Trisha Keel is professional educator and a natural-born teacher, a feng shui master, and metaphysician. It is her mission to share her knowledge with others to encourage, enlighten, and empower others so they may heal, grow, and achieve their goals.

This brand new seminar series shares ideas secrets of blending the principles of feng shui with the powers of each new Moon. Leave with ideas you can implement in an afternoon and stage your life for success in each of the Qualities governed by each Moon.

This year-long series will include two Sessions of seminars. Come alone or bring a friend and save! Tuition is $30 per class or $150 for 6 seminars in Session 1($30 savings). Session 2 tuition is also $30 per class, but $175 for 7 seminars ($35 savings). Couples register for $50 a pair (Session 1@$250; Session 2@$300). Attendees receive a 10% discount on all items purchased during their Temples Gate Treasure Hunt the day of class.

Register for any and all of the seminars to be held the Saturday before each new moon, from 1-3 pm, at Temples Gate at 625 West 19th Street in the Heights. Seating is limited. Call today! For more information about the classes or to register, please call Joel at Temple Gate, Tuesday through Saturday, 11 am to 6 pm or Sunday, 1-5 pm at 713-863-0525.

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Use Feng Shui and the Willow Moon of April to Set the Stage for Romance
By Trisha Keel, Tomorrow’s Key, www.tomorrowskey.com

Romance is all about YOU! Setting the stage for romance involves enhancing space and time with your personal energy signature. Use the time of the Willow Moon and weave the magic of springtime into the frequencies of your most private environment—your bedroom. Realign your environment to harmonize with what pleases you sensually and set the stage for a powerful place of passion! Treasure yourself above all others. Know that you are beautiful and self-confident. Feel the self-empowerment that comes from knowing and loving yourself, and you will exude an aura of energy that is irresistibly attractive.

Start with an evaluation of your personal space. Approach your home from the front door, where your special guest will enter. Then walk through your place and stand the middle of your bedroom. Do a very slow pirouette and consider everything you see. You want the answers to the following questions to be a resounding “YES!”

Thirty Ways to Set the Stage for Romance:
__ Is the front door and porch area welcoming and fresh?
__ Is the house clean and quiet?
__ Is the bedroom room clean - surfaces cleared and dusted; mirrors sparkling; bed made; clothes put away?
__ Is the room clutter free?
__ Is there a lock on the bedroom door?
__ Is the head of the bed on a solid wall that does NOT have plumbing behind or inside it?
__ Is there a solid headboard or is the head of the bed against a wall?
__ Is the bed tightly assembled and squeak-free?
__ Is the bed set up so that both sides are away from the wall?
__ Is the bed made with high threadcount linens or satin, if preferred?
__ Are they in good repair, clean and lightly scented?
__ Are there four fluffy pillows to support two adults?
__ Is there no nest of throw pillows that have to be removed before you can get into your bed?
__ Are there two bedside tables and shaded lamps of equal/similar size?
__ Is there a source of music or the sounds of nature, as preferred?
__ Do you have the colors pink, white, red, and/or purple included in the space?
__ Is there a deep pile rug or carpet next to the bed on both sides?
__ Does the room smell fresh and sensually pleasing to you, but not in with overpowering amount of scent?
__ Are there no photos of other people in the room?
__ Are there no flowers or art depicting flowers in the room?
__ Is there a clear space upon which to set a tray of beverages or taste treats?
__ Are there drapes or curtains to soften sharp edges around windows and provide privacy?
__ Are there candles in the room that can be safely lit or lamps that can be turned down to candlelight levels?
__ Is the temperature of the room comfortable and just a bit cool?
__ If there is a bathroom next to the bed, is there a live plant inside, is it clean, odor-free, and the door closed?
__ Are all animals removed from the room, including cats, dogs, birds, fish, reptiles, arachnids, and children?
__ Is the bedroom in the back, rather than along the front wall of your dwelling?
__ Is the bedroom not over a garage?
__ Are all exercise equipment, sewing machines, desks, computers, and televisions removed from the room?
__ Do you feel special in this room, delighted with your treasures, and proud of your personal space?

The Willow Moon of April is known as the Moon of Enchantment. In this lunar cycle, magic dances to the heartbeat of Spring. The first flush of deeper love feels like a spell that is working in spite of logic or the demands of our normal lives. This feeling intoxicates our senses, brightens colors, and sweetens flavors. Time tilts. While you do not exert your personal energy to gain power over others, you do sometimes hold them “in thrall.” You are charming and enchanting. You share your own magic and make more by the light of the Willow moon.

Your self-confidence and self-empowerment provide an invitation to savor a bolder tapestry of life, combining various sensory experiences. Your most primal sense is scent. Scent bewitches in an instant. Your brain is especially responsive to scents that arouse passion. Your body responds reflexively, often without your brain realizing why. Use this powerful sensory input in your personal space. Blend or use only one scent of tuberose, jasmine, gardenia, ylang-ylang, or lavender to arouse and entice in various ways:
• Bathe in scented water
• Use a reed diffuser or daub some oil on a light bulb (before you turn it on) or use a ring diffuser
• Apply a little of the essential oil on your pulse points - wrists, throat, behind your knees and below your ears
• Use candles with these scents or make some of your own from beeswax and infuse the scent of your choice
• Dilute the scents in water (4 drops essential oil to 10 fluid ounces of purified/distilled water) and spray yourself, your hair, sheets, carpet, car, briefcase, or the air in your bedroom.

The colors of love include red, pink, white, and purple. Purple is an empowering color, so wear it! If you’re not comfortable being fully and royally in control, tone your purple down to wisteria or lavender. Avoid totally encasing your body in lavender, however. Its blueness can cause you to appear cool instead of sssssssssssexy-hot! Make sure to include erotic art, romantic lighting, natural stones, and elements in pairs to promote the passion.

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Use Feng Shui and the Hawthorne Moon of May to Set Boundaries in Your Life

As I mentioned in my last column, romance is all about you. In fact, your entire life is all about you. Your job is to take care of you. To the extent that you make this your first priority, your life will reflect your own opinion of you, your sense of self-esteem and personal worth. The quality of care you provide for yourself will show others exactly how you wish to be treated.

And unless you are aware of and actively taking care of your own needs, you will quickly find yourself sacrificed on the altar of the needs of others. This need to give and give until those you love are literally feeding off your energy is a blueprint for breast cancer. With all due respect to any who may not have survived or who are actually surviving this devastating disEASE, no one is comfortable in an environment where they feel that those they love are “eating them alive.” This is not OK. Where such an energy configuration exists, boundaries need to be defined. Those who are feeding off your energies need to be disenchanted. They need to learn to take care of themselves. They must first learn to respect themselves, to know they are empowered and capable of their own care. You need to lead the way and to let them. You need to learn to become selfish.

Let’s talk about being selfish. Most of us were taught that being “selfish” was not a good thing. As a child, you were most likely taught to share your toys and treats. Those of you who had a problem doing so might have been reprimanded, setting up a pattern of giving away at least part of what was yours regardless of your personal needs. The end result of this would be a tendency to question your self-worth. When you doubt your own value, others do too. If you’re willing to accept second best, that’s all you’re going to get. If you don’t feel that your own needs are worthy of fulfilling, no one else will either.

When you do what makes you feel good and tend to your own needs first, then you have joy to share. You don’t even have to think about it – the joy just flows out of you and fills the hearts of those around you. I’m not talking about conceit or narcissism. I’m encouraging you to have a good,  healthy sense of self-respect and self-esteem. If you don’t love and respect you, no one else can or will love or respect you either. To build up your self-worth, you need to think different thoughts. As you think differently, so too will others around you. To change your thoughts, first change your environment. Even if you have to pretend, set the stage of your life AS IF you love you. Start with your bedroom and bath. (Please be sure you already took care of the list in the Willow Moon column before starting this one.)

__  Is your bedroom clean, dusted, and sweet-smelling?
__  Are your bedroom surfaces clutter-free?
__  Is there a mirror that is hung at the height that frames your face within it?
__  Do you have a mattress and box springs that is less than ten years old?
__  Is your bed placed  in the power position of the bedroom?
__  Have your bedroom windows been washed in the last year?
__  Is there nothing under your bed (except possibly stored bed linens)?
__  Are there locks on your bedroom and bathroom doors?
__  Is there a recent and flattering photo or painting of you in your bedroom?
__  Do you have your own favorite scent present in your bedroom and bath?
__  Are your closet and drawers organized, well-lit and a little empty?
__  Are your pillows and bed linens less than two years old?
__  Is your underwear beautiful, sexy, well-fitting, and less than six months old?
__  Do you have at least one set of sleepwear that can be described as “decadent”?
__  Are there no spider-webs, crunchy insect bodies, or hairballs in your corners, windows, or under your furniture?
__  Have you worn everything hanging in your closet within the last two years?
__  Are your shoes kept together, shined, polished, and well-kept?
__  Do you keep your purses and/or briefcases off the floor, honoring your money and your work?
__  Is there something in your bedroom that shows your appreciation of beauty?
__  Do you have a collection of scents and jewelry with which to adorn (and adore) yourself?

The Hawthorn Moon of May is known as the Moon of Disenchantment. With this lunar cycle comes both clarity and certainty that can help you learn to release the need for perpetual self-sacrifice. You will clearly see that you are a perfect creation of Nature who deserves love and respect, just as much as everyone else. Now you can help others who might be abusing your generous nature to make new choices. This can include releasing friends or lovers who no longer bring joy into your life. It may include a partner, boss, or even an intruder in your life. As they cross your personal boundary between your serenity and their demands, this moon is here to help you disconnect and eject. The Hawthorn moon sets boundaries just like a hedge of thorns keeps people from crossing a property line.

Show yourself that you love you more than anyone else in the world! Reward yourself! Do all the things for you that you’ve always hoped someone else would do for you. Get a haircut. Get your car washed and waxed. Get a massage. Buy a piece of jewelry that enhances your eyes, sparkles from your ears, or in some way causes you to feel good about yourself. Buy a book to read for fun instead of learning or work. Create an adventure a week and keep souvenirs of where you go and who you meet in a journal, scrapbook, or even on a bulletin board. Take photos of you having a good time – even if you have to ask a stranger to take the photo. Appreciate something about yourself every day.

Learn to wrap your lips around the word “no” and teach your mind that you mean them. When personal boundaries are not defined family, friends, and even lovers can find themselves enchanted with using you. It’s convenient and easy. It’s also a bad habit. To help disenchant. define your boundaries through most basic human understanding—use scent:

• Mint – signals the brain to work intelligently rather than emotionally
• Black pepper – brings the mind to a quick, sharp focus; dispels dreaminess
• Pine – bracing rather than sensual, cleans up unclear thoughts
• Camphor – decongests and clears the respiratory system (ointment or leaves can be used)

When you use any of these scents you are clearly drawing a line, creating a boundary between you and any party who may be causing you problems. Maintain a mindset of asking others to respect your wishes, while remaining gracious, and others will be hard put to deny you. Along with your politeness must come the clear message of refusal. You must respect the barrier strongly within yourself for others to respect it. There must be love of yourself and a positive attitude to enforce your dissuasive intention.

Add the color combination of pink and white to your environment with candles, fabrics, stones, art, and/or glass. Use marigolds and other peppery-scented flowers. Add mint to your tea. Place your pink candle near the front door and light it to warn others to respect your space. Add a good-sized quartz crystal to your bedside table, dresser and/or desk. Spray your garden perimeters with pepper-water to communicate your boundaries to pets and snails. If you feel under siege from someone who refuses to respect your boundaries, gather a bouquet of blooming hawthorn branches, tie them with a rose colored sash, and hang them above your front door. (Make sure you take them down as this moon ends as you don’t want dead things in your environment.)

Finally, if your need for disenchantment includes wanting to ease away someone who has impossible hopes for either a renewed relationship with you or a cherished but completely unreturned interest in your affection, the Hawthorn Moon and your firm mindset can help. Grow a pot of peppermint in your garden or kitchen window. Keep peppermints in your pocket or in a dish in your home or work environment. Burn rose pink and white candles throughout the month. Clean your bathroom with pine scented cleaner. Tie white ribbons around your chair legs to keep yourself “free” from the expectations of others.

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Use Feng Shui and the Oak Moon to Add Protection and Security to Your Life

June’s oak moon brings special energies for protection and physical, emotional and financial security. This moon is all about the power of the sun, fire and earth energies, and celebrations of passion. Setting the stage for protection and security in your life involves capturing the power of the sun, focusing it to achieve your life goals, and celebrating the midsummer’s peak energies.

The power of the sun translates to fire energy in the principles of feng shui. Furthermore, fire energy generates earth energy. The gua of fire energy is all about your fame, reputation, protection, and vision. Vision includes the ability to see what’s coming toward you through both space and time. The Fame gua is found in the back center area of your home from the front door, and the back center area of your property from the mouth of the driveway. (See Bagua page for an energy map and more details.) Earth energy is all about security, nurturing, and mutual support. The guas of earth energy are found in the back right (Marriage), center (Health) and front left (Knowledge) areas of your home from the front door, and from the mouth of the driveway to your property. Remember, these guas are part of every space: every room from its doorway; every piece of furniture; and even every face. To make sure the fire and earth energies are supported in each of these four areas, here are questions to ensure your home has great fire and earth energies: 

The Oak Moon is known as the Moon of Security. With this lunar cycle comes the energy for personal security, including self-confidence, financial stability, happiness in love, positivity, intellect, strength, and a safe place in which to live. June’s moon brings the Summer Solstice, June 21^st the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. No other day has as much sun power. In fact, from June 22nd the days start getting shorter until the arrival of the Winter Solstice at Christmastime. Pump up your personal fire energies by wearing colors of fire: reds, oranges, and golds. Enhance your personal earth energies wearing earth tones such as brown, tan, brick, yellow, or sienna; or pinks, reds, or white.

The oak tree is a symbol of strength, wisdom, endurance, and security. The oak and everything associated with it sets the stage with positive energies. Manifest the strength of an oak tree in your home any way you can. Acquire oak furniture, plant an oak tree, or wear silver acorn jewelry. (Real acorns are often used in fertility rites, medicinally, and in prosperity and protection ceremonies.) Grow your own oak tree or simply find one in a park that you can visit, sit beneath, read to, and dream under. Tie a ribbon around it when you go visit. Have someone take a photo of you beneath your tree. Paint an oak tree yourself or buy art depicting oaks and position it in one of the earth guas of your home. Stencil oak leaves and acorns around the inside of your porch or entryway. Once you have included oak in your environment, know that your abilities to think powerful thoughts and to focus your visualizations have been enhanced.

If we think positively, we design for ourselves the lives we DO want. By our thoughts are realities are defined. Inspire yourself towards positive thoughts by adding the scents of sandalwood and frankincense. Geranium and bay are wonderful scents for strength, optimism, and security. Whenever you feel a bit unsure or uneasy, dilute these (a few drops of each in a base oil such as sweet almond) and wear them as a perfume. Add earthen elements to your environment to help you feel grounded. Stones, ceramics, statuary and tiles all help keep us connected to our earth energies. Crystals and gemstones are fruits of the earth. Wear your favorite stone next to your skin. Get a hot stone or crystal massage.

Practice thinking about what you DO want and appreciate in your life instead of what you DON’T. Make it a rule to never discuss bad days, frustrating people or events, or sad stories when you eat (or ever!). It doesn’t make you feel strong or powerful to relive these stories, nor do the stories empower those you tell them to. Energy flows where attention goes. Whatever you give attention and energy to grows. Never give such memories a second thought! Do not feed their energies by telling the story over and over again. Don’t share what disempowers you with your family, friends, or counselor. Tell them the good stuff and the good stuff will grow.

On Saturday June 21^st, gather firewood, herbs, and flowers for a bonfire (this will also work in your fire pit) on that Midsummer night. Plant a garden of basil, lemon balm, and rosemary to attract love. Grow sweet peas to add magic to your days. Plant your gardens in pretty shapes. Place beautiful stones or crystals among the plants to promote fairy activity and positive energy. Decorate potted plants with real or painted ribbons in pink to bring general love, red to bring passion, and blue for loyalty. Keep fresh flowers on your table in your bedroom. Scent your sugar with roses, lavender, or sweet peas. Then cook up love dishes with their fragrance and share them with those you treasure. Burning incense with a pleasing scent sends sweet spirals of smoke upward and honors the power of the sun. Fire adds pure energy to every celebration in life. Celebrate every day with your own collection of incense to honor the fire energy and to carry your thoughts. Best summer incense includes scents of orange blossom or peel, frankincense, or rose. It sends a message of serious intent to the heavens. It purifies and attracts the best spirit.

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Use Feng Shui and the Holly Moon of July to Turn Your Life Around

The Holly Moon is all about reversing difficult situations in your life by changing their polarity. Polarity is all about duality. Everything has two sides. Paper comes with a front and back. Coins come with heads and tails. Everything has an opposite, but opposites have identical natures. Hot and cold are opposites. But they are also part of the same circle. Look at your thermometer and see if you can find where heat ends and cold begins.

Yin and yang represent the negative and positive dualism existing within all things. This duality can be used to set the stage of your life, just as it can be used to change the setting. When you want to reverse the polarity of an environment, change the yin elements to yang or vice versa, depending on whether you wish to invoke the bright, directive, hard, expanding, vertical, and active yang or dark, receptive, soft, contracting, horizontal, and quiet yin.

__  Turn Around Your Bank Account: Use your front door every day. You can park in your garage and enter your house, but set down your things and go out and check the mail. See if the homeless are living on your porch, sweep the stoop, or water the plants. Your incoming energy (and cash flow!) will increase after 27 days.
__  Turn Around Your Sense of Security: Put your bed in the power position on a wall opposite your bedroom door. Make sure you have a headboard, even if you have to paint one on the wall. Lie in your bed and be sure the furniture or architectural features to your left are taller than you are when you are standing. Make sure the furniture or architectural features to your right are lower than those on the left. Finally, make sure you can see your bedroom door from your bed. Your support (and personal power!) will strengthen immediately.
__  Turn Around Your Self-Esteem: Make sure you can see your entire head in all mirrors. Then polish all your glass. Make sure your artwork hangs so that your head is about the same level as the middle of the art. Your self-image will be enhanced and you will feel valued.
__  Turn Around A Threat to Your Business: If you are the boss, get yourself a power chair and move your desk so that you face the door instead of the wall. If you are an employee, make sure you have the support of the celestials wherever you spend the most time performing your task. If you are moving most of the day, keep a quartz crystal in your pocket instead. This will absorb any negative energy in your environment, protecting you from taking the hit.
__  Turn Around Your Health: Clear the clutter from the center of your home. Of course, continue to clear clutter throughout your home, but start with the center and continue a bit each day. Ten minutes in the morning will add up to more than an hour a week. Do it while you’re drinking your morning coffee or on the phone. Throw out anything you don’t love and use.
__  Turn Around Your Ability to Start New Projects: Add green dragon energy by giving yourself a healthy and lush plant (no cactus or spiky leaves please). Place it to the left side of your desk or bed.
__  Turn Around Your Love Relationship: Find something to appreciate about your lover every day. Compliment your lover every day and touch them every day. Make sure your bed has the support of two equally sized bedside tables and lamps. Light PAIRS of candles every day.
__  Turn Around Your Family Relationships: Tell your family member about something that you admire about them. Add photos of them and you to the Family & Friends gua of your home. Frame them thoughtfully. Add a plant and a water feature to the same gua.
__  Turn Around Your Children’s Lives: Frame and display your child(ren)’s artwork in the Children and Creativity gua of your home. Add elements of metal and earth to the same gua.
__  Turn Around Your Reputation: Fire up the barbeque in the Fame gua. Light tiki torches or string twinkle lights. Plant roses, bougainvillea, or any other thorny or spiky-leaved plants in the same gua. Clean out the space between your screens and windows. Wash the screens and polish the window glass inside and out. Replace any broken glass. Fix pocked or cracked windshields. 

The Holly Moon of June is known as the Moon of Encirclement or cycles. With this lunar cycle comes the reversal of summer energies as the days grow inexorably shorter toward winter and the moment of the Holly King (part of the archetype for Santa Claus). Now is the time to set the stage to reverse any situation in your life by changing your thoughts and your environment.

Polarity can also be seen as the rebalancing of a situation that has gone too far in one direction or another. This shifting of energies can be done by changing your environment and then enhanced with the use of oils, herbs, and colors. But all of the change starts with changing your mind and your attitude. 

Holly brings enduring life and foresight to your life. The plant has very sharp and pointy leaves until it reaches a height of about ten feet. Above that, the plant has no need for protection and the leaves are smooth at the edges. In addition, the holly’s berries sustain birds when other foods are scarce. A sprig of holly or a holly leaf makes a talisman with a magnetic effect. If you want to reverse sharp words that have passed between you and a lover, friend, or relative, place a photo of you and the other person in a little box or basket with eight holly leaves. Burn a yellow candle in a bronze candleholder nearby. Gently send thoughts of apology to the other person for your part in the misunderstanding. Ask for tolerance and a chance to set things right. 

The scents of rebalancing will effectively encourage you to try to see some of your problems from different points of view.

• Cilantro – also known as coriander, this herb is an aromatic stimulant that has aphrodisiacal properties. It also combats fatigue and apathy. The seeds have a mildly narcotic effect and will act as a sedative, easing headaches, tension, and nervous exhaustion.
• Tuberose – a tiny drop will counteract irritability and emotional conflict. It arouses sensuality, motivates, inspires spontaneity, and can transform the introvert into an outgoing personality. Both the wearer of the oil and those who smell it feel these effects.
• Benzoin – also known as gum Benjamin, this is one of the classic ingredients of incense and its scent honors all deities. Benzoin has a very relaxing effect so don’t use it when you need to concentrate.. Its therapeutic properties include antiseptic, anti-depressant, and sedative.

Combine these three scents in a spray bottle of distilled water to use to rebalance the energies of any environment where previous encounters have happened or new encounters will occur. Send a mental message of peace and forgiveness as you spritz the space. (You can also wear a combination of the oils, but don’t use so much scent that they can’t stand to be around you. Think subtle.) Apologies and encounters will then be able to take place gently. 

Add the colors of yellow and bronze to your environment with candles, fabrics, stones, art, and/or glass. Untie knots in cords of any kind. Make sure all your clocks are running and have the right time. 

Finally, if your need for counteractive magic stems from your desire to turn everything around so you can move in a completely opposite direction, it’s time to set a new course and turn the other way. This can be just as true in your business, career or working life as in a relationship, health, or even your education. Once you know what you don’t want, you also know what you do want. Think that through until you can write down clearly on one yellow page exactly what you want to reverse your life to include. Begin by cleansing your environment. Get yourself a compass with the cardinal directions marked. Then under a waning moon dress in new clothes and shoes (underwear too!). Set up a table in the center of your freshly cleaned home with a yellow candle and/or sunshine colored flowers.

*Spray the space with your water spritzer or anoint the candle with cilantro, tuberose, and benzoin. Light the candle and visualize your new life as you gaze quietly into its flame for a few minutes. Stand facing due North. Speak aloud and state with conviction what it is that you wish to reverse. Turn to face due South. Now read aloud what is written on your yellow page. Let your voice command the space by speaking with clear strong tones. See yourself following your new path. Feel how happy you now are. Turn to the East and state that your new path begins now with simplicity and joy. Then turn to the West and state your gratitude and appreciation for your new direction. Finally place the compass on your table where you can repeat the process (from the * above) every day for the next nine days. (Twenty seven is even more powerful – 3x3x3.) 

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Use Feng Shui and the New Hazel Moon of July 26 to Grow in Wisdom

The Hazel Moon is known as the Moon of the Wise. The acquisition of knowledge and all matters of education are auspicious for this lunar cycle. Anyone studying, taking an exam (even those experiencing a life test), or trying to take in information of any kind will find strong support from the Universe actively assisting them at this time of the year. We are witnessing the strongest power of the sun as it burgeons into Summer and illuminates our lives with its longest and brightest rays. 

Strive now to sense the best times to tackle your tasks and tests. Your own personal wisdom will shine if you let it. Trust your intuition and instincts. If you don’t already trust yourself, start practicing using your sensitivities. Ask yourself if it is the right time to do or not do any particular task. Take the answer you get without second-guessing. Honor and thank your higher self for all your insights and intuitions. Learn from your own experience when it is best to act and when it is best to leave well enough alone. 

__  Ground Yourself: Get a hot stone massage, work in your gardens, dig in the dirt, sit on a stone bench, sweep your sidewalk, play with clay, make mud pies, or throw pottery. Anything that actually blends your body with the earth element will enhance earth energy. Get in the dirt and work it into your skin. Lie down in the grass and play cloud games. Any way that you can connect yourself to the earth will help strengthen all of the energies of your body, spirit and mind.

__  Lay a Strong Foundation: Create a stone or brick patio in either the Knowledge/Self-Improvement or in the Marriage/Relationship gua. Use red bricks or flagstone to promote your passion for life and increase your own sense of self-esteem.

__  Sit on Your Laurels: Install a cement bench to square off a missing Knowledge or Marriage gua. Sit on it in the lovely evening hours and read a book while drinking an herbal tea or a glass of wine.

__  Surround Yourself with Stability: Edge gardens with stone. Be sure to lay the stones so as not to present a dangerous sharp edge that protrudes upward.

__  Build Your Library: Your local library and garage sales offer books for as little as 25¢. Half Price Books and other used bookstores offer incredible deals too. Never pass up the opportunity to add a good book to your collection. Make sure you have bookshelves in the Knowledge gua of your home or bedroom to hold your personal library.

__  Wear Diamonds: Diamonds, like all gemstones, add earth energy to your personal energy field. Wear your birthstone or favorite color gemstone according to your own intuitive sense of which piece will provide you the sweetest support on any given day. Make sure the gems touch your skin even if you have to purposely stroke them with your fingertips. 

__  Chakra Crystal Massage: Locate a spa that offers chakra crystal massages and give yourself a fabulous gift of grounding that will set your energy field to singing! With stones of each color of the spectrum applied to your body, each of your body’s energy centers is activated and aligned. Delicious!

__  Enlighten Yourself: Add the fire element to your Knowledge or Marriage guas. Include candles of every color, shape, and size. Take care with fire safety and keep all papers away from the flames. In addition to candles, lamps should be in good working order in these areas, always paired, and always with enough wattage for ease of reading. If a bulb burns out replace it immediately with one of equal or greater wattage.

__  Front Porch Light is On and YOU Are Home: Clean out all the critter corpuses in your front porch light fixture. Clear away all cobwebs and spider webs from your front entry. Sweep your porch. Beat the dust off your doormat. Replace worn doormats and welcome banners or flags. Wash the front shutters and shingles. Freshen up the entry to your home. Add seasonal color to the entry area to attract attention and delight your senses. Hang a wind chime to call in good energy. Make sure your doorbell works – opportunity doesn’t limit itself to knocking! Use that front door every day, even if you park in and enter from your garage!

__  Be Fair and Square: The Chinese explain that since the earth has four corners, it must be square. Therefore, the shape of the square adds earth energy to your environment. Add squares using chessboards, tiles, or even coasters. Any squares will do. Just make sure you love them and use them.

__  Dish It Out: Your dishes are made of earth, whether they are china, ceramic, or Corel. Avoid using paper plates, plastic, or Styrofoam (heaven forbid!) Celebrate your food with a lovely table setting. Square plates are intriguing and grounding, making an interesting shape contrast to food, which is rarely square. 

The Hazel Moon of July brings a perfect opportunity to put your reflective powers into action. Start to make a difference in your own life and also for those around you. Consider, ponder, and meditate upon your choices for courses of action. Discuss and deliberate with family and friends. Then, based on all you have learned, decide according to your own intuitive knowing. 

Never second-guess yourself. Even if you could go back in time, if you had the same knowledge and opportunity, you would make the same decision again. Learn the lesson presented in each opportunity and joyfully go forth. If you learn that you don’t like a particular outcome, then choose to do something differently. Remember, as Einstein said, it is the purest form of insanity to always do the same thing but expect a different outcome. If you want something different in your life, make a different choice. 

Certain scents turn on the mind and sharpen your focus, increasing your mental alertness and clarifying your thoughts. The scents of the Hazel Moon will effectively assist you to acquire wisdom and know how to use it:

• Rosemary and lemon – helps to improve remembrance. This scent combination will help you remember all the details, especially for work, study, or schoolwork. If you have a job interview at which you will need to show mental dexterity and a familiarity with many topics, these are the scents you wish to savor. Other essential oils you can use to help you focus or think clearly include basil, bergamot, ginger and grapefruit.
• Sandalwood – promotes positive thinking and optimism. Inspire yourself with the scent of sandalwood to add self-confidence, poise, and inner security.
• Lavender – What does this herb not do? It cheers the mind and rallies flagging spirits. Lavender adds compassion and gentleness, rejuvenating and comforting the mind and spirit. Bestow clarity, confidence and a sweet sense of humor as you inhale the scent of lavender. This herb will also help combat depression. 

Just to get your mind engaged in daily tasks that require concentration, inhale a few drops of rosemary and lemon essential oils on a tissue or in a burner. Keep lemon drops in your purse or pocket. Always add lemon to your water or tea. 

Green is the color of Nature in full celebration. This color in the olive shade, rather than the emerald of deep foresty green of the later Reed Moon, has the effect of slowing us down a little, and perhaps even encouraging us to appreciate the other more subdued colors of nature, such as mulberry, chocolate, and russet, Mulberry is in the spectrum of the color of wisdom. It represents strength and life, but without aggression. Blend both olive and mulberry in our environment and imbue your space with reflection, calm, pensiveness, mental activity, and careful thought. Consciously breathe in the colors as you add them to your world with candles, fabrics, stones, art, and/or glass. Become one with these colors by eating green olives and berries and drinking wine. Use olive oil in cooking, graze the salad bar, and savor the salads made using the berry-colored field greens. 

Remember that knowledge alone is not wisdom. Wisdom comes only through experience. Lessons learned guide our better choices toward beneficial outcomes for all. Add the symbolism of wisdom to your environment with imagery of owls, scrolls, books, pens and paper. The ninth card of the Tarot’s major arcana, the Hermit, is a powerful symbol of the magic of learning. Get your own lantern of illumination and enlightenment. Add an hourglass, a symbol of patience, or a dragon, creatures that always seek knowledge, to your desktop. Wear both silver and gold to remind yourself that speech is silver but silence is golden.

Spend an hour early one morning – preferably while the moon is still up – outside in a garden or your yard. Bring with you sprigs of rosemary or lavender, tied with an olive green ribbon. Sit and be still, observing your surroundings. Use all five senses to take full inventory of the earth and its presents. Crush the herbs in your hand to start the process with scent. Then inhale the smell of the soil, flowers, grass and trees about you. What light scents are floating on the breeze? Is there rain coming? Listen to the sounds of nature. Put your ear to the ground – can you hear traffic nearby? Birdsong, dripping dew, dogs barking, insects buzzing all play part of the one-song, the Universe, which throbs to the rhythm of your own pulse. Look at everything around you with fresh eyes, taking in the exact color of the morning sky, the trees in the early light, the ground damp with dew, the precise hue of your clothing and skin. What do you feel? Do the blades of grass tickle your toes? Is the breeze lifting the fine hairs on the nape of your neck? Are you warm or cool? Chew on a blade of grass or a stem of reed. If present, eat a tomato or berry still warm from the vine. Savor every flavor and texture. Hold your sprigs of herbs up to the sky and send gratitude to Mother Earth and Father Sky for all their blessings. Consciously consider and cherish the lessons of life they teach you every day. With each lesson, your wisdom grows.

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Next Month: The Vine Moon of Fame, Reputation & Celebration

For more information about the seminars, or to make your reservations, please call Joel at Temple Gate, Tuesday through Saturday, 11 am to 6 pm or Sunday, 1-5 pm at 713-863-0525. Cash or checks only please.