Enter the Dragon

This year, we have two of our office staff pregnant, which means, we are, by association, welcoming two Dragon babies into this world!

The Chinese Year of the Dragon is looked upon as exceptional, as the Dragon is the only creature in the Chinese horoscope that is mythical, and is actually a combination of the various parts of several animals: the tiger’s claws, the eagle’s wings, a snake’s body, a bull’s nostrils,  and a fish’s scales. Thus, the Chinese dragon is seen as a symbol of strength, superiority and rule. It is considered the most powerful.

Those born under its sign have the good fortune of being brought to life to be wise and formidable, to possess a strong aura, to command attention and receive respect. With all that, they embody the characteristics of a great ruler. Dragons are said to be like the “type A” personality—highly strung action people who achieve power by getting things done.

But in real, measurable terms, does the Dragon’s mystical magic powers predestine one’s future? That’s a big question left largely unanswered.

A lot more complicated

Chinese astrology, compared to the Western version, is a lot more complicated. You see, in Western astrology, your fate concedes to the positions of the planets and the stars depending on where and when you were born. In Chinese astrology, these positions not only influence your fate, but also establish the constitution of your elements—whether metal, water, wood, fire or earth.

And these in turn dictate the kind of environment you must live within:  the location and orientation of your rooms, buildings, furnishings and all of the other components of your living environment.  Their orientation, arrangement and decoration must produce a harmonious environment that maximizes the flow of the “Qi” or the “chi” or the energy flow or the “life force.”

Feng shui occasionally brings to a designer’s (and many times to this one’s) reality, the existence of potential adversary:  The Feng-Shui Master.  Now don’t get me wrong. I strongly believe in the existence of energies and life force. Very much so that I try to “feel” it in the spaces I go into. And although  I am no geomancer, I try to promote the “flow” of light and air, and even encourage the freedom of movement for people to go through any space comfortably, as they say that physical comfort is paramount in welcoming the life force.

But working with a professional feng-shui master is a different take all together. I don’t mind being given advice on orienting certain rooms and things, since a lot of them make good sense anyway, but what I mind most is having ceilings ripped and moved up when it won’t look right, or having a certain finished changed all together because the color wont match the occupant’s element.

Seemingly strange rituals

The worst is when these are all requested in the middle of construction, when the entire design exercise has been completed. I also don’t fancy the little charms and talismans that charade as “decorative” elements:  bagua mirrors, buddhas, dragons, Fu dogs, chimes and bells, water fountains, money frogs and lucky cats. Oh and how I hate it when they bully their way into a space! Every lunar year, the winds shift, the signs change, and what may have worked for last year, won’t work for this one. And so here we go again…

But feng shui, with all its seemingly strange rituals, is still followed by many, and even by those not of Chinese descent.  And I must confess, I try hard to understand it, because it’s been there for so long, it may give me  some real guidance to achieving abundance. It is, after all, in our human nature to try to turn things to our favor and find good fortune. Lucky are the Dragon babies, for they seem fated to have it all.

I really don’t understand feng shui. But I’m going to advise you to take on its most basic rules: harness natural light and air; clean out your clutter and all the things that don’t work anymore; be mindful of the kind of energies you feel in your spaces and try to correct them by moving things around.

I’ve done all that already and will be keeping a watchful eye on the twists my fate and the fate of those two Dragon babies that are arriving soon.

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