I’ve been gradually shifting gears with my career over the past few months, and my husband is considering doing the same, so it’s a good thing we’ve decided to renovate our kitchen. At least that’s true if you take the Chinese art of feng shui into account. You see, our kitchen is located in what’s known as the “career area” of our home and according to Katherine Lewis, an L.A.-based feng shui master I consulted a couple of weeks ago, making positive changes to this area will positively affect the career opportunities that come into our lives.
Trained in several schools feng shui, Katherine relies on different approaches for different circumstances. “I use the Tibetan Black Hat school if the home is already in existence because it’s simpler and more flexible,” she told me. “For new-from-the-ground-up projects I use the Luo Pan Compass school.” The latter approach takes physical, intractable aspects of the land into account to determine the positions of each of nine life areas, which include career, knowledge, family, wealth, fame/recognition, relationships, creativity/children, helpful people/travel and health. The Black Hat school relies on what’s known as a bagua map, or octagon-shaped template, to identify the life areas in a home based on the position of the front entrance. According to Katherine, all projects, large and small, involve blessing the land or space and honoring ones ancestors as part of the process.
“I won’t tell people who want to change their lives that they have to move a window or a door,” she told me. But since we’re planning on making substantial changes anyway, I asked her if she had specific recommendations for our kitchen to make it most beneficial for my husband and me. “The career area of your home is associated with the element of water and also the color black or dark blue,” she said. “A simple change you can make is to include a photograph or work of art related to water, such as an image of the ocean. No one wants to paint a wall black, but if you put the artwork in a black frame, or add a curtain with black stripes, that will do,” she said. “Another thing you could do is put an object that relates to water, such as a pitcher, on a shelf.” These symbolic gestures serve as conscious reminders of one’s intentions to enhance certain aspects of one’s life, says Katherine. They also stimulate what’s known as ch’i, or vital energy, that is said to promote positive opportunities and general well-being.
It just so happens that my husband and I are planning to use an almost black, charcoal gray tile on the floor and a watery blue tile as a backsplash, so we seem to be good on the color front. Like Shono Atsushi, another feng shui consultant I spoke to a few weeks ago (see my post from 8/24), Katherine also suggested moving the sink so that it doesn’t align directly with the stove. She also urged me to immediately replace our broken microwave oven, which konked out a while ago. “All appliances should always be in good working order,” she said. “And always use all four burners of your stove.”
To keep the good energy flowing in our home office, which is located in the “creativity” and the “helpful people” areas of our home, she suggested clearing away any kind of books, objects, and even stationery out from under the desk (my husband be thrilled about this). “This way energy can flow around you,” she said, “otherwise you’ll just feel blocked.”
Although, feng shui is generally used to create a harmonious home, Katherine says it can also be applied to improve any aspect of your life such as offices, desks, nurseries, weddings, and even your clothes or body. She also frequently works with real estate agents, who want to apply feng shui principles to homes before putting them on the market, and she regularly consults with celebrities, studio heads and musicians, who are plentiful in L.A., as well as architects and designers. To find more about Katherine and her firm, Harmony and Balance, visit her Web site.
