2008 Year Of The Rat Element

The Lunar Chinese New Year has been considered as the most important festival celebration of the year. It's also the time to cheer one another up by "chasing the bad away" using fireworks. Fire crackers have been deemed as the most auspicious tools to scare the bad omens away. Therefore, almost every family will light up the fireworks to their hearts' delight until recent times when the government are getting very cautious about the control of the content inside these fire crackers.

Talking about "chasing the bad away," it's also a very significant festival ceremony during the few days before the arrival of the Lunar Chinese New Year for every household to do the "Big Clean and Cleanse" to their homes to the effect that all those negative things called bad luck experienced in the year that is soon to expire will be chased away, creating the vacuum to absorb all the new and positive energies the New Year will bring. This is the reason for the "Burning Rituals" so often seen everywhere because when the fire is lit, fresh air in that atmosphere will be sucked in to replace that which existed before, thus creating a new set of energetic environment.

It's also very customary to hang auspicious affirmations called "Fai-chun" all around the house such that positive and auspicious words can be seen everywhere one goes. So, subliminal suggestions are not at all new to the Chinese culture indeed!

For 2008 the year of the Rat, people will do these same things again just as they do for all other years. However, since the "rat" zodiac sign is of the element of "water," and the auspicious stars are upon the East and South East directions, all the "red" things that are part of the festival celebration will be put in these directions - things like red flowers, red pots, red "lucky envelopes," red "fai-chun," red lantern, etc...

These particular arrangements are suggested in accordance with the "flow of stars" of the year of the rat. It's believed that these suggestions, when done right, will often help bring forth "good luck" for the whole family and therefore people follow them religiously.

Today being the first day of "2008 the year of the Rat," everywhere we go we can see people giving out "Red Pocket of Lucky Money" to others so as to wish them "wealth" and "prosperity" with this symbolic gestures.

This is one of the many gestures that have been carried on for thousands of years. They're very good examples to show that among the many traditions as dictated by the Chinese culture, symbolic significance carries much weight in almost all things that people do - especially at such time as Chinese New Year...

Another thing about this Chinese new year celebration is that it can be very easily seen that the Chinese actually are very conscious of the power of the subconscious mind, and that's why at the beginning of every year, they will make sure to say, hear, see, and touch everything that is symbolic of positivity in terms of positive affirmations expressed by various means.

It is a good idea to have the bedroom located further away from the main entrance. This is how to separate the Yin, which is bedroom, from the Yang, which is then the entrance. They say that the worst possible position is to have your bedroom facing or close to the front door, however being realistic, sometimes you don't have much alternative- therefore expert opinion is then necessary.

To make sure to create a comfortable and restful setting apply some soft colors that are relaxing rather than stimulating, because colors that are soothing and calming can help create very generative energies.If getting more action or dynamic as far as your love life is concerned use more stimulating colors, though you still are suggested to use them only when necessary lest it'd be too much to handle; bright color such as red, or orange, yellow etc, are often associated with Yang which can be too stimulating for the bedroom.

Again it's best to have the bed as much away from the bedroom door as possible. Putting the bed too close to the window on the other side of the room will render it impossible to accumulate the "Chi" which is essential to all good Feng Shui setup. Always have a headboard as part of the bed for stronger back support.Sleeping with the feet toward the door is one of the bad signs according to Chinese culture. Such positioning is termed a "Death Position" as if the body were of a deceased that is to be carried away feet first.The tradition has it that it's better to have something that functions like the foot-board to counter balance such a drawback. Make sure to allow for more spaces to accommodate every need and never have any clusters. No sharp corners are to be poking out pointing to any direction as they're believed to be like "Poison Arrows" which are always negative by nature. To alleviate this drape fabric over the sharp edges to create fluidity.

De-clutter! Clutter in your bedroom prevents the free-flowing of Chi. No hiding of junks underneath the bed as most people would do in China. Consider the objects that you have in your room, remove any work related items, and any objects that hold past memories that are best forgotten; as teddy bears from a past relationship. It's good to add some items that have good vibrations such as blessed objects, positively mind-programmed crystals, holy water, etc round this area.

Remove items such as TVs, exercise equipment and computers, they take up a lot of energy and can distract you from rest and romance. Further to this although having a few books placed on your nightstand can encourage your Zen, having shelves loaded with books all calling out to be read and thus distracting you from rest.

For those who are single they will find that setting up the bedroom and its items in pair can enhance the chance of meeting the long-awaited lover. The bed is indeed a love shrine to those who're in relationship already. Therefore, it's equally as important to have significant items around the bed rather than those things that reflect or carry bad energies via unhappy experiences that took place in their presence.

Another good way of securing good energy is to make use of "Vision Board" that stands for all that you're working on to manifest.

Never put a mirror around the bed as it's going to be bouncing energies - good or bad - back and forth and this is just not ideal for the bedroom area.The only cure to such a dilemma is to hang decorative material or curtains in front of the offensive mirror, cover them up when you retire for the night or if possible turn the mirror away from the bed.

Lighting should be just right - not too much nor too less. In Feng Shui everything needs to be along the "middle path" and this is more true when it comes to lighting. Use decoration measure to adjust the intensity of lighting that goes into the room.