Feng Shui, the Chinese art of placement, is enjoying a spectacular revival not only in its native country but worldwide as well. According to Feng Shui, cosmic breath or ch'i energy permeates the atmosphere, the earth and all living things. Feng Shui experts seek to channel and enhance environmental energy or ch'i to improve human energy and thus increase happiness, wealth and prosperity. Feng Shui offers a method of integrating our personal energy so it flows in synchronicity with the energy flow of the universe. In this way we move and live in harmony with universal energies rather than opposing them.

     According to Feng Shui, the energy of our home greatly affects our general well being. Great pains are taken with interior and exterior design as well as furniture and object placement so that everything works in harmony with the cosmic force or energy for the highest benefit possible. Most individuals who employ the art of Feng Shui report wonderful positive changes. Besides increased happiness, wealth and prosperity, they have also reported such things as improved health, more harmonious relationships and a general feeling of well being. Taking such care of our homes infuses them with sacredness and they become living spirits that nurture us.

     In nature, all things are in harmony. Animals living in nature live harmoniously with the energies that surround them. When animals spend most or all of their time in artificial indoor environments, they are at the mercy of the inharmonious energies that might be present in the environment. These energies can greatly affect their health and emotional well being. You may have taken great pains to create a harmonious and esthetically beautiful atmosphere in your home without considering that, for your animal companion, things may be far from harmonious. This can be better understood by taking a look at indoor life from the perspective of your cat, dog or other small animal. Get down at their eye level and take a look around. Often the area closest to the floor is the most neglected from a housekeeping standpoint, being the most untidy. It is all a matter of perspective. What you experience and what your cat, dog or rabbit experiences can be quite different, indeed!

     Cats, in particular, are extremely sensitive to the energies given off by different objects and the energies generated by different configurations of objects. Often when I communicate with a cat, or other small animal they will communicate a sense of discomfort with their indoor environment. When I ask the animals to give me a visual picture of what they are experiencing I am often presented with the view of the underside of a bed, couch or other piece of furniture. These areas in most homes are often cluttered, untidy and the last to be cleaned. We simply don't think of these areas of our homes because, to us, they are of little impact. To our animal companions, however, particularly when they are of a diminutive size, these areas comprise a great deal of their world.

     Many of my clients complain that their cats frequently explore the tops of their dressing tables, piano tops, dining tables, kitchen counter tops and other places where delicate things are kept or food is prepared. The reason animals frequent these places is often not what we think. When questioned about this type of behavior during telepathic communication sessions, cats will often communicate that they like the energy in these places - they experience a sense of order, cleanliness and beauty that they do not experience when on the ground.

     Animals are naturally drawn to harmony and beauty and will seek it out whenever possible. In nature this would not be a factor since nature is always harmonious and beautiful, but indoors it can be quite a different matter. I have experimented with my cats over the years to see how they respond to the creation of beautiful, harmonious settings placed at their level. Placing small container plants close to the floor along with mirrors and sacred objects makes them very happy. They respond immediately to this kind of decorating on their behalf and consequently they spend far less time on top of furniture.

     I once created an altar of remembrance for my cat Shoji. It was in a corner of my bedroom, on the floor. Shoji's altar was decorated with fresh flowers (non-poisonous), shells, rocks, a small statue of St. Francis, the patron of animals. Shoji loved his altar and would spend happy times in front of it lying on his back in a kitty yoga posture. Shoji knew the altar was his special place and he loved it very much. Since that time I have always created altars. I suggest animal altars to my clients and all report very beneficial results for the animals. Creating sacred space for our animal companions not only makes them healthier and happier but enriches our lives as well.

     As my friend Andrew Harvey, in a recent interview, has so beautifully said: "In the new world, if we get there, all homes will be temples. And the animal, your companion animal, should be worshipped as the representative of the creation and as the representative of the Divine Mother. So they are at the very center of the mandala of the home. And anything that you can do to make them happy making special altars for them, finding out where they most like to rest and be, making that as comfortable and sacred an environment as possible, and playing the kind of music that they love is all to the good because it only increases their joy. And the deeper and the greater their joy, the happier the home." Andrew continues in his book, The Direct Path, "For me, my cat Purball is our temple cat; her being and need are sacred; her presence is a divine blessing on our house to be kept vibrant by tenderness and attention. As the expert I learned feng shui from told me when he saw her lying asleep at the top of the stairs: 'If your animal is happy, the house will smile. And if your house smiles, all your hopes will flourish.'"

***Ouotes taken from an Interview with Oxford Scholar Andrew Harvey and from Andrew Harvey's book: The Direct Path, Creating a Journey to the Divine Using the World's Sacred Traditions.