Feng Shui, Fear and the Salt Water Cure

One of the dangers of Feng Shui is that it can be fear based. If I don’t put this item in that specific place something bad will surely happen.

That is especially true with traditional compass based Feng Shui.

I found that in some cases my fear was greater than the cure, which of course, can play into the “law of attraction” theory – bringing on that which I definitely do not desire.

I decided to lighten up. Don’t worry, be happy!

Not to say I have completely abandoned Feng Shui principles. At this writing, I am leaning more toward the Black Hat Sect or Western form of Feng Shui, as it deals very differently from the traditional and uses the front door – any direction – as north. The entrance to your home is where the life force, or Chi, enters your home. They use transcendental “cures” more than physical items and once done it’s done. Forget about it.

A few years ago, when I first became interested in Feng Shui, I purchased a book by Lillian Too. Probably the most famous of Feng Shui masters.

In the book, she explains two “very bad” locations that move around to different locations each year.

One is the Grand Duke Jupiter, the other is called the 3 Killings.

Now, at the time, it seemed rather silly and superstitious to me, and in some ways, it still does. I’d lived 50 some years without a lot of worry about such things. But the warnings seemed dire enough.

That year, the location of the Grand Duke was in an area of our yard where there was a HUGH thorny cactus. It had been beautiful when we first moved here, but there was no way to pull weeds from around it without getting 1 inch long, very painful thorns stuck on you. It had also become infested with some sort of bug which caused it to smell. BAD.

One of the rules about the Grand Duke location is that you’re not suppose to dig up the ground for any reason.

Bad thorns, rank smell or belief in the Grand Duke Jupiter? I said to myself, I’m not going to believe it.

So out I go one day, and try to pull up this horrendous plant. I whacked at it with a ginzo knife till most of it was gone, and I then proceeded to pull out its roots. It really didn’t want to come out even with the shovel, so I went and got my husband’s machete so I could whack it off at the long tap roots.

One I did manage to pull out – finally, and I then gave the other two a hard whack each. Cactus gone!

No problem.

Then, a short while later, I went out to find my husband who had also been working on the yard weed-whacking. (It was definitely a day for whacking things!)

I went out to the lanai, and low and behold – one of the patio panels was broken into a zillion pieces! My mouth dropped open!

More urgently looking for my husband, I went to the front yard. There I discovered that the passenger side window of my son’s new car was also broken into a million pieces!

Coincidence? Two big whacks, two broken windows. Hum – m – m, maybe there was something to the Grand Duke Jupiter thing. It set me off with a new found respect for the Grand Duke, believe me.

Sometimes I rue the day I discovered Feng Shui. In many ways it is so fear based that it can overtake your life, and not in a positive way.

I’ve come a long way, especially with Eckhart Tolle’s guidance, and have decided that I’m not going to be ruled by fear. I have a trust in God, the Creator of our universe which I believe protects far better than any feng shui do-dad ever could.

Yet, there are a few things I do to alleviate any problems – especially any accumulation of negative energy – and I thought I’d share them with you.

In traditional feng shui, there is a system called The Flying Stars which change annually, as well as monthly. It’s quite confusing, but to understand the “cures” you need to know where the #5 Yellow and #2 Black stars are located. These two are the most feared as they are believed to foster very bad luck. Especially toward health and financial matters.

The remedies basically are putting lots of items made from the metal element in those areas. Feng Shui gurus are really keen on wind chimes made totally of metal- preferably brass with 6 chimes, as well as what is known as “The Salt Water Cure.”

A couple of years ago I did find a place on the web that sold all metal wind chimes, and I’ve noticed that they have doubled in price since I bought mine. You’re told you need to throw them out and get new ones every year, but at $30 each, I’m just going to “cleanse” them of negative energy, reiki them and use them again.

The other thing I do is change out the Salt Water Cure. The idea is that salt, which is a purifying agent – in many cultures – is used to draw in any negative energy from that location caused by the bad energy of these two stars. You can also place them in those locations of any room, as according to feng shui, every room has its own energy and locations.

Like I said, it can be very confusing.

Ideally, you should place one in each section of your home where the two ill-fated stars land. I do place them according to the actual compass directions, though, I’m not sure how to use them with the Black Hat Sect form of feng shui.

This year the #5 Yellow earth falls into the North section of the bagua, and the #2 Black earth falls into the West section.

Last year they fell into the south and northwest, and it is truly amazing when you see the growth of crystals throughout the year.

Salt Water Cure South 2008

Here are photos of the two I still have in place for this year. You change them out at the time of the Chinese New Year, so these only have a few more days to go. I think the Chinese New Year begins early this year, on January 26th, so I’m getting everything ready now.

The first one I placed in the south section of my home last year on Chinese New Year. The second was placed in the northwest section. It’s interesting that the one in the south seemed to accumulate more crystals than the one in the northwest. Was there more negative energy there than the other?

We did use the area in the south more often than the northwest. Generally, you should avoid upsetting the energy in those areas, but in our home the south is the family room and I don’t believe you need to fear using any area of your home. That’s why you use the remedy – right?

Salt Water Cure Northwest 2008

What amazed me was the one my husband had in his apartment in 2007. My husband works in another town and is away from home two weeks at a time. (Long story). Anyway, he had a small apartment, which was – from a feng shui standpoint – a disaster. Bathroom facing the front door. Probably the worst feng shui no-no you could have. It was also located on the bottom floor of three levels, and had unknown numbers of previous tenants whose negative energies were probably still lingering.

So I set up the remedies in the proper locations for that year. I wish I had taken photos of them. I could not believe just how large the salt crystal rims grew, and how quickly. The rim was at least three or four inches thick, all the way around and down the sides into the catch plates.

Unbelievable!

He’s moved, and I didn’t set any up last year for him, but I plan to this year. Couldn’t hurt. And it may help so why not?

As this post is long, I’m going to post the directions for the Salt Water Cure in a separate post as well as more info on the Grand Duke and the 3 Killings in another.