New Moon in Aquarius ~ Astrology and Feng Shui for a Balanced Home and Body

Since the New Moon in Aquarius coincides with Chinese New Year, we can combine some traditions to create new rituals or starting points for New Moon projects. Sweeping the grounds is a Chinese New Year tradition that we can use as a space clearing ritual. Feng Shui expands on that idea and shows us how to take advantage of the design of our home and increase chi ~ good energy ~ by the use of color and the placement of objects.

As astrologers, we deal with several different types of houses ~ the real homes we live in and the houses of the natal chart. We also understand that our physical body is a home for the spirit and that the health of one affects the health of the others. Feng Shui teaches us that the health of our home affects the health of our body and mind. During this New Moon, you can use the principles of Feng Shui to bring good energy to the house of your horoscope with Aquarius on the cusp.

Simone Butler of AstroAlchemy shows us how to combine Feng Shui and traditional western astrology in her article,  Astro Feng Shui: Making Magic in Your Home. This may sound like an odd combination, but Aquarius has a knack for connecting the dots between different ideas and creating something new and useful from them. Here’s what she says about combining the two systems:

The two systems are so similar. “As above, so below” is a guiding maxim in astrology. The celestial map is a mirror, reflecting our true nature and timing on Earth. The Feng Shui maxim is, “As without, so within.” The objects in our environment reflect our internal state of being, and vice versa. ~ Simone Butler  

Is there a part of your life that feels blocked or stale? Is your “without” reflecting your “within” and the prognosis is looking dim? Try using the Feng Shui principles in Simone’s article to kickstart that area of your life.

Click to visit an interactive map.

Is your work suffering or do you need a little boost to get your focus back on track? Everyone is feeling the crunch of the recession now and morale is sinking. With so many people unemployed, we need to stay centered and focused on our work without letting depression sink in. There’s a lot of good competition in need of the job we have now, so we need to take the necessary steps to secure our jobs and income. That’s harder to do if our heart isn’t in it, but maybe a Feng Shui New Moon ritual will help turn those negative thoughts around.

Income is a 2nd, 6th, or 10th house issue ~ even an 8th house issue if you’re living off someone else’s income or your credit cards. Look around your home. Is your office a mess? Are your bills mixed into a pile of junk mail that you have to rummage through? When you find that bill, is it past due? Feng Shui can help get your attention and your bills back in order. It won’t pay the bill for you, but engaging Feng Shui principles might open the door to a little increased prosperity.

Maybe your concerns are with your social life ~ the 3rd, 5th, 7th, or 11th houses ~ which ranges from everyday communications with friends and family to your love life and marriage. It extends toward the social network of your business associates, too. Is your phone or computer dirty? Is your address book out of date? Are you in touch with your friends, or do you just expect them to be there when you need them?

As unromantic as it sounds, we have to make time for love, intimacy, and sex instead of putting it off for times when more important things aren’t demanding all our attention and energy. Simone offers some excellent advice on how to give honor and attention to this part of our life.

You might have health concerns that you want to address ~ 1st, 6th, and 12th house matters. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who didn’t have a health issue related to the signs of their Ascendant, Sun, Moon or 12th house. Familiarize yourself with health issues related to those signs and houses in your chart so you can recognize them if they arise. Your health affects all areas of your life, including your work, social, and love life, and your family. It’s all connected. We are not just a Pisces Moon or a 9th house Sun. We are all the signs, all the planets, all the houses ~ a universe unto our selves that revolves around the many other multi-verses that make up our collective.

Simone’s article covers all the above and more ~ all the houses of our natal charts and all the guas in our homes ~ offering excellent ideas on how to bring new energy to our houses (natal chart, body, and home) during New Moons. Her instructions are simple to understand and don’t involve a lot of tedious work and preparation. I bet one of her projects suits your New Moon needs, and makes you feel better, too. Astro Feng Shui: Making Magic in Your Home

A Personal Example

If you’d like to read an example of how Feng Shui worked for me, read on. If not, there are some links at the bottom of the post that you might find of interest.

Since childhood, I’ve had recurrent dreams about discovering a hidden room in my house. When the door was finally opened, a whole world awaited on the other side, populated with people who had been living in my house for years ~ and I’d never even known it. Finally, in my late 40’s and after many years of apartment living, I had a house of my own ~ my first ~ something I had dreamed of since I was a little girl.

For many years, the “formal living room” went unused. It was a room that had outlived its usefulness, a holdover from a time gone by that served no purpose anymore. The room was dead…dead, dead, dead. A mausoleum. Every time I entered the room, the energy would drain out of me and I felt extremely discouraged and sad. In the meantime, my computer and desk were set up in my bedroom, crowding me and filling me with anxiety. I’m a Cancer for heaven’s sake! Home is important to me! It’s what I love.

We never used our front porch, either, which lay just beyond the mausoleum. We moved into our house in 2001, but in 2009 the front porch was still a boring, dusty, neglected part of the house. The side entrance to the house was the one that everyone used, so the front porch was completely ignored. It wasn’t trashy ~ it was just lifeless.

 I always thought this was a haunted house.
~ A trick-or-treater at my front door 

That little trick-or-treater was right. I may as well have been sitting there in a long black veil all those years.

Last year, I made an effort to bring that formal living room and my front porch to life. I moved my office out of the bedroom and into the pallor…ooops, I mean parlor…the unused living room. The stuff from the living room went into a guest room, more rarely used space. Ah, a breath of life. (Do I even need to mention how much better I started sleeping with the computer away from my bed?) I had a new bedroom and a new office. Glory!

I brought life to my front porch with plants, a wreath for the door, a small table and chairs, and I hung a bird feeder and wind chime. It brought a whole new energy to our home ~ chi had enetered. My cats were on the front porch for the first time in 8 years. It was nice to sit on the porch and watch the traffic pass, wave to an evening walker, and enjoy my front yard in a way that I never had before.

Well, it’s time to move the chi and get the porch cleaned up again. Some plants from last summer are still in their pots ~ frozen, withered, dead. Dirt has accumulated from the wind and rainy weather. The husks of birdseed are huddled in the corners. My physical body feels the same ~ sluggish, tired, worn out ~ and looks as bad. My front porch needs attention, and so does my body and health.  The advice Simone offers is exactly what I needed for this New Moon in Aquarius. The New Moon falls in my first house ~ my image (my Ascendant), the personal presentation I make to the world. It’s time to bring in the chi, to fix up my front porch ~ and me ~ and invite new life in again. Who knows? Maybe I’ll put something funky on the front door or paint it electric blue!

 Related Posts:

• New Moon in Aquarius ~ Make Room for Abundance to Enter Your Life
• Zodiactivities: 12 Things to Do When the Sun Transits Aquarius
• Moon Phases for February 2010 with Zodiactivities
• Projects for the 12 Houses of the Zodiac
• Concepts Behind Feng Shui
• Candace Vorhaus: Sleep Tips: Feng Shui, A Solution For A Good Night’s Sleep