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"This book is a page-turner and one that cannot be put down until the last page is read. It offers vibrant new directions to those who are lost in life; it is an oasis in the desert." Professor Lin Yun "With wisdom and humor, Karen Rauch Carter has taken the best-kept secrets of feng shui and made them accessible for everyone. Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life is funky, fun, and filled with practical information to create harmony and balance in life." Denise Linn, author of Sacred Space "Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life is home improvement, entertaining, educational hilarity that will have you smiling while scrubbing and glowing in the feng shui flow. Martha Stewart, move over. Cuddle up and declutter with Karen." Denny Fairchild, author of Healing Homes "I just finished your book - what a terrific resource. I've read several other books on the subject, but yours is without a doubt the best, most informative. I've got so much to do to improve our home. Everything's wrong, but at least now I know what to do to correct. Thank you, thank you." Diana Martin "I just finished your book. It is, by far, the most understandable book I've purchased on Feng Shui." George Roberts, Jr. "I just want you to know how very much I love your book! It's great, funny, easy to understand. You have a great sense of humor!! I own many feng shui books, but yours is my favorite and I will recommend it to everyone. Thanks again for a great book!" Jan Wilson "Your book, Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life, just arrived at the Magical Blend office for a review. In addition to teaching at a community college, I also write article and reviews for Magical Blend Magazine. Your book is one of the best I have seen in some time. You give very clear advice and I'll try to get a review of your book in the next issue. Your book has inspired me to work on my own place which, as it turns out, is a feng shui nightmare." John Osborne "Your book is by far the easiest-to-read feng shui information I have encountered. Thanks for writing it!! Do you intend to write any supplementary books (perhaps elaborating on supplementary practices, like your yoga or other skills)? Perhaps you could consider putting more information on your website about each color of the bagua (what each represents, related information on colors) and about each element. While your book is great for practising, it skims over the details of the colors and elements. I would like to see these types of things detailed in the same manner in which you detail the bagua. Thanks again for the helpful book!" Sarah "I recently ordered and received 'Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life' and love it. I have read many books on Feng Shui and have found "The Western Guide to Feng Shui" the best until now. In fact I loaned my "Western Guide" book to a friend because I now had something better to refer to. I plan to buy several copies and give as gifts to friends and family. I even told a lady I met at the super market about it because she mentioned she felt a need to change her life but wasn't sure what to do. Thank you for this enlightening experience." Z Bahti "I have just finished reading your book, 'Move your stuff, change your life' and wanted to say thank you for demystifying the art of feng shui. Your book is the first of many that I have read on this subject and was able to understand. I really like your writing style. Keep up the good work. Eagerly awaiting your next publication!" Laura Knight "Karen, I really want to thank you for taking the time to write your book. I had bought 4 Feng Shui books prior to yours trying to understand how to put the practice into our lives. They were all sodarn complicated and vague - lots of tiger, tortise, phoenix references(which I am sure are important) and complicated formulas to determine which house fit which direction for whatever personality in your house. Your book is so straight forward and easy to understand. I know the science is complicated, but at least I can get started. In fact we have and it has been a lot of fun decorating our house with a purpose." Karen Blake "Move your stuff, change your life' is a real page turner, indeed. I just finished reading it, and enjoyed it immensely. Perhaps you could suggest some more advanced texts for subsequent reading. I am surprised to see that a landscape architect did not discuss gardening more. I am new to feng shui, but an experienced gardener. I am also laying out a complete landscape at a house we recently bought." Robert Oder "Karen , I have completed your book 'Move your stuff' It was terrific. In fact , I'm rereading parts of it. I've read other books on this subject but yours was the best. I would certainly recommend to others for their education." D Nelson
Press Reviews The Toronto Star January 14, 2000, Friday, Edition 1 Section: LIFE Byline: Jennifier Bain I know what’s wrong with my life. But when instinct, advice and common-sense fail to guide me to solutions, I’ll gladly seek written counseling. As self-help writers like to point out, we research so much else from books - why not our problems? Now, many years and countless futile readings later, I’ve found a fix-all book that makes perfect sense and just may (finally) help me revamp my life. POWERFUL STUFF: Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life: How to use Feng Shui to get Love, Money, Respect And Happiness (Fireside, 233 pages ) is Karen Rauch Carter’s accessible westernized take on the ancient art of arranging the things around us so good things happen. Feng Shui - Chinese for "wind and water" - is all about Ch’i (energy), how it flows through our living and work environments, and how to add or move stuff to create balance. Our living quarters (houses, apartments, dorm rooms) are always devided into nine life situations - picture a grid three across and three down - stemming from the main entrance. It comes as no surprise that my "relationships and love" area is in a drab, little-used portion of my kitchen, and that one of my single friend’s love area is in her bathroom. The only areas that are properly aligned in my apartment are my "skills and knowledge" and "career". Hey two out of nine ain’t bad. To remedy my love situation, I need mirrors, candles, flowers, underwear, sensual sounds, love symbols and lots of red and pink things (goodbye black). My framed sketch of a haunting woman screams "single" and gives off major bad vibes. And so it goes for every life situation, as Carter explains in her lighthearted and funky book. Who knew that arranging stuff could be so fraught with meaning, and that do-it-yourself Feng Shui could be so fun.
Copyright 2000 The Dallas Morning News The Dallas Morning News January 30, 2000, Sunday Third Edition Section: TODAY; pg 3F; HELP YOURSELF Byline: Mike Maza CH’I WIZ Move your stuff, Change Your Life, by Karen Rauch Carter (Fireside paperback) A landscape architect who apparently was to funny for dirt, Ms. Carter morphed into a Feng Shui consultant. In this guide, she pushes her gift for punning to the multicultural limits. "Yo quiero cu-ch’i cu-ch’i,"begins her advice on using the Chinese art to better your sex life. No doubt you get the illusion to Charro and TV’s gordita-craving dog. Ch’i (pronounced "like half of "cheese,’ " Ms Carter says) refersto mystical energy that supposedly can be enhanced by the proper arrangement of physical surroundings. And Feng Shui (it’s fun to say: Fung Shway) is the system for arranging those things to the best effect. Example: "Try not to locate your bed under a sloping ceiling. Wherever the ceiling lowers, your energy gets smashed." Feng Shui is as complicated as any superstitious lore; true bleviers may bristle at Ms. Carter’s simplifications and entertaining style, but the rest of us may find metaphoric justification to get reorganized or redecorate.
Copyright 2001 The Detroit News, Inc. The Detroit News March 31, 2001, Saturday SECTION: Homestyle; Pg. 18 HEADLINE: Furnishing the feng shui way Arranging a home the old Chinese way could improve your life BYLINE: Marge Colborn; Detroit News Design Editor CLAWSON -- Shortly after Michelle DiMercurio, 33, rearranged her Clawson apartment using feng shui principles, she received several phone calls regarding free-lance jobs. She also got a raise at work. Coincidence? DiMercurio, a senior art director at the Gale Group in Farmington Hills, thinks not. "My career took a 180-degree turn," she says, "because I moved and improved the career zone in my apartment." Feng shui (pronounced fung schway), the Chinese art of balancing the energy or ch'i (pronounced chee) in the places where we live and work, has been around for centuries. A curious concept to Americans a mere decade ago, feng shui is now regarded as a respected approach to arranging one's home or office. It reflects an emerging Western interest in all things Chinese, ranging from acupuncture to karate to the recent Academy Award-winning film, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. DiMercurio's interest in feng shui came at an auspicious time in her life. She had been living in her apartment for six years without giving it any tender, loving care. Several vacation days around Christmas last year allowed her time to peruse an informative yet entertaining paperback book on the topic -- Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life: How to Use Feng Shui to Get Love, Money, Respect and Happiness (Fireside, $13) by Karen Rauch Carter. Suddenly, she felt inspired. "I'm an artist. I think everything Martha Stewart and Emeril Lagasse do is great, but every time my sister visited me, she would look around my apartment and ask, 'When are you going to do something with this place?'" recalls DiMercurio, a ball of energy, who recently designed a line of Detroit-inspired stationery now available at Pure Detroit in Detroit. Although DiMercurio's one-bedroom apartment is still a work in progress, she has dramatically altered the space and, because of the process, she feels better about herself. Professional feng shui consultant Karen Rauch Carter says, "Everything that happens in life can be boiled down and placed into nine categories or life situations (prosperity, fame and reputation, relationships and love, family, health, creativity and children, skills and knowledge, career, helpful people and travel). These categories are spatially represented by areas in your living quarters. Each area is called a gua (pronounced gwa). The sum of these guas put in a particular order is called the bagua." Unfortunately for DiMercurio, who is single, her love gua or zone was located in her bathroom. Oh, dear. To improve the love zone, she applied feng shui cures. On the toilet tank, she arranged scented candles for heat and energy, not to mention romance. A Martha Stewart shower curtain from Kmart with perky pink and red gerber daisies along with a pink and red, daisy-shaped rug from Target were added because pink and red signify love. Fresh flowers, good luck soap from Shine in Royal Oak and passion beads were other cures. So far, Prince Charming hasn't come calling, but the room's energy is certainly in place when he does. Plus, the bathroom is now bright and inviting, two good things, as Martha might say, to get a person moving in the morning. In the skills and knowledge zone of her living room, DiMercurio moved her desk and computer from an awkward spot near a hallway to a favorable spot against a wall. She hung a large, round mirror above the desk. Feng shui practitioners believe mirrors reflect strong energy, and the bigger the better. Also, the clarity of the glass affects a mirror's power of reflection. Frosted, patterned or dark glass is less effective than clear glass. DiMercurio also placed her TV in the skills and knowledge quarter of her apartment because, she says, "I learn a lot of things while watching TV." The creativity and children corner of DiMercurio's apartment is located in her dining alcove. "Since I'm an inherently creative person, I decided to display some of my creativity in this spot," she says, pointing to her framed Polaroid transfer artwork of vegetables and her adored 11-year-old sister. The prosperity zone of DiMercurio's apartment is found in her bedroom. Happily, she was able to rationalize the purchase of a purple Pottery Barn quilted comforter for the space because the color purple is the symbol of wealth. Handsome, light wood IKEA storage units hide clutter, which is a definite feng shui no-no. The serene, soothing bedroom space also has a love corner (if one is good, two are even better), which DiMercurio accessorized with a tabletop fountain (running water signifies activity), framed photographs of a river god and his playmate nymph and a poster of Mr. and Mrs. Matisse. (To encourage a possible relationship or stimulate a present relationship, one should only display artwork of people in pairs.) A container of pennies or loose change also signifies prosperity. Even in her tiny kitchen, DiMercurio applied a feng shui principle. A shiny, stainless steel Michael Graves whistling teapot reflects the stove's burners. It is believed that the more burners you have in your kitchen, the healthier and more prosperous your family will be. DiMercurio isn't a fanatic about feng shui, but she is a believer. "I had to laugh when I realized my love and relationships zone was in my bathroom," she says. "My friends teased me that it meant my love life was in the toilet -- well, let's just wait and see." How to arrange your home according to feng shui principles Top 10 feng shui tips
Feng shui facts at a glance
The dining alcove is where DiMercurio's creativity zone is located. She hung her own Polaroid transfer artwork in the zone. This moveable bookcase, $129 from Target, helped DiMercurio organize her collectibles. Clutter is a feng shui no-no. The living room is the family and conversation area. DiMercurio created a slipcover for the undulating 1940s sectional. She made the amoeba-shaped coffee table, a design made famous by the Herman Miller company in the 1950s. Furniture with curves promotes positive ch'i.A detail from DiMercurio's bathroom shows her romantic display of passion beads, candles and her handmade soap.For her fame and reputation area, DiMercurio painted an armoire with celestial motifs that symbolize looking upwards to the sky and heaven. |
