12 February 2021 (Friday) marks the New Chinese Year of yin metal ox. New year, new hopes, new dreams and goals. Optimise feng shui of your home and workplace to position, align yourself with and harvest the best energies of the new year. Traditionally, the New Chinese Year is celebrated for five days to enjoy and implement some of the feng shui tips and rituals for 2021.
Key feng shui tips for 2021
Feng shui = intention + energy + ritual
Feng shui can be described as a holistic interior design where you read and employ your home or workplace to help you manifest your dreams and goals through priming yourself with positive environmental anchors, primers and cues and representational rituals.
Feng shui is about reducing any environment stressors and maximising positive environmental aspects.
• Reduce electro-smog, dirty electricity, and switch off your wifi for the night. Remember the old adage: “Tomorrow starts with a good night’s sleep.”.
• Check for geopathic stress.
• Check the air quality of your home and add more air cleansing plants (the ‘feng’ wind part of feng shui).
• Shui in feng shui means ‘water’ – make sure you have a good water filter and ideally the whole house filter.
• Clear space for new things to come to your life. Space clearing and decluttering work magic. Especially, when you feel stuck – do something, spend an hour on space clearing/decluttering – you’ll feel better. Research suggests that people with messy, cluttered homes had an increasingly depressed mood over the course of the day, compared with people with tidier and cleaner homes. Tidying up will give you a quick dose of the dopamine (the pleasure chemical that boosts your mood, focus and success).
• Plan and prepare: last year things we’ve taken for granted for ages, were gone – invest in your home’s feng shui so you are not surprised.
Optimise the bagua of your home. Focus on the areas that are important to you and energise them accordingly.
The bagua model is similar to the life coaching wheel of life and maps the most important areas of life, such as career/vocation, relationships/marriage, family/legacy, wealth/luck, health/balance, helpful friends/travel, projects/creativity, knowledge/wisdom and success/enlightenment.
9-star ki or feng shui astrology is a simple way of charting what might be in stock for you in 2021. It’s like a story or narrative which might help you think metaphorically about your life and what’s important for you. It’s just a metaphoric map, not the territory – and it might help you navigate this year better.
Check your nine-star ki astrology star/number on the chart above and identify which house of bagua your feng shui star is in 2021. 9-star ki or feng shui astrology new year starts every year on 4/5 February so if you were born in January or February check when the new year starts for you check your Chinese astrology.
6 metal star year – 2021 = fluctuation
In the centre house of 2021 chart we have 6 metal star. In general terms, it can mean an unpredictable year and in radically uncertain times, it makes sense. This central house is about FLUCTUATION. This central house is when your chart starts when you’re born (and you return to this house when you’re nine, 18, 27, 36, 45, 54, 63, 72, 81, 90, 99 and so on). For example, if you feng shui star is 2, earth (see the chart above) then that number occupied the centre of your horoscope that year. People born in 2021 have 6 metal star. When you’re at the centre many choices and activities might come your way and it’s difficult to decide what to do. Lord Byron (5, earth) has described the pattern and the mood of this year as such, “I am so changeable … such a strange melange of good and evil. There are two sentiments to which I am constant – a love of liberty and a detestation of can’t, and neither is calculated to gain me friends.” All other houses are focused in your direction so all aspects of the bagua model can be important. Many opportunities might present themselves to you. Key suggestions: stay centred, grounded, focused and keep your mind clear and that applies to everyone this year.
So staying centred, grounded, earthed and keeping your mind clear is very important, especially in a year when there might be lots of changes. Keeping your home clutter free, as usual, is a good feng shui way. Connect to the Schumann Resonance (the Earth’s heartbeat) which is grounding and relaxing at the same time, because it operates at 7.83Hz which is your alpha brain wave pattern responsible for a calm, clear mind. Get Helios3 USB Schumann Resonance generator to populate your home and workplace with the beneficial Schumann Resonance.
Another device that has a grounding and clarifying effect on your aura is Pimat which works on the same principle as pyramid power.
Summary of the characteristics of the nine houses
When your star (check the 9-star ki chart above) is in any of these nine house, reflect on the nature of that energetic quality for you for this year 2021. For example, if your star is 2, earth, in 2021 it is in the 1 water house which is about planning / work / career / vocation / life path. If your star is 7, metal – then in 2021, it is in the house of celebration, friends and travel as well as philanthropy.
1 water house: planning / work / career / vocation / life path
2 earth house: germination / relationships / marriage / partnerships
3 tree/wood house: sprouting / family / legacy / wealth creation
4 tree/wood house: rapid growth / prosperity / luck / wealth creation
5 earth house: fluctuation / health / change / opportunities
6 metal house: prosperity / travel / friends / philanthropy
7 metal house: celebration / projects / creativity / children
8 earth house: stillness / knowledge / wisdom / new skills
9 fire house: fame / reputation / recognition / success / enlightenment
Mercury retrograde
If you believe in western astrology, three mercury retrograde cycles for 2021 are: January 30 to February 21, May 29 to June 22, September 27 to October 23. Western astrology suggest that during mercury retrograde you need to be extra careful when doing important things or making significant decisions, etc. Generally speaking, mercury retrograde is associated with times when things can go wrong, especially to do with travels and technical, mechanical, computer-wise things.
Or just list important things and key values for 2021 and represent them in any meaningful way in your home and office. You can use the bagua model below to chart what you want to happen in 2021 and adjust to your values and needs.
Colours of 2021: yellow and grey
According to Pantone, two colours will dominate 2021 and these are yellow and grey: PANTONE 17-5104 Ultimate Gray + PANTONE 13-0647 Illuminating.
From feng shui perspective, the metal ox is represented with metal colours such as grey, silver and gold as well as any variation of metallic colours. Metal element is supported by earth element (in the theory of five elements) and yellow is representative of earth element, so Pantone suggestion for the colours of 2021 are in synch with feng shui perspective. A simple feng shui ritual is to use these colours as your mobile phone wallpaper or background (just click on the image when looking at this post on your mobile phone and use it the wallpaper).
Classical feng shui tips
If you believe in classic feng shui astrological prediction (note: there is no evidence for this – at best it’s a just a metaphoric representational story), hang a metal wind-chime (or anything metallic) in the south-east part of the property since the ‘negative’ energy of ‘five’ is coming from that direction.
Characteristics of the ox year
The energies and symbols representative of metal ox year are hardworking, active and busy and stem from oxen used in agricultural society. In Chinese culture, people born in the year of the ox are considered faithful friends, industrious and cautious. The story of twelve zodiac animals goes like this: the ox ranks the second among the Chinese zodiac animals because it could have arrived the first in the race but it gave a ride to rat and on arriving, rat just jumped at the finishing line ahead of ox and therefore ox lost the first place. 2020 was the year of the rat, marking a new 12 year cycle. 2022 will be the year of the yang water tiger. Feng shui astrology studies and analysis 12 and 60-year cycles assuming that history might repeat itself – although as Mark Twain allegedly said, “History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes.”
Watch this short overview of 1961 – the year of yin metal ox (below) – to see if the past might offer us some insights for trends and things that might happen in 2021 (trigger warning: it’s not all good). In short, the key events of 1961 are: Berlin Wall is built, dividing physically and metaphorically East and West Germany as well as families, friends and society and the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space during a single-orbit flight (and 1961 was the height of the craze of the twist dance). Divergence started trending (and convergence as well, as you already know the yin and yang of things :). We’ve been experiencing the trend of divergence for some time now eg the Soviet Union breaking up in 1991, Brexit in 2001, and now Scotland wanting to break away from the UK, as well as massive divisions on many levels from geopolitical to social to economic, etc.
Work/life balance
Since, we’re probably going to work from home during 2021, it makes sense to make extra effort to make your home more conducive to work/life balance. The separation (physical or mental) of your workspace and living space is important so work doesn’t dominate your life in 2021. Check my top feng shui tips for working from home.
You create your environment and it has as much power over you as you give it. The feng shui formula ‘feng shui = intention + energy + ritual’ informs us about the key mechanism behind it ie placebo effect. Numerous studies have shown that placebos can often outperform alophatic medicine – all, because of expectation/intention and the power of belief and ritual. Read more about placebo effect – the principle behind feng shui
“What you do, what you say and what you think can influence other people by morphic resonance. There is no immoral filter in morphic resonance, which means that we have to be more careful about what we are thinking if we are concerned about the affect we have on others.” Rupert Sheldrake, researcher who coined the term morphic resonance
Money, luck and wealth in 2021
If wealth creation is important to you, and symbolism of ox appeals to you – you might want to look into a cryptocurrency called Ox if it can work hard for you (as oxen do) but Ox cryptocurrency has not been performing very well (although it has quite a good logo) in 2020 as opposed to other coins, like Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum and EOS, so be careful (but it’s good to buy when the price is so low now, and it’s relatively very cheap to every other major cryptocurrency so it’s a low risk investment).
Feng shui remedies for wealth creation revolve generally around adding money plants, water features, koi carps and symbols related to wealth, prosperity and luck factor. It’s not essential to place them in any specific area since you want the wealth vibe everywhere in your home and workplace – not just in your wealth corner! If you need to boost your luck in 2021 – this book should be your number one book to read in 2021, by your side bed table – the Luck Factor by Richard Wiseman. But if you need help with focusing on what you want, and how to anchor your needs and wants, use the bagua model (see above) to prime yourself for a successful 2021.
2021 is a metal year, and gold and silver are a good store of value and in feng shui metal element is associated with money (not currencies). Fiat currencies have been inflated with governments massive currency creation or if you like, printing and mailing people currencies and therefore they loose value all the time with dilution of currency supply (in financial terms, 2021 is going to be about one word: INFLATION/deflation). In times of radical uncertainty (read below), people go back to well trusted commodities, commodity producers and basic material stocks such as gold and silver (and other precious metals) because these most of the time perform well in times of inflation or valuation correction if you like (as the investing wisdom states: if you can drop it on your toe – it’s a good investment). And with banking apps (for example, Revolut which sells stocks, gold/silver and the Ox cryptocurrency), it’s never been easier to purchase gold and silver stocks or gold and silver coins. Silver is predicted to perform well over the next 10 years because it’s used in electronics, solar panels and electric cars which will dominate the next decade. Interestingly enough, the colours for 2021 are yellow (gold) and grey (silver).
Also, in the spirit of divergence, people are taking the power back from banks and financial institution and starting to trade themselves and winning (as we’ve seen with the negative shorts scam behind GameStop where people / Reditt community rose up against the Wall Street and won big time! as it is now known as ‘stock wars’ where the Wall Street model has been disrupted by new technologies and an emerging collective ‘people power’ that threaten to strip the banking cartel of the unfair power it has. If you haven’t followed the GameStop story: ‘Infinite Short Squeezes’ has rocketed the stock prices of previously-troubled stocks like GameStop (GME) and AMC Entertainment Holdings (AMC) by thousands of percent over the past two weeks, resulting in massive losses and the risk of insolvency for the over-exposed hedge funds which were selling negative shorts (stocks they couldn’t deliver ie one stock to two people at the same time or if you like one house to two parties – Elon Musk twitted his outrage: “U can’t sell houses u don’t own. U can’t sell cars you don’t own, but u *can* sell stock u don’t own. This is bs.”).
By the way, silver market is heavily shorted as well – so keep an eye on the prices of silver going up (it might be an opportunity, especially that it’s relatively cheap to everything else, hence low risk and the demand for silver is going up – the timing is everything but it is a full time job, to be a market timer). It’s easy to become a trader, again with apps (Revolut, etc) – and with a fractional stock trading, you don’t have to have a lot of money to join the game.
In short, when it comes to financial investments, the good old, wise adage is very relevant for 2021: don’t put all your eggs into one basket ie diversify your assets to minimise the risks (divergence trend). But, if you’re going put all your eggs into one basket (convergence trend) then you must keep an eye on it all the time! And one more small tip regarding wealth creation: if money/wealth is not one of your top three values for 2021, you may miss opportunities – simply because it’s not important enough for you.
Radical uncertainty
We are living in times of radical uncertainty. What’s ‘radical uncertainty’? The authors of Radical Uncertainty: Decision-making for an Unknowable Future. John Kay and Marvin King make a distinction between ‘reservable uncertainty’ and ‘radical uncertainty’. For ‘reservable uncertainty’ there is usually a simple solution that exists somewhere ie you can look it up. For example, if you’re uncertain what’s the capital of Estonia, you can check it easily. Or you can use known probability distribution outcome for the spin of a roulette wheel. For ‘radical uncertainty’ there is no way of resolving the problem. In short, the correct answer is ‘don’t know’. There are many aspects of ‘radical uncertainty’ such as vagueness, ambiguity, ignorance, obscurity, ill-defined issues and most of all the lack of information. It’s classical, “unknown unknowns” coined by Donald Rumsfeld, the United States Secretary of Defense who famously said, “there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don’t know we don’t know.” The authors Radical Uncertainty: Decision-making for an Unknowable Future suggest when faced with mystery-type decisions (as opposed to puzzle-type decisions), where you don’t know what you don’t know, ask “What’s going on here?”
Water element is also symbolic of wealth creation and prosperity. Short of having a water feature at home or garden, get a photo of a river, lake or pond or koi carps which are traditional feng shui fish which will connect you to the archetypical (morphic resonance field) energy of prosperity, wealth, money. The one below has been beautifully and painstaking mastered as a 3D photo. The koi carps look like they just jump out of the frame. Get it in our feng shui shop. It’s a limited edition so get it now while the stock last.
More nature
Since 2020, people are spending more time indoors, to balance that – increase the level of green space in your home and workplace. A lot of research suggests that biophila effect has a strong positive effect on wellness and performance. Add green colour, air cleansing plants, photos of nature, and photographic wall papers with nature views. Also, nature is a great reminder of our innate resilience and ability to overcome problems. Claire Colebrook, philosopher and cultural theorist, put it well: “A problem is a way of creating a future. When plants grow and evolve they do so by way of problems, developing features to avoid predators, to maximise light or to retain moisture.”
Embrace hydroponics: grow plants on water only – no soil needed, a bit of liquid fertiliser every month and keep the water top up. Start with an Indian money plant (Epipremnum aureum).
Spend some time in nature and do nothing (Dutch have a verb, niksen which means ‘doing nothing’ or doing nothing on purpose, but without purpose).
“Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing” Lao Tzu
What to do on 12 February 2021 – the start to the year of the yin metal ox
1) wear something brand new to mark the new year (I’ve bought a grey jumper and yellow socks for the occasion – following the colours of 2021 trend – see above)
2) have Chinese or Asian food to join the celebration
3) do some feng shui on your home or workplace – call your feng shui mentor (or me)
4) get nine oranges – it’s traditional
5) have fun – invent your ritual or/and reflect and plan your year (use bagua to do that)
Summary
In short, 2021 is going to be about fluctuation and inflation (as well as preparedness). So by being centred, grounded, focused and keeping your mind clear (asking the right question: what’s going on here?) you can navigate this year better and become even more successful and lucky in your personal and professional life. And keeping your feng shui up to date is essential with helping you thrive in radically uncertain times.
Your next step with feng shui
If you need further feng shui advice or to do you yearly feng shui ‘MOT’ – contact me for an onsite or online feng shui consultation for your home or/and workplace/business.
Have a wonderful, prosperous, healthy and joyful 2021!