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Home > Books & Reviews > Pagan > Creating Home Sanctuaries With Feng Shui Search

Book Review:
Creating Home Sanctuaries With Feng Shui: Sacred Spaces, Altars, and Shrines


Author: Shawne Mitchell and Stephanie Gunning
Trade Paperback, 190 pages
Publisher: New Page Books
Publication date: November 2002
ISBN: 1564145700
Price & More Info: Click Here


 
Sometimes publishers just send me a package of new books for review out of the blue. One of the hazards of this is that I occasionally get books about subjects on which I know next to nothing. I usually give such books a pass as I feel it's a bad idea to review a book in a field that I'm clueless about. Every once in a while, however, one jumps out at me and I feel that I just have to review it. Creating Home Sanctuaries With Feng Shui by Shawnee Mitchell (with Stephanie Gunning) demanded I review it even through all I know about Feng Shui is how to pronounce it and that it comes from China and has something to do with adjusting the chi energy of rooms and buildings.

As Shawnee Mitchell has had a Feng Shui consulting practice for 20 years, I'm going to assume that she knows what she writes about with respect to the art of Feng Shui. I wouldn't be able to tell otherwise. However, what drew me to this book isn't the Feng Shui information but the multitude of ideas for putting altars, shrines and various types of sacred spaces for many purposes in the average home. Best of all, from my thrifty point-of-view, many of these ideas can be executed without a great deal of time and expense.

The first part of this book deals with identifying your needs for sacred space in your home and with the tools Feng Shui brings to the equation when you are deciding what to do. While you hear of people who have completely redesigned their houses at great expense to bring them into accord with proper Feng Shui, mere mortals with budgets can generally work with what they have. For example, making your home more friendly to prosperity can apparently be as simple as putting something purple in the proper corner of your main living space.

The second part of the book looks at specific areas in the home and provides suggestions and examples for creating various energy patterns and moods. This book takes a religion neutral position on altars. If your religion does not have specific rules for a home altar, you will find a number of useful ideas in this book. The most interesting material is one creating various types of special spaces (which the authors call sacred spaces) for various purposes. Some examples given in the book: a healing center, an artist's altar, an attic retreat, and a contemplative garden.

Knowing as little about Feng Shui as I do, my heart sank when I received Creating Home Sanctuaries With Feng Shui for review. Upon reading it, however, I discovered that it was really a useful gem. While I can't comment on its accuracy with respect to Feng Shui, I can say that the Feng Shui information is clearly written and easily understood. Best of all, with all its ideas and suggestions, this book makes one want to do a few things to improve the feel of your house or apartment and help make it a sanctuary for your family from the trials of the world. I know that LyricFox and I will refer to it when we are finally able to move into our own place.

Reviewed by Randall


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