February 1st: New Moon in Aquarius; Year of the Water Tiger begins
February 3rd: Mercury Retrograde ends
February 4th: Solar New Year; Make Annual Feng Shui Changes
February 16th: Full Moon in Leo
February is a month to move forward! We begin the month with a new moon in Aquarius, an air sign. Aquarian traits include being optimistic, independent, and self-reliant, nonconforming, sometimes a bit eccentric, free spirited, and progressive with an eye on the future. The shadow side can manifest as being aloof, temperamental, and not willing to compromise.
Use the energy of this February new moon to help you to clear away stagnant thinking and release what’s been holding you back. This is a time to dream big, pay attention to breakthrough ideas, and reflect on what you’re working towards. Don’t be surprised if you feel a bit rebellious as you prepare to make room for what’s next. Whatever it is, be true to yourself.
February is Helpful People Month
In your home, the area to work with this month is the Helpful People and Travel gua. This is the front right corner of your home, every room in your home. Your office or workspace, and your land. Helpful People and Travel is about the right relationships and resources showing up when you are ready for them, or when you want, or need them. Help comes in the form of community support, family and friends, mentors and guides, networking. You might find yourself laying the groundwork for your future, being a helpful person to others, or being comfortable asking for help and receiving it! The energy also supports wider involvement in worthwhile group events and humanitarian pursuits. Tune in, pay attention, and get involved!
I encourage you to pause with this new moon and reflect on your future. What do you really want? What would it feel like to have it? With whom do you envision spending time? Write down your thoughts and dreams. Suspend all doubt or “wishful” thinking. The energy of wishing for something keeps it in the future. Transcend the stage of wishing. Instead, picture yourself actually experiencing your dreams and feel them become real. Giving thanks that you already have what you want (in advance of it actually happening) is a very powerful addendum to this, as is preparing a Vision Board. Be clear about what you want and move ahead acting as if you already have it. In time, you will.
Helpful People Associations: Your Head, Your Dad, Heavenly Energy, and Metal
The feng shui bagua has several layers of information. Being the most male-oriented area, as represented by the Heaven trigram of three stacked, solid lines, it's associated with heaven, authority and leadership, the father or oldest male in the house, your head and brain, and the Metal element.
If you or anyone in your home suffers with migraines or frequent headaches, adjust the energy in your Helpful People and Travel guas throughout every room in your house. Also adjust this area if you would like to attract or call on supporters or helpers (seen or unseen), strengthen relationships with your father, stepdad, father-in-law, or father figures. Remove clutter, open up blockages, and emphasize Earth and Metal energy to help get the chi flowing.
Years ago, a client mentioned that his wife had frequent migraine headaches. He told me that she was regularly sitting in a broken chair at her very cluttered desk, in the front right corner of their kitchen. This was her workspace and it happened to fall in the Helpful People and Travel gua of their home. I suggested that he replace the chair and encourage her to tidy up her desk. When we met a few months later, her migraines had stopped. Coincidence? Synchronicity? Feng shui? The important thing is that she experienced relief and was on happier and healthier path.
The Helpful People and Travel gua is a Metal area.
The Metal element is about order, organization, precision, clarity, and focus. A significant attribute is that Metal goes right to the heart of a matter. It cuts through everything and brings order to chaos. When you have too much or too little Metal, it’s out of balance. Too much Metal in a space or too much Metal in a personality will show up as people being too much of a perfectionist, or being too abrasive, critical, judgmental, obsessive compulsive, sarcastic, indifferent, or aloof. When Metal is deficient in a space or a person, you might notice that’s hard to focus, there’s no strong sense of purpose, work may be sloppy or unfinished, there is no routine, or you feel unprotected.
If you (or others) feel scattered, aloof, or indifferent, audit your spaces for the Metal element. In your home or environment, Metal qualities are represented by the colors silver, white and gray, any and all metal (gold, silver, copper, aluminum, brass, steel); and circular, oval or arch shapes. Begin with your Helpful People and Travel gua and then branch out to other rooms. Depending on the room, reducing the colors white, silver, and gray or adding red, black, green, or blue would be a quick fix. Also, reducing round, circular items by taking some away or adding square shapes and flat or tall rectangular items (such as a tall bookcase or cabinet) would also shift the elemental balance.
On the other hand, if you find it hard to focus, it’s hard to complete projects, you feel unprotected, or you have no strong sense of purpose, bring in more items with Metal qualities, or make some swaps throughout your home. As you bring in more items with Metal qualities, notice how the energy shifts.
Adjust your Helpful People and Travel gua if you would like to:
- Bring more organization, focus, precision, or clarity to your life.
- Attract resources and/or helpers to you.
- Work with a mentor, coach or other professional.
- Strengthen a relationship with a male figure in your life.
- Honor your Dad or father figure.
- Alleviate or eliminate headaches.
- Do a community or humanitarian project.
- Travel to a particular area.
Tips for your Space
So, what does this mean for your space? It’s beneficial to have representation of special helpers and Metal energy in the front right corner area of your home, as well as any room in your home. White, gray, or silver walls or furniture are well situated in the Helpful People and Travel gua. Don’t worry if your room is another color. You have options for activating this gua. These could include:
- Circular, oval, or metal picture frames,
- Metal lamps, sculpture, art or décor,
- One or more crystals, such as a bowl of beautiful crystals,
- Angel figures … to bring in more angelic help or support for you,
- Images, symbol or statues of spiritual guides, spirit helpers, buddhas,
- Photos of your dad or other father or important male figures,
- Pictures or symbols of teachers, mentors, or other guides,
- Photos, art, or symbols of places you’d like to visit,
- A vision board or collage of what you want, including particular people,
- Symbols of projects you’d love to happen, or you dream about, or
- Business cards for you and other supporters (Place your realtors cards here if you’re selling your house!).
Adjust Your Own Chi … Do you Need More or Less Metal in your Aura?
You can also use the Five Elements to adjust your own chi. If you need to amplify Metal qualities to bring more order, precision, and clarity to your life, wear more white, silver or gray. You can also wear clothes with Metal designs, such as polka dots or circular and oval patterns. Metal jewelry, particularly with circular and oval shapes will enhance these qualities too. If you find that you are too critical or judgmental, wear more color, particularly red, black, blue or green, and less white and gray. Also add in design shapes that include free-flowing shapes and florals, or horizontal, vertical, or triangular designs, Reduce or eliminate yellows, browns, earth tones and square shapes.
It might feel uncomfortable at first if you or your space have been out of balance for a while. If you’re not sure and you’d like some help, contact Peg for a consultation. You can send along some photos, or a short video, or spend time virtually reviewing your space. Peg will provide you some ideas and suggestions in as little as 15 minutes together ($45.00).
Pay Attention to your Wealth Gua
When working intentionally with a specific gua, the opposite gua is also important. They go hand in hand. Thus, the Wealth gua, the back-left corner of your space, is paired with the Helpful People and Travel gua. Think of it as Helpful People influencing your Wealth and Prosperity. Read more about the Wealth gua in last November’s blog post.
Working with the Five Elements
When you want to ramp Metal up, add color, furniture and décor that represent Metal and Earth elements. If you want to tone it down, introduce colors or items with Water, Wood and Fire elements.
Metal energy is represented by petroleum, items made from petroleum (plastic), iron ore, large rocks (such as granite) and crystals mined from deep within the earth. Metal energy takes various forms:
- White, gray, silver, and light pastel colors … walls, furniture
- Metals such as silver, gold, copper, tin, aluminum, and brass
- Circle, oval and arch shapes
- Marble, granite, and flagstone
- Natural crystals
- Petroleum and things made from petroleum (plastic)
- A metal lamp, bell, picture frame, sculpture, etc.
Earth energy is represented by:
- Square shapes
- Yellow, Brown and all Earth tones
- Big items that hug the earth, such as heavy furniture low to the floor
- Sand and Seashells
- Bricks, Clay, and Adobe
- Wooden furniture (because it is harvested or dried wood)
Water energy is represented by:
- All forms of water, water features
- Art with water (lakes, rivers, oceans, streams, rain and snow, etc.)
- Black and very dark colors
- Glass and mirrors
- Free form, wavy and symmetrical shapes
Wood energy is represented by:
- Fresh plants and trees
- Fresh flowers
- Green and blue
- Vertical stripes and tall columns
- Floral fabrics
- Art with any the above attributes
Fire energy is represented by:
- Sunlight and the sun
- Candles, lights, and sparkly items
- Fire and flames
- Red and the red palette
- Triangles, pyramids, diamond, and cone shapes
- People and animals (including pictures)
- Electronics and electrical items
February 1st: Meditate and Write Down Your Intention
Every new moon provides an opportunity to start fresh. February 1st is an excellent day to reflect on what you really want and to believe that you can manifest it. Do a meditation and visualize your dreams coming to fruition. Journal and write about them. Writing things down is a powerful technique. It gets the energy moving in your direction. This month I encourage you to write down your intentions, place them in a red envelope and then place them in a special place or in the Helpful People and Travel gua or your house or a room in your house.
When you write your intentions, write in the present tense, just as if things are happening now. Include as many details as you desire. Keeping your focus in the present, brings things closer to you.
As you have time, clean and refresh the Helpful People areas of your house, the front right corners. Remove clutter or debris that may have been sitting around for a while. Remove dust that’s been accumulating over the winter months. Vacuum and dust high and low. Get deep into the corners. Replace burnt out lightbulbs. Discard old catalogs and magazines. Return items to their proper places.
Mark your calendar and check back with February 16th’s Full Moon to see how they have taken root. You might be pleasantly surprised.
If you’d like to learn about the year of the Yang Water Tiger, read this blog post.