Feng Shui Cure Gone Bad

I threw away a Feng shui cure today that was supposed to last for the whole year. It was a super-doper-all-purpose-all-year cure.

I am waiting for our building to fall down in a heap any moment. Really!

If you look at the photos, you will see why I threw it away. The thing was growing out of control and, in my very unknowledgeable opinion, looking intensely un-Feug Shui .

The white stuff is crystalized salt. I did not put it there...it grew around the edges of the bowl all on it's own. The pad used to be pot holder from Ikea. Now it is a salt Frisbee and is in the trash bucket. The red is water, and what you can't see because of the murkiness are 6 (now heavily corroded) Chinese coins. The photo of the pad is after I removed the bowl, so you can see just how much salt permeated and built up on the pad. Amazing!!

I learned about the cure from Ellen Whitehurst. She is an astrologer, herbalist, cook and Feng Shui consultant, among other things. She wrote about this cure in her newsletter, and I was excited to try it. It called for salt, water and 6 Chinese coins. Easy-peasy. Pop it in my southeast corner, and I was good to go.

 I used (because I really wanted to assure myself of a good year) my Himalayan Rock Crystal Bath Salt - that is why the water is pink.  The only requirements were to keep the coins covered with water and not touch it for one year.

I wish I had taken a picture of how beautifully the whole thing looked after I put it together, so you could see the remarkable transformation.

The first inkling that something had gone awry was a light dusting of salt on the pad. This was not good because the cure was sitting on a wooden table, and the salt would eventually ruin the table. Then only a week into the cure I could see water under the pad - I had to move it. So I said a little prayer of protection and put the bowl and pad on the floor under the table. Nothing calamitous happened, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Every week I checked the water levels and watched in fascination as the salt got thicker and thicker. Remember, we are just a little over a month in a 12 month experience. When I saw water pooling  around the pad (where does this come from?!!) I said, this is it, it's going. I was also concerned that in the course of a year the water might eventually make its way through the tile grout down into the apartment below.

Well, so far, so good. Should disaster strike, God forbid, I will let you know. But as I poured the whole thing except the coins down the drain I said another protection prayer, included my husband and my house in the process - just for good measure.