As I mentioned in the last post, The Energy of Cemeteries (and Other Significant Places), it isn’t considered ideal from a feng shui perspective to live close to a cemetery or other significant site, such as a church, synagogue, hospital, or school. These sites tend to have big, heavy energy associated with them that can leave us feeling ungrounded, anxious, or distracted. Unfortunately, though, we can't always control what's located around us in the greater community.
There isn’t a prescribed series of steps that everyone can follow to immediately prevent these places from impacting us and our environments. But there are numerous different feng shui strategies that we can employ to reduce their effect. Only by testing them out and seeing which ones resonate with you and help you feel more comfortable will you know what works.
In general, when discussing how to apply feng shui practices to counter heavy energies from a nearby place, strategies for success tend to fall under two categories. First, we want to promote life force energy, vitality, and positivity in the home. Vibrant, active energy in your home will be a deterrent to any stagnant, dull energies looking to insert themselves. Second, we want to reduce the ability of negative energy to gain access to the home.
Strategies to Promote Vitality and Positivity
1. Get Grounded
The best thing to do to counteract these places, which often have a dull or transient energy, is to have a grounded house. The energy from nearby, imposing sites is more likely to affect you if you are in transition or unsettled, so make sure that you are completely unpacked (even if you’ve lived there for a while) and that you feel settled in every area of your home. Also consider grounding yourself through meditation, which will help you to feel more calm and secure.
Another great way to ground your home is to (surprise, surprise!) feng shui it! Use feng shui principles to ensure your home is a colorful, lively, vibrant place that reflects you and makes you feel comfortable and safe. Applying feng shui will also help you to feel more positive and happy in your environment and assist you in further taking ownership over your space.
2. Do A Clearing
(Check out the blog post, How to Know if You Need Space Clearing for the full run-down on this.)
This is a good thing to do every once in a while even if you don’t live near an impressive site since, over time, different energies can linger and imprint themselves in a space. Ever had someone in your home who you really didn’t want to be there? Even though they may have physically left, their energy can stick around, making you feel uneasy, tense, or drained. And unhelpful energies from nearby sites can drift around and insert themselves where they don't belong (like your home). Space clearing is the process of removing these stagnant, heavy, old, or negative energies from a space so that positive and vibrant energies can reign supreme.
An important thing to keep in mind about clearing a space is that it’s all about intentions. It’s crucial to be clear about what your intentions are for the space before you start cleansing and to state them out loud. In the case of a close-by, heavy-energy site, you’ll want to use an intention that makes sense for your situation. It could be something along the lines of "We want to bring love, light, and healing into this home," "We want to bring peace, happiness, and well-being into this home," "We want to send all negative, heavy, or old energies to the light," or "We want to remain protected from the energies of the neighboring [cemetery, church, hospital], and we send light and healing to that area."
3. Get Nature Involved
There is no better or easier way to bring vitality and positivity to your home than through plants. Add live plants to your home, and consider planting taller bushes or trees to the part of the house that faces the cemetery or impressive structure. These can work as a physical and subconscious buffer and help to “block” any unwanted energy directed at your house. Another good strategy for protection against unwanted visitors or energies in your home is to add spiky plants (like cacti) to its entrance. Most importantly, you want to make sure that your landscaping and plants look and feel healthy, as this increases the life force energy on your property.
4. Feed the Birds
Literally. Add a bird feeder (or some other animal feeder) to the outside of your home to invite active life force energy (aka animals) to visit or live on your land. Again, the best way to counter energy from an impressive or dreary site is to infuse your home and the surrounding property with vitality.
Strategies to Reduce the Ability of Negative Energy to Gain Access
1. Hang a Mirror (or Several)
Mirrors are a good way to deflect unwanted energies from your home and are commonly used in feng shui to do just that. Add a mirror so that it's facing the window or door out of which you can see the imposing site. This will reflect back out into the world any negative or heavy energies trying to enter from that place and protect your home.
If you’re having bad dreams or nightmares because of your proximity to these sites, also consider adding a dream catcher to your bedroom. These traditionally Native American talismans are used to protect sleeping people from bad dreams with the belief that bad dreams are caught up in its web and good dreams are allowed to pass through and slide down the feathers to comfort the sleeper.
2. Use Crystals
Use and add protective crystals to the entrance of your house and/or plant them around the perimeter of your property. The crystals will help protect you and your home from any unwanted energies. To start, try using Black Tourmaline and Selenite, as they are both very grounding and protective. For more extensive information about crystals, their meanings, and how best to use them, check out The Crystal Vaults Comprehensive Illustrated Guide to Crystals.
3. Get Informed
If the impressive site close to your home makes you feel fearful or apprehensive, try doing some research on the history of that place and learn about the people that founded it or are buried there. Maybe visit the site and explore the area so you can visually see what it’s all about. Personalizing it and taking it out of the realm of the unknown will make it less frightening and overwhelming.
Keep in mind that emblems or protective statues that are personal to you will have the strongest effect. So if your religion or culture has a specific symbol to help protect you in your environment and you feel that it’s the right thing for you to display, go for it! As with all things in feng shui, the changes you make will have more impact and work better if they are meaningful and personal to you.
Have you lived close to a cemetery or other imposing structure? What strategies did you use to help you feel comfortable in your home?