With so much media attention, you have probably heard of Feng Shui. It is also likely that this Chinese concept is as hard for you to grasp, as it is to pronounce. Earth Design incorporates the principles of Feng Shui, natural laws, and mythology to create greater health, wealth and happiness. You can use Earth Design as a method to align your environment with the natural laws so you can benefit from their perfection.
For as long as we have needed shelter, man has been affected by his space. Ancient man was sensitive to his surroundings and his connection to the earth. Using the same natural instincts as his animal brothers, he intuitively understood the lay of the land. He could feel when a space was magnetically hot and over-stimulating to the body and the senses or when a site was so special that it was honored and shared with all clan members for ceremony or hunt. Man has used observing nature and using her secrets for personal enrichment since the beginning of time. This practice has reached modern day through mythology.
Mythology & Earth Design
Mythology is the intuitive explanation of the workings of nature and her cycles. History has proven that when these cycles are represented in the design of buildings and their interiors, abundance and well-being are enhanced. Ancient Earth designers across the globe constructed sacred structures inauspicious locations to honor their spiritual expression as well as their cultural mythology.
The Egyptian pyramids were constructed to house the spirit of Osiris for all eternity, and Greek temples were the gods' earthly homes when they ventured from Mount Olympus. When the gods were pleased, visionaries advised that man would be blessed with good fortune.
The sublime and enduring beauty of these sacred buildings arises from the foundation of the natural laws on which they were built. When you design according to the same laws, you too will be blessed with good fortune.
The Cycle of Personal Mythology
The force has been defined and explored at great length in Hollywood's science-fiction mythology, "Star Wars." The force or Qi (the Chinese word for energy) is the momentum of life. Scientifically, energy is the attraction of molecular structure; it is the glue that holds the cycles of nature together. Like the blood that circulates and nourishes your body, Qi is the life force that circulates through everything, natural and man-made, including your home and office.
You are part of nature's wholeness. The same energy that holds the earth's cycles together also holds your personal energetic cycle together.
Water is a beautiful example of an earth cycle: water falls to earth through precipitation; it is absorbed by the earth, plants, and animals; it evaporates into the air and continues to cycle because of the earth's force.
The mind-body-spirit triad, physically represented by the pyramid, is your personal energetic cycle. This cycle is what gives you your humanness and reason for being. Each element in the pyramid supports and nourishes the others.
A focused mind directs the body to do remarkable tasks, and the body increases in strength. A strong body supports the mind and spirit. The mind grows in confidence, and humankind reaches for higher goals. An open mind has the ability to receive expanded knowledge, which cultivates growth of the spirit. Through spiritual awareness, mental and physical sensibilities become more finely developed.
Intuition is the added dimension that exponentially evolves the personal triad.
Earth Design is a tool to help you unite the three dimensions of the triad. It grounds you in your surroundings and increases your sensitivity to how space affects you. You can then intuitively make energetic adjustments in your environment to create balance and harmony of mind, body, and spirit.
Earth Design teaches you to use nature's perfect cycles as a model for your own energetic cycle. As you refine your cycle, you begin creating a personal mythology in your own sacred space, your home. You become the protagonist, creating and living your own mythology. It is a tool for planning your environment to evolve your personal mythology: your own success stories. There are issues throughout your life that define your myth. Marriage, career, childbirth, and the death of a loved one can all be vehicles of transformation. A clear example in today's society of how personal myth, cycles, and Earth Design are played out is the American woman reaching mid-life changes.
I had three women clients who had all reached an archetypal rite of passage, a mid-life crossroads. One cycle of their lives had ended, and they were all looking to make changes to continue on their life path. The first had put her career on hold to raise her children and was now ready to get back to the work she loved. Forty and divorced, the second woman had a solid and successful business but was looking for a fulfilling life partner. The last had given herself away as a caretaker to her husband and mother to her children. At fifty-five, her children had families of their own, and her husband had left her for a younger woman. She was alone, without a sense of identity. Through Earth Design, I was able to help each of them identify blockages in their sacred spaces, their homes, and to suggest adjustments for making the necessary energetic shifts. By implementing EarthDesign solutions in their lives, they were able to take control of their situations. They realized that they were the hero of their own lives and myths!
At whatever stage you find yourself, you too can use your personal energetic cycle and Earth Design to make the energetic shift. It is time to evolve and take control of your own destiny. Spirit tells you that guidance and strength come from beyond yourself; as the hero, you have what it takes to transcend all odds. Most myths end with a variation of "...and the world was peaceful again." or "...and they lived happily ever after." Earth Design solutions can help bring that balance into your life.
Like an archetypal "Star Wars" hero, man and mythology continue to evolve, like the ever-expanding sacred geometry of the pi spiral.
Nature as the Supreme Model
Throughout history, Earth Design has been the physical manifestation of man's spiritual evolution. With intuitive observation and spiritual awareness, Plato and Pythagoras validated Earth Design through mathematics and science. More recent Earth Designers also applied their intuition to interpreting nature's laws. Frank Lloyd Wright explored the cantilever by imitating how a tree branch extended off its deeply rooted trunk.
Buckminster Fuller designed the Geodesic Dome according to the magnetic grid lines of the earth and The Platonic Solids. You do not have to be a masterful designer to start developing your own intuitive sensitivity.
One day, I was hiking in the Canadian Rockies, and I gradually came to recognize that Johnson Canyon was constructed by fire (igneous) and earth (rock), magnificently chiseled by water (glacial runoff) and air (winds). Because I had a working knowledge of Feng Shui, I realized that if the natural five elements had the power to create such wonder, it would be easy to understand how using representations of the five elements in our homes and offices could make a significant impact on our lives.
Use nature's perfection as a model; she is rich and abundant. As part of the natural order, you are also perfect and have the opportunity, when you combine it with motivation and hard work, to grow in wealth. By wealth, I am referring to the humanness of being, which is the joy of life: rich in respect, love, and health, ready to give to each other and back to the earth.
The spiritual aspect of Earth Design is the most exciting part. The more your physical environment provides a conscious or unconscious base of comfort and beauty for your body, the more your mind and spirit are free to reach great heights.
The entrance to the Louvre Museum beautifully represents the physical manifestation of this concept. It masterfully expresses global spiritual evolution and is displayed for the whole world to experience.
The entryway, which is the most important part of any space, is a large crystal pyramid. When you look at this sacred shape, you are reminded different from those of the Egyptians and the Mayans, or of the steeple of a church or mosque? They are all physical representation of man's quest for ascension.
Mr. I. M. Pei, who designed this recent addition to the Louvre, used today's technology and building materials to design a pyramid of light. What does that concept mean to you? Standing under the street level, in the belly of the pyramid, you can look up through the glass at three different building facades. The spirit of today's architectural contribution serves to connect the buildings that were constructed over the centuries. Each has a unique facade, reflecting the architectural style of the period it was constructed. In the womb, you can look up at design history.
Through the light, you experience evolution through Earth Design. I experienced pure magic when I entered this light pyramid. I descended from street level on a beautiful spiral staircase. All of a sudden, through the middle of this spiral, a stainless-steel cylinder started to rise from its base; I realized this was the elevator. When fully extended, I saw the double helix of DNA, and the universal mathematic proportion of pi. Evolution.
Like traditional pyramids, there are underground passages that connect the pyramid to the various wings of the museum. One passage terminates at the subway. At the entry to the terminal, there is a marble pyramid four feet square at the base. Right above its apex is an inverted glass pyramid of the same proportion: apex-to-apex. Above the double pyramid, as part of the building structure, is one of the three pyramid-shaped skylights that surround the larger main entry pyramid. (Aren't there also three smaller pyramids at Giza?)
Here I was greeted (at a subway entrance no less!) by the hermetic wisdom: "As above; So below. "Through the funnel of the glass pyramid, light fills the solid and stable earth plane for universal balance. Where the pyramids merge, looking almost as if they had been computer generated, a three-dimensional Star of David is created connecting heaven and earth.
All roads lead to Paris
In Paris, there are no straight streets, except for the Champs d'Elyses. This magnificent street connects such spiritual structures as The Louvre Museum, the Egyptian Obelisk, and the Arch de Triumph. It terminates with the modern sacred structure, La Grande Arche, located in the La Defense section. With only one straight street and so many important monuments on it, could it be that the Parisian Earth Designers intuitively knew how to lay out the city to connect this important street to a ley line and the earth's energy?
I wanted to get close to La Grande Arche, not only because it is architecturally interesting, or because it has a geodesic type structure, but because it intuitively called to me. Not taking my intuition lightly, I knew it was time to be lead on a journey.
Ascending in the exterior glass elevator, I went up to the rooftop observation deck. As I walked out, a roof-sized astrological chart greeted me. It was cloudy that day, but it seemed to me like a gigantic sundial. I suspect when there are shadows, they indicate where the sun is positioned in the heavens, and if the date were April 20, the spring equinox, shadows would indicate the sun entering Aries.
Sacred modern architecture is alive...man is an integral part of the heavens...and of the universe!
The architect had used the heavens as a design tool, just as ancient Egyptian, Greek, Mayan, Aztec, and other cross-cultural Earth Designers have done since man began constructing buildings.
From Stone Age to New Age, Earth Design is about vision
As you begin to use Earth Design and develop sensitivity to the principles of nature, you lighten up. You are gentler with yourself and the people around you. You become more at ease with life. Your new perceptions enable you to make better decisions. People enter your life with a willingness to support your goals, knowing that in turn you will help them reach theirs. You work smarter, not harder, leaving more time for the other joys of life.
Now, isn't Earth Design easier to grasp and pronounce?
When life is full, all riches come with greater grace. When you are rich in your complete humanness, you set an example, inspiring others to live to their full and balanced potential.
Jami Lin transformed Feng Shui by integrating interior decorating and self-development to bring EarthDesigntm home to the spirit. Interior designer, internationally renowned Feng Shui lecturer and consultant, Jami has authored two books: "Feng Shui Today: Earth Design the Added Dimension," and "The Essence of Feng Shui: Balancing Your Body, Home, and Life with Fragrance." She also compiled "The Feng Shui Anthology," and "Feng Shui Today: Enrich Your Life by Design." videos. Feel free to contact Jami at her email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.,or her office at 800-EarthDesign or 305-756-6426, or PO Box 530725, Miami Shores, FL 33153 USA. Website: http://www. jamilin.com
Reprinted from the Summer 2000 issue of "Qi Journal"