Are the Five Elements represented in your Christmas balls to help usher in harmony and new opportunities in your home? Have you checked your plumbing for leaks in your pipes and faucets so that they don’t drain your finances in 2015?

If you answered no to both questions, you may not be primed for the holidays. Feng shui consultant, tarot card reader and personal forecast geomancer Master Hanz Cua has come up with Christmas and New Year’s Eve guidelines so that your home is ready to receive another year of good fortune.

Christmas, a traditional Christian celebration, and feng shui, an ancient Chinese system of placement, can work together to attract good chi (energy) into your homes, Master Hanz said. One of the best times to use some feng shui in your home is during Christmas, he pointed out, when the family gathers to savor a bountiful meal.

Your home must be well-lit for the holidays. Bright lights symbolize yang energy, encouraging everyone to be in a cheery mood. Install Christmas lights on the main front door to draw in positive chi. Parol make for auspicious décor, especially when they hang on the windows and eaves of your house.

Wreaths, with their green color, signify wealth, while poinsettias, with their bright-red leaves, represent fire, lucky energy and happiness. The manger scene depicted in the belen uplifts the spirit, and invites prosperity into the home.

Never display faux gifts under the Christmas tree. Master Hanz said that in feng shui, a hollow container, such as an empty box wrapped in fancy paper and ribbons, symbolizes zero abundance. Gift boxes must always have something inside.

The Christmas tree, its green color a symbol of wealth and abundance in feng shui, should be taller than the tallest person in the house. It must look healthy and big, not old and skinny. Decorate it generously with lights and sparkly trimmings. The grander the tree, the more it lures in positive chi.

New opportunities

Christmas balls must represent the Five Elements to create balance in the home, and invite new opportunities into your life. Use red, yellow, orange and pink balls for the Fire element; blue and purple for Water; gold and silver for Metal; green for Wood; and crystals and stones for Earth.

For celebrating New Year’s Eve, Master Hanz encourages people to wear red all over (from undergarments to shirt). Red is the color of power, and to welcome the new year, all clothing must also be brand-new. Accessorize with green colors. A green purse, for example, represents the wealth energy.

“Old things won’t make you move on; old things won’t invite new opportunities. This invites happy energy so that people can also move on from disputes of the past, and start the new year on a clean slate,” he said.

Prepare the home for good chi by cleaning and cleansing before New Year’s Eve, he said. Rid the house of broken appliances and gadgets as they invite poverty. Clear up the clutter inside and outside your house. After cleaning, burn incense to cleanse the environment.

People who want to find a meaningful relationship in 2015 should consider getting a haircut or new hairdo, Master Hanz said. This will activate the Peach Blossom Star of Romance, and create a new, vibrant, positive energy in the face that will attract a prospective partner.

The center of the dining table must contain 12 different kinds of fruits that symbolize the 12 months of a year. These are pineapple, or ông-lâi in Hokkien, which means fortune is coming; orange, which symbolizes gold in Chinese with its round shape representing money; apples, or ping in Chinese which means harmony; grapes, traditionally eaten by royalty, which represents luxury; banana, the only non-round fruit in the list, which must come in clusters to symbolize unity (its yellow color represents happiness); sweet, ripe mangoes to ensure there will always be sweetness in the family; fragrant lemon to cleanse and remove the negative vibes in the house; watermelon, with its green color to invite prosperity, and its seeds abundance; papaya, whose orange color also symbolizes gold; lychee, whose round shape and red color stand for happiness and good fortune; avocado, whose green and purple colors symbolize prosperity; and pomelo, whose bright red and pink pulp represents wealth.

Generous banquet

Meat, fish and greens must be represented during the feast. A year of prosperity is guaranteed if one prepares a generous banquet, he said.

Fish represents savings. Chicken, usually shunned during New Year’s Eve because of the “isang kahig, isang tuka” belief, actually represents luxury, since this used to be food of queens and kings, Master Hanz said. Tikoy or malagkit means the family will stick together for the rest of the year.

Check your electrical and plumbing systems. Burned-out light bulbs and faulty wiring mean a poor flow of chi into the house, and can compromise your good fortune for the new year. Make sure the pipes and faucets in your house do not leak, to secure your finances.

The elderly must give out money in red envelopes (ampao) decorated with gold Chinese characters. This represents payment to appease the ghosts so they will refrain from harming the recipients of the ampao. Denomination must come in 8s, such as P888 or P8,000, or in 168, the prosperity combination (1 means “going,” 6 is “on the road,” and 8 is “prosperity”). Since giving P168 is too low—you don’t want to scrimp when on a mission to invite wealth—Master Hanz recommends you start off with P1,688.

Throw coins toward the house, and line them up on the floor going toward the rooms to invite luck. You can also roll kiat kiat fruit, the symbol of money, toward your house.

“But above all, be grateful for the opportunities given by God,” Master Hanz said.

Visit Master Hanz’s website: www.masterhanzcua.com; or e-mail: [email protected]