Metal Element in the Garden: Fall and Fruit

Posted on September 15, 2017September 20, 2019 by Stephanie Stewart

I don’t really need a calendar to know fall is here because:

The huckleberries and crabapples are ready to be picked.
I can see in the branches and leaves of the deciduous trees that the qi is contracting.
My evergreens have just finished their leaf/needle drop.
In the morning I can smell the ocean.
The nights are cooler.

More precisely, I know we’re about six weeks away from winter because early this morning, for the first time this year, I heard the geese honking as they headed south. I’ve been here in the PNW awhile.

In the Rooster month I’m out in the garden wrapping things up and getting ready for next year. I’ll be using all sorts of metal tools for cutting, digging, dividing and transplanting. I’ll be replacing any broken bits of my drip irrigation, checking and cleaning my rain barrels, pruning, pulling out the weeds, mulching, and harvesting the huckleberries and crabapples.

Do you know what time it is?

Fall is the season of Metal, the time when historically, we would be preparing for winter by hunting, gathering, harvesting crops, canning, preserving, and slaughtering livestock to be stored away for our human version of hibernation. For those of us who aren’t farmers or gardeners fall is the time for more modern rituals of going back to school, having the boiler serviced, or getting out the soup pot and sweaters.

Fruits, nuts and berries are the distillation of the energy of the tree or bush and therefore related to both the season and the element of Metal.

It takes three seasons of the year to make the fruits that we harvest in the fall such as apples and chestnuts. Three seasons of the year – that adds up to around 39 weeks which is the same amount of time it takes to make a baby.

It’s always the same cycle once spring comes: seed to sprout, sprout to bud, bud to flower, flower to fruit. We tend to take this cycle for granted because we don’t think about the sheer amount of energy it takes for a plant or tree to produce fruit. There’s a reason that apple trees go dormant and new mothers may be exhausted. It’s the Metal.

Summer’s Almost Gone

Posted on August 6, 2017September 20, 2019 by Stephanie Stewart

Tomorrow is the first day of the Earth Monkey 戊申 month which covers the rest of August and a bit of September. When the Monkey comes the change of seasons is accelerated. Summer’s almost gone. Let’s be glad we had it.

Things are looking spent in the garden. Most of the evergreens have just done their annual leaf/needle drop so the ground is crackly and yellow just like the grass that none of us water. We have had no measurable rain here in Seattle for the last 49 days. The ground is very dry. It’s also been unusually hot with runs of days where temperatures are in the 90s. It’s easy to see our air quality is very poor when Bellevue is almost obscured from the west side of Lake Washington. You can smell the smoke in the air from the fires in British Columbia. It’s not what we are used to here in the temperate rain forest. Big changes are happening everywhere.

The part of the change to love is the crazy amount of growth that has happened this summer, the bounty of blooms and reblooms, as well as the extended season for scented bloomers. Here are the perennials and bulbs that are still performing in the garden. Enjoy!

Weigela

Rose of Sharon

Summersweet “Hummingbird”

Scarlet Monkey Flower (Mimulus cardinalis)

Evergreen jasmine

Bee balm “Jacob Cline”

Gladiola

Feng Shui : What’s Your Story?

Posted on August 1, 2017 by Stephanie Stewart

By the time I was 15 years old, my family had moved house 13 times. We had lived in three different states, at least six cities, and many houses. We lived in Arizona mostly, but also in Texas and California. I became fascinated by houses and their atmospheres and started out defining them by which ones were safe or where the safe places were in each house. This was based purely on how it made me feel. I became fascinated by houses and to this day I still have many dreams that occur inside of houses.

During 5th grade when walking home from school I would look at the houses along the way, making up stories about each one. The story would tell who lived inside and what living there would be like. I would add details about their day to day lives. In some houses there would be French toast for breakfast. In others there might not be any breakfast at all. Not every story was a happy one.

There was one house that was my favorite and the story I told myself regarded what my life would be like if I lived there. The house stood out because there was a garden gate leading to the back yard that you could see from the street. It was the closest thing to a moon gate there was in Douglas, Arizona at the time. Really it was just a wooden gate with a rounded arch above it* but to me it seemed mysterious and inviting. On some days if I thought no one was home I was brave enough to go up to the gate and peek over for a glimpse into the garden. I was looking for magic (divine intervention?) as my parents had just separated. My thought was if I could live in that house my life story would be very different. Little did I know I was onto something.

After 5th grade my parents reunited and we moved to another house – this time outside of Douglas about 1/4 mile from the border between the U.S. and Mexico. The house was run down and you could tell nobody had cared about it in a long time. It had several low, tin roofed outbuildings that were spooky; a hot darkness filled with old junk, rattlesnakes and despair. Everywhere you went on the property there were snakes, scorpions and horrible smelling trees. It was easy to imagine nasty things had happened there in the past. Some days migrating Mexicans the adults I knew called “wetbacks” would come traveling through the desert asking for water. I was never afraid of them – I was afraid for them. That same year some ranchers who owned many acres near our property captured and tortured some Mexican men not far from our house. Fear was in the air.

There were no safe places in that house. I don’t remember much about the interior except for the bedroom I shared with my sister. Close to the center of the room there was a big opening in the floor covered by a board. The board fit into the opening so it was flush with the floor. If you put a rug over it you might not know it was there. There was some storage space beneath – not a full basement. It was like a grave that could open at any time. Nights were the worst because I was always afraid some person who had been hiding in there would come up out of the opening while I was asleep. For me this idea was somehow related to the people coming across our land and asking for water. I had the impression people had actually hidden in the hole at some time.

My mother became very ill and nearly died when we were living in that house. When she was in the hospital my brother and sister and I were sent to stay with friends and neighbors. I forgot to go back to our house to feed my parakeet and it died. My experiences, emotions and my family matched up with the feelings and impressions I had of the house and property.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because you might have thought you don’t know or understand anything about Feng Shui. I’m saying you do in the sense that you know your own story.

You have already noticed feelings, emotions and patterns associated with your environment but perhaps you didn’t take the time to analyze them. If you are honest with yourself you will admit there are places in your house right now that don’t look, feel, taste, smell or sound right to you. This is telling you something about the ch’i in those spaces.

Maybe there are parts of your house where you just don’t want to go. Maybe there are parts of your house where it feels great to you. Think of the words you would use to describe either of those two situations regarding your own house. Writing them down would be a good idea.

Now take those words and see how they apply to your health, relationships, money, career, family, children… Take note of how the words describing your issues link up with the feelings about certain areas of your house.

If that doesn’t work for you try this: What areas of your house or yard are neglected? For example, if it’s the SW there may be something you are avoiding in your relationship with your mother. Or maybe you are a mother who is not taking care of herself. If your front door (related to the mouth) is difficult to open and close, what does it mean to you? Are you not saying things that need to be said? Lonely? Purposely keeping people away? Experiencing illness related to the mouth?

Practicing this kind of thinking will reveal things you are capable of changing if you want to. As a Feng Shui consultant I can help you. What is your story? If you don’t like it you can change it by making different choices. Why would you wait?

*While writing this realized I tried to re-create this gate for a fenced garden in 2000.

Feng Shui Elemental Cure : Six Rod Wind Chime

Posted on July 8, 2017 by Stephanie Stewart

For as long as I can remember I’ve loved the sound of wind chimes*. My first memories of hearing them involve being at my grandmother’s house in the Catalina Foothills of Arizona. I associate them with the wind signaling the coming of rain or a storm; something I still find thrilling even after all these years of living in rainy Seattle. In the cycle of elements, metal creates water. The NW (metal) of the US is a rainy place to live (water).

In the practice of feng shui, a wind chime with 6 metal pipes is often recommended to activate using the metal element, or cure using the metal element. The pipes are made of metal and the number six has to do with the 6 Gua (NW) which has to do with metal. The wind chime can be placed indoor or outdoor, depending on what your house is like.

Sounds pretty simple right?

There are lots of other layers here to consider, such as the birth chart of your house, the current year and month, and the compass location where you are doing the adjustment. For example, using metal in a compass location that corresponds to E or SE is probably not a great idea because those areas are related to the wood element. In the dynamic cycles of the elements metal chops wood.

Another important factor is timing. You don’t want to try to activate or cure one thing only to cause some other problem by doing it at the wrong time.

Here’s how I see it from my gardener’s perspective:

Using metal as a feng shui activation or cure, like pruning, is only healthy if it is done at the right time and in the appropriate fashion. Before you start cutting you need to understand whether the tree is evergreen or not, the growth habits, the mature size it will attain, and when it is the appropriate time to do it. Hacking and chopping, especially in the wrong season will maim a tree forever or leave it dying a slow death.

There is a magical enhancement in artful pruning just as there is in the proper application of feng shui.

*Did you know you can get wind chimes that have different tunings? If you are curious about wind chimes you may want to check out this site: https://www.musicofspheres.com/. I have the Balinese one.

January 2015 : Fire Ox Month in the Garden

Posted on January 27, 2015September 20, 2019 by Stephanie Stewart

Walking in Seward Park you can smell the burgeoning fertility of the earth. The ground is wet and springy silencing your steps so you can hear the bossy blue jay in the distance. The fog makes sounds carry strangely so that it’s not clear where they are coming from or how far away they are. The fog has been thick enough that other walkers, the sound of their steps muffled and misdirected, seem to appear suddenly out of the mist.

All of this reminds me that we are at the energetic low of the year. This is the time when we are most open to and influenced by yin energy. The hours and days are haunted by memories, roads taken and not taken, those who have gone before us, and a sense of something just slightly out of range of your five senses.* The effect of this energy will be stronger for those who have Ox in their chart, especially if it’s in the day pillar.

January carries with it the yin earth energy of the Ox branch. The location of the Ox branch on the compass is northeast. The Ox branch is also known as the Ghost Gate and some would avoid living in a house that faces northeast by reasoning it is more likely to be haunted. January or Ox month is the most yin time of the year; the interval right before the tide turns from ebb to flow so to speak.

For purposes of feng shui and Chinese astrology, the first month of the new year of the Wood Sheep arrives at the beginning of the Earth Tiger month which begins on February 4th. If you know how to keep track, you will realize this means we have already passed through the month of the Fire Rat (December 7th 2014-January 4th 2015) and are coming up on the end of the Fire Ox month (January 5-February 3). The elements in the month stem run in a productive cycle, so earth naturally comes after fire.

Some feng shui people say that the fire in these last two months of the Wood Horse year has extended the fiery energy of 2014. Others mark the shift in energy somewhere back in December. Some mark the year change by the Lunar New Year which is on February 19th in 2015. I think all three must be taken into account. If there’s nothing else I’ve learned from studying Chinese metaphysics it is that although we can identify patterns in time, time itself is a slippery concept. Think of analyzing new patterns found within familiar patterns if that helps. There are really big time cycles such as evolution, and then there are small ones such as minutes and seconds.

In the Garden

It’s somewhere around 60° F in Seattle as I write this. It’s been a dream winter for gardeners where the blooms never seem to end. The air is fragrant with the tiny flowers of daphne and sarcococca, robins are feasting on a bumper crop of juniper berries, hummingbirds are right outside my window and bees are buzzing around the rosemary. The always reliable Helleborus orientalis “Mardi Gras” double is loaded with buds.

Daphne odora “Zuiko Nishiki” will be next to scent the air now that the Daphne bholua is peaking.

I’m wondering now if my Camellia sasanqua “Yuletide” could really keep blooming well into February, even though it started blooming somewhere back in November.

All of the flowering quinces are getting an early start this year with Chaenomeles x Hollandia in the lead as usual.

January 2015 in Seattle has been foggy, smelly, warm, icy, sunny, rainy and windy. We’re getting a full range of seasons in one month it seems. Time is slippery.

*Although it is not exactly what I’m describing, a similar phenomenon is described in the works of Stephen King. See “thinny“.

2015 Year of the Wood Sheep Forecast Roundup

Posted on January 8, 2015September 20, 2019 by Stephanie Stewart

The Year of the Wood Sheep or Yi Wei, also known as the year of the Blue Wood Sheep, Green Wood Sheep or Serious Sheep*, will begin on February 4th, 2015.

If you want to go straight to the forecasts please scroll down. If you’d like to read my 2015 feng shui forecast for gardeners click here.

Say goodbye to the soon departing Wood Horse. It pays to be careful when you’re near the rear end of a horse, but now that we are past the last showy clash of the Horse year and the Rat month it feels like we are clear of the hooves. Time to say hello to the Wood Sheep. What’s going to happen?

Even though it’s a bit long, this video might give some background on what’s about to go down.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAQVpEmla-w[/youtube]

The video illustrates the relationship of the Chinese Zodiac animals Horse and Sheep. The glamorously headstrong horses gallop around looking looking important and fast while the sheep simply follow their lead or stare at them from the safety of their herd. Just as there is no I in team there is no I in Sheep. The sheep will do what the horse wants but is wise not to get too close to the horses. The horses don’t like it. You should just sit back and admire them.

One of the common disagreements about the coming year is whether to call 2015 the year of the Sheep or the year of the Goat. I’m going with the Sheep moniker because I really hope this will be a year of people looking to protect and take care of each other. Sheep power comes through their relationship to each other – they group together and follow. They lose power when they are not together. You’ve probably heard the expression “culled from the herd”. This innate stick-together quality of sheep is explained by the Selfish herd theory. This is what selfish herd behavior looks like. The blue dot is a predator, the red dots are the sheep.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf2kiRWIkNA[/youtube]

In contrast to the behavior of sheep, goats seem to gather together for the purpose of creating chaos – they are aggressive and destructive. My interpretation of the goat vs. sheep debate is that you can’t really have the yin (sheep) without the yang (goat). I think we will see both types of groups this year; those who join forces to make peace and progress, and those who band together to make war and destruction. If there’s any year to team up it’s got to be 2015. Be sure to know exactly what you’re signing up for before you commit.

But enough of my musings. You’re here to read the forecasts from the experts. I may add other forecasts as they come out so you may want to check back later.

I wish you the best of luck in 2015!

Raymond Lo

Raymond Lo is a Hong Kong based Feng Shui Master, teacher, author and public speaker. In this year’s forecast he writes about world events and economies, popular culture, five element interactions and health issues.

The Year of the Goat

Edgar Lok Tin Yung

Edgar Lok Tin Yung is from Melbourne. He writes three different forecasts and explains about the timing of the new year’s arrival.

Richard Ashworth

Richard Ashworth is a well known Feng Shui Master in the UK. I say this selfishly but he hasn’t been writing as much as he used to, darn it. He is still one of the most prolific, curious and compassionate writers out there when it comes to BaZi. He might make you cry. He might make you laugh. Here are his predictions for 2015, followed by his animal by animal forecasts.

Bernice Low, aka BaZi Queen

You’ll want to read Bernice Low’s entire blog if you are a student of BaZi. If you decide you want to ask her a question it better be clear and specific. She doesn’t have time to try to figure out what you want to know. I can respect that.

Paul Ng

Master Paul Ng is based in Canada. He writes about Feng Shui, business and economies, politics, weather and health for 2015. The link below will take you to the animal by animal video predictions on YouTube or to his feng shui predictions.

Predictions for 2015 (Year of the Wooden Sheep)

Susan Levitt

Susan Levitt is based in San Francisco and studies Tarot, Astrology and Feng Shui. She is able to write from both western and eastern perspectives.

Ken Lai (when you get to the site, click on lecturer profile on the left for a bio)

Ken Lai is a Hong Kong born teacher of Chinese metaphysics. He lives in Minneapolis and writes two blogs, as well as offering in-person or correspondence classes.

Minimal Feng Shui Guide for 2015

Laurent Langlais

Laurent Langlais is a French Feng Shui master practicing in London UK, Paris and Los Angeles.

Sarah McAllister

Sarah McAllister is another UK based Feng Shui master. She is also an urban planner and an author. She writes general forecasts as well as forecasts for each zodiac animal.

2015 Year of Steady Progress and the Yin Wood Goat

Lynda Cook

Lynda Cook, a student of Joey Yap, is practicing feng shui in the UK. She also blogs about feng shui and bazi.

Lunghu

You’ll notice there is no link above for the mysterious Lunghu. All I know is that he writes a blog called Waking the Dragon. Sometimes he writes about feng shui.

*From Derek Walters The Chinese Astrology Bible, 2008, p.246-247

Feng Shui for Gardeners 2015 : Year of the Wood Sheep

Posted on December 5, 2014September 20, 2019 by Stephanie Stewart

The Year of the Wood Sheep or Yi Wei, also known as the year of the Blue Wood Sheep, Green Wood Sheep or Serious Sheep*, will begin on February 4th, 2015. If you have a Horse in your chart this will probably come as a welcome relief. It should be easier to let go of things that don’t really matter.

General Qualities of the Yin Wood Sheep

Creative
Artistic
Good team mate
Gentle
Generous with family and friends
Worries too much about their children
Hard work = good luck = more money
Wants to make sure everything is provided for and then some
Career and business are important
Appreciates the good life and a nice home

The Sheep is one of four earth branches in the zodiac and clashes with Ox. If you have Ox in your chart you should get ready to roll with the changes. There will be more than usual. The relationship of the Sheep and Ox is one of bullying. One may either become the bully or encounter overly dominating people. Maybe that is why some parents avoid having a child in a sheep year. They feel that their children will be taken advantage of too easily. This is a misconception based on a generalization.

For children born between February 4, 2015 and February 3, 2016 the year animal (or year pillar) will be Wood Sheep. From the time that they are born until around age 18 the energy of the Wood Sheep will be a guiding force in their charts. After that it will always be relevant as to their inner self, but the month pillar and other elements may have more influence. You are not just your year animal.

Another way to look at the year animal is as a representative of a generation. As infants we have the most in common with our peers that we will ever have in our lives. We have the same basic needs, we learn to walk and talk, then we all go to school together and grow up together. We listen to the music of the time and go through the world events of that time. Around age 18 we become more separate and distinct from our peers but until then our lives have the most experiences in common that we will ever have.

Bottom line: Does your year animal matter? Yes! Does it influence your life? Yes! Does it define you? NO!

Wood Sheep in the Garden

It’s going to be another tough year for the wood element. It could be a great year for your garden if you are able to water frequently.

You may remember in my forecast for 2014 I mentioned that I expected to be watering more than usual. I expect 2015 to be similar in the sense that we will have a warmer and longer than usual summer here in the Pacific Northwest. If you missed out on planting tomatoes in 2014 you have another chance for a bumper crop in 2015. People were still harvesting their ripe tomatoes in October here in Seattle.

It’s going to be dry, maybe not as dry as last year but if you are willing to provide the water you can expect another year of prolific blooms and even re-blooms. My flowering quince was blooming for a third time when the first frost hit in November. After I thought their season had ended, my gardenias bloomed again in October. Blooms will come earlier and stay later. In general you can expect an extended growing season. Just add water and watch it go.

Now on to the usual stuff…

Year God, Year Breaker, Three Killings (Tai Sui, Sui Po and San Sha)

For 2015 the Wood Sheep in the SW is the Year God. The year god determines the energy that will dominate the year. Sitting opposite from the Wood Sheep in the Zodiac is the Ox (year breaker) in the NE. The Three Killings or San Sha will be in the west this year.

Guidelines to Follow Starting on February 4, 2015

Do not dig, renovate or otherwise disturb the southwest, northeast or west of the house or lot.
Do not face southwest. Avoid sitting with your back to the northeast or west. Facing west is okay.
If your head points southwest or northeast when you sleep consider moving the bed.

*From Derek Walters The Chinese Astrology Bible, 2008, p.246-247

Rooster Month in the Garden

Posted on September 23, 2014September 20, 2019 by Stephanie Stewart

Can you feel it? The cooling and contracting metal energy of fall is here, peaking in this Rooster month. It’s a welcome relief for my garden after a long and hot summer. The nights are getting cooler, days are noticeably shorter, it’s harvest time and the leaves are already falling from the trees.

The month of the Yin Water Rooster (Gui You) began on September 8th and will end when the Yang Wood Dog (Jia Xu) month begins on October 8th. The month pillar consists of yin water in the stem and yin metal (xin) in the branch.

By the meteorological calendar fall has just begun. By the Chinese almanac we are a little more than halfway through the season of fall which is all about metal. It consists of August (Monkey), September (Rooster), and October (Dog). When it comes to the timing of gardening tasks I feel the Chinese almanac is more useful.

The energy of metal has to do with contraction and distillation. In the garden you can visualize how the metal element works by imagining how an apple tree harnesses the energy of the sun, water and nutrients of the soil, and condenses it to create fruit. After the apples are harvested the tree loses its leaves and goes dormant, seeming to shrink as if all the energy has been spent.

The arrival of the Rooster month signals the peak of metal energy and the perfect time for a fresh start. The looser pattern of summer living gives way to structure and organization of school. The contracting energy creates space for new beginnings. In the garden, the eternal return is evident as always. Deciduous plants and annuals are dying back while evergreens are setting bud for winter blooming.

The Rooster is pure yin metal. In using imagery to study four pillars the yin metal of the Rooster is likened to pruners, whereas the yang metal (geng) of the Monkey would be more like an axe. As we all know, there is literally a cutting quality to the energy of metal when it has been forged.

When the Rooster month comes I am reminded that it’s time to do some minor pruning. Snip snip. For major pruning (lop, saw and chop), it’s usually best to wait until the tree or shrub is dormant. In any case, pay attention to what the particular plant needs.

Other than that caveat, because the new growth is done, just a few little snips to remove small branches going in the wrong direction will effectively maintain the shape you intended.

Mammoth Sunflowers and the Yang Wood Element (Jia)

Posted on August 7, 2014September 20, 2019 by Stephanie Stewart

Sunflowers on the south side. There are 9 of them.

It’s been a great year for those hot weather plants like sunflowers, just as I predicted. I planted nine mammoth sunflowers on the south side of the house near the sidewalk. They are on the dragon side.

Sunflowers are a great example of the the yang wood (Jia) element and how it works. They grow giant sized woody trunks in a short amount of time, all the energy thrusting upward until it blooms. If you’ve grown them before then you know that once they get going it’s not the water that makes them grow – it’s the sun. The yang fire (Bing) element is what makes them so tall.

Eleven foot tall sunflower hasn't opened yet. — Eleven foot tall sunflower hasn’t opened yet.

Core Theory of Feng Shui : Five Elements

Posted on April 29, 2014 by Stephanie Stewart

I missed this post when I was doing my forecast roundup this year. In a sense it doesn’t “fit” with the others on the list because it is written by a consultant who uses a westernized form of the traditional Later Heaven Bagua.

In the western method the bagua is static and it’s orientation is not based on compass directions. Still, from the perspective of five elements I’d say the post is an accurate summary of the energy of the last couple of years and a good prediction for this year.

A lot of talk goes around among those who study and practice feng shui. From novices to masters, the discussions tend to revolve around which school or method “has it right”. If you’ve been in this game long enough you will start to understand that there are many people who “have it right”, that is to say they get results. They are not all from the same school, and use different methods. If you are not comfortable with relativism then a career in the world of metaphysics is not for you.

From a client’s perspective, it is much simpler. Most western clients are not concerned with who taught their consultant or what method/school is applied. What they want is results.

Simply stated, anyone who understands and is practicing based on yin/yang theory and the Theory of Five Elements is on the right track, no matter how they dress it up. Some people are uncomfortable with the fact that this leaves the door open to New Age ideas, approaches and inventions – not to mention the marketing opportunities. The placebo effect does help some, at least for the short term. Some consultants are comfortable selling you the remedy they just prescribed for your house, others will help you make changes that are unrecognizable as feng shui adjustments using the stuff you already have.

Of course it’s up to you to decide who you want to hire. Find someone that feels like a good fit to you but don’t forget to ask about the basic core theories of their feng shui methods. If they don’t mention yin/yang or five elements then feng shui is not what they are practicing.