If you’re new to the Pod, my name is Laura and I’m a certified Feng Shui Practitioner, Curator and Stylist for you and your Space. Join me and my guests for conversations around wellness with a focus on living and curating our best lives. Subscribe for tips on mindful living! This hybrid Podcast & Newsletter originates on Substack where you can follow me for all the visuals, text and video. The Show is now on video with interview guests along with solo episodes so I encourage you to subscribe and watch on Substack and YouTube . For all my other content and services check out my Link-tree . If you’re reading this before 1/29/25, The Astrological New Year has not officially begun! Please don’t give up on 2025, the energy is about to shift. I can’t promise it will all be rainbows and roses, but a shift is coming. The Year of The Snake which officially begins on 1/29/2025 will be very different than the year of the Dragon. This is also a 9 year numerologically. Think completions. The end of a 9 year cycle. A Snake year will invite us to shed that which no longer serves us. This past year has been a “Wood Dragon” year. I looked it up and of all the different kinds of Dragons which include: Wood, Water, Fire, Metal and Earth; a Wood Dragon is the least like-able or appealing… In Chinese folklore, The Wood Dragon is described as follows: Introverted, less enthusiastic, and lacking in good relationships. All the other Dragon years are super positive with adjectives like smart, ambitious, and hardworking, easygoing, agile and flexible, persevering, farsighted, and vigorous. WTF?! Oh well, it’s almost over. I think most of us can agree that Astrologically Romance was at an all time low over the last year. Chiron, the wounded healer was in Aries representing “men” in 2024. I personally took the year off from dating! I’m enthusiastic about 2025 though. It’s going to be a Yin year so more about being receptive. The Year of the Snake will be about setting realistic goals, devising strategic plans and working towards our dreams. Feng Shui has many different schools of thought and approaches. As far as I am concerned, all roads lead to Rome. While my training was originally in Form School which is the 1st school of Feng Shui before directional practices emerged, I do pull from directional practices as needed as well Chinese Astrology. I predominantly look at a space as its own universe that begins at the entrance. However, I have adapted my practice to consider your best directions when it comes to where you sit and sleep and spend the most time. I also now address the yearly shifts in challenging directions. For this reason, I have started asking clients for their date and year of birth to determine their personal directions. Form school will inform most of my furniture placement with an emphasis on the Power Position and good chi flow. I do make adjustments as needed depending on the individuals best directions and whether they conflict with good form as well as the Challenging direction for the individual year. This can get tricky because every year the energies shift and there’s a Challenging Direction that applies to everyone universally for each year. It could end up being one of your personal best directions or a direction your head faces when you sleep. It could even be in a dominant area of your home or business. So it helps to know what area of your home is being impacted and how to remedy it. Yes there are remedies and protections so it’s not all doom and gloom, just a matter of awareness and adaptation as shifts occur. Much like in astrology, it’s a moving target. That is the nature of life! Nothing is static. Highs and Lows are based on cycles. What I like about knowing these cycles is that you can use the knowledge to navigate them. The energy of time we are currently navigating inspired me to share some ways to make the best of the circumstances we find ourselves in. For context, I live in LA where many people are going through it due to the massive fires. I am personally safe and in a part of LA that was not directly impacted. I thought it would be helpful to share what the Universally challenging direction is for 2025 and how to navigate that. The official Chinese or Lunar New Year is on January 29, 2025, so you have time to prepare and perhaps even hire a Feng Shui Consultant now or later in the year. TIP #1 -Make sure to take note of the direction of negative energy in 2025! They call this energy The Grand Duke (Tai Sui) in Feng Shui. In 2025 it is Southeast between 135-165 degrees on your compass. The idea is to avoid facing this direction for extended periods of time. Don’t worry you will not burst into flames should you mistakenly face Southeast just like you won’t die of lung cancer after smoking one cigarette. Just minimize your exposure. By the way, Southeast was also the negative direction for 2024 by the following degrees 105-135. Listen, I didn’t immediately embrace a directional approach, it to
