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    • Using Feng Shui to Stage Your Home

      Using Feng Shui to Stage Your Home, by Christine Ayers

      (Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

      Feng shui has been used to make homes more welcoming for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. In selling a home, this factor alone can make the difference for a quick sale. If your home has been sitting stagnant on the market, now is the time to give it an energetic lift. Any edge in today's market is a good one, and feng shui provides some easy ways to invite a buyer into your home.

      • Energetic Curb Appeal
        Start by welcoming your buyer even before they reach the front door. Trim back overhanging or blocking shrubbery and trees to create an easy pathway to the door. Make sure the numbers of the home are clearly visible, both on the house and the mailbox.Make a fabulous front door: one that really stands out and catches the eye. Paint or stain the door a bolder, darker color than the body and trim of the house. New hardware will update the door as well. If you have the space, place matching planters with bright flowers on either side of the door. On a wide front porch, a bench gives an open-arms welcome and signals "there's a place for you here."

        A welcome mat is a must. Use one that is at least as wide as the front door. Avoid the postage stamp size and give your buyer a good landing pad from which to launch into the house. If you have a double door, then use a double-sized mat, even if only one side of the door opens. You want to make this critical first impression of the house seem as large as possible.

        Don't send any immediate maintenance signals to a buyer. Be sure that walkways are not cracked and paint looks fresh on the house. Replace the front door or mailbox if needed and, of course, wash those windows.

      • Room of First Impression
        In my experience, this is the room that can sell the house. This is the first room encountered and sets the tone and feeling for the entire home. Leave a large opening in the furniture arrangement to make it easy for the buyer to enter the room. Avoid building energetic walls with the back of a couch or other large blocking pieces of furniture.One mistake that is often made in this regard is over-staging. You are not selling furniture and décor objects, you are selling the space. So be sure that you do not have so much furniture that it overwhelms or distracts from the space itself. Being able to move about the room easily makes the buyer feel at home. Bumping into or tripping over things sends the wrong message.

        Light and color can really make a difference here. Make sure that window coverings are pulled back and valances lifted so that windows look as large as possible. If the room is small, paint an accent wall across from the entry. You can lift the feeling of a low ceiling by painting it a lighter color than the walls of the room or using up-lighting.

        If there is a view from this room, create an easy path up to the windows. Reflect this view in with a mirror or artwork in reflective glass. This will enhance the selling point of the view and enlarge the perception of the room.

      • The Master Bedroom Is A Bedroom
        The master bedroom is very important in making the buyer feel at home. It should present as a bedroom, not a workout space, an office, or storage area. Clear this room of anything that does not say bedroom. Make sure the bed and bedside tables are proportionate to the room.Only the head of the bed should be against a wall. This is also the best wall to paint as an accent wall to open up the room and give the bed more support. Fresh linens and a bedspread will perk things up. Avoid anything with faces, words, or sports images in the master bedroom. If your buyer is not of the same mind, it will turn them away.
      • Enliven Buyer Energy
        In feng shui, the near right corner of the home or inside a room in the home holds the buyer or benefactor energy. You can enhance this with the placement of many different feng shui objects. For example, hang a wind chime up under the eaves of the front right corner of the house to call in the buyer. If you live in a windy area, you don't want to emphasize that fact with a clanging chime, so substitute a windsock or flag.A fountain with the flow directed into, not out of, the home will also increase the flow of energy. It can be placed in the entry, or in the room that sits in the front right on the house.

        The best placement for your For Sale sign is also in the buyer/benefactor area. This is the right front of the property at right angles to the street, if at all possible. If you live in an area that requires the sign to be adhered to the house itself, use the right front third of the home. Many times this falls on the front of the garage. Be sure this kind of sign is hung higher than eye level. Looking up lifts your energy, while looking down lowers it. Apply this principle when placing your house numbers as well.

      • Conscious Staging
        Using feng shui to consciously stage your home will insure that the energy is welcoming and does not turn away prospective buyers. Look at your home objectively, as something you are selling rather than a place for your own comfort. De-clutter and pack away your collections and personal mementos and allow good flow and circulation throughout the home. The house is a container of energy. You want the container you are selling to feel large, airy, light, and welcoming for its new owner.
      • Letting Go
        Last, but not least, is that you have to let go. Release your attachment to this property and look forward to what the sale will do for you. If you free up the energy in the home it will make it easier for the buyer to claim it for themselves. It is so much easier if the buyer does not have to push or uproot you from the space. Take a little piece of the foundation of the house and toss it into a stream, river, or body of water. Let it flow away from you and let your future manifest.

      Christine Ayres is a Feng Shui Consultant with twenty years of experience. She lived and worked in Hong Kong for many years. Ms. Ayres is the author of "Feng Shui for the Garden" in Llewellyn's 2007 Moon Sign Book and co-author of Sell Your Home with Feng Shui, A Complete Guide to Staging Homes for Quick Sale in Any Market.

      Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2009. All rights reserved.

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    • Double Vision: Psychometry

      dv-1:12

      Interesting Twist on Psychometry

      My birthday is Nov. 11, 1982. Ever since I was a little girl, whenever someone holds something that belongs to me and treats it gently or with great care, I feel a strange, warm tingling sensation that seems to start in the center of my chest and expand outward in every direction. This happens whether it’s something I treasure like a favorite stuffed animal or a photograph, or something as trivial as a pencil. It happened constantly when I was young, and it still happens now that I’m an adult, though not as often. For many years I didn’t think anything of it because it was just a normal part of my experience. Since I’ve never heard of anyone else experiencing this, however, I now realize it is probably unusual. What on earth is this feeling? I’m very curious!

      – Trudy

      Dreamchaser:

      You are an empath, which means you can feel the emotions of those around you. This happens most often when someone holds something of yours.

      First let’s explore some definitions:

      Empathy: n. 1. The ability to sense and/or understand emotion(s) from another person, animal or inanimate object incorporating stimulation to any and or all of the senses (including the sixth sense) without verbally being told and/or without obvious visual clues. 2. The ability to be sensitive and receptive to outside emotional stimuli. –  adj. empathic or empathetic., v. to empathize

      Empath: n. 1. A person who has the ability to experience empathy towards another person, and/or animate/inanimate objects, in part or from all of the above definition. 2. A person who is sensitive to the emotions in others.

      I am sure that you can also feel other people’s emotions. If you walk past someone who is sad on the sidewalk, you just “know” it and you feel that sadness inside of yourself. When a friend comes to you with problems, I’m sure you cry with them and feel their pain.

      The fact that you can sense how someone feels about you when they hold something of yours is an interesting twist that displays that your heart chakra (located at your solar plexus) is very big. It is probably your largest chakra.

      I would like for you to do the following exercise frequently to make sure you stay grounded, which is very important for you.

      Sit peacefully and relax. Let the ground or chair support you. Let your muscles go. Take in an easy, deep breath, and then let it out your mouth, parting your lips slightly as you exhale.

      Let your arms feel heavy, pulling down your shoulders. Breathe. Let that heavy feeling flow down your torso and legs so you feel deeply relaxed all the way down to your feet on the ground.

      Now picture and feel roots growing from your feet into the ground like a tree’s roots going down into the layers of cool dirt, growing around rocks, traveling further and further down into the earth. Let the roots grow as deep as you wish.

      Now feel the healing, rhythmic energy of the earth itself flowing up through your roots, slowly traveling up to your feet, up through your legs and quickly filling your entire body. Feel this positive, grounded, earth energy throughout your entire being. Take in a deep cleansing breath, and exhale.

      When you are ready, open your eyes and know that this grounded energy will remain with you throughout your day.

      I wish you peace and calm.

      *****
      Astrea:

      Without the time and place you were born, I can’t determine your whole astrological chart, but in your general chart, I do see why you’re having this experience.

      You have Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Mars in Scorpio! Your moon is in Libra (very sensitive), but it’s on the cusp of Scorpio. Uranus is on the cusp of Scorpio and Sagittarius. You have so much Scorpio in your chart! No wonder you feel so intensely when others hold your possessions.

      In fact, in 30 years of drawing charts, I’ve never seen one with so much Scorpio. This is extremely unusual.

      You are one of our precious indigo children here to change the world. With that in mind, you have been given an unusual ability to go right to the heart of what someone is feeling.

      Also, as a water sign, you would be more sensitive to others’ emotions than thoughts, so when someone is having warm and loving feelings about you, and holding an item of value to you, you pick that up and pull it into your harmony.

      Your Scorpio sun allows you to feel the emotions others feel for you. In fact, since you have several planets in Scorpio, you must be very psychically gifted all around. With your natural ability, your mind is able to focus on others in a sharp, penetrating way. Even if you’re not consciously thinking about others’ feelings, when they’re holding something of yours, your mind and spirit will resonate with them.

      You felt this more as a child because you didn’t think then that you should have to control your natural ability. Education,  prejudices and religious pressure probably caused you to block a good bit of your ability. Please try not to do that!

      You indigo and crystal kids are all we have to help the world out of the mess the rest of us have made it. We need you to be able to use every tiny bit of ability you were born with. Developing your gift will open up other gifts to you that  you may not even realize you have.

      Try to practice every chance you get. If you need to be sneaky about it, all that Scorpio in your chart should help. “Subtle” is a key word in describing your personality. Be nonchalant, and you’ll be amazed at how much information will instantly be available to you.

      For example, you might hand someone your keys and see what you feel. While I realize you don’t “love” your keys, they’re still very important to you, and they’re metal, so they’re good conductors of energy.

      As time goes by, you’ll be able to develop this skill into something very useful for the world. It may take a lot of work and practice, but believe me, it will be worth it.

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