Chinese Lunar New Year 2014 (Cycles of Chi Newsletter, January 2014)

Happy New Year! I hope 2014 as been good to you so far.

The Chinese Lunar New Year begins on January 31, 2014. From the perspective of Chinese astrology this is the year of the Wood Horse. I am just a beginner of Chinese astrology but I look forward to deepening my understanding of this fun and helpful system. There are many good resources to learn about your Chinese animal zodiac sign and what challenges and blessings the coming Horse year may present for you. If this peeks your interest, I encourage you to seek them out and learn about this fun area of learning. I am also happy to share with you what I have learned from my Feng Shui teacher, Jetsun Ma, about your Chinese astrology for the Horse year and how you can best support yourself through this coming year.

No matter what your Chinese zodiac sign is, working with the energies of the Chinese Lunar New Year will help you to meet the challenges and blessings of this year with more strength and support. From a lunar perspective this is a new beginning with the new moon on January 30th 1:38 pm PST, the eve of the Chinese New Year. This is a powerful time to set intentions for the coming year. I encourage you to find some way, big or small, to take advantage of this energetic opportunity for change and transformation. My recommendation is to begin this new cycle through purifying the chi of the old year and welcoming the auspicious chi of the new Horse year.

From the perspective of BTB Feng Shui, you can achieve this through space clearing the energy of your interior environment, and by performing spiritual purification methods for your personal chi. If you already know the Orange Peel Ceremony and the Golden Cicada Shedding its Shell this is a reminder to perform these transcendental solutions ideally on the eve of the Chinese lunar new year, otherwise on an auspicious day. If you would like to learn the Orange Peel Ceremony and the Golden Cicada I am happy to teach these sacred solutions and others to you either by phone or at my office.

The Orange Peel Ceremony cleanses away negative or unhealthy chi in your environment and fills your space with auspiciousness and good luck preparing you for the New Year.  

The Golden Cicada Shedding its Shell is for your chi, for personal transformation.

Perhaps you have already been clearing the clutter in your house with intention to make a good start for 2014. Clearing clutter is always a good way to support a new beginning and it is never to late to begin! 

Wishing you a happy, healthy and prosperous new year!

Megan Montero

831-588-5424

www.windandwaterblessings.com

Feng Shui Tip: Clear Pathways

Keep pathways clear and make sure every door can open fully so the chi can flow and nourish your life!  When doors can't be opened because they are obstructed by clutter this will inhibit the flow of chi creating blocks and stagnation.

Megan Montero

831-588-5424

windandwaterblessings.com

Feng Shui Tip: Auspicious Days

I suggest that you implement your Feng Shui adjustments and perform transcendental solutions, including purification ceremonies, on an auspicious day. My Feng Shui teacher, Jetsun Ma Master Teacher Ho Lynn, founder of the Yuan Yuan Educational Foundation has created an auspicious days calendar with this purpose in mind. Click Here to learn more about the 2014 Auspicious Days Calendar and how to order your own. 

Megan Montero

831-588-5424

windandwaterblessings.com

Plant Spirit Medicine- Healing for the Spirit

Plant Spirit Medicine as taught by Eliot Cowan is the synthesis of Chinese Five Element Medicine and a shamanic way of working with plants.  Plant Spirit Medicine (PSM) is a form of spiritual healing that aligns our lives with the healing wisdom of nature.  This alignment with nature brings balance and harmony to our lives.  Plants are more than substances taken as food or medicine.  Plants have a spirit and spirit is recognized as the strongest medicine. 

In Plant Spirit Medicine we pay particular attention to the cycles of life, the seasons and the elements of nature.  As humans we are intimately connected to this wisdom, it lives inside our body, mind and spirit.  The Five Element Medicine approach gives a grounded way of diagnosing these energies in a person enabling us to find the source of their imbalance and a way to guide treatment.  Through relationship and exchange the Plant Spirits help our patients at the root of their imbalance.

Connecting with plants is the heart of PSM. We do not learn of their healing properties in books or ask our teacher what medicine a plant has to offer.  We learn about the plants through our intimate relationship with them. We connect directly to the spirit of a plant in the dream world and ask what medicine it has to offer our people.  Sometimes a plant will even ask for something in exchange for offering its medicine.  A plant may offer me a particular kind of help for my patients and offer something totally different to my colleagues.  The medicine offered is almost always for a person’s spirit, not the body.  Treating the spirit will affect the whole body, mind and spirit.  During a PSM treatment we call directly on the plant spirits to come through our hands to help the patient. 

My personal experience receiving Plant Spirit Medicine has been profound and I continue to receive this medicine even after 8 years. The healing and support I receive continues to deepen over time.  My personal transformation inspired me to train as a Plant Spirit Medicine Healer.  I feel passionate about this medicine and feel a devotion to helping others.  It takes dedication, hard work and on going training to be an effective healer.  For a patient, it requires trust, patience and a commitment to on-going treatment to truly receive the depth of what PSM has to offer.  In our culture we want quick, fast, easy results.  Plant Spirit Medicine is deep, steady and subtle but results are profound and maintained.  For those of us who have made this commitment we are so deeply touched, transformed and forever grateful. We have experienced the beauty of how Plant Spirit Medicine has changed our lives and those of our families, friends and clients. Plant Spirit Medicine has brought joy to our hearts, the sparkle back to life and made it possible for us to live our lives more fully.  We feel love and connection to nature, the divine and our fellow human beings.

Megan Montero is a Plant Spirit Medicine Healer with a healing practice in Santa Cruz.  She graduated from Eliot Cowan’s Plant Spirit Medicine Practitioner Training in 2008 and continues to train with Mr. Cowan.  Megan is also a Feng Shui Consultant working in the Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay area.  To learn more about Plant Spirit Medicine you can read Eliot Cowan’s book, Plant Spirit Medicine or contact Megan at 831-588-5424.  For more information about Megan and her healing practice visit her website windandwaterblessings.com.

Feng Shui Tips For Businesses

There are many ways that Feng Shui can help your business. The Feng Shui of your space has a big impact on your success even if your customers, patients or clients do not come to your place of business.  Here are some tips that can help you get the most out of your space and will help your business thrive.  Give them a try and let me know what happens!

Signs are one of the ways that customers and the winds of good fortune find you!  Signs not only literally direct people to your place of business, but they are an energetic invitation to the universe making it very clear that you are in business.

I have noticed that it is very challenging for people to get their signs to work for them.  More often than not a business will either have a sign that is hard to see or they have so many signs that it creates confusion.  Sometimes a business will have a nice big sign in the parking lot, but there is no sign on the building.  Make sure your signs clearly state what your business has to offer and that people can easily find the entrance to your business.  It is still important to have a sign even if your customers do not come to your place of business.  Drive around town or walk down the street and notice the signs.  Good Feng Shui is when a sign attracts your attention and invites you into the business.

If you have read my other articles in this column then you have probably figured out that taking care of clutter is always very important!  The area around the front door should be clear and open to allow customers and opportunities to easily enter your business.  Often businesses have very little room for storage.  This results in the bathroom or a back room getting piled high with boxes and stuff.  If you are familiar with this situation, notice how cluttered, crowded and unpleasant it feels in there.  Hidden places like this can have a negative impact on business.  These hidden areas of clutter are often in the back left corner of the building, which in Feng Shui is the area related to wealth.  Clutter in the wealth area of your business can inhibit the growth, success and prosperity of your business. 

Following these simple suggestions can help attract prosperity to your business.  You will find more tips on how to help your business by reading some of the articles on my blog.  The most helpful articles to read are The Mouth of Chi and Clutter Clearing From The Feng Shui Perspective.

Megan Montero 

831-588-5424

windandwaterblessings.com 

Simplifying

I have been changing my relationship with my possessions and taking stock of what has value and meaning for me. I have discovered that my relationships and my work are the most meaningful parts of my life. Recognizing this is helping me pare down my material objects in an effort to simplify. In general I have been looking at how to do things more simply so I can have more time for what is meaningful.

The more I deepen my spiritual practice the more I can feel the hold my possessions have on me. The more I let go of things and work towards having space in my home for the chi to flow, the clearer my mind is and the more room there is in my heart to connect.  It is easier to do the work I am here to do.

I have been observing how having “things” requires time to take care of them. From the Feng Shui perspective it is important that we take the time necessary for the upkeep of our home and possessions. Keeping our home clean, clutter free and our possessions in good working order will help us lead healthier more prosperous lives.

Most people lead very busy lives and find they have little time to take care of their home. Usually the amount of things people have is much more than what they have time to take care of or have the room for.  This kind of relationship with home can interfere with the flow of our lives.

I often think the best thing I can do for my clients is to suggest the book, Clear Your Clutter With Feng Shui, by Karen Kingston. This is such an inspiring book that will help you to see your stuff in a new way and will guide you through the process of letting go of what is no longer serving you.  I suggest reading it at least once a year because this is an ongoing process. If doing it alone feels overwhelming, call a professional organizer to help you. I recommend Shannon McGinnis at Organized 4 Success.

I feel that nature is asking us to take a look at the impact our lives have on the earth and all of life. It is time to re-evaluate what truly has meaning and value in our lives. This consciousness can start at home and will have as impact on the greater whole. Go through your drawers and closets with a new perspective and see if there is anything you are ready to let go of. Question everything to see if it has a use or makes you feel good in some way. Make each "thing" you keep a conscious choice. If something does not lift your chi, let it go.  Apply this perspective to how you spend your money and how you spend your time. Working with your home in this way will make your home a sacred space that will support you in your work and life.

For a phone or on site Feng Shui Consultation with Megan call (831) 588-5424

visit Megan's website at www.windandwaterblessings.com

Feng Shui For Real Estate

           Are you trying to sell your home? Are you wondering if it will ever sell? Applying Feng Shui to your property can increase your chances of a sale and help the process run smoothly. Feng Shui will help your property stand out and can correct energies that may be keeping buyers away.

            Feng Shui teaches us that our homes directly correlate with what is happening in our lives. When we change things in our home it can change things in our life. Some floor plans and inauspicious events like a suicide, bankruptcy or divorce can create negative energies that could keep prospective buyers away.

            One of my clients describes it best how Feng Shui can help sell a property, “My wife and I have bought and sold seven houses over the years, and working with Megan Montero brought about the easiest, quickest sale of a home ever. Our home had been on the market with little movement in a depressed market. We decided to work with Megan to make our home more appealing to prospective buyers. Through her work and completing the recommendations prescribed, we received an offer shortly for a cash purchase and a two-week closing. When we balked at the quickness of the closing (We had hoped 2 months), the buyer said that we could stay in our home rent-free for 2 and half months. The buyer did not ask for any concessions on our part.” 

Feng Shui tips that will help you find a buyer:

• Work on the entrance to the building. It will be difficult for the Chi that brings opportunities and your new buyer to find you if the front door is hard to locate. Flags, lights, painting the door red and plants in colorful pots are ways to invite the Chi to your door. If your eye is attracted to the front door, so will the opportunities and your prospective buyers. Do not crowd the space around the door, make sure it is easy to get to and that it can open all the way. Keep the entrance clean and the landscaping looking healthy.
• Clear your clutter. Really go through your stuff and let it go. You want flow and space in your rooms, around the furniture and in the closets. Flow equals wealth, opportunities and the right buyer.
• Do whatever you can to emotionally let go of your property. One of my clients was very sad about leaving his home of 20 years even though his new home was beautiful and on the water. He was holding onto it emotionally and the home was not selling. Once he said goodbye to the old home and acknowledged his excitement about his new home, he immediately received a good offer and his home sold! 

Applying these Feng Shui tips may be all the help you need to get your property sold. If you are really motivated to sell your property, call me for a thorough Feng Shui evaluation.

 (831)-588-5424. Visit Megan’s website at www.windandwaterblessing.com