A bit about Feng Shui

First, it is impossible to report just a bit about Feng Shui.   It is a much involved metaphysical study that scrutinizes your home, the land around it and the relationship each individual occupant has to the present time, the evolving time, the time the home has endured and also the way energy is permitted into the home. Chi is observed to see how it reacts to the shapes, colours, elements and design of each individual room and the pathways that are created or blocked between them. 

You cannot master Feng Shui at a weekend workshop or by reading a few books.

In Eastern Philosophy Feng Shui is also interpreted in conjunction with other kinds of luck that are characterized by astrological and heavenly influences.  Feng Shui is not... simply about hanging crystals, mirrors or other trinkets and it is not entirely about power and wealth.  

I’m certified in traditional feng shui.  I have also interviewed or have been affiliated with every major school of thought or practice. I have reported on the subject matter thru written magazine articles and television programming. Most importantly, I have lived through several feng shui audits myself. 

There is a huge population of believers. There exists great controversy in perceived rules and regulations. There are many disputes about how energy patterns ought to be identified, manipulated and dealt with. 

Nothing is absolute.  All is merely probable and then it changes. 

There are no perfect homes.  We are drawn to our homes for unknown reasons and like the children who become our offspring…. we have nominal choice should they be brilliant, disobedient or challenged in anyway. We can try our best,  but our only true choice is how we manage these circumstances and feng shui can be a coping strategy. 

A learned practitioner eventually understands that even negative energy patterns aid a person in their spiritual growth. Aggressive and overconfident chi can boost the timid. Sick and melancholy stars may influence the healer. Even destruction can be a blessing in disguise for without a catalyst, rebirth is not a possibility.  

Reporting on Feng Shui Philosophy

Like any other divination reading (like tarot/iching) feng shui is a re affirmation of the life you are already living. The worst thing a practitioner can say is “sell your house immediately!”   I believe your family members and home found you. You are the integral link. 

You cannot ever blame your house, the neighbours or God. You can however, make the best of the potential your house has to offer and learn to embrace the potential in a mature and appreciative manner.  Interestingly, you will find that if you own multiple buildings; businesses and vacation properties... you will note that energy combinations repeatedly present themselves. 

I would say that, the good inside you comes from the life you have already lived and is shaped by the acceptance of the energies you are given - but by all means, if you can identify and adjust those energies to bring yourself success and happiness then  - go right ahead - learn to support and modify energy.  Think of Feng Shui's chi identification the same way you would internal chakras and chi we unblock in acupuncture. 

Believing you can create abundance symbolically  - generally makes it so.  We can heal our selves and our homes but living, the healed life is truly a state of mind.  

Feng Shui is just one of many spiritual luck decoders.  It is custom in some cultures, a ritualistic exercise to follow with many and most certainly,  a very strong belief. 

More about your author's link to Feng Shui Philosophy  

A bit about Traditional Christmas Foods

Serving Christmas Pulla

I’m from Northern Ontario. Rural Sudbury, as a matter of fact.  Pretty much everyone I knew was Native, Finn or French Canadian… or a combination of the the three. There were other people- but I didn’t know them. Or at least, I didn’t know them well. 

I’ve been a resident of Southern Ontario for (gasp) 39 years, been with my partner who is French Canadian for 24 years. Did I adapt all his cultural traditions from Montreal, Quebec? … NOPE.  Well, some - but it’s all about what I call mine.  I do the cooking. I am the Mom. 

Every cultural background has their traditional food - Finns have Pulla Bread. It’s yeasty and tastes of cardamom. It takes forever to make, is messy but takes up enough hours to make it a ritualistic exercise in custom and seasonal belief. Even when it dries up (as it will shortly) I feed it to the birds. That’s my seasonal custom. 

Gather Ingredients 

Let it rise

Extra Points if Kids look Finn

Divide into loaves

Dynamics of family change.  What remains? Family tradition and Christmas food. One day my children will (hopefully) remember My Pulla and Christmas meals, as I remember my Moumma’s. (Grandmother’s).

My Christmas Pulla

Glaze 

Mom shapes Christmas Tradition

It’s the end of the year, it’s cold and the grand finale is being planned and executed.  

I’m the "Mom the Matriarch" and there’s a certain awe in that revelation.  My Children are now young adults.  My own birth Mother and Mother in law do not - will not - have not been the Matriarch for the Holiday season in decades and my Partner and I, have realized that we are and always have been, the ones our offspring look upon to shape our family’s Christmas tradition. 

I didn’t always realize I was the catalyst of how our rituals, customs and holiday celebrations play out. I’ve written before about the Winter Solstice.  I truly respect the evolution of astrological and environmental changes this pivotal time brings.  I have also shared how my family has come to know Christmas. It’s about scholarly debate; traditional & commercial rituals.  

When our children were little, everything revolved around Santa, that great Spirit (I explained) who like a ghost, came into our lives to bestow gifts upon them, because he represented love and cherishing.  We invited extended members of the family that we barely saw through out the year - because it was tradition. I did that for the children… so they would know grandparents, aunts or uncles.

Santa "Ghosts" the Spirit of being Loved & Cherished

Over the years we established routine and modified it a few times, because our family dynamic -like everyone else’s - was subject to change.  What remains today for us, is celebration and commercialized gift giving on Christmas Eve and feasting on Christmas Day. Even the birds are fed special on Christmas Day.  I hope my Children have noticed that.  Some of my Partner’s French Canadian customs are honoured and some of my Finnish roots are - subtly played out throughout the season and I believe there is now a comfortable traditional compromise that pleases us all.

What Christmas has come to be, for us... is

when we spoil our children with gifts,  drink more wine than usual and put great emphasis on the traditional meal that we share.