black are too cool for bedroom walls.

Bring the power and good luck of the Horse Year to you. This Valentine’s Day, create a space in your home and life for a loving relationship with your perfect mate. Enlist the energy in your environment to help you achieve your goals. The more you visualize yourself achieving this loving relationship, the better chances for success.

This is your year to make love happen. Hold on to the saddle and enjoy the ride!

Feng Shui at work

One of my clients was in an unhappy relationship; she and her husband constantly bickered. They were stuck and going nowhere. In our consultation we focused on her bedroom, which was painted a cool green and featured many pictures of landscapes and water. It also had a large ficus plant that was dying and filled with webs and little bugs.

Nothing signified romance, passion or warmth; it represented a sick environment. I recommended she immediately remove the plant. She then changed the pictures to romantic art, added candles by the bedside tables, and spruced up the room with red-tone accents. Shortly after, she and her husband began counseling. They just took a trip to see their grandchildren and are making an effort to have one romantic date night at least twice a month. These are small steps leading to a happier relationship.

Another client was in a verbally abusive relationship and didn’t have the courage to free herself. There was a great deal of clutter in her home, and to make matters worse the Love and Marriage area was a back porch that she used for storage.

When she was made aware of the clutter that was keeping her stuck, she immediately went on a cleaning and culling binge. She found that the screened-in porch made a lovely sun room; she brought in wicker furniture with a loveseat and red cushions. She decorated with pairs of items, pink flowers and romantic art, placing affirmations for a happier relationship with each enhancement. She gathered the courage to separate from her husband and is now in a nurturing, loving relationship. The future looks rosy.

A single client looking for love had a picture of a lonely man in her Love and Marriage area. I told her it made me feel that this lonely man was also looking for love and she needed to create romantic energy for him to find his soul mate. She replaced the picture with one of a man and woman holding hands while strolling along the Seine in Paris. She wrote her affirmations that she had found love and they took a romantic trip to the “City of Lights.” Soon afterward she reconnected with an old flame at a high school reunion — and guess what? They’re honeymooning in Paris.

Affirmations and inner work

Remember that in Feng Shui, intent plays a significant role in enhancing any area of your home or business. Intent is the inner work that leads you to a more harmonious life. That’s why all enhancements need to be made with intentionality; written or stated affirmations are very important. It is also important for them to be expressed as if they are already happening.

Examples or affirmations for the “Love and Marriage” area:

• “I attract, joy, love and intimacy into my life.”

• “I love, respect and honor myself.”

• “My perfect love partner and I are connected in our minds, hearts and spirits, now and always.”

Feng Shui on a shoestring

Feng Shui enhancements do not have to cost a great deal. The Horse Year is giving you the power to make changes.

Focus on what you really want out of a relationship, write affirmations and place them in your Love and Marriage Area and in your Master Bedroom. Declutter the area, then use art, pictures and pairs of items you already have in your home. Placing one item you love in the area starts the energy spiral.

Learn more

For questions or home consultations, email me at mtmccull@aol.com and put “Feng Shui” on the subject line, or visit my website at fengshuibymaria.com, where you can read past columns, or Facebook “Feng Shui by Maria,” where I post pictures as examples to enhancements.

And check out my blog! Just go to the website and click on “Blog” and you can view many pictures, and I will respond to your questions quickly.

Come to my next class through Parks and Recreation and receive $40 off a home consultation. The class, “Balancing the Elements,” will be held Saturday, March 8 from 9 a.m. to noon. The Parks and Recreation Guide is now available, if you’d like to register. Mark your calendars and invite friends.

Until then … Blessings!

Benicia resident Maria McCullough is the owner and founder of Feng Shui by Maria (www.fengshuibymaria.com). She is a speaker and educator with more than 15 years’ experience specializing in residential, landscape and business consultations.