Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 8th. If you’d like to improve or strengthen your relationship with your mother or a mother in your life (stepmom, mother-in-law, etc.), freshen up your Partnership or Marriage gua. This is the back-right corner or your home and every room on your home.
The I Ching is the basis of the bagua. The Partnership gua is the area where the Earth trigram expresses itself. The Earth trigram represents “mother” in the mythical family within the feng shui bagua. Earth is yin energy, thus the connection with the feminine attributes and the relationship to mother … think “Mother Earth.”
In balance, Earth energy is nurturing, caring, and reassuring. Earthy rooms feel comfortable, solid, and grounded. Out of balance, excess Earth can be smothering, over protective or come across as constant worry or not being able to do enough for others. Deficient Earth energy, on the other hand, expresses itself by begin closed off emotionally and spiritually, fear about survival, and a lack of stability.
I find bathrooms, powder rooms, and laundry rooms in the back right corners of many homes. It’s nothing to worry about, the area just needs balancing. By their nature, such rooms add a lot of water energy, which overwhelms and weakens Earth energy. If you’re in this situation, you can balance the energy by incorporating more Wood, Fire, and Earth aspects into your décor. Wood energy weakens Water and Fire strengthens Earth.
How might this manifest in your space? There are lots of ways to do this. You can use color. Yellow or any earth tone would be great. Brown, red, and pink also work well. If you like green and blue, introduce these as accent colors.
Square, triangular, and diamond shapes are also supportive. You might have square floor tiles, or square picture frames on the wall. You could also hang a square-shaped mirror. Triangular and diamond shapes might come though patterns in fabric, art, or décor.
Pottery is very earthy and works well in the Partnership gua. Pottery might include beautiful plates and place settings (for dining rooms and eating areas), or plant pots. They could be any color. Just note the color and correlate it with the appropriate element. All areas benefit from the presence of each of the five elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water). The amount or level of each element depends on the room, your intention, and your unique circumstance. There are no set formulas. Everything is fluid and depends on what you are aiming to reinforce or to shift. Making changes with intention is very powerful.
Also check your space for any direct or subtle messages that conflict with what you’d like to happen. Photos, for example, hold a lot of energy. Be sure that the photo is flattering and that it was taken during happy times. I had a beautiful photo of my daughter and me hanging in the center of two houses for many years. One day I suddenly realized the energy it was holding. The photo was taken two weeks after a miscarriage and I was very sad, even though I looked happy, and the circumstance was joyful (a family wedding). My husband and I wanted more children, yet we had a huge block against this in the center of our homes.
Check drawers and cabinets, pictures, art, décor, things that have come as gifts, etc. If anything brings up a negative association, examine the root cause and see how it fits into your life. In the case of my photo, we removed it from the center of both houses and set it aside. I didn’t toss it out. My daughter has a positive association with it and she may want it in later years.
After you’d audited your space, bring in one or more items that express your intentions and what you’d like to manifest. To strengthen a relationship with mom, it might be something as simple as a candle or a beautiful piece of rose quartz. You can then place your intention into the item via the Three Secrets Reinforcement. This is a three-part blessing that transfers your intention into an object or space. If you need help with this, contact me.
To learn more about ways to work with your Partnership gua, read this previous blog post.