EVERY year that ends and leads into a new year, forecasters promise a better one ahead. Well, it’s good psychology, just what this endangered world needs. We’ve seen blood shed in horrendous amounts in the last few days, as if the “travel advisories” issued by three foreign governments and the observation of one other foreign group that the Philippines is “a war zone in disguise” were a hex that just came true.
Four days to the Lunar New Year, but the changeover is already in effect, the planets having moved to their new homes. Princesse Lim-Fernandez, a feng shui scholar described by our reporter as the most trusted, is guarded in her outlook but predicts positive vibes for businesses related to Fire and Earth energies, from beauty, glamour, and wellness to agriculture, real estate, even gaming (for certain signs). However, she warns of instability as the image of “water mixed with earth” produces muddiness. (My own interpretation is that it’s because pigs love to wallow in mud.) Earthquakes, floods, landslides, unstable foundations threaten, another way of reading the water-earth metaphor.
Feng shui, a system that blends the laws of nature with the charm of charms correctly placed to induce harmony in one’s personal space, may be 5,000 years old but it has been growing in popularity outside China in modern times. Lillian Too, a Malaysian who has gained an international following with her lectures, books, almanacs, and charms, was a banker whose practice of feng shui made her more famous than her original profession. For the Philippines, she has appointed as her ambassador a 37-year-old teacher of yoga, meditation, and feng shui in the person of Ollay Aninio.
Until you notice that Ollay’s trinkets on her wrist, throat, handbag, and fingers are all feng shui charms, you wouldn’t think that she was a practitioner of such an ancient art. Her skirts are short, her hair is casually brushed, her shoes are streetsmart sneakers in the latest style. When she got married last November to Joshua, a Brit, “it had to be in Boracay!”, with Lillian as principal sponsor.
Ollay’s cheerful advice, whatever your sign, whatever the season: “In the office and at home, place six red apples on a tray to invite harmony.”