Also known as a Yearly Update, this shorter yearly follow-up consultation is designed to address the interaction of an existing structure with the New Year’s “entering” Qi (Life Force Energy). It is different from a Comprehensive Consultation and Yearly Updates should be done only as follow-ups. They usually do not involve major renovations or any new painting.
Each building is like a person whose physical constitution can be strong (and healthy) or weak (and unhealthy). During a Comprehensive Consultation I address all weak aspects and provide recommendations on how to correct these weaknesses. After a thorough analysis of all the building’s aspects, I identify the best element to harmonize each room– one of the 5 elements and its related colors and materials– and only one for each room.
Only one element should be used in each room, as using multiple elements will have a neutralizing effect on each other. These elements are selected based on the orientation of the house, its time of construction, the date of birth of the occupants, and other variables. That is why no house is like another and all consultations take time, experience, and are generally done by skilled professionals only (not “cookie cutter” Feng Shui websites or software).
These elements are to be included in the design and decoration of the room in a very consistent manner so that there will be maximum harmony with all its components. So in this sense Feng Shui is an aid to interior design and architecture, not a substitute.
Now, unless you have a specific Asian-oriented design taste, Feng Shui shouldn’t force you to have symbolic images of dragons, tigers, tortoises, birds, fish, or any other mythological animals. Those are cultural interpretations based on local psychology that do not always translate well cross-culturally.
If you are using psychological points of reference you should stick with your own cultural background. For example, the number 4 in Chinese sounds like the word for death, hence its notoriety in the Asian community. But in the U.S. the number 13, for whatever reason, seems to have more of an effect on the Caucasian culture, and so on.Now back to our consultation topic: by the time corrections have been put in place the house’s “permanent” energy has been completely addressed and these corrections are to be considered permanent.
But what happens every Chinese New Year?
The energy of the cosmos shifts just a little bit. This shift will have a major effect on new constructions (or large structural renovations). However, the effects on an already existing building are different.
You can think of it as a change of season for the building, and some years are more favorable than others. Amongst these you have years that bring above-average financial abundance, others that cause money losses and a decrease in income; some years assist in fertility, others cause difficulties in relationships and poor health. Yearly Updates are a big part of Feng Shui and they are done extensively in the Asian community as part of the Chinese New Year preparations, literally to “ring in the good Qi.”
Of course if the building has been previously Feng Shui-ed the adverse effects of these extreme yearly energy changes will be softened anyway. However, many prefer to be on the safe side and have a Yearly Update follow-up at the beginning of each New Year to know ahead of time what to expect and to put any additional temporary corrections in place, if any are needed (and normally these will be repositioned the following Chinese New Year).
However, these corrections are not as extensive as those done during a Comprehensive Consultation evaluation and they usually do not involve things like repainting any part of the building’s exterior or interior or any structural construction (mainly because the Yearly corrections are all temporary).
During the Comprehensive Consultation session I also provide a complementary Yearly Update for the current year (or upcoming one, if done close to it) and give you all the tools and recommendations needed to successfully enter the upcoming New Year.
Let me know if I can assist you with your house, office, or business with either a Comprehensive Consultation or a Yearly Update for the New Year.
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If you would like more information or a project quote, please contact us or call (310) 860-8989 to discuss the most effective possibilities for your scope of project. We’ll be happy to assist you.
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