Feng Shui and the Healing Power of Water

Hey guys, welcome to the learn Feng Shui podcast where you'll Learn Feng Shui from a classical point of view taking out the myth and superstition. So if you're interested in learning Feng Shui, Chinese astrology, all things Chinese metaphysics, as well as the superstitions and myths that connect it all, you'll enjoy learning Feng Shui with me. Hey guys, welcome back to the Learn Feng Shui podcast, where ancient traditions meets modern living. I'm Candice Berlanga, certified Feng Shui practitioner and a red ribbon professional with the International Feng Shui Guild. Today we're going to be looking at the element that literally sustains us all.

We're going to be talking about water. Uh more than just something we used to drink or even wash. Water actually plays a vital role in Feng Shui. It influences the flow of energy into our home and even our lives. We'll look at how water functions in our environment, the symbolism behind the water element in Chinese metaphysics and what it means during the winter months when water energy is at its strongest.

We're also going to look at the water zodiac signs and how their personalities embody different aspects of the element. And then we'll wrap up with some folklore Friday and some stories about real known places and their healing waters, which I think is pretty interesting. talk about fountain of youth, sacred springs and whatnot. So, you know, maybe you're just curious about how to balance the water in your home or you love the magic and mystery of water's many roles. Maybe just like the folklore of it, the episode has something for everybody.

All right, let's get into it. All right, guys. Well, if you didn't know from the Dowist perspective, everything in the world is part of 10,000 things, but it's all an expression of the same source, the Dao. So in Chinese metaphysics, water isn't just an element. It shows up across the five arts.

So you're going to find it in traditional Chinese medicine, astrology, divination, physomy, and even the esoteric or mystical side of it, like the season, an organ, a direction, even the time of day. So it's one little thread that's woven throughout everything. It's the basis of early settlements when water was important to sustain life and part of moving into this agricultural society. Uh just from the Chinese metaphysics perspective, water represents wisdom, flexibility, and mystery. It's associated with the kidneys.

So that's the body part. It's associated with sex organs, womb. It's also associated with like the urinary tract and whatnot. It can represent fear and emotion in the five element theory. It also represents the season of winter representing stillness, conservation, and restoration.

It also represents thinking and movement. And of course the direction it represents is north in the bwa or the Chinese compass. Since it represents the season of winter, it represents the zodiac signs that encompass that season, which are going to be the month of November in the pig, the month of December in the rat, and the month of January and zodiac sign of ox. That's late winter. There's also places in your home that water should be placed in Feng Shui.

Water is one of the most powerful activators for wealth and opportunity, but its effectiveness depends on both placement and intention. So, different schools will interpret this placement differently. If you've heard something different, it's not wrong. It's just that maybe you follow a different perspective than what I'm presenting. Looking at classical Feng Shui schools, ideally water is placed with something called direct indirect spirit and that would be placed in the north, southeast, southwest, and even east sectors of your home or workshop.

The directions correspond with the elements and energies that benefit from water's movement and nourishment. Orientations based on compass readings and often considers things like time cycles, flying stars, and different factors to determine whether water will activate good energy or maybe it'll accidentally stir up a negative influence. All right, guys. Kind of going a little more in depth to this concept of direct and indirect spirit. It's really just kind of a a basis or a basic of where water should be according to classical Feng Shui.

When we kind of take that away for just a second and think of the concept of yin and yang, okay, it's a active and inactive energy. It's a balance. You have to have both, right? And so if you think of creating life or the creation of life, you have to have a a sperm and a om, right? A yin and yang, a feminine and a masculine.

Okay? So when we think about that in terms of of Feng Shui, you want an active area or inactive area within your home to have the opposite to balance it out. Water is considered a yang or active energy, which means it should be placed in a more inactive or yin sector to balance it and help awaken the area and activate it. We're in this period of time from 2024 to 2043. The uh direct spirit sectors where your energy is active and yang need an inactive energy in some of these sectors of your home.

Ideally, you would want to see some sort of mountain or solid supportive form to balance out that active energy. Okay. Opposite of that is what we call the indirect spirit sector. It's a quiet or a yin zone where the water belongs during this period of time. The north, the east, the southeast and the southwest are considered inactive areas and so they need water there.

This can be natural water or placing water there. A fountain, a pond, sometimes people even say virtual water, driveway or road is supposed to activate the area, balance it out and bring prosperity and flow without disturbing like that natural energy of a space. Okay, so I hope that makes sense. So, just to recap, water would go in the north, the east, the southeast, and the southwest. Some people say that during this period of time, you can put water in the south, but I don't really love uh the mixing of the fire energy and water.

I think it's too much of a clash, but hey, uh try it if you want. Um and then mountains are solid energy. The supportive energy belongs in the south, the west, to the northeast, and the northwest. So, it's just kind of a simple formula. The yang water wakes up a yin or inactive area when it's applied correctly.

It is supposed to help your space feel alive, prosperous, and in harmony with the energy of this time period. And as you can see, water placement can be quite complex. If you start looking into classical Feng Shui formulas in BTB Feng Shui, it can be a little bit more flexible because you can just take those elements into account and place it with that bugle map according to your door and the way you enter a space. Depending on what kind of fune you do, you know that water placement can vary. Beyond direct and indirect spirit, you do want to look at Feng Shui forms for water placement.

things like manholes and drains, drains that run too close to the front door, especially if they flow across it. And if it's like a water runoff area, um that could be a formation called cutting feet waters, it can block beneficial chi from entering your home and take away the energy that's supposed to flow into your space. Manholes or drains that are too close to your especially your front door, um it can puncture the chi and disrupt the energy. There's also things like water dragons. Um, you do have to be careful.

So, do-it-yourself water formations are meant to bring you wealth, like curving drains in or making ponds and stuff like that in your yard. Uh, they can sometimes be more harmful than helpful. In the Joey app for fun exterior edition, he does warn that these require natural land support and expert design. So, you don't want to experiment if you are going to put something like that in your home or it wouldn't be in your home. It would be outside of your home.

Could you imagine putting in a something like that? If you're going to look at installing a feature like this in your yard, you have to be careful. One of the things that I personally learned from my fune master is that when you dig that it takes the chi away and it takes some time to replenish, especially when you dig down deep, like if you dig a pool or something like that. So, one thing I would say is if you're going to do that, do it before you move into a property. That would be my advice there.

There's another formation also called a nose pulling chi or nose pulling water. It's when a narrow waterway or path or even a corridor pulls chi away from the main entrance. It's kind of it's supposed to be like leading a cow through the, you know, by the nose. It can symbolize loss, wealth, and scattered energy. So if your front door has a path, a entrance, or even a staircase that flows right into the street, you may have this nose pulling energy or this nose pulling chi.

So it's not just having to do with water, but it's the formation and it could also be water. But if you have this, if you just do some basic form work, you could place something, place some shrubbery or something to kind of block the energy. Uh, one of the things that I always note in my neighborhood is that one of the houses on the end of the street has that sha the shachi where the traffic would be facing directly to the front door. Well, they smartly put in some landscaping. They installed like a a larger brick mailbox and they put in some like a path and around that path there's landscaping that kind of curves the pathway to the front door and is blocked by large planters.

And so it could be something as simple as that that could fix this energy. Remember when you have a form problem, it's can be fixed by changing the form. Okay. Another thing I wanted to note was water quality and sound. Flowing water versus stagnant water.

Um flowing water is supposed to represent vitality and renewal. And stagnant water equals stuck energy or chi. It's lifeless chi. So think of water like blood. And Feng Shui.

If it doesn't flow, then there's a blockage somewhere. There's also clean water versus dirty water. And clean water, clean water equals clean energy or chi. Well, dirty or polluted water attracts things like illness, pests, bad energy. If you there's stagnant water around, it gets really stinky.

Also, you can look at water clarity. Also, it's supposed to help assess the surroundings. remember one of the ways that they would assess an environment um whether it was good enough for settlers to remain there or to water their crops or cattle with it is I mean you have to look at the smell and the quality of water is it flowing is it clean is it going to make you sick you know you don't want to get malaria or whatever from from the water you know you you don't want that back in the day you die this still holds true if an area has stagnant stinky water it's supposed to reflect the energy of the area to make sure your water's clean On another note, I have heard that dirty water equals dirty politicians in an area. Another thing you can look at is the sound of water. Water needs to be a soft, gentle rippling sound.

It's supposed to support peace and productivity. And you know, if you hear a nice gentle water flow, it's very relaxing. Maybe a little tables out fountain or something, very relaxing. But if you hear a waterfall, loud, even like dripping, constant leaking, this can create a sha or like a sound shaw. And it can affect mental clarity and even your long-term health.

So if you, you know, you don't want the sound of water also to be negative. Okay. And again, these are tips from Joey Yap's Feng Shui for Home Buyers exterior edition I covered on last year sometime on the podcast. It's a really amazing book. It covers a lot of forms.

If you are new to Feng Shui, I highly recommend the Joey Yap Funway for Home Buyers. Whether you're buying a home or not doesn't matter. Um, but you can apply these principles to your home very easily. It covers a lot of forms. myth, what's real, what you can focus on, and it's super easy to follow.

They're two of my very favorite books, so you can check those out. I'll link them in the show notes. And I'll just finish this up by saying, while BTB might focus on symbolic placement of water and water in the wealth corner, maybe placing an image of water or water flowing into the entrance. Feng Shui emphasizes a natural environment, compass direction, and interaction between water forms and the building's orientation. But you know in both systems the flowing water represents an active energy and wealth circulation.

It represents the capacity for wealth. In both schools placement should support intentional flow towards the home or in key areas not away from it. So you always want water flowing in. Water shouldn't be placed in areas as a general rule of thumb like restrooms or your bedroom regardless of school of thought just because it's an active energy. The bathroom already has a lot of water in it.

And of course, your room is supposed to be more yin or quiet. You don't want the yang active energy, even if it's one of those direct or indirect spirit areas we talked about. So, never place water in your bedroom. I say do a little research and test and see what water placement works for you. All right, guys.

Well, let's get into that folklore Friday segment. And as these kids nowadays say, fact or cap, you know, fact or fiction. Is it a myth? the healing waters, the fountain of youth. Is there any truth to these rumors?

Well, you've probably heard of the legendary fountain of youth, a spring that is said to restore youth to anyone who drinks from it and bathes in its waters. Most people chalk it up to myth, but what's fascinating is how far back the story actually goes and how many cultures have their own version of it. And if you know anything about me, you know I love a good cross-cultural folklore reference when I can tie all these legends together in a little bow. Uh, the most famous version ties back to the 16th century explorer Juan Pon Deion, who is rumored to search for the mystical spring when he landed in what is now Florida. Some accounts say he heard it from the indigenous people, while others believe that this legend that was put on him just was a later way to dramatize his journey as we see in a lot of folklore, you know.

But here's the thing that is pretty interesting. Florida does have a number of natural springs that are rich in minerals. Places like St. Augustine and the mineral springs where people flock today, they still do therapeutic soaks there. We see that in a lot of other areas too.

Was the fountain of youth ever a single magical spring? I would say probably not, but it might have more so been a blend of real water with restorative properties and a good story passed down through the generations. This is more likely to me. It's kind of one of those stories that the line between legend and truth is kind of blurred. Let's look at five different places that are rumored to have these healing waters.

Starting here in my home state, Mineral Wells, Texas, the legend of the crazy water. Mineral Wells, Texas, has a unique history rooted in its rich mineral water. And I'm not going to lie, I'm reading the AI overview that came up because it has a few different websites on it, which I'll link in the show notes. But this kind of had the story altogether. I had a hard time finding one that had the entire history.

Initially, the town's development was spurred by the discovery of mineral springs with purported healing properties in the 1870s. This led the establishment to numerous resorts and spas, attracting visitors seeking the water's benefits and transforming mineral wealth to a popular tourist destination. This is one of the things I had a hard time finding was the entire history of how it was discovered. Uh, this family named the Lynch family was looking for a drier climate as a lot of people did back in the day. They were sick and they found that this would help them, especially like asthma and um, back then, of course, they had tuberculosis and whatnot.

They were looking for a little bit drier climate and they settled in the area and discovered a mineral spring and but apparently had a really distinct taste and smell. Um, they also noticed improvements in their health after drinking the water and this led to the spread of its reputation at the beginning of the town's growth. One well known as the crazy well became famous when a woman who seemed crazy drank from it daily and experienced a positive change in her mental state. Maybe she was just mineral deficient. We don't really know.

But the town flourished as a health resort with numerous well bathous and grand hotels like the Baker Hotel being built. A Baker Hotel is a luxurious 14-story resort, and it became a symbol for the town's prosperity and its association with health and wellness tourism, which was pretty popular back in the day. If you ever have heard the story of the post uh Toasties guy, um he had a wellness retreat, too. The popularity of the mineral water decline with advancements in medicine and stricter FDA regulations. And you know, again, I am a big fan of the podcast Mysterious Universe.

This episode was actually inspired by them. A lot of my episodes are, uh, believe it or not. But they did a story and one of the things they noted was they were trying to bottle this water up and sell it. But, you know, people back then, I think they were just ahead of their time because they didn't uh, drink bottled water. They weren't buying water that they could just get from a spring.

Why why waste money on it? However, Mineral Wells is experiencing a revitalization with efforts to restore its historic landmarks like the Baker Hotel and promote its unique heritage. Just beyond the wellness, Mineral Wells also played a significant role in military training, particularly with the establishment of Cap Fort Camp Walters. The camp trained thousands of soldiers during World War II and became the largest infantry replacement depot in the US. It also served as a helicopter training base during the Vietnam War.

Let's see. And there is remnants of the belief still in the town's identity. Number two, Blue Lagoon, Iceland. So, if you look at a picture of this lagoon, it is absolutely beautiful like milky blue water. In 2012, it was chosen as one of National Geographic's 25th wonders of the world.

The Blue Lagoon is a place where the interplay of nature, design, and science brings forth a world of wonder and wellness. The the lagoon's unique abilities were discovered in the early 90s when local residents began to bathe in the warm blue reservoir that have formed in the lava field besides Sparty Resource Park, a geothermal power plant. Engineers at the facility had expected the waters to see through the lava and then return to the Earth's volcanic aquifers. However, owing to the fluids, high concentration of silica, proper drainage did not occur, and the beautiful body of water took shape. Some people came for the healing, others for pleasure, but all who came left with a profound sense of wonder.

Word of the lagoon's transformative powers spread across Iceland. In 1987, a doctor began to envision a more formalized future for enhancing the site. He imagined a place of health and wellness galvanized by the bioactive properties of geothermic seawater. The lagoon soon became a focus of intense scientific study giving birth in 1992 to Blue Lagoon Limited, a company started by a name, a Swedish name I can't pronounce, and it was dedicated to the research of the water's primary elements, silica, algae, and minerals. In 1995 with research confirming the healing and nourishing benefits of geothermic seawater, Blue Lagoon LTD launched a renowned line of skin care.

This was followed in 1999 with the opening of a modern-day spa facility and in 2005 a clinic hotel for the treatment of psoriasis. I know this healing water is supposed to be really good for skin conditions. Uh in 2018, a company opened the Retreat Blue Lagoon Iceland in a luxurious geothermal resort encompassing a luxury hotel, subterranean spa, and a terrace lagoon. Also a restaurant that reinvents Iceland's culinary traditions. The more I talk about this, the more I want to visit it.

It was named one of the world's greatest places by Time magazine. And the retreat embodies a harmonic convergence of nature, design, and science, which I think embodies Feng Shui, right? Um, all of these go hand in hand together. Maybe not so much science in the Feng Shui thing, but pseudocience maybe. Today, many decades after the first inquisitive souls begin venturing into the water, the blue lagoon has blossomed from a humble curiosity to a wonder of the world.

Indeed, the story of the blue lagoon Iceland continues to be written by every guest who enters the radiant waters. That's definitely a bucket list because it looks amazing. Uh, Lordis France is another one. The apparition of the Virgin Mary in 1859 was said to tell people to bathe at the sanctuary. So the baths at the sanctuary of our lady of lords.

It's supposed to be a sp spiritual journey here. It all began with apparition witnessed by a young Bernardet sub uh Subris. I hope I said that right. And after the first apparition on the 11th of February 1858, several more followed. The 9th of February and on the 25th marked a turning point.

A few hundred people went with the seer to the grotto that morning and they looked in amazement, but they at first thought of her she was crazy. A young girl began to scrape in the muddy soil and depths of the grotto. She scooped up the resulting mixture of water and mud with her hand and began to drink it and she also washed her face with it. Go and drink from the spring and wash yourself there were the instructions given by the lady and heard by Bernardet alone. After this discovery, people come to the spring and to drink water and splash it on their faces.

The first miraculous healings occurred in the days that followed. The Lord spring became a place of pilgrimage in itself and offered a new hope for millions of sick people worldwide. And I kind of think of that saying, cleanliness is next to godliness and how people do cleansing baths and uh stuff like that to rid themselves of negative energy. So perhaps this is a place where something like that can occur. And the next one here, Warm Springs, Georgia.

It was a town that whose history dates back to the 1830s. It grew around a natural spring as many places do remember places popped up around water. We talked about that just from the very um basis of Feng Shui. You know, people had to settle around water. Around 1924, Franklin Delanor Roosevelt, the governor of New York at the time, came to the Warm Springs for treatment for his polio and found the springs were supposed to be pretty beneficial and he even invested in the area.

Roosevelt's vision led to the establishment of the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation and Rehabilitation Center, which became renowned for polio treatment. and he even built a landmark called the little lighthouse and the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute that are said to attract visitors. The town also has a historic district designated as national landmark. And today, Warm Springs is still a smaller town with a population of around 500, but it attracts over 300,000 visitors annually. and they seem to be drawn to the historical significance that FDR left behind.

I also wanted to point out so what happens when water turns bad in an area. My mom is from the town of Big Spring, Texas. I just kind of want to put this as an aside and a speculation as it were and kind of round it back to some fune here. It it's said that when there's a dirty water in an area that the people are corrupt. And it it makes me think, you know, Big Spring was actually a historic town where a lot of Native Americans would gather.

It was definitely like a buffalo watering area. I don't know at what point because I probably need to do a little bit further research. Uh it is also a big oil well drilling area. And as far back as I can remember visiting my grandma, when you turn the water faucet on, it smells like sulfur. It smells like the oil refinery.

And if you've ever smelled an oil refinery, you know exactly what I'm talking about. And to a certain extent, the areas of Midland Odessa are around the same. And if you know anything again about Texas and the the oil we have around here, those are huge drilling areas. Um, and they leech into the water. The contaminates go into the water.

But it kind of makes me think of the uh decline of the town of Big Spring. Um it used to be a nice not really big but little bustling town. It had a air base and of course the the oil refineries are they're still around but people don't want to settle in Big Spring I don't think as much as they used to. A lot of empty vacant housing and and stuff like that. And Odessa is a lot the same.

Midland has a little more sustainable growth I believe. If you know anything about again the area, you'll know that Odessa is said to be kind of ugly stepsister in the Midland. The just kind of my thoughts. It kind of makes me think of the the decline of the town and uh the contaminated water and everything. Just a little aside and kind of my thoughts for that.

What do you what do you guys think? Uh have you ever you know kind of lived in a town where the water population declined? We think of places like Flint, Michigan. Like people have to abandon those places when there's contaminants in the water because even bathing in that water can lead to those minerals and chemicals going into your your bloodstream and even being filtered through your kidneys. Just kind of makes you think, I suppose.

So yeah, tell me your thoughts. But remember, if you're listening on Spotify, you can comment and tell me your thoughts there. Hope you enjoyed today's episode looking at water and the symbolism in water. are all things kind of connected to it and even some of these rumored healing waters and taking a look at the folklor Friday and to these rumored healing waters. Remember I'm not doing energy mappings of homes anymore that but if you have a question just message me seriously message me and we can uh figure it out.

But uh the reason for that really is because I my my fune practice is Feng Shui for businesses. I work with small business owners to help identify their wealth sectors and set their business up for success. If you're a business owner and you need a business consultation, you can message me. Um, one thing I kind of want to get into is either commercial development or a developing a neighborhood. I'd like to Feng Shui one of those.

So, a look a little bit larger scale projects here, guys, which I think will be pretty interesting. All right. All right, guys. No new episode next week, but I'll catch you guys on September 5th for the September energy update. I cannot believe how fast this year is going.

We're going to talk about the month of the rooster. All right, guys. Catch you then.