Trailer Feng Shui: Cleaning and Correcting Mobile Home Energy

Now that I have moved into a trailer (out in the woods, to escape the noise and nonsense), I understand why mobile home and manufactured home residents get the criticism they do: typically, we have limited resources, limited space, and therefore whacked out chi-or Qi, life energy. We have no place inside for hanging the wash, so we construct eye-catching racks and clotheslines outside the trailer. We have, as many people do, a penchant for collecting things, but with no room in the trailer, we stack collectibles outside, as well. We bump our heads on the ceilings and doorways, fill the places with cooking, smoke, and other smells, and rock the home when we merely sit down, stand up, or walk from one corner to the next.

But if the woozy feelings you get from just walking from one end of a five foot area to the other are not some kind of exquisite natural high you enjoy, if attracting mice to your sparse belongings and pretending they’re just scampish pets is not all that pleasurable, or if you would like to live a healthier, happier, more harmonious and prosperous life in the trailer, you will need to make some adjustments, changes, and improvements. That is, you will need to attract positive chi and prevent negative chi.

CLEAR PATHS

The life force, energy, is positive and negative. Also known as Chi, the positive energy needs unencumbered paths on which it can travel. Your goal, that is, is to attract the positive Chi. First, consider the door to your trailer. The doorway, of course more than a metaphor, is an opportunity area in Feng Shui. It is the “mouth of Qi.” So anything impeding the healthy flow of Chi should be adapted.

Path to Front Door – Sharp corners and straight lines block or deplete Chi. As Fengtek master designer Vincent Xiang notes, they are “unnatural and direct poison arrows at our soul (sic).” Therefore, a path to the front door should not be sharply angled, slowing down the energy as it enters, but should have a curve, to enable smoother flow of positive Chi. Figure out a way to smooth the edges or add curves to a straight/angled walkway.

Front Door Stairs/Steps – Writer Kathryn Weber reports that trailer living begins with the troublesome concern of the outside of the trailer, which is typically not conducive to a positive flow of energies. For example, she writes that because manufactured homes like travel trailers have no foundation and therefore have a constant flow of energy coming but going away again, trailers must be “grounded” in some way-to provide the home with a solid, earth foundation. This can be expensive, as foundations are cement cellars or basements that must be out in before the trailer is situated. Then again, I wonder if building the earth up around the offending open area underneath the trailer might work just as well. Or maybe a “skirt” of sorts, that is grounded and connected to the underside of the home?

Just as important are the steps to a trailer, which Weber says are usually hollow risers made of wood. The open backs of the stairs again allows for energy to enter but leave again immediately. The stairs, then, need backs on the risers, or need replacing altogether with a solid stair construction. This, of course, still leaves the doorway off the ground and connected by sharply angled steps, so an additional solution is necessary.

Inside Front Door -Since the elevated door and angles of stairways inhibits the easy flow of chi, and given that green plants are money attractors, try placing a green plant in the doorway of the trailer, inside the front door. At the same time, be mindful that you do not put the plant directly in the open path, as the money will come in but will go right back out again.

CLEAN UP CLUTTER

It costs little or nothing to clean. It costs a lot to be cluttered. As money guru Suzy Ormond discusses, the new money has no place to go or stay if the space is already jammed with crap. So clean out cupboards, limit collectibles (storing the rest away and trading out favorite objects every few months instead), and scrub down all areas that need cleaning. Clear walking paths, keep areas around the bed, toilet, and other fixtures clear, and think in terms of open walkways-for you, company, and the Chi.

FIX AND MAINTAIN

Another guru, Feng Shui expert and consultant Angi Ma Wong, suggests to bring money in, work on your “hsun gua,” on wealth, by

�attending to the kitchen stove/oven, which represents prosperity;

�maintaining plumbing, which obviously determines crap factor; and

�attending to your reputation, helpful friends, and water energies/areas.

Repair, re-paint, and/or replace the old, the broken, or the worn out, that is,

ACTIVATE ENERGY

Once space is cleared and areas and appliances are fixed and maintained, you can then activate “power spots.” These areas are those which are determined according to the ba-gua-octagon-based principles that suggest ideal placement for each compass direction in your home. You can determine the needs for each power spot by consulting the chart here in the margins (courtesy Angi Ma Wong), but consider, for example, the helpful friends area. It is said to be located at the Northwest corner of the trailer. Place objects and colors that represent helpful, supportive individuals, and mentors in your life. I happen to have my northwest corner as the right side/end of the trailer where the travel hitch is, as well, so since the NW corner is also for international trade and travel, I have books on
Paris
that a mentor gave me. Good double representation, eh?

While the activating-the decorating and furnishing and placement-phase is most involved and concerns complex philosophies based on compass direction, goals, colors, and the elements (which can represent you, concepts, and interpersonal relationships at once), keep your Feng Shui attempts simple at first:

-Find your kua number (by consulting the chart in the margin);

-Find the corresponding color(s), which, with your person kua number will bring good luck;

-Determine the compass directions of your trailer’s resting place; and

-Decide which few favorite objects you can place in appropriate spaces-to represent in color and meaning those attributes you want to enhance.

Now if you will excuse me�I just moved in eleven days ago, have 5,000 books in boxes outside, have to fix the furnace and the stove, and need to replenish my own energy.

TO FIGURE YOUR PERSONAL KUA NUMBER and CORRESPONDING COLORS:

Start with your year of birth: 1958

Add the last two numbers (reducing to a single digit): 5+8=13=1+3=4

MEN: subtract the # from 10: 10-4=6

WOMEN: add 5 to the #: 5+4=9

The resulting number is your kua number, which is associated with the following colors for prosperity, harmony, and luck:

1 green, violet

2 beige, brown, yellow

3 burgundy, pink, red

4 black, blue, violet

5 beige, brown, yellow

6 gray, silver, white

7 gold, pearl/white, silver

8 beige, brown, yellow

9 brown, dark green

TO PRACTICE HARMONIOUS PLACEMENT, or BA-GUA:

N – business, career, success

NE – knowledge, successful scholarship, self-improvement

E – family, harmony, health, prosperity, youth

SE – abundance, wealth

S – fame, fortune, reputation, happiness, longevity

SW – love, relationships, romance, marriage, motherhood

W – children, creativity

NW – benefactors, fatherhood, helpful people, outside interests, travel