I'm always talking about tapping the Qi in my Feng Shui articles and sometimes, people tell me that they find that to be a very intimating idea. They say, they don't want too many technicalities like figuring out how to fly the stars, and they don't want to have to walk the mountains, just to be able to understand Landforms or know what that hill in front of their house means.

But these are all people who are really keen or passionate about finding a Feng Shui solution to solve their problems but know that buying trinkets or placing a jade dragon in their Southwest corner is not Feng Shui or an answer. What they want is an authentic method, but preferably an easy method. Not too much fuss, not too much inconvenience, but effective. Since I started writing books for the layperson, I've spent a lot of time coming up with ways to make things simpler, easier and less fussy, but without compromising the integrity of the methods or watering down the concept.

So today, I'm going to share with you a technique to activate certain positive stars in your property, that can help solve four types of problems. And all it involves is opening the window, and doing a little 'exercise' moving your furniture!

Renovate HERE

In Feng Shui, there is often a lot of focus on the so-called 'afflicted areas' or afflicted directions. These afflicted areas or afflicted directions as known, in Feng Shui technical terms, as the Grand Duke (Tai Sui), the Three Killings (San Sha) and Five Yellow (Wu Huang). These three afflicted directions change on an annual basis - in the year of the Pig, the Grand Duke is in the Pig direction (Northwest 3), the Three Killings is in the Rooster direction (West) and the Five Yellow is in the Tiger direction (Northeast). In the year of the Rat, the Grand Duke is the Rat (North 2) direction, the Three Killings and the Five Yellow will be in the South.

Most people have heard of these afflicted directions and know that these areas are not to be renovated. That means you shouldn't knock the wall (even to drill a hole to hang a picture) or break the ground in these directions. If you do so, you will disturb the Grand Duke, 3 Killings or Five Yellow and depending on who you nudged, you'll get different effects. The Five Yellow for example is usually responsible for calamities, whilst the Three Killings usually brings about niggling problems like arguments, health setbacks and bickering.

But did you know that in each year, there are also four directions that contain favourable stars that if activated through renovation or movement or knocking, will actually bring about positive outcomes?

You might be wondering at this point: how does renovation or movement of the furniture or opening the window in this area bring about positive outcomes? It's simple. Renovation, or simple movement of furniture, moves the Qi. The afflicted areas are directions where we don't want any Qi to move or activate because the energies are negative. By contrast, the four directions I'm talking about are the ones with positive energies - energies we WANT to tap. Think of it like a foot massage - when you get a foot massage, you are activating Qi at specific meridian points, thus circulating the energy around the body. The technique I'm sharing with you today uses the same concept of activating a specific Qi point in the house, to bring about better energy circulation in the house.

I'm sure you know of a friend or a friend of a friend who placed a culturally significant object in a sector of their home, and then suddenly experienced a run of good fortune. Most of the time, this outcome is due to the fact that they have inadvertently tapped into the positive energies of the year by triggering a good star through the placement of the object. It has in fact, nothing to do with the object itself. But the average person, not knowing this, will associate their change of fortunes with the object!

So as you go into the Rat year (and I'll be sharing with you the directions you can use for this year and next year) don't just avoid the afflicted areas. Feng Shui is about the positives, not just the negatives and the no-nos. So move things around in the positive areas! Remember, all you have to do is perform a minor renovation, repair something in that area or just move the furniture in that room around or out and then back into the room again. That's it!

The Right Star

The table below shows you the direction of four specific stars (the Sun, the Moon, the Dragon Virtue and Fortune Virtue) in the Pig and Rat year. Each of these stars is good for a specific type of problem. Based on your needs, all you have to do is activate the appropriate star by moving furniture around or engage in minor renovation in the direction it is located in. You then would have tapped into the energies of that star! Easy right?

The first thing you need to do is to determine the type of problem you have. I have identified here four types of typical and common problems that most people encounter or need help with. Once you have determined the problem, find the star you need to activate or trigger, locate its direction and then make your move!

Obstruction Woes - Dragon Virtue Star

Sometimes, hard work is not enough. Some obstacles (such as people who are out to get you or hold you back) can simply be insurmountable or difficult to remove, leaving you unable to reap any rewards (especially those of the monetary kind) for your labours. The Dragon Virtue star is one of the stars you can use to handle such situations. Activate the Dragon Virtue star to handle this type of problem - it can help you enhance your wealth luck, and give your career a little boost. This star can also be used if you need to get a loan from a bank (a classic example of obstruction from money).

Fixing an Oops Problem - Use the Sun

Let's say you accidentally activated a negative sector or your neighbour decided to engage in renovations and ended up digging in your Three Killings sector! The milk has spilt - what do you do? You find the Sun star and activate it. The Sun star's strength is in mitigating and reducing the effects of problems and is especially useful for males to utilise, as it is a Yang Star.

Communication problems - Activate Moon Star

Communication problems cause more hassles than most people realise. Many negative situations are caused by communications issues - miscommunications (you said one thing, it came out as another), barriers to communications (you just can't seem to talk to the right boss/client/person who can make a decision) or simply a breakdown in communications. The ideal star to help you with communication-related problems or issues caused by communications is the Moon Star. The Moon Star is the mastermind of emotions and can affect moods, and is especially efficacious when used by ladies, as it is a Yin Star. Find the Moon star, activate it appropriately and get the Qi that's blocking causing communication problems moving.

Seeking Happiness - Find the Fortune Virtue Star

Lots of people are rich but they're often not happy. When the Chinese talk about prosperity and good fortune, it is really happiness, contentment and satisfaction that they are talking about, and not necessarily money. Prosperity and good fortune means having no worries, good health and the ability to self-cultivate. Probably the closest modern phrase to the concept of prosperity and good fortune is quality of life. For better quality of life, look to the Fortune Virtue star. Find the area where the Fortune Virtue Star is located (Southwest 3 in the Pig year, West 2 in the Rat year) and activate it by opening up the windows, clearing out the area if it is cluttered, or just moving the furniture around.

Direction of course is but one aspect of solving the problem. In Feng Shui, we are often interested in not just doing the right thing, but doing so at the right time. This method is neither derived from BaZhai or Flying Stars but in fact has its origins in Date Selection. Hence, the date and time selection aspects should be utilised, to maximize the positive outcome.

The direction alone will bring a measure of outcome but to achieve a higher level of success, you need to use the correct star, activate it appropriately, and do so on the appropriate date, and at the right time. For those of you who are interested in learning how to time your positive renovation, I'll be talking about how to select a date to implement these techniques during the Feng Shui for Homebuyers Event, taking place on the 29th - 30th of September 2007. I'll be sharing lots of quick tips and answering your most important questions on buying property so see you there!

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