Feng Shui With What You Have: Maximum Harmony, Minimum Effort

308 Pages·2004·14.9 MB·English

by  Connie Spruill

FHNCi SHUI
WITH WHAT YOU HAVE
Maximum
Harmony,
Minimum
Effort
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2018 with funding from
Kahle/Austin Foundation
https://archive.org/details/fengshuiwithwhatOOOOspru
WITH WHAT YOU HAVE
Connie Spruill, FSII, and Sylvia Watson, FSII
A
Adams Media
Avon, Massachusetts
We dedicate this book to Nancilee Wydra and her contribution to the
field of feng shui. Also to our husbands, Leonard Watson and
Cliff Spruill, for their love and support.
Copyright ©2004 by Sylvia Watson and Connie M. Spruill.
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced
in any form without permission from the publisher; exceptions
are made for brief excerpts used in published reviews.
Published by
Adams Media, an F+W Publications Company
57 Littlefield Street, Avon, MA 02322. U.S.A.
www.adamsmedia.com
ISBN: 1-59337-013-X
Printed in the United States of America.
JIHGFEDCBA
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Watson, Sylvia.
Feng shui with what you have / Sylvia Watson and Connie Spruill.
p. cm.
ISBN 1-59337-013-X
1. Feng shui. I. Spruill, Connie. II. Title.
BF1779.F4W37 2004
133.3'337—dc22
2003022380
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to
the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged
in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional advice. If legal advice or other expert
assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.
—From a Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a Committee of the American Bar
Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations
Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their
products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book and
Adams Media was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in
initial capital letters.
Cover photographs © Royalty-Free / Corbis
Interior illustrations by Catherine Sheridan
This book is available at quantity discounts for bulk purchases.
For information, call 1-800-872-5627.
?
I
s I
I
I
I
!
| Contents
i
i
T
i t
si i
i I
i
i
? I5
«« »» «ox »» «« »» «« jw «oc >» «« Jm n«
I
i
I
b *» ■£
Acknowledgments.v
Foreword by Nancilee Wydra.vii
Introduction.ix
Section I The ABCs of Feng Shui / I
Chapter 1 The Power of Feng Shui.3
Chapter 2 The Big Three: Tao, Yin/Yang, and Chi.19
Chapter 3 The Five Elements...25
Chapter 4 Goals and Intentions—
Taking Charge of Your Life .39
Chapter 5 The Bagua—What's Life Got to Do with It?.51
Chapter 6 Activating the Stations of Life.61
Section II How to Evaluate What You Have / 77
Chapter 7 Get a Good Look at What You Have.79
Chapter 8 Taking Inventory.89
Chapter 9 Clearing Clutter—Keeping It Simple Is
Not As Simple As It Seems.105
in
Feng Shui with What You Have
IV
Section ill Feng Shui Room by Room / 121
Chapter 10 The Room Evaluators .123
Chapter 11 Transitional Spaces—
The Mood-Setting Themes .129
Chapter 12 The Gathering Room.149
Chapter 13 The Kitchen and Eating Spaces.165
Chapter 14 The To-Do Rooms—Office/Work Areas.175
Chapter 15 The Quiet Rooms—The Bedroom
and Bathroom .187
Chapter 16 Special Situations
Feng Shui for Entertaining
Feng Shui for Visitors
Feng Shui for Children's Spaces .207
Section IV Learning by Example / 223
Chapter 17 A Cure for Whatever Ails You.225
Chapter 18 Clients Who Used What They Had.235
Appendix A Glossary.243
Appendix B Feng Shui FAQs.257
Appendix C Feng Shui Letters. 269
Appendix D A Feng Shui Plan.277
Bibliography .287
Index.289
s t
$
*
i
I
l
I
t
f
I Acknowledgments
i
f
I
f
s
1
I
I
s
It
THIS BOOK IS A DREAM come true for both of us, as we are finally
able to share our passion for feng shui and how it has changed so
many lives. Being given the opportunity to write this book pro¬
vided us with the platform we sought for years to demystify feng
shui for the general public through sharing the philosophies of the
Pyramid School of Feng Shui. We can now answer the plethora of
questions posed to us by our clients and students and clarify mis¬
conceptions that many people hold regarding feng shui.
We give special thanks to our families, especially our husbands,
Leonard Watson and Cliff Spruill. We want to acknowledge them
for their patience while we worked into the wee hours of the night,
broke away early from family celebrations to stay on schedule, and
for their encouragement, their support, and opinions. To our
grown children, we hope this book will help them understand once
and for all what it is we do as they read the final copy and see some
of their own situations shared within the book's covers.
Our gratitude also goes to a very special lady at Adams Media,
Kate Epstein, for her enthusiasm, understanding, and discerning
editing. She kept us focused and on track, forcing us to clarify
every abstraction of our subject.
v
Feng Shui with What You Have
VI
Catherine Sheridan, professional freelance artist extraordi¬
naire, did all of the illustrations for the book. She is not only a very
talented artist; she is also an extremely intelligent woman, as evi¬
denced by her ability to understand the long-winded explanations
that we provided in order to explain our ideas.
Of course, we couldn’t forget our favorite critics, Monika
Jones and Svetlana Pelova, who spent hours reading and rereading
each chapter of this book. Their honest feedback forced us to re¬
evaluate and rewrite many passages. Also thanks to Connie Faddis
and Jennifer Hitch, who were great sounding boards when writer’s
block occurred.
Feng shui students we have mentored, class participants, and
especially our clients contributed immeasurably to this book
unknowingly. Their poignant questions, inquisitiveness, and per¬
sonal feng shui success stories set the stage for the outline of this
book. Without them there would not be a book.
We save our biggest thanks for Nancilee Wydra, founder of
the Pyramid School of Feng Shui and the Feng Shui Institute of
America. We have been blessed by her eloquent approach to
teaching this science and art. She has opened our eyes to a new
way of experiencing life and we are better for it. We are grateful for
her influence, guidance, and generosity, but most of all, for her
friendship. Nancilee is a brilliant teacher, challenging mentor,
thought-provoking writer, excellent presenter, and standup comic
all rolled into one.
Most important, we want to recognize you, our readers,
whom we believe will benefit from Feng Shui with What You Have.
We hope this book becomes a trusted companion along your life’s
journey.
8
I i
i 8
l
i
i
i
| Foreword
i
i 8
8
8 8
THERE IS NOTHING SO GRATIFYING than to experience ideas
growing to fullness. Before feng shui was little more than a speck
of light in our culture's horizon, and no one in the West recognized
the concept of how important the physical environment is to one's
experience in life, I felt bereft that there was no one else with
whom to share the work of shaping feng shui. I saw feng shui as
the fourth and stabilizing leg on the foundation of the human
experience. While Western consciousness now includes the aware¬
ness that mind/body/spirit are inexorably linked, it was my belief
that, like a three-legged stool, mind/body/spirit was missing
another leg. That leg was place—the messages of the physical envi¬
ronment that shape one's life experiences.
When the way to contemporize feng shui was only an embry¬
onic seed, Sylvia and Connie joined this journey and I acquired two
colleagues to share in the work of extricating the social and phys¬
ical scientific explanations that would give feng shui a foothold in
our rational Western world. I was truly blessed because these two
women exemplify what was needed for feng shui to emerge as a
contemporary social and physical science: an unerring sense of
exploration, a colossal energy to learn, and the grace to lightly sew
the threads of a developing field together. It is, therefore, with
VII
Feng Shui with What You Have
VIII
almost parental pleasure that I write this foreword for Feng Shui
with What You Have. I know that the information disclosed comes
to you with impeccable academic standards and is dispensed from
loving hearts.
And so, dear readers, I leave you in good hands, knowing that
this book will add immeasurably to the quality and context of
your life.
Fondly,
Nancilee Wydra