Fortune awaits


MEDIUM RARE

Jullie Y. Daza

She scoffed at self-styled feng shui “experts” who used the mysticism of mirrors as part of their tools to explain the universe. She regularly advised friends and clients, “Get out of the house. Do I have to push you out the door and tell you fortune awaits outdoors, not in?”


That was the late Princess Lim Fernandez in one of her spunky moods. She was young and beautiful, a charmer who could’ve been a model or actress but stuck to her feng shui books to discern the secrets of the planet, its comings and goings, seasons and changes, in other words, its energy/energies. I recall Princess with a pinch of my heart just as the Chinese calendar turns one day older today, second day of the Year of the Serpent.


Whoever said mirrors were useful to absorb, reflect, or deflect energy should have been a decorator or poet, but not Princess. What was important to Princess she learned from her mentor, Paul Lau, and from her travels where she attended conferences of masters from all over Asia, and from the books she read long into the night.


Paul and Princess were one in saying that manmade structures are useful metaphors for the mountains and rivers that provided protection and commerce in the long-ago past. Tall buildings are like mountains, vehicles on the street simulate the rivers that flow and move. The lesson is clear, let there be no stagnation, for where there is stagnation, there’s a bad smell, and bad smells are bad.
As Paul was wont to remind one and all, street traffic is a sign of economic activity, “Stop complaining!” This tip he shared with owners of stores on opening day: “Keep the water in the kettle boiling!”


Princess, on the other hand, could not stand the sight of decaying flowers. In three words, “Throw them out.” 


With the arrival of a new year, Princess’ brother Patrick, whose left and right brain are evenly matched for banking and psychology, tells his clients at Yin and Yang Shop of Harmony that in a “transformative year of growth and self-discovery,” the young should learn while their elders do the mentoring. Oh yes, he’s all for fresh flowers to “refresh your house and home.”