Feng Shui and the Holidays

By now, many casual readers are familiar with the concept of Feng Shui, the ancient Chinese practice of discerning how you are affected by your surroundings. Commercial and residential structures enclose energies which were created at the time they were built and can have an enduring predictable influence on occupants. That influence can be targeted toward health, relationships, or financial matters.

Is there anything special about the Holidays, the season or just what happens with our schedules, which would require any special “Feng Shui holiday remedies?” The first answer is “no” since a competent Feng Shui consultant will advise their client on how to arrange and maintain the best flow of energy, as well as the best colors and elements to add to the décor of any given room, both long term as well as yearly advice. But there certainly is another way to look at the specifics of what the holiday season can bring to many households. One important influence is the way that people decorate their homes during the holidays, which could be a real departure from their normal circumstances.

One of the biggest culprits is what I will call “Christmas Red.”

When people decorate their homes with a lot of red color and holiday lights (inside), they are unknowingly adding the FIRE element to rooms that might not ordinarily have fire. The fire element is rather extreme; it can have a very positive influence or a very negative influence depending on how it is used. And this is only revealed through a classical Feng Shui analysis (Xuan Kong), which takes into account when the house or building was built, along with a very precise compass reading on the orientation.

Fire in the right place can contribute to fertility, wealth, and engagements, having an energetic influence on the magnetic field of a room. But, unfortunately, fire color put in the wrong location can contribute to arguments, accidents, sickness, separation and depression.

I find it ironic that during the holidays many families are tense, there can be arguments when guests come to visit and there can also be an increase in sickness or depression during the holidays. Most people would attribute that to cold weather, but I see it differently. When someone has a room decorated in bold red colors for two months it is bound to have an effect. Christmas Day is apparently one of the most popular days to commit suicide and many people also decide to get a divorce right after the holidays, for tax reasons, and perhaps after one final insult from a family reunion.

If you hire a Feng Shui consultant who can guide you through this time, that is the best option. But if you just want to play it safe during the holidays, I recommend that you don’t go overboard with the red color or stick to silver, white, gold and blue decorations since they are more “tame” as far as colors go.

Since the holidays are unavoidably an emotional time, it is important to maintain as much balance as possible in any area where you have control. Our diet and exercise routines invariably get interrupted, so if the home life is balanced, this can take the edge off the other situations, like guests. Feng Shui deals specifically with creating on-going balance in your surroundings in a variety of ways. One easy thing to check is “yin/yang” balance. If a house or room are chronically dark and dingy (with cold weather on top of it), then a person is more likely to get melancholy and/or sick. Yin characteristics are needed to balance out environments that are too “yang,” but you want to check that your home and work spaces are not too cold, damp, or dark because it would only exacerbate the emotions of the season.

As well, you don’t want your personal environment to be overly “yang” or stimulating because that can also undermine your discipline during the holidays. An environment that is chaotic, loud, too bright and unorganized can just be the last straw during the holidays when people tend to drink too much, not get enough sleep, or adhere to their home and work routines.

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