Every being that moves in this world has a HEART, the central point where energy enters and leaves. Every country has a capital where governments or royalty reside and companies have headquarters where all important decisions are made. What would happen if his heart was removed? Simply, the being in motion would cease. Our personal residence, the house is no exception. Behind the brick walls there is also a heart… a central point where energy enters and leaves, the kitchen.
For anyone who wants to improve their prosperity, this is the room to start with. It has long been known in Feng Shui that the kitchen, above all other areas of the house, holds secrets to unlocking your wealth, health and well-being. When buying or renting any new property, the kitchen should always be of prime importance. If you do not feel happy in it, the home will not bring you harmony. What is even more important, it will also affect your finances. Over the years I have studied many cuisines and this is often the case. The more cramped, restrictive, unlit, unkempt, and unused the kitchen, the bigger the hole it burns in your pocket.
Of all kitchen appliances, the kitchen is the source of action and livelihood, therefore this is the best place to start! The Chinese believe that cooking has a direct connection to wealth and if any of their stoves break down, their money supply will be frustrated. Week by week, it will decline, causing a financial meltdown that will be hard to get out of. You may even find that this slow energy shortage will affect your health, causing you to feel excessively tired and lethargic.
To make sure your kitchen is doing its job, generating the most cash possible, it needs to be in pristine condition and in top working order. You not only need to make sure your kitchen is in good working order, but also keep it sparkling clean! Get in the habit of wiping up those drips before they turn into stubborn dirty-brown stains.
The next step to making sure the money is flowing is to use your kitchen as often as possible…no good having a big thundering battery if you never plug anything in! Put those pans on the stove and make sure each plate gets used for a week. Create opportunities to make food like never before! Get out the cookbooks, dust off the pages, and find those recipes you’ve always loved. You can also increase the profitability of your kitchen by placing a mirror behind it to double the number of plates.
When your kitchen has received the ‘money’ once again, as with anything of value, we need to make sure it is protected. Check to see if the kitchen mouth opens in direct alignment with a door. If so, it’s important to make sure this door is as solid as possible, otherwise money can escape through the open panel. Try covering it with a curtain, or better yet change your door. The same can be said for the large windows around the kitchen area. Displaying plants along window sills or using bistro drapes halfway will alleviate the possibility of monetary flight.
If you can choose where to place the range, position it so that it is within sight of a door while cooking with plenty of air and space circulating around you. An island in the middle of the room with its back protected by a solid wall would be the ideal situation.
How the chef feels at the cooking station goes right into the food being cooked. Therefore, it is important to look up, left/right, and behind for any telltale signs of a possible disruption in the ‘chef’s’ power system.
Remove pots and pans hanging directly overhead, cover open skylights, and change dominant lighting fixtures. Has the leader or occupants been experiencing headaches? Your pots hanging over the cooking station might as well have been the culprit! Either side of the cooking station should also be kept as clear as possible to encourage a ‘happy’ chef! If you want the money to flow easily, make the chef’s job easy!
When the chef is cooking, is his back to the door? If so, expect the unexpected because that’s what you’ll get! Cars break down suddenly, the central heating pump breaks, the family pet needs an expensive operation. Also, all that nervous energy will seep into the food you cook, affecting everyone in the house. A simple early warning system to help Chef feel safe is to place a wind chime near the door so it chimes when opened.
It is vital that the kitchen is located in the main part of the house, otherwise the occupant will feel ‘on a limb’ and rely heavily on outside resources for income. In other words, he can be deprived of having to depend financially on someone for his daily bread of independence. Eg state benefits, charity, loans and credit cards, family, totally dependent on partner’s income.
There’s nothing like answering back to a God to keep your stove up to scratch! In China, Zao Shen is the God of the hearth, kitchen, and stove. He protects the home and family and reports all household activities to the Heavenly Gods annually on the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month.
Find a picture or buy a small statue and place Zao Shen on top of your stove. Make sure you’ve scrupulously cleaned it first, though otherwise it will tell you. You can give offerings. He likes tobacco, wine and alcohol and, of course, food cooked to perfection. I have a wok full of new bags filled with a variety of rice near my kitchen, so it really feels at home in my western kitchen. I’ll buy him a nice little bottle of Saki next week!
If you honor his presence in your kitchen, he will repay you untold wealth from the profits. This could be with a new job opportunity, increased productivity, or more income you’ve worked for. However, he does not bring wealth through lottery prizes or gambling.
In the Lunar New Year of the twelfth month you can sweeten his tongue before he reports to the gods by touching his mouth with sugar or honey. Then you will need to retire until Chinese New Year (you can set it on fire with flames or remove its statue from the kitchen). Zao Shen is a very thriving addition to any kitchen and if you take care of him, he will definitely take care of you! Personally I prefer to display it with his wife who according to ancient legend showed him great compassion and forgiveness.