Sutera News – November 2006 / Vol.29
House Warming – Developing a new house into an auspicious home
Modern dwellings are quite well put together in their own way today, but the emphasis on the proper methods of moving into a new house are still the most concerned, such as auspicious dates, house blessing, house purification, house warming etc.
Most people might follow certain methods but without understanding the reasons behind what they have been advised. There are different religious approaches; there are also ways for those who may not have a religion yet. Some do it because their friends or relatives said so. Nobody can ensure the correct ways to prepare a new house before it can become a cosy home; or perhaps there has never been any correct way at all.
Despite the confusions, it is still very important to develop and maintain the auspicious energy of a new house to ensure permanent peace. In this issue, I shall discuss the various customs and rituals that I usually advice my students and followers to conduct.
Entering your new house for the first time
This is the day when you receive the house keys from the developer and prepare to enter the new house for the first time. Entering your own house for the first time is the most exciting moment to feel the satisfaction and the release from all confusions, worries, bank matters, contract complications etc. Since it is a new house, there will be smell of paint, timber bits, cement and other building materials, it is definitely a wonderful moment to experience the smells of a new house; well, that is if you are lucky. On the contrary, one may encounter with smells of unfinished food or drink packs left behind by the building workers instead. The worse is the merciless foul of human or pet excreta or other similar messes. Well, do not be despair; at least your house has experienced the worse outcome. Ironically, the worse thing that can affect a new environment permanently is the unseen force that is left behind by occurrences such as accidents, bloodshed, arguments, vulgar languages or curses brought about by the workers, outsiders or unrelated persons; the worse is of course incidents that might have led to the extend of death during the construction period. A new house is like a new hard disk in a computer, if there are prior defects, it will continue to have problems until it is fully rectify by the proper specialist. There are a few ways to purify a new house and maintain the auspicious energy. If you have a region, you may want to pray for blessing of your new premise at your religious places. There are also practices where the owner of the new building invites an auspicious person such as a religious leader, politician, successful business person, scholar, wealthy or a good fate person to go with him to the new house on the day when he enters the new house for the first time. My advice is not to bring children at that moment as they may encounter with unpleasant sights or making negative remarks because the new house is empty or messy.
Sutera News – March 2007 / Vol.30
A: Developing auspicious energy
1. Before entering the new house for the first time, bring with you some strips of red colour cotton materials; approximately 1 inch by 18 inches or longer but not shorter.
2. Just make a little cut and tear the cotton material through to make a strip then cut it in half if the material is 36 inches wide.
3. Make about 10 to 15 strips, as they will be used to tie all the door handles including the main gate, the front door, all room doors, the WC and toilet doors etc.
4. This is the first auspicious gesture just like lighting up candles on a piece of birthday cake before making a good wish. You may leave the red strips on the door handles permanently or remove them on the first anniversary of the house.
5. It is absolutely important to do this yourself for the first time when entering the new house as from then you shall be the master of the new house. After this simple ritual, you may then proceed to commence your renovation.
6. If a door is being replaced during renovation, discard the original strip that you have tied on that door previously and tie a new red strip to the new door when it is fixed.
B: Maintaining auspicious energy
1. Nobody is perfect; avoid making unreasonable complaints about the work or unpleasant remarks to the workers, talk to the main contractor if necessary. Curses or bad-mouths behind you from the workers could remain permanent creating negative energies to the building.
2. If you are a Taoist, get an experience Tao practitioner to set up a temporary DiZhu (地主神) in the main hall before commencement of work. Light up some incense each day when you enter the new house praying for pleasant progress of the work and safety of the workers during renovation. If you do not intend to have a permanent DiZhu (地主神) in the house in future, then do not set up the temporary one but only light up some incense at any suitable point in the hall near the Eastern side throughout the renovation period. Request for a talisman from your temple if available; place it on any wall facing the main door. The talisman may be relocated if it obstructs any work. Burn the talisman outside the house after completion of renovation. Some red colour papers cut to 8 inches square may replace the talisman. Place one in the hall facing outside and another one on the back wall somewhere in the kitchen area.
3. If you are a Buddhist, set up a audio player at any suitable point and play the chanting of ‘Amitabha (Namo-A-Mi-To-Fo)’ daily at the premise.
4. If you are a Christian, a Muslim or other religion, do the related blessing process as advised by your religion elders.
5. If you are a free thinker, be cheerful; feel happy each time when you enter the house and be friendly to the workers; this will develop a harmonious environment.
C: When the new building is in an unpleasant stage.
When a building is in an unpleasant stage such as foul or unpleasant messes, it must be cleaned up accordingly before commencement of any renovation works or any of the process described in A and B above. My advice is to engage some professional cleaners to do it, as this process may bring unhappiness and unpleasant remarks if you involve friends or your family members to do it. Remember! Never ever curse a new house!
D: The renovation
It is very important to plan your design carefully before commencement of renovation, avoid unnecessary changes while the work is in progress, one design is just as good as another. Major alterations to completed works will never satisfied anyone but confuses the magnetic energy around it. When there are too many revisions within a short period, it becomes a waste and will begin to interfere with the auspicious energy of the whole house at the same time causing further uncertainties and additional financial burdens. When the energy field is being disturbed, there will be continuous alterations even after the occupants are moved in. Hence, the new house is suffered from an incurable illness, massive lost of magnetic energies and will never achieve a cohesive living environment. If you wish to consult a fengshui master to design your house, do it before the renovation. Please remember, a good fengshui master is one who does not deface your building or making obscure changes and massive restructuring.
It is important to select an auspicious date for the commencement of renovation. The proper process of blessings at the right location to start work are just as important; it is advisable to consult a religious practitioner to lead the commencement of renovation. Prepare some red packets for all those presence on the day, this will establish a happy and cohesive moment to commence the renovation, with the red packet, it is most certainly that everyone will feel happy and probably say a few good words about the owner of the house. Go to your religious place to seek for blessing about commencement of renovation for your new house on the day after commencement of work or as soon as when the opening ritual is over.
Despite certain negative forces which may have left behind by workers or outsiders, a new house is generally possessed with undisturbed energy known as the Characteristic Energy (本气). The Characteristic Energy (本气) is the original appearance of the building suggested by the building designers and the architects. The original energy can only be disrupted and turned into negative energies if improper renovation is done to the building or if it is left unattended for a long period of time. Negative forces will also develop if there are excessive renovation works, too many alterations to the original structures or when the renovation works are carried out when the owner of the building is at his lowest fate period.
E: Completion of renovation
The completion of renovation to the new house is another exciting moment. Most people would probably began to shift a considerable amount of furniture into the new house during the renovation period, some people might ask “is this alright hey?!…” Well, basically it is not, however, at least, the cooker, the bed and all clothing must only come in to the building on the day when you are actually move in to live in the new house. As for the furniture, they can only to come in after all painting works are completed to both interior and exterior of the house. It is not advisable to shift the furniture about just because the painter has to do the section where it is occupying. In fengshui terminology, this will confuse the furniture resulted in causing energy incoherences and harmony in future. Indirectly, this will also create uncertainties to the master of the house, and within a short period of time, he will began to feel that somewhere in the house needs more renovation or replacements. This situation will also occur to those houses had undergone massive changes during the renovation. In the last series of Sutera Newz Vol 31, I have mentioned that “…avoid unnecessary changes while the work (renovation) is in progress, one design is as good as another…” The consequences of pulling down newly completed works or repainting the wall colours over and over is similar to the outcomes of moving furniture about as described above.
F: Moving into your new home
Upon completion of renovation, the next step is plans to move into the new house. The best period to let the new house “rest” a little after renovation is about 14 days. During this period, you might want to find suitable matching furniture, lightings, curtains etc. The new house also needs to go through a purification process. Purification is feng shui terms this means completing cleansing with water and fire.
“Cleansing,” means cleaning the new house thoroughly:
1: You will need an old broom and an old dustpan; it is best to bring this from the old house. For a house with upper stories, sweep from the top level downward to the ground floor, when reaching the ground level, sweep from the back of the house to the front then to the exterior, wrap the dusts in a large dust bag including the old broom and the old dustpan. If you need to use solvents or acidic materials to clean dry paints or stains, do it after sweeping the house then bundle the dirty drags together in the same dust bag. Discard this bag from the front of the house; do not bring it back into the new house even if the trash bin is situated at the rear of the house.
2: Use a new set of broom and a new dustpan, this time sweep from the front door (not the exterior gate). At the staircase, go to the top levels sweep all floors downward then at the ground level continue to back of the house. Keep the dust in a new dust bag; keep it together with the indoor dustbin. Throw this away after the first dinner or the new day at the new house.
3. Use two mops and new buckets, one for the floor and the other for the wall and ceiling. Never use the floor mop on the wall and vice versa. The wall mop should be kept for walls use only. Mop the walls first, including the ceiling, be careful with all non water resistant places such as electrical points and lighting locations. If you have more helpers, you may get more mops and start at any point in the house at will. Spray water to the walls, the floor and area where water does not affect the paint works or wall fixtures such as wall cabinets or electrical fixtures, otherwise, use the mop will do. Mopping the ceiling and the wall is a very important step as this is probably the only time that you have a chance to clean it. This is the reason why the furniture should come in after completion of all necessary fixtures. <End>