My First Feng Shui Consultation

Yesterday, I gave my very first simple Feng Shui consultation to a very good friend. After calculating the flying stars on my own house, and interpreting what they mean, I asked my friend if I could do her house. when I asked her, she seemed a bit nervous! Here are a few highlights from the consultation:

I hadn’t been to my friend’s house in the past couple of years, and since that time, she had done some renovations. Both the original construction and the renovations turned out to be in the same cycle “8,”  so it didn’t change the chart. She had carefully measured the facing direction, and hand-sketched for me the new floor plan. I made up the chart, and looked up interpretations. I then looked up the Eva Wong’s recommendations for the couple of problem areas I found.

The biggest problem area turned out to be in the kitchen, where there was, according to the chart, “a danger of fire caused by human activity.”

Danger of Fire Caused by Human Activity

After recommending no red in the kitchen, recommendations were to add both metal, and moving water to the sector. When I did the walk-through of the house, I found that my friend had designed her washing machine in exactly this area, and next to it a refrigerator! I think both of those would qualify as heavy metal elements. Furthermore, the washing machine (normally used daily in Morocco, because of small-capacity machines) is moving water!

European-style Washing Machine, fitting under a counter top

In the corner of the same wall is the kitchen sink, also qualifying as moving water. The stove location, across the kitchen from the sink, I found falling outside of the sector with fire danger, and in fact, falling in an extremely positive sector for health. So it is actually the ideal placement in this kitchen for the food to be most helpful. I also recommended the common-sense safety measure of having a large container of loose salt on hand in a convenient place, which could be thrown quickly on either a grease fire or an electrical fire, should one occur.

The other problem area I found was “obstacles in business,” which happily, was not occurring in the area of the business office. It was in the stairs.

Most stairways in Moroccan houses are narrow, and sharply turning, and not fitted with any hand rail, unlike the stairs in this picture

I recommended no red enhancers in the area (not that there was any red), and the installation of a safety railing to guard against accidents on the stairs. Otherwise, as the stairs are not an area one normally spends much time, I did not think the location of this problem would be a problem for the occupants.

The other thing my friend wanted was the best location for her husband’s desk, where he is presently taking some courses and studying new material. We were able to find a spot precisely in an area indicating “success in scholarly endeavors.” Furthermore, we were able to find that spot in the already-existing large home office (large enough for both husband and wife).

Home Office, with Two Desks, by Corbis

Overall, I felt it was both a very positive consultation for my friend, and a good learning experience for me, too.

Margot

Feng Shui - Determining the Correct Facing Direction of a House or Building

House in two sections, with each section having a different facing direction. According to Feng Shui rules, the main part of the house faces toward the walk-out basement, while the annex faces toward the photographer (neither section faces its front door). Photo by FuzzySputnik at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fuzzysputnik/13273952/

Houses and other buildings do not necessarily face the front door.

According to Feng Shui expert Eva Wong, a building’s facing direction is determined by which side has the most unblocked view, and the most light exposure through windows. So a building could actually be “facing” a direction opposite its front door.

Determining the correct facing direction is important in order to be able to draw a correct Feng Shui chart for the building. The combinations of numbers (and consequences of those numbers) which appear in the building’s chart will be different depending upon which facing direction is chosen.

What to Do If You Cannot Determine the Facing Direction (Competing Directions Problem):

I actually have situation with my own home! When the home was built, the facing direction was clearly the front door. But shortly before our own purchase, a high-rise building was built just in front of our front door, blocking the entire view. After we moved in, a second high-rise building was built right next to it. It seems to me that we have far more windows on our back side that allow light in. However, the views from both front and back are blocked (by buildings in front, and a row of tall trees in back).

Following Eva Wong’s advice, I have drawn two charts for our home, one for each of the two competing facing directions. Her advice is to draw both charts, then follow them for a year or more (to see which prediction of events in the two charts actually occurs). Then it becomes clear which chart is correct.

For more information on determining facing direction, I highly recommend Eva Wong’s book, A Master Course in Feng Shui (but not as your first book if you are brand-new to Feng Shui, as her book is excellent, but complicated).

A Master Course in Feng Shui, by Eva Wong (available at Amazon.com)

Margot

World-Famous Feng Shui Masters and Their Websites

Master Eva Wong, Master Joseph Yu, Master Yap Cheng Hai, Master Larry Sang, and Master Raymond Lo

Here are the website addresses for the above world-class Feng Shui masters.

Master Joseph Yu		http://www.astro-fengshui.com/
Master Yap Cheng Hai		http://www.ychfengshui.com/
Master Eva Wong		http://www.shambhala.com/fengshui
Master Larry Sang		http://www.amfengshui.com/
Master Raymond Lo		http://www.raymond-lo.com/

(Photo) The Bath I’d Like to Take!

Romantic Bath with Candle Light and Pink Rose Petals (advertising for hotelsatlas.com)

I found this ad in Tourism & Gastronomie, a Moroccan magazine oriented toward health spas. Now this is the bath I’d like to take, especially if a husband arranged it for me……husbands, take note. Why not arrange a romantic bath like this to share with your wife?

Margot

Collapse of Entire Tuna Industry in Morocco?

For the past several months, I’ve been wondering why there is nearly NO tuna on the Moroccan supermarket shelves.

Now, the July 27; 2008 issue the the North Africa Journal addresses this question:

“Scarcity of Tuna Hits Moroccan Canning Industry
The tuna canning industry in Morocco is in disarray. Canning companies are facing enormous pressure, driven by collapsing catches and record prices in the import market. Well-known canning companies are not spared from the troubled tuna sector. Having been a popular kitchen item for so long, the bright orange Tam tuna can is nowhere to be found in Moroccan markets. Owned by the Marica Company, the production line for Tam stopped operating some three months ago. The Cosarno Company in Agadir, which owns the Isabel brand, gave up tuna canning several years ago. The next one to go is most likely the Laayoune-based Calvo, which has reduced production to bare minimum.“

No wonder the orange cans of Tam are gone. What we are finding now on supermarket shelves are just a few cans of tuna (with most of the shelves left completely empty), all imported from places like Thailand!

On a French-language discussion board, I found Petitbijou posting the following comment, “Les captures sont en chute libre et le prix du thon à l’importation est de 1 000 dollars la tonne contre 300 dollars en 2005. Les importateurs se positionnent désormais en leaders du marché.”

That means that imported tuna has dropped from $1;000 a ton to $300 a ton in 2005, and that the importers are now the market leaders.

The same poster also says, “Le thon se fait plus rare sur les côtes marocaines,” meaning that tuna is now becoming very rare along the Moroccan coastlines. Another interesting fact, which I was unaware of, is that, “Le thon n’est pas pêché tout au long de l’année mais durant une période limitée qui va de juin à décembre,” or that tuna isn’t fished for all year long, but only during the limited period between June and December.

Other issues brought up on the discussion board are that the King has permitted Spanish fisherman to fish in Moroccan territory in times of severe need, and one poster comments that they hope Spain will now return the favor to Moroccan fisherman. While I haven’t heard anything about it, but there must be large groups of people thrown into unemployment by the decline of fish stocks and closing of tuna canning plants in Morocco.

Sadly, it is clear however, that humanity is in the process of exterminating all the wild fish in the ocean (just as the buffalo were destroyed in America). This same problem is affecting not only Atlantic-facing countries, but the whole Mediterranean as well.

British fisherman catching a tuna, image from: http://bluewatercruising.co.uk/captainslog2003.htm

Another article in the same issue of the North Africa Journal talks about the same problem in Algeria. Quoting:

“Bluefin Tuna Fishing in Algeria: Under the Radar Screen
The stocks of bluefin tuna along the Algerian Mediterranean coast are quickly depleting. Over fishing and capture practices that some qualify as savage hunting are all leading to fast the disappearance of tuna stocks in the whole Med region. Of a particular worry is the aggressive stance of industrial fishing fleets from Europe and Asia that do not hesitate to seek and capture tuna even in the reproductive zone of the Gulf of Syrte, offshore Libya. Because of the profitable nature of this activity, fraud and lack of transparency are paramount and unscrupulous individuals are operating tuna export businesses without being checked or controlled.”

This problem is cannot be blamed on ANY ONE country, this problem is coming from EVERY fishing country. There are just too many human mouths to feed.

Comments?

–Margot

60 Moroccan Sayings

Here is a list of 60 common Moroccan sayings for anyone who reads French, or speaks Moroccan Arabic:

http://yahia.ma/antiblog/attach/Expressions_marocaines_en_francais.pdf

These are translated from Arabic into French by Yahya Chlyeh. (I’m sorry they’re not in English.)

–Margot

Message from Beyond - What’s Most Important in Life

This week, I ‘ve been rereading Ned Dougherty’s account of his near-death experience in Fast Lane to Heaven. It’s a gripping book, very difficult to put down, and I highly recommend it if you are interested in near-death experiences.

The most important message from this book (for all of us) is that each one of us will experience a review of his or her own life. We will be required to ask and answer these questions about it. “What have I done with my life? Where is my life going? What have I done to show love of God, love of my neighbor, and love of self? What have I done to be of service to mankind?”

Each of us should be thinking about these questions now, while we are alive. None of us knows the moment of our death, but if we take care of these things while living now, we will feel on our deathbed that we have lived our lives well.

–Margot

Tea Leaf Interpretation for Cowboy/Rider on a Horse

Cowboy/Rider on a Horse - Tea Leaves Image - Photo by Renae Kiely

One of my readers (Renae) wrote to me asking about the interpretation of this tea leaf reading which her mother did for her.

I’m very interested in learning to read tea leaves, but still very much a beginner myself.

According to Sasha Fenton’s book Tea Cup Reading, “A rider on a horse brings good news from far away.”

Some other thoughts I have are that the man sort of looks like a policeman to me. According to my same book, a policeman means, “”Help from those in authority.”

Would either of these interpretations fit?

Please, can any readers shed more light on this reading?

Can anyone else out there offer suggestions as to the best procedure for beginners to study tea-leaf reading?

Margot

Appearing Naked, or Partially Clothed in Public, in Your Dreams - What It Means!

How many times have you found yourself in this dream situation, of finding yourself at work, or in a public situation, only to realized you have no clothes on, or only some of your clothes on? This dream problem has happened to me for years! I always awoke feeling very vulnerable after a dream like this.

Early this morning I dreamed of myself in the bank, in the middle of twenty co-workers, mostly men, only to look down and find I was missing my trousers and underwear!

I found myself at work, in the middle of a big project with men co-workers in the bank, only to find I was wearing no trousers, or underwear! I quickly tried to put them on as unobtrusively as possible....

I did happen to have my trousers and underwear with me (as though I had left home late and hadn’t had time to put them on before leaving). So, while attempting to carry on a business discussion (at a desk in the bank lobby), I knew my male assistant was seeing me finish getting ready, and I was imagining that he was thinking about being very unimpressed that his boss (me) couldn’t even come to work dressed and ready from home! (No one was watching me with a sexual interest, it was more like if someone arrived at work without their socks on, and was putting on their shoes and socks in front of the whole office.)

But today, while still in a sleepy state, I had a sudden flash of insight into what this dream, and all dreams of this type actually mean to myself, and to other dreamers! I realized that for me, it represents the fear of being unprepared. This actually fits my personality, because I like to be well-prepared in all situations. I become very stressed in situations where I feel unprepared. This past month, I have been helping my little sister prepare for a very big examination she has to take to see if she can enter a new private school in Marrakesh. I have invested a lot of time and effort trying to help her with math, in which we have found she is far behind. I have a lot invested emotionally in the outcome of this exam for her (and we had some big arguments yesterday about her not working hard enough these past two weeks). So in this case, I feel this is what my dream meant.

In the case of others who dream about either appearing naked, or of forgetting items of clothing, I will use the example of my grandmother. My French grandmother used to tell us that she had a recurring dream about going to a party, only to find she had forgotten her shoes. She spent the whole party attempting to hide her feet under the edge of the chair, hoping no one would notice!

I think a lot of people who have dreams of missing clothing have the common feeling that they hope no one will notice (this is always the feeling in my dream–such as when I’ve gotten on a bus, only to look down and find myself completely naked, only to hope no one will notice until I can figure out a way to find some clothes to put on). Other people I’ve talked to have mentioned similar feelings about these types of dreams.

I think most of these dreams represent the feeling of vulnerability in some area of the dreamer’s life. It could be the vulnerability of not being prepared, of having been “caught” not having done what one was supposed to have done, or anything similar.

I hope this post helps other readers! Please do share if you’ve had any similar dreams!

Margot

Damas Coming to Morocco (the Dubai-Based International Watch and Jewelry Retailer)

Damas Jewelry Store, in Egypt

Moroccan women will soon have a more international selection of jewelry to choose from, while Moroccan men will have a much better selection of watches. Damas (the well-known watch and jewelry retailer of the Middle East) plans to open jewelry stores in both Morocco and Tunisia before the end of 2009.

Favre-Leuba Watch, Produced for Damas

More than one store could open in Morocco, although exact locations have not yet been announced. Damas was founded in 1907.

Necklace and Earrings Designed by Damas, and For Sale in India

Based in Dubai, it presently operates in 18 countries, with 438 stores. Damas designs its own gold and diamond jewelry.

Men's Ring, Designed by Damas, and For Sale in Dubai

In addition to selling its own product line, Damas sells other designs by Tiffany & Co. and Links of London.

Tiffany & Co. Ruby-Diamond Bracelet, in 18K Gold

Links of London 18K Gold Necklace

Margot