Winter Harmony- Welcome Juliette Looye

The Winter Harmony blog series is our gift to our beautiful community to help inspire and support you to live in harmony with winter. Join us and some amazing guest bloggers M-F during the month of January. Click here to see all the Winter Harmony posts in one place.

Get your own Winter Harmony Mandala to bring a little peace and joy to your winter season this year and see what message it has for you.

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Using Feng Shui to Start the Year Right

The principles of feng shui are based on the energy of nature and its ever-changing seasons. So in the long, cold winter season, it’s very fitting for us to imitate nature and do what most animals do—slow down, retreat to our “lairs,” and let our surroundings support and nurture us as we prepare for a fresh start in the spring. With this idea in mind, here are three basic steps for preparing your home this winter. In keeping with a phrase that we hear every new year, these steps will help you “ring out the old and ring in the new.” By making your home a clean, blank slate this winter, you’ll be preparing it—and yourself—for all kinds of good things to appear. As you let go of what no longer supports you, you’ll gain a fresh, clear outlook on the future. And you’ll create the space to welcome new things, people, ideas, and opportunities into your life in the months ahead.

 

STEP 1

Ring Out (and Wring Out) the Old: Clear Your Clutter and Clean Your Home You can begin this step by going on a “house walk” to clear your clutter. Choose a particular room to start in, and give it a real going-over. Sort through your things and decide what supports you. If you can't use it, wear it, or eat it, you're better off getting rid of it! You can sell it, trade it, donate it, or toss it. But whatever you do, discard anything that stands in the way of your ability to move forward in life—either literally or figuratively! If you’d like, you can create a chart like the one below and use it to perform your house walk.

As you walk around your home, spend time in each room. Look all around, and observe everything as if you were seeing it for the very first time. Then fill in your chart.   On the left-hand side of the chart, list the following: things that you use often things that lift your spirits things that make you feel “at home” things that have special significance to you and/or your family   On the right side of the chart, list the following: things that you seldom or never use things that bring you down and make you sad things that are broken, ill-fitting, or outdated things that no longer reflect who you are or where you are in life

 

If the job of clearing your clutter is too daunting to tackle alone, enlist the help of a friend or a family member. Or pay someone to help you, such as a neighborhood teen, a cleaning service, or a professional organizer. Once your clutter is removed—but before all your rooms are put back together and organized—go back and do some deep-down cleaning. Dust the furniture, the woodwork, and the blinds; mop or vacuum the floors; clear the cobwebs from the corners and the ceilings. Again, if necessary, enlist the help of others. The main thing is to do it, because changing the energy of your home in these ways is what gives you the energy to bring on the changes in your life.

STEP 2 Ring Out the Old: Clear and Cleanse the Energy of Your Home Once your home is clean and clear, it’s time to clean and clear its energy. There are all kinds of ways to do this, from the very simple to the very involved. The method you choose is up to you. There’s no wrong way to do it if your intentions are strong and sincere. Here are some of the ways you can clear the energy of your home.     Burn any of the following objects as you walk through your home: • a white, unscented candle • incense sticks or ingots • a sage bundle or some loose sage   The idea behind all of these methods is that fire “burns off” energy that’s stale and negative and replaces it with energy that’s clear and positive. As the smoke from the burning object rises and dissipates, it takes the unwanted energy with it. So as you walk through each room in your home, you’ll be sending the old energy on its way and replacing it with new energy and intentions.   Note: If it’s the energy of a particular person that you’re sending on its way—a former resident, a former partner, or someone who’s been ill or has died—bless that person, wish him well, and literally and figuratively clear the air by releasing his energy back to him and sending him healing, love, and peace.   Use sounds to disperse and clear the energy. As you walk through each room, do one or more of the following: • clap your hands (especially in the corners) • ring bells, finger symbols, and/or harmony balls • use a singing bowl • recite a favorite mantra, prayer, affirmation, word, or intention • play some music or sing a song   You also can use any of the following: • fresh air—Open a few windows and doors and let in some fresh, brisk air. This will replace the old, stale air and will really reinvigorate things. • sunlight—Throw open your curtains and drapes, or raise your blinds. Let in the sunlight and let it wash through your home. Especially during the short winter days, letting in as much sunlight as possible will lift not only the energy of your home but your sagging spirits as well. • a faceted crystal sphere—To attract the balancing, healing energy of the sun and scatter it around a room, hang a faceted crystal sphere in front of a window or a sliding door. (For information on my handmade beaded crystals, please click on the Crystals link, call me at (630) 512–0436, or e-mail me at juliette.looye@sbcglobal.net. • scents—Use ones that promote the new energy and mood that you wish to create in your home. Scents can be dispersed in the form of essential oils that are diffused into the air. Or you can use scented candles, incense, reed diffusers, or even light-bulb rings.   Invigorating scents: jasmine, eucalyptus, lemongrass, orange, peppermint, ginger Calming and balancing scents: lavender, sandalwood, rose, geranium, cedar, chamomile Scents for mental clarity, focus, and memory enhancement: rosemary, ginger, peppermint, clove bud   Note: You also can use certain scents/flower essences to balance your body. For example: chamomile, sage, orange, peppermint, and rose hips all come in the form of herbs that can be made into teas.   STEP 3 Ring in the New: Set Your Goals and Intentions for the New Year . . . and Beyond! Once you’ve cleaned and cleared your home and made room for new things to come, be sure to set some goals and intentions for what you would like to attract. Otherwise, if you don’t fill your home with “the new,” you’ll just fill it with more of “the same-old same-old.” And you could get stuck in a rut all over again! Here are a few ideas for setting your intentions:   • Spend time in each gua (life area) or each room of your home and decide how you’d like it to support you. Set specific intentions for that gua or room, and write them down or say them out loud. (Note: Setting a different intention for each gua ensures attention to all areas of your life—which promotes a more balanced life! To locate the different guas in your home, click on Bagua Map.) • Place a feng shui adjustment or enhancement in each gua to remind you of your intentions all year. You can use candles, crystals, photos, artwork, wind chimes, treasure maps, fountains, plants, or any other objects that are significant to you and that support you in achieving your goals. Seeing these objects on a daily basis will remind you to use the energy of both your thoughts and your surroundings to help you create your new life. • Empower your objects with the energy of your intentions by using the Three Secrets Reinforcement, by writing and/or speaking some affirmations, or with another empowerment of your choosing. Again, as with the space-clearing process, there’s really no wrong way to empower things if your intentions are strong and sincere. The Three Secrets Reinforcement As you install your cures and enhancements, it’s important to empower them. One empowerment that you can use is the Three Secrets Reinforcement. This procedure works by infusing a cure or enhancement with the energy of your own actions, words, and intentions. Performing the Three Secrets on all of your adjustments will boost their power significantly!   The Body Secret is a hand gesture (mudra) that is used to expel negative or blocked energy from an area. It also helps align your body’s energy as you perform this first secret. The gesture that’s used most often is the flicking, or expelling, mudra. Women should use their right hand, and men should use their left as they flick their two middle fingers away from their thumb, palms down, nine times.   Variations: After flicking nine times, some people turn their hand palm-up to form a “chi basket.” As you turn your hand over, keep your thumb and two middle fingers together, then curl your index and baby fingers toward your thumb. This chi basket gives you a symbolic space to hold new, positive energy that creates new, positive situations. (This new energy is so strong sometimes that when some people form their chi basket, they feel a tingling in their hand!)   If you are uncomfortable using any of these hand gestures, feel free to use something else. For example, putting your hands together in a prayer position or holding them in another position is also perfectly appropriate.   The Speech Secret is a word, prayer, or mantra that empowers your cure or enhancement with the energy of sound. The mantra that is most often used for this secret is the Mantra of Compassion: om mani padme hum (“ohm maa-nee pahd-may hum”). This mantra is believed to increase spiritual power and create harmony, balance, and compassion. It also is believed to call in Divine presence, which will help you create your desired situation. Aloud or to yourself, say this mantra nine times.   Variations: If you are uncomfortable saying the Mantra of Compassion, feel free to say something else. For example, you can repeat a word, such as amen, peace, or love. Or you can say The Lord’s Prayer. You also can use an affirmation. Just remember that the words’ effect on your energy is more important than the words themselves. This is because the vibrations of words and sounds create different feelings and events.   The Mind Secret is visualizing—arguably the most effective method for manifesting changes in your life. In as much detail as possible, visualize the situation that you wish to create. Really use your imagination, and visualize with all of your senses. Make the scene so realistic that you begin in that very moment to turn your intentions into reality.   When you have finished your visualization, be sure to end your empowerment with these words: “May this or something better now manifest for the highest good of all concerned.” You never know what the Universe has in store, so why limit your possibilities!   Juliette Looye has conducted hundreds of feng shui consultations and workshops since 1994. For two years she was the national consultant for Allied Van Lines, writing an award-winning brochure for their National Moving Month campaign and conducting online feng shui consultations for homeowners across the United States. As an outgrowth of her study of the energy of color, Juliette devel­oped a line of feng shui crystals and jewelry. Four of her bracelet styles were included in the Femail Creations catalog, and the most popular style—a chakra bracelet—was a recurring favorite for five years running. Juliette also discussed her jewelry and crystals with Linda Yu, Sylvia Perez, and Tracy Butler on the ABC7 News. Since then, she still gets a thrill when she spots them wearing her necklaces during early-morning broadcasts!   In addition to her feng shui certification, Juliette holds a Masters degree in Education and is a certified Akashic Records teacher. She also has been a writer and an editor for more than 30 years. Combining her love for all of these things, she wrote Feng Shui Essentials: A How-to Guide for Creating the Life You Desire for a course she developed and teaches, and she co-wrote How to Read the Akashic Records: Accessing the Archive of the Soul and Its Journey with her former teacher, Linda Howe. Juliette believes that feng shui and the Akashic Records are the perfect compli­ment to each other because both forms of energy healing create harmony, peace, and enlightenment in our inner and outer environments.   For more information about Juliette’s work in feng shui and the Akashic Records, visit www.fengshui-transformation.com.