Feng Shui Apprenticeship

Here I am giving my class via Skype. On the table are some of the show & tell items that I use during the class. For a different view of that lovely table, look on page 113 of Feng Shui for Hawaii.

I have my first apprentice! Someone in California asked me nicely and I said, “Yes.” She had felt immediate results from following my suggestions via a telephone consultation. So far, what I’ve done is to give her recommended reading suggestions, and she’s reading her way through certain books and we’ll discuss them.

She has (twice now) arranged a conference-call where I give my “Tips for Feng Shui Professionals” class to her and a select group of two other people who are long-time clients and are now practicing feng shui professionally. I’ve offered this three-hour class several times in Honolulu, and it’s always interesting to see who shows up. I have to say this—some people are much better suited for a career as a feng shui consultant than other people. Not only does it require an extensive knowledge of feng shui principles and intricacies, but you need to also have the ability to effectively convince people to make changes in their environment that (while being good for them) don’t necessarily appeal to them. I have to do that all the time. I know that that ablility in myself is one of the main reasons that I’m sucessful as a consultant. Add to that a good, yet flexible, sense of style and you’re starting to see the ingredients of a good consultant. To be a great consultant, you have to have age. A person needs to be 81 years old to have the title of Feng Shui Master—that’s how I learned it. And that’s about experience—experience is (usually) the most important factor is how good in determining how good a consultant is going to be.

Years ago I offered a feng shui talk at a library and a woman came up to me afterwards and told me that she’d like to be a feng shui consultant. She didn’t have a home but was living in her car. I flat-out told her that no one would take her seriously. If feng shui isn’t working in a consultant’s life, why hire them for their advice? I’m happily married—if I weren’t, why would I expect anyone to trust my advice on using feng shui for relationships?

I’m 67, so I’ve got a ways to go to get to 81, but I am in my third decade of practicing feng shui professionally, so this transition to teaching other feng shui professionals feels appropriate. I’ll still be a regular old feng shui consultant—I’m good at it, I must say. My clients say so too—my latest Oahu client included a note with her payment, “Brilliant consult!” (And it was—sometimes I surprise even myself!) I consulted for a couple in Kona recently who were planning to paint the outside of their house. The purpose of the consultation was to pick the new colors and where they would go. It took a while because it was an older home with many add-ons. (Add-ons can give older homes a lot of charm, or not!) There was some awkwardness about their add-ons, and the new colors will serve to erase the awkwardness and unify the home—plus add a heck of a lot of charm, as well as grounding. When I told the people how much the bill was, the husband said, “That’s too little!” I responded with, “You’re welcome to tip me.” And he gave me double what I’d asked for! He said it was such a relief to have a paint color plan that he could understand and trust.

My apprentice said she would be happy to coordinate more calls, so now I’m going to make a more general invitation. If you would like to be part of a future conference-call (one of the participants referred to it as a webinar), please contact me and we’ll go from there. The subjects of my future classes will be feng shui principles in general. There’ll be  classes on chi energy flow, poison arrows, empowered positions, the bagua, feng shui landscaping, etc. This is for people who are seriously considering becoming a feng shui consultant.