With only weeks before Chinese New Year, households are once again on the lookout for home design tips to increase their financial luck, improve their work lives, keep themselves protected, and enhance their personal relationships. Not to worry: MyProperty.ph spoke with Philippine feng shui expert Hanz Cua, who shared his thoughts on making sure that luck is on your side during the Year of the Fire Monkey.
Apart from cleaning your home from top to bottom, cleansing it with incense, and displaying the mandatory 12 round fruits to represent 12 lucky months of the year, Cua makes a few suggestions that will bring luck to your home this year.
1. Blue is this year’s lucky color in feng shui, and it’s the color for increasing one’s luck in the wealth department. Because 2016 is the Year of the Fire Monkey, the water element won’t be present. This means you need to incorporate the color blue, which represents water, into your home in any way you can, such as painting your walls blue, hanging blue curtains, or using blue pillows. Another way to keep the balance is to set up actual water features in the home, such as an aquarium or a water fountain.
2. Cua says depending on your Chinese zodiac, you’ll have to put a different charm in a specific area of the home to enhance your fortune. Rats and Boars need a red object or lava lamp in the south. Oxen, Sheep, and Dogs should put a water element like a fountain or aquarium in the north. Tigers should display a stone like a tiger eye in the southwest. For Rabbits, an amethyst in the northeast will improve their luck. Dragons should put a water fountain or aquarium in the north. Snakes and Horses need a metal element like a wind chime in the west. Monkeys and Roosters need to accessorize the east with a fortune plant.
3. It’s important to do all of your activities in the east section of your office, as this ensures that your wealth luck will increase. Business calls, contract signing, and all work-related activities should therefore be done in this area of the office.
4. The south of the home is also considered to be lucky; it is where you can experience unexpected wealth, promotion, or business expansion. You can keep the positive energy up in this area by moving the radio or television, turning on the lights, or positioning a lava lamp or money coin in this direction.
5. For students who want to do well in school, Cua suggests reviewing and doing homework, projects, and any other academic activities in the west part of the home.
6. The center of the home will contain the Illness Star in 2016. Cua warns that an epidemic similar in magnitude to the Ebola virus is possible this year, and that people should also be wary of medical conditions like stomach problems and respiratory diseases. Placing a wu lou—a bottle charm that resembles a gourd—in the center of the home will help protect its residents from illness. This sector should also be devoid of any fire-related elements like bright lights or anything red, yellow, or orange.
7. Because of the presence of the Argument Star in the northwest sector (also known as the “father sector”) of the home, fathers (especially those born in the Year of the Dog or Boar) will find themselves to be more aggressive and quarrelsome. This can be cured by placing a lava lamp or anything red in this sector.
8. When buying a property, choose a neighborhood where residents are affluent, diligent, and successful, as this will positively affect your state of mind and encourage you to work hard as well. If you’re buying a home that was built before 2004 and has not been remodeled since its construction, it is said to have stagnant chi and will need curing to revive its wealth luck.
Cua advises that while there’s nothing wrong with following the principles of feng shui, these should only be seen as guidelines. People must still keep in mind the importance of hard work, open communication, and looking after one’s health in making their lives better. Kung Hei Fat Choi!
*This is Press Release
