Influences for 2010 - The Year of the Tiger The
Chinese year of the Metal Tiger - Geng Yin - commenced on February 4 2010. This
year’s prominent characteristic is one of strength, coupled with
challenges. The
year element is yang metal. Its Chinese character symbolises a metal weapon,
though at the same time associated
with leadership, justice, loyalty to friends and helping weaker associates. The
Tiger is yang wood and its strength resists the metal, which in the elemental
cycle seeks to destroy it. Their clashing relationship expresses a tendency
towards disharmony or conflict, but fortunately the year’s hexagram is Bi, which means to assist or to befriend, and this is
how differences can be overcome or harm can be avoided. The
Tiger is associated with movement, so expect travelling or moving home this
year and take care with your driving, particularly if you are born in a Tiger
or Monkey year, or if you are a 2 gua.
Although it is not apparent, the Tiger also contains fire and earth,
fire giving it more power and combating with metal. The Monkey clashes with the
Tiger. People born in Monkey
(metal), Snake (fire) or Tiger years can use the symbol of a Pig for personal
protection. Health
issues this year focus elementally on lungs, skin, colon and circulation. If you are aware of a weakness in any
of these parts of your body, take precautions and look after yourself
well. Antioxidants and omega 3
fish oils will help to fight free radicals, support your immune system and
cardio vascular health. Fresh air,
walks and outdoor activities will
replenish you and assist your elimination of toxins. Without
water in this year’s chart, financially in business you could see growth
occurring without substantial money gains. Banking, engineering and hi-tec
industries may experience investment and more stability due to their being
related to the metal element. This year is the start of a
new decade and the Tiger represents February, the first month of the Chinese
year. Wood symbolises new growth.
So all in all it indicates making a fresh start this year, in whichever
way works best for you personally. For instance you may want to take up a new
hobby, change your wall colours,
throw out all you old clothes, move location or job, or start a new relationship.
Acknowledge the wood Tiger by placing a tree or
upright plant in the North, indoors or in a container outside, where it will
also serve to protect your property from one of this year’s undesirable
energetic influences. If you are seeking romance or career advancement, put
four bamboo stems in water there instead, or as well! In the Northeast hang a string of six metal
coins or place a Quan Yin calabash. Introduce a touch of blue in the Southeast
and red in the South. Place a
Selenite crystal or Buddha in the West.
Put a salt water cure in the Southwest to deal with this year’s most
disruptive energy. The Northwest and centre areas are the most desirable
sectors this year. Simply put a
citrine crystal in the centre of yur property to optimise it. Remember to clear out any clutter
there and in all sectors before you place these remedies. The active nature of this year requires
some precautions, as it is best not to disturb certain areas, including North,
Northeast and Southwest, and avoid starting substantial renovation or
construction anywhere without picking a good date, which I can advise if you contact me. This year I am offering to
assist you with an in depth mini-consultation by email, or a visit at an
advantageous fee to update your feng shui. I can also provide some stylish new
remedies. If your place has not
been cleansed recently, I am able to assess your property from a distance and
advise you whether a cleansing will be helpful for you. Remember that it is a
successful way to shift an old atmosphere and to replace it with a clear new
resonance to enter the new decade. Please give me feedback too of your own
progress. At the end of January I moved
back to London, appropriately just in time for the New Year. As well as continuing my
connections with existing clients everywhere and meeting new ones, I hope to
have more opportunities to bring feng shui into design and architecture, and to
use it convincingly to enhance the feeling of the buildings we are creating. During this year I shall be
sending out a regular newsletter, so please send me your email address to be
included on the list. BT have
refused to put my phone number on transfer as I have a different service
provider in London, so you will only be able to reach me on my new number 0207
419 7828 or on my mobile. The numbers are also on my website, where you will
soon find regular news page updates and new teaching information. Wishing you a successful,
busy and supported year of the Metal Tiger With love Sylvia Sylvia Bennett FSSAAccredited
Feng Shui PractitionerEnvironmental Design ConsultantRoyal
Institute of British Architects Affiliate
URBAN ALCHEMY There is a revolution growing in cities around the world. Vertical gardens - lush green living walls - are appearing; embracing the sides of tall buildings and structured faces, transforming drab urban environments into exciting flourishing, nourishing landscapes. Vertical gardens are not just aesthetically appealing, beautiful living art forms. The astounding variety of plants that are happy to inhabit them create abundant new inner-city eco-systems. These growing, living surfaces provide charming natural habitats that encourage a biodiversity of wildlife, butterflies, birds and insects. Significantly they also improve the air quality around them, cool the 'concrete jungle' in summer through transpiration, absorb sound pollution and engage a sense of elated well-being in people. Plants need only water, minerals and light, plus carbon dioxide for photosynthesis - and there is plenty of that available in urban surroundings. Many exotic plants like bromeliads, dendrobiums and scheffleras, also sedums, succulents, grasses, ground cover plants, ferns, euphorbias, and hundreds more varieties will actually thrive in these vertical environments. Their different foliage shapes, structures and colours make spectacular effects possible all year round. These stunning walls are usually constructed of lightweight steel mesh or louvred plastic membranes with damp glass wool or felt pockets in which the plants take root and grow hydroponically, having water and nutrients fed regularly through an irrigation system and ideally using rain or recycled water. Their evolution during the mid-nineties was largely due to a visionary Frenchman. Patrick Blanc created the green transformation of many public buildings in Paris and elsewhere, changing their facades into striking green lush living art forms. Other living wall creators have been inspired by his amazing vertical gardens. Now these ecologically sustainable green walls are springing up all over the globe, in cities as far apart as Sydney, Stockholm, Mumbai, Toronto, Sao Paulo, Lisbon, Bangkok and London, Probably the most impressive installation of all has taken place in London at the Greenwich Peninsula site of the circular O2, which now inhabits the old Millenium Dome. After it had been virtually abandoned for 5 years, the Dome acquired new owners who embarked on a two year development programme before they launched the new O2 in June 2007. Luckily for the O2, Alistair Barr, the architect involved in regenerating Peninsula Square in front of it, took a sensitive approach to the project. He had a passionate feeling to include some soft landscaping that would define the Square and separate it from the acres of tarmac and deserted land that stretched beyond the development. So in his innovative design, he incorporated a gently curved 120 metres long and 5 metres high beautiful vertical garden with six elegant water shutes running down it at intervals. This growing, green living wall extends from near the subway exit to a point ahead of the O2 entrance door, bordering the open space of the Square and guiding thousands of visitors harmoniously towards the venue's door. It transpires rather fortunately that the O2 entrance door faces Southeast (145 degrees) and the water-nourished vertical garden faces North (340 - 05 degrees) and the relationship between both has a positive significance. The living wall supports the venue; it gathers the energised air coming from the river Thames that flows round the building’s far side, effectively returning this beneficial chi towards the entrance. Previously much of that value was lost, because it simply drained away over the extended wasteland. The other meaningful focal point of Peninsula Square, which opened to the public just in time for the launch of the O2, is an exciting trio of geysers that send plumes of water ten metres high into the air. They are set in the paving in line with the entrance door, which means that the venue can reap the benefit that such positively located water brings. Alongside them, an iconic slender spire extends upwards to the height of the tallest new structure in the proposed ten year surrounding development plan, its tip disappearing in the sky as if uniting heaven and earth. Man, in the form of visitors to the site, completes the trilogy which is fundamental to feng shui.. The architect was unaware of the power of feng shui principles when he planned his design, yet an innate 'understanding' must have been involved. Couple these positive influences with the business expertise of the new owners. No wonder the Millennium Dinosaur has metamorphosed into one of the most successful entertainment venues in Europe.
c Sylvia Bennett May 2009 First published in the Feng Shui Magazine Summer 2009
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