Way back in February I wrote about my new office and the risky business of being in the north in 2018. I’ve been acting as my own guinea pig, partly out of year-related doggedness and partly to see how much it is possible to mitigate the negative energy. As you may recall, the Wu Wang (5 Yellow) and the San Sha (3 Killings) are in the north in 2018. The standard advice is to stay out of the north but if you need to use it for some reason the effects of the Flying Stars are important to track month by month.

Tiger Month (February 4th-March 4th)

You may recall I was planning to move into my office in February, but I didn’t move in until March because the date I had chosen for February wasn’t good enough. My husband thought I was crazy not to get in there right away, and it’s not like me to wait patiently. I only did it because I know the importance of lining up the timing so that it works for both the person and the house. Occupying the north is a choice that goes against the energy of the year – it’s important to acknowledge and respect that.

Before I officially moved in, I loaded the room up with metal indoors and out, locked up the Wu Wang, and put a t’ang lung on the windowsill. Even then I avoided spending too much time in there. It’s not that I don’t think these remedies work. It’s that there’s only so much mitigation you can expect.

Since being courageous is one thing and foolish another, I decided not to spend any significant time in my office until April. The Flying Stars in my office would be the best then.

Rabbit Month (March 5th-April 5th)

In planning for March, I knew there would be a a magnification of the Annual 5 Yellow that I took to mean I might get burned. Take that as a metaphor or not.

My other concern about the feng shui of my office was that I would be shortsighted – maybe not seeing what was right in front of me. Doesn’t it sound funny to say that I was keeping an eye out for my own potential blind spot? How do you even do that? And how do you know whether you are affected by the negative energy?

When I have advised clients not to spend time in a certain location and they do it anyway but “don’t notice” any effects, I think it’s because they don’t make the connection with the events that occur. They expect something big and spectacular to happen to them while they are in that particular area and when it doesn’t, they tend to think I was wrong. My experience is that what happens may be big or small, but it will fit the metaphor whether or not you are open to that idea. Watch for patterns – maybe something like this:

One evening before bed I mistook a tube of body wash for a tube of lotion because they both happened to be on my dresser, they are the same size, and they smell/feel the same. I wasn’t wearing my glasses so I couldn’t (and didn’t) read the label. Since I put it on at night it was on my skin until the next morning and I ended up with a nasty case of contact dermatitis. My skin was painful, red, itchy and peeling for days. It took me a couple of days to realize what I had done, during which I was feeling sort of superstitious.

Finally, when I understood that through my own bad choice I had given myself contact dermatitis, I thought “Okay, message received; this happened because I didn’t see what was going on and yes I did get burned”. But I wasn’t ready to stop working in my office. As I said, if there was any time that would be good in that room it would be in April. Me being obstinate.

Dragon Month (April 5th-May 5th)

In the Dragon Month I started spending at least 4 hours a day in my office during the week, sometimes more. You would think that much time in the office would result in lots of productivity, but to sum it up it was just too “earthy”. I really didn’t get much done. I felt slow and stupid. There are calculations that I can do in my head that I was getting wrong. My computer kept having strange issues that required time consuming solutions. Everything I was trying to do seemed to take longer or defy even the most careful planning.

I felt both disappointed and stubborn. Disappointed because I had fixed up this space for myself that I will mostly be using for storage until next year. Stubborn about moving my books/papers/computer to another part of the house to work because I would have to clean up after whoever was there last before I could get started. In terms of feng shui all of these experiences are related to the presence of too much Earth. The solution for that would (wood!) be flexibility.

In spite of what I already knew, I tried to tweak things to make it better. I oriented my desk to a specific degree of SW and felt like I was dreaming all the time. Then I changed it to a specific degree of NE which at first brought some sharp insights, but as the month progressed I found myself feeling quite lazy – constantly thinking about napping even though I wasn’t really tired. If you study feng shui you might read this as having to do with the hidden stems of the Dragon month in the Dog year. Anyhow, I kept coming back. Being stuck in the same pattern like this might be construed as dog-like behavior. Once you’re in it it’s hard to shake it off because you’re in it. Some might experience it as depression.

Snake Month (May 5th-June 6th)

Now it’s May which is the Snake month (May 5-June 6) and I’ve been moving my stuff to the SW each day to work. The Flying Stars are good here now, especially with a little encouragement from the basin of water I change each day and the bright light that I leave turned on day and night. I’ve been tackling some boring but necessary tasks with ease – tasks that I have been putting off for a long time. I am smarter here right now than I am in my office. I’m facing my special NE direction which I find really helpful for writing, working and just getting things done. But the Snake month is almost over.

Horse Month (June 6th-July 6th)

In June I’ll move to a new spot for working. I’ll go where the good stars are. I’ve learned my lesson for now. Famous last words…

As in many other aspects of life, those who have the most choices are the ones who can be flexible. Would you rather have no choice or a choice? One choice or many? Because that’s sort of the whole point of feng shui.

If you want to chase the good energy (and choices) around your house but don’t have time to figure it out, you might be interested in a monthly subscription to my newsletter where I also share auspicious days and other helpful feng shui info. Let me know if you’d like a free sample. I promise not to make you a guinea pig.