Publications
Feng Shui News June 2008
Feng Shui News
June 2008
The I-Ching and Feng Shui
By Lisa Montgomery
When I am teaching a certification training I like to re-read a lot of material that I find spiritual and rich in order that I can stay balanced during the training. My hopes are that this makes me a better teacher and keeps my thinking keen during the training.
Usually my reading starts with one of my many books on the I-Ching. The I-Ching, also known as the Book of Changes and The Unchanging Truth, is a book used primarily for divination. However the information in this book is far more substantial the just as a divination tool. The book is thousands of years old and has been translated into English by many authors. The book teaches that there is only one constant in all of life and that constant is change.
Many I-Ching books start with helping us to understand life. Life being enjoyed in a way that is totally different than the way most Americans perceive it. Life, like Feng Shui is about creating balance.
Most people do not think in a balanced way. They search for extremes: extreme joys and happiness, extreme financial abundance, and extreme passion.
The I-Ching explains that for every extreme there must be a shift in an opposite direction.
For example: When the housing market went extremely out of control and prices shot up drastically the I-Ching taught us that not only did a change have to occur but the change inevitably would be a drop in prices because everything would have to return to a balanced state.
We have many old sayings relating to events attached to this concept.
“The calm after the storm.” “Comes in like a lion goes out like a lamb.” (Or vice versa.) And a favorite, “What comes up must go down.” Even us Americans understand the scales have to be balanced in some way. So how do we take this into real life situations?
Try this: Leave 10 minutes early for work. After your daily drive in traffic when reaching the workplace take five minutes and just sit in your car. Breathe evenly during this time and think of a peaceful place. Then walk into work a couple of minutes early and take time to relax at your desk prior to starting your work day. This activity brings the scales into balance through your own actions instead of the universe having to create the balance for you. The ancient Chinese text teaches us that this can help extend our lives. The traffic creates an imbalance, but your actions bring everything back to an even keel.
These activities can take place in every aspect of your life. When meeting any kind of storm create calm afterwards.
This is how the I-Ching can give us a better understanding of life. It has the second use as a wonderful divination tool. To use the book as a divination tool we use Chinese Coins and a counting system to create two tri-grams which many of you are familiar with from reading Feng Shui books. In turn, we put these two tri-grams together and they will form a Hexagram. The hexagram helps us to get a numbered reading that will answer any number of questions.
Starting in August I have plans to create a more classroom like setting in the store so that everyone can start learning skills like these and together we can expand our knowledge base. The class plans will be available in late July. I hope this will be lots of fun for everyone.
~ Lisa Montgomery is a certified Feng Shui Consultant in both
©2008 Fengshuiaz.com 
