Natural Alternatives - Reducing Toxic Chemical in the life of you and your home

The symbol for 'Harmony' looks just like a neat little home :)

Each month I seem to discover a new way to improve the Simplicity of my life. Most of the time, these initiatives end up making my home ‘greener’ and more efficient, so they are a real plus. It makes very good Feng Shui sense to reduce the amounts of harmful chemicals, as they are considered to be low level energy, and will therefore attract low level energy. Replacing them with a bio-eco friendly alternative which has high level energy, will in turn attract more high level energy of course.

Here is the first of my top tips that you can easily and simply implement into your life:

Reduce toxic chemical in the laundry
This one is easy peasy! Years ago I switched to a more eco friendly version of laundry liquid because I found out that powders generally end up sitting in the material of our clothes and can potentially lead to skin problems like eczema and general dermatitis, and even promote respiratory sensitivity. As I was just about to have my first baby, I decided to go with the most innocuous kind of liquid I could find in the supermarket at the time. (yes, I didn’t go to a bio-eco-friendly website/shop at first) Later on I found that the sodium laurel sulphate used in most detergents is highly harmful to humans, and so this made me choose to find a totally ‘safe’ alternative for washing.

Two things I found that worked are the pairing of Bicarbonate of Soda (bi-carb) as a washing aid (simply because it ‘softens’ the water and naturally deoderises) and White Vinegar as a rinse, instead of using fabric softener. Fabric softeners break the fibres of the materials to make them feel softer, and the perfumes used in them are synthetic. I use an essential oil like Lavender for linen (in with the White Vinegar in the rinse spout), Tea Tree for towels, and Lemon for whites. Using Lemon oil in the rinse for whites is helpful when you can hang out the washing in the sun, as the natural photosensitivity of Lemon will help brighten your whites. My washing is cleaned, simply, safely and ends up just smelling ‘clean’ or with a beautiful, natural scent of the essential oil I’ve chosen.

Bi-carb and white vinegar are SO cheap to buy and work out to be a very economical alternative to commercial detergents.
For a full wash in a top loader I use one and a half tablespoons of bi-carb, and about 60ml of white vinegar (+ about 5 drops of whatever essential oil I use).
There are a hundred and one uses for bi-carb, white vinegar and essential oils in the book ‘Speed Cleaning’ by Shannon Lush and Jennifer Fleming. RR $19.95. Some bookstores even sell a handy ‘wheel chart’ with the stains and which combination of cleaner to use for each kind of problem.

The other totally organic product I use now is ‘Soap Nuts’. A soap nut is not actually a nut at all, but the outer shell of a fruit related to the Lychee. It is used throughout Asia as the way to clean anything. The shell contains natural ‘saponins’ which are released when the shells are soaked in water and naturally clean and soften fabrics. A mixture of the saponin can be used for applications around the house too, for cleaning cutlery and plates in the sink and for cleaning bench-tops and furniture. Most of the time I use the Soap Nuts for the darks and colours, and for the linen and towels. But I also use them for whites if I know I will be hanging it out inside the house because of rain. Everything is cleaned well, and smells like clean water after just using the soapnuts.

The purely environmental benefits of this are that I can use all the rinse water from my washing on the garden without any concern that there may be some chemical that is potentially harmful for my plants. I can even use the rinse on my organic herbs which I use in my cooking! Above all else, the economic savings and the lift in vibrational energy of my home, I love the fact that I am doing something that is promoting good health for my family and the earth too.

There are also beneficial ‘knock on’ effects for your health, because if we reduce toxic chemicals that come into close contact with our body, we reduce the amount of energy we use naturally detoxifying our bodies. This in turn creates less stress on our immune system (lymph and blood) and the organs most responsible for removing harmful compounds from our bodies (lungs, liver, kidneys, bowel, skin), so we should be able to realise a gentle and subtle lift in our own personal energy levels, and hopefully an improvement in the function of those organs and our overall health, because of one simple step we take in our household maintenance. Not bad eh? (I have personally seen the steps I have taken lead to an increase in my family’s health. We seem to have a greater immunity to the seasonal viruses that seem to debilitate many families around us) It can also manifest as less money, time and effort taken with buying products to treat dermatitis, respiratory sensitivities and loss of sleep due to being uncomfortable or irritated because of toxic chemical. Not to mention the considerable savings made on not buying every cleaning product thrust at us via marketing. It is a win-win situation.

Jannette is a Senior Holistic Feng Shui practitioner who
operates her own consultancy in Brisbane, Queensland. She is dedicated to finding the simple, easy and effective solutions to improve the energy flow in your home or
business, body and spirit.

Cleansing and FengShui - New Year's Re-Solutions

The markers of a new year give us pause to clear away the symbolic, and the tangible, stagnant or stale energy in our Life Experience. It’s so much more than the idea of a Space Clearing, a Spring Cleaning, or a New Year’s Resolution.

Starting anew provides a way of bringing a fresh energetic resonance to carry with you into the future of your Life Experience.

Chinese Feng Shui is full of superstitions surrounding the Chinese New Year, and there are a few ideas for Space Clearing, a few ‘rules’ they follow to ensure that the old is swept out and the new is invited in. Firstly, the weeks before the New Moon of the New Year is the time to completely clean the house and grounds of a dwelling or business. This physically and symbolically clears away the ‘old’ Chi and presents a clear space to allow the new Chi of the New Year to enter and fill up the Life Experience of the occupants. New Year’s Day of the Chinese New Year is a day to do no sweeping at all, otherwise you risk sweeping out the new Chi entering! Sounds logical hey? :) Then there are the Sound techniques of using firecrackers to ‘scare away bad spirits’, and the use of bells and gongs to resonate sweet tones through the air, thereby purifying it.

Pagan traditions refer to the need to replace the house broom at the Solstice, or other Sabbat (seasonal marker) which marks the start of a new cycle. This is actually when the days start to change in length depending on whether you are Northern or Southern Hemisphere, and so it makes sense that this is a very important turning point in a year. It is also suggested that you never take an old broom from one dwelling place to another, and replace it if you move house or start a new business. This also makes sound energetic sense to me.

European cultural traditions mark the starting of Spring weather as a turning point as well, with the globally known ’Spring Cleaning’ phase. At this time it is important to remove the stale and confined energy that has accumulated over the Winter, and invite in a new beginning. It is also an honouring of the place you dwell in, and this is an important part of connecting to the space in which you live or work.

Burning of herbs or incense or even fragrant logs in a fireplace, are all ways of purifying the air in most cultures. And while some may consider it strange to put smoke in the air to purify it, the feeling of a space after such a ritual cannot be denied. It is tangibly ‘higher’, sweeter and definitively uplifting!



With many traditions, the use of various energetic clearing and cleansing practices is seen as symbolic of ‘starting the new year’. And all contain the concept of whatever is removed that is unfavourable should be replaced with something that is favourable. Therefore, no space is left void, which would indicate it was not ’living’, not nourishing and not a part of the beneficial energetic presence of a place. This is why mantras, blessings and prayers are used during and especially at the end of rituals. They ‘fill up’ the spaces cleared with beautiful vibrational energy.

This would also include the spaces and places in our Hearts and Minds too. Along with our intentions to simplify and clear out living and work places, we should endeavour to clear away some aspects of our thoughts and behaviours that attract low level energy (Si Chi). Replacing a negative thought with a positive one is proven to help one’s health and wellbeing, so imagine what could be achieved from repeating this with more than one aspect of low level energy we may be carrying around with us.

I explain the concept of Feng Shui to some people as the Law of Resonance, because this was one way it was explained to me, and it makes a lot of sense too. :) The Law of Resonance describes the way in which we set up our energetic signature and then, carry that with us in all we do. It also describes how our living environments reflect our state of Being, or vice-versa, why our environment may manipulate our Being. Our energetic signature is the unique vibration we ARE. And as everything in this Universe is in constant motion, we can change our signature whenever we need to. Inevitably, what we ‘are’ becomes what we ‘were’, … and it is entirely up to us whether we allow history to repeat or not.

I view history that is ‘good enough’ to be repeated as beneficial tradition, and that is why humans establish ritual to a great extent. We found it worked wonders in the Past, and so we wish to replicate the good mojo in the here and now. All very logical really…
If you cannot access a memory that describes to you a certain way of Being that you can replicate for the now, then look into other cultures, or research ways of lifting the vibrational energy of places and spaces.

“We are Abundant in Knowledge and Solutions”

This year, attract, and resonate, your Solutions. :)

Not feeling that pep and vigour to get you going on the track of New
Year?
Perhaps a course of Wild Rose the 'Zest for Life'
flower is what you require! :)
Order Bach Flower Remedies for very reasonable prices from JTHTC. Visit the
website at http://www.fengshuiconnections.bravehost.com/
and email Jannette with your order. Bach Flower Remedies contain no
volatile constituents and do not react to any medications. They are subtle
therapy medicine and work with the bodies own systems to restore balance and
harmony.

Pure Resin Incense is also available to order. Basilica to feel protected, and Cathedral to be inviting and open up your spaces. Charcoal discs available in 10 disc rolls.