Mind, Body, Home: Transform Your Life One Room at a Time (16 page)

and drains, which is why they can disrupt the energy in a home.

In feng shui, water is energetically considered the same as money.

In bathrooms, all the water is flushing out of the home and therefore

money is as well. In scientific terms, energy attracts to water and will therefore exit down the toilet and down drains. Think of lightning

being attracted to water. Lightning is simply a concentrated form of

energy. Water is also representative of emotions, which makes a bath-

room in the Love section particularly toxic as well. Clearly we can’t live without a bathroom, but there are some locations better than others as

discussed below. The bathroom is least desirable and should be avoided

if possible in the Wealth, Fame, Love, and Health sectors.

Bathroom in Wealth Corner

In working with clients, I have found there to be a correlation be-

tween those with money issues and their bathroom being located in

the Wealth Corner. This is consistent with traditional feng shui rules. I have witnessed many floor plans with this arrangement, most of which

were experiencing financial problems. I have seen clients who, as soon

as they move into a house with the bathroom in the Wealth Corner,

suddenly lose their job, get laid off, or have to take a job making less money. Another common scenario is that while their income stays the

same, their expenses go up. In other words, the money is incoming and

equally outgoing to where it seems like the money is “going down the

drain.”

I have also been in many homes with this arrangement where the

occupants experienced no financial difficulties. That is possible as well.

As mentioned in Chapter 2, the Cosmic Trinity may override your feng

90 Your Home’s Path

shui environment. Nevertheless, it is best to avoid a floor plan with the bathroom in the Wealth Corner. Who knows, even those who didn’t

have any financial maladies may have also missed out on more prosper-

ity or simply had more peace of mind or less stress in managing their

money with a different bathroom arrangement.

The bathroom should also be avoided in the Fame Section of the

Bagua Map as well. The energy of Fame & Reputation usually coin-

cides directly with one’s income and wealth. It is rare to have a bad reputation and have a generous flow of income. In fact, usually the fame

or reputation comes first before the money starts flowing in. Further-

more, the Fame section of the Bagua Map holds the energy of the Fire

Element. The watery nature of bathrooms will put the fire out in this

section of the home. In addition to the suggested remedies for bath-

rooms, add accents of red to the bathroom to help bring the fire ele-

ment back into this section. Add candles as well.

5 Remedies for an Inauspiciously-Located Bathroom

If you already live in a home in one of the challenging areas discussed, then it is best to use one or more of the following feng shui remedies:
1. Keep the toilet lid closed.
This is easy and usually a crowd favorite among women.

2. Close drains.
Keep the drains closed when not in use.

3. Red ribbon.
Tie a red ribbon around the plumbing pipes coming in and out of the sink and toilet. This is a remedy used in Black

Hat Feng Shui methodology. The ribbon is preferably 9 inches

long and doesn’t need to be seen. The color red neutralizes the

negative draining energy.

4. Renovation.
This is a drastic remedy and should be done only as a last resort. While you can relocate a bathroom to a more auspicious location, don’t be surprised if energy gets stirred up soon

thereafter. Moving fixtures can disrupt the energy in a home

until relocated and grounded in.

Your Home’s Path 91

5. Use a feng shui mirror.
Place a feng shui mirror, octagon-shaped beveled mirror, on the outside of the door threshold going into

the bathroom. This reflects the energy out of the bathroom pre-

venting it from entering the bathroom at all. This remedy should

be used sparingly as it works similar to amputation. It is best to

try to save the limb first before cutting it off.

In the event of severe financial losses, it is best to advise a feng shui consultation on further remedies, including a balance of the five elements within your space.

Bathroom in Love Corner

Having a bathroom in the Love Corner can make relationships chal-

lenging. I don’t see bathrooms in the Love Corner as often as I do in

the Wealth Corner. It is important to note that changes—for good or

for bad—don’t necessarily happen over night. Usually changes take

place over time. For example, I have one client whose bathroom is in

the Love Corner. They built the home and raised their family in this

home. Fifteen years later they are on the brink of divorce. While they appeared to have a happy and functional marriage, the underpinnings

of their current problem were taking place over those 15 years. At the same time, a feng shui remedy may show immediate positive changes

or it may take time for the effects to show up.

Bathroom Inside Kitchen

The energy of a kitchen is the complete opposite to that of a bath-

room. The kitchen is about taking in nourishment while the bathroom

is about excreting waste. It is best not to mix these two functions by

placing a bathroom door opening up from the kitchen. This could lead

to digestive or other imbalances within the home. In the event of this floor plan configuration, it is best to keep the door closed to the bathroom at all times.

92 Your Home’s Path

Bathroom in Center of Home

Due to the downward energy that comes with a bathroom it is best

not to have a bathroom in the center of the home. It is important that the center of the home have auspicious energy flowing throughout as

it represents the health or overall wellbeing for the household. Having a bathroom in the center can cause instability with health, wealth, and overall harmony in the home. The center of the home is the Health

section of the Bagua Map and also representative of the Earth element.

To counteract the downward energy of the bathroom’s water elements,

it is best to help ground the space. To do so, you can add a heavy piece of furniture, such as a heavy sink table or add a stone or pottery décor.

Placing a rock or gemstone in each of the four corners is another way

to help ground in the space.

Bathroom Near Front Door Entry

Another undesirable location for a bathroom is near the front door.

This could include a powder room adjacent to the entry, a bathroom

that can be seen from the entry, or even a bathroom above the foyer

entry. As the primary chi enters the home, the last thing you want is for it to go right down the toilet. For bathrooms visible from the entry, it is best to keep the door closed at all times, along with the other remedies suggested for bathrooms. Rooms located below a bathroom can also

experience negative effects. For example, if a bathroom is located over an entry, it can disrupt the chi as it enters the home. If a bathroom is located above a bedroom, this can be unsettling and even lead to illness.

Best Placement for Bathroom

Bathrooms are best placed in the Creativity and Family sections of the

Bagua Map. Both of these sections are compatible with Water elements

and are not as susceptible to financial loss. The Helpful People & Travel and Wisdom & Knowledge sections are also compatible so long as these sections of the floor plan are not visible from the front door.

Your Home’s Path 93

The Garage

With each decade it seems garages get bigger and bigger. In my historic neighborhood, there are no original attached garages as cars were not

as common as they are today. In the 1960s and ’70s detached garages

were incorporated into floor plans. In our present day, houses are sim-

ply not built without an attached garage. While they serve a functional purpose, they can also disrupt the energy in the home.

Garages are for the purpose of storing your car, but they usually

double as storage for tools, supplies, and recreation equipment. Most

garages become a haven for clutter. Items that are to be given away

end up in the garage, as well as items that the homeowners don’t know

what else to do with. Unfortunately, this is all negative energy that is contained within the home. Even without the clutter, the energy of

cars moving in and out of the home can be unsettling, particularly to

rooms adjacent or above the garage. For this reason, it is best not to

have a bedroom placed over the garage. Also, when placing the Bagua

Map over the floor plan, the garage is included. Garages are often lo-

cated on the back of the house in the Wealth or Love Corners. When

my clients or workshop participants find out that their Love is in the

garage, they usually respond with “Well, that explains it!”

When garages are found on the front of the house, it is representa-

tive of a focus on their cars. Cars symbolize status, career, and direction in life. Garages on the front of a house usually end up creating an imbalanced L-shaped home as opposed to a more auspicious square or

rectangle home. The garage either creates a missing corner or becomes

an extension for the overall footprint of the home. Either way, it is best to treat the garage just like any other room in the house. Avoid storing clutter. Keep it organized. You could even paint the walls and add a picture or two.

Being aware of where these particular rooms and areas fall on the

floor plan is an important consideration when purchasing a home.

While no floor plan is perfect, knowledge is power, and where your

floor plan is challenged, you can make appropriate adjustments. The

shape of the house, floor plan, and physical characteristics of a home
94 Your Home’s Path

are evident, but the energy of a space may not always be. As we move

into the next chapters, we go deeper into the energetics of a space,

starting with the energy left behind by the previous owners.

C h a p t e r 5

Your Home’s Past:

Previous Owners

[W]e must begin by understanding that every place is given its character
by certain patterns of events that keep on happening there.

—
the timeless way of building.



We all enter into relationships with a history, a past, and maybe even

some old baggage. Your home is no different. Your home has a past

as well, with as many past relationships as past owners and occupants.

One of the most underestimated energies that affect homeowners is

the energy left by previous owners, also referred to as
predecessor energy
.

Did the previous owners file bankruptcy, get a divorce, or fall ill? Was the home foreclosed upon? Was there a pattern of the occupants suddenly getting transferred out of state? Was there trauma that took place in the home? These are all questions that are important to answer, if

possible, before moving into a space.

My client, Wendy, called me about six months into moving into

their home. After a series of unexplainable and unfortunate incidents, she and her husband were considering putting the house back on the

market. It started the day they moved in when a neighbor came by

and mentioned that the previous owner had committed suicide in the

95

96 Your Home’s Past

home. She further told them that there had been a relative living in the basement with mental problems and she suspected he was involved in

unscrupulous activity. Although she was spooked a bit, Wendy didn’t

think too much of it until their two-year old Lab developed an unex-

plainable brain tumor. It wasn’t much longer thereafter that the couple began experiencing strange accidents around the home, followed by

financial problems.

Upon arriving at the home, the first thing I noticed was the lot on

which the house sat. There was a drainage ditch on the side of the

property draining down a hill. While you don’t want overflow rainwa-

ter draining toward your home, you also don’t want the neighborhood’s

water draining onto your property either. The house was also sitting on an odd-angled corner lot incongruent to the neighborhood. Although

seemingly unrelated to someone committing suicide in a home, the fact

is negative energy attracts negative energy. Usually when there is negative energy it will start to domino into more negative energy. And it

usually starts with the land, as discussed in Chapter 1.

When it came time to space clear the home, I was intuitively led to

the area where the suicide took place and cleared the energy around

that trauma. When I went downstairs to clear the other trauma in the

basement I was stopped in my tracks. Every hair on my arm was raised

and I felt a strong aversion from going further. Wendy had avoided

going into the basement and had not been down there since moving

in. In fact, it was clear that they had just dumped their clutter and unpacked boxes in the space with the hopes of not having to ever go back

downstairs. This was another example of negative energy attracting

more negative energy. Usually in areas where trauma has occurred,

there will be clutter or some other feng shui malady in the same area.