Michelle Cromer | Michelle Cromer

Spirit Animals

Michelle Cromer November 1, 2022 Leave a Comment

Years ago while living and studying in New York I discovered I was the perfect size for designers who were trying to sell their fur creations to department store buyers. I spent most of my free time in the garment district allowing my body to be poked and measured in order to have a shot of purchasing the fur samples after the buying season was over. That’s how I started my collection of furs, being a human mannequin. I jokingly used to refer to my coats as my spirit animals. After a profoundly personal journey with a Shaman in Santa Fe, I discovered that the true meaning of a spirit animal is much deeper and much more than just generic animal symbolism. Its meaning deepens our personal connection to our physical, mental, and spiritual world and it offers influential insights into our subconscious mind. Spiritual seekers throughout history recorded their interactions with animal energies. They strove to build strong relationships with animal archetypes as a way of broadening the human experience with the natural world.

A spirit animal is the belief based on the spiritual concept of the universe, and all-natural objects within the universe, have souls and spirits. An animal spirit is believed to be a supernatural power that embodies or conveys influence empowering a person with the traits of the animal.

The phrase “Spirit Animal” refers to the shamanic idea that certain animals can physically and psychologically empower us. The Spirit Animal is thought to lend its wisdom, attributes, and instincts to us in times of need.

It is said that we, as human beings, possess at least one Spirit Animal or totem, in our lifetime that serves as our personal protector, guide, helper, and companion.

Discovering your spirit animal is a passage that requires more of you than simply taking an absurd online quiz. I learned that this meaningful journey is life-changing and discovering your spirit animal will leave you inspired and empowered. Your spirit animal is the embodiment of your subconscious mind and therefore cannot be chosen. It must choose you. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution and often it will take time before it reveals itself. Keep your heart and mind open and begin by observing nature. Be open and attentive when animals appear in your life. Meditate with the intention and reflect on any images. Be attentive to your dreams. And most importantly, what I learned is to embrace the process of journeying.

And as I journey through life, and time passes, I know that my spirit animal and my relationship with it will change. It is the embodiment of my inner self and as I grow and am shaped by life, so will my totem.

In the end, it’s up to you to decide whether Spirit Animals are merely primitive social constructs, or whether their long history throughout many peoples and cultures points to a higher, deeper truth. Mine is serving as a much-needed inner guide helping me to glimpse into a deeper vision of my life. It is teaching me how to live with passion and genuine purpose and brings awareness and attention to the part of me that needs to be acknowledged and explored. The world around us has become increasingly uncertain and chaotic. When foundations of social systems become disoriented and misguided, there may be no better time to find and follow the pattern already set and waiting to be discovered within the individual soul.

As I left Santa Fe, I reflected on how life unfolds in mysterious ways, and in the end, the connections with others on the level of the soul enrich life immeasurably and add to the dimension of the physical, and spiritual. Spirit-animal relationships will one day become quite natural and commonplace, for they represent the progressive unfolding of the beauty and promise of our capacity as spiritual beings to live a sacred life.

Have any Feng Shui questions? Feel free to contact me at michelle@michellecromer.com and sign up for your Power Color or visit me on Facebook at Michelle Cromer Feng Shui.

Metaphysical Feng Shui and the Power of You

Michelle Cromer October 24, 2022 Leave a Comment

After having a Feng Shui practice for over 15 years I have discovered that most people want to make a quick and simple surface lifestyle change. Most are not willing to look at their own self and make real change, they want to move some furniture around and make the house do the work. That is not how Feng Shui works. At least not to me. At least not to the ancient Chinese. The success stories I have experienced always start with the intention of the person and the power they have within.

Metaphysical Feng Shui requires a change in attitude and a self-analyst. It takes the power out of the hands of external circumstances and delivers it where it belongs -within each of us. You can’t change what’s going on around you until you start changing what’s going on within you.

There are many ways to understand life, the universe, and you: through superstition, religion, philosophy, science, etc. While each approach has its own experts – scientists, priests, philosophers, doctors, poets – all are simply blind people receiving different impressions from touching an elephant. A priest may feel its legs and life is a tree trunk; a scientist holding its tail may find that life is ropelike; a poet feeling an ear may proclaim life is like a lotus leaf, and so on. From each of their perspectives, their expert conclusion makes sense and is based on knowledge. As we all know, their theories are merely parts of the whole picture.

I too am one of the blind. And because I touch a different part of the elephant, I have developed my own theory about the relationship of the universe to human life and the relationship we each have with ourselves. My insights come from spending time in Peru, Spain, Israel, two trips to Tibet, and studying in China-, which during 5000 years of civilization has spawned many diverse and meaningful concepts. Among the most arcane yet practical of these concepts is Feng Shui.

You are far more than your personality, more than your habits, more than your achievements. You are an infinitely complex human being with stories, myths, and dreams, and ambitions of cosmic proportions. Remember, no one is you and that will always be your greatest power.

Have any Feng Shui questions? Feel free to contact me at michelle@michellecromer.com and sign up for your Power Color or visit me on Facebook at Michelle Cromer Feng Shui.

Schedule your one or two-hour phone session today!

Celebrating Your Birthday With Feng Shui

Michelle Cromer October 10, 2022 Leave a Comment

Celebrating Your Birthday With Feng Shui

Celebrating your birthday with feng shui can be a fun way to spend your day. Traditionally, the Chinese reserved birthday celebrations for infants and those older than 60 years. For everyone else, it was spent in soul-searching. However, in the modern world, feng shui can be used to energize a birthday celebration.

There are several ways of celebrating a birthday with feng shui to ensure it is as auspicious a day as possible. Here are nine of my suggestions:

Start the day with gratitude – Wrap yourself up with a feeling of gratitude and think of all the people and things in your life that bring you joy.
Pray – according to your personal faith, offer up a prayer for all the blessings in your life.
Call your parents – when my parents were living I would always call them up and thank them for having me. Even now I still say a prayer and thank them.
Purification Bath – draw a bath and add Epson salt to purify your physical and spiritual body. Afterward, as the water goes down the drain think of all the challenges of the previous year going down the drain as well.
Write out your birthday wishes – this will force you to be clear on what it is you want to accomplish. When you write out your wishes, you give yourself a destination to reach and a daily direction.
Have an astrology reading – in astrology, everything starts and ends with your birth chart, the exact location, and the time of your birth. This reading will illuminate aspects of your life, both conscious and unconscious, and bring awareness to the possible timing of events in this year.
Send yourself flowers – celebrate yourself with a beautiful bouquet of flowers! I find sending myself flowers is the perfect way to practice self-love.
Blow out a candle – this tradition can be traced back to the ancient Greeks, who often burned candles as offerings for the many gods and goddesses. So make a wish and blow hard!
Eat all your favorite foods – I eat from the moment I wake up until I fall asleep and normally I allow myself carbs, calories, sugar, and fat. So if you are like me, just this one day, enjoy all your favorite food groups.

There are many ways you can celebrate a birthday using Feng shui principles. Choose the ones that feel the most comfortable and natural and incorporate them into your annual birthday celebrations.

Have any Feng Shui questions? Feel free to contact me at michelle@michellecromer.com and sign up for your Power Color or visit me on Facebook at Michelle Cromer Feng Shui.

Energy Map in Feng Shui, the Bagua

Michelle Cromer October 3, 2022 Leave a Comment

Ancient China — Photo by JJ Ying on Unsplash

Feng Shui is a traditional Chinese concept that links our destiny to our environment. It aims to ensure people live in harmony with their surroundings. There is a deep belief in chi, which is the animating force that is everywhere. It’s invisible energy. The purpose of feng shui is to enable you to tap into this chi energy in order to remove obstacles to free up the flow of the chi.

The principles of feng shui have existed for thousands of years. It was first used in China for the graves of the royal family and then the ancestors. Like the Terracotta Army which was the first known grave site that used feng shui and this was the grave site of the Emperor, The Chinese king Fu Xi. He devised the eight trigrams through the observation of the natural world as seen on the back of a tortoise shell.

The king was sitting on the bank of the Yellow River when a tortoise emerged and this concept was downloaded into his consciousness. The eight tortoise markings became the eight-sided map known as the bagua or the energy map of feng shui. Each section of the eight-sided map corresponds to one of the eight areas of our life experience: career and journey; knowledge; helpful people and travel; family and health, children and creativity, wealth and prosperity, fame and reputation, and relationships and marriage.

Click here to download

Taoist cosmology is structured on five natural elements: fire, earth, metal, water, and wood. Everything in heaven and earth is characterized by the constant interplay among the five elements, which are in constant motion. In feng shui, the balanced blend of these five elements and the yin and yang, male and female chi creates a harmonious environment.

Seeing that feng shui has been around since the 9th century BC, and is still popular today means it has had a historical impact and there is a reason for its longevity. It works. So when I hear people say feng shui is part of the new age movement which is only around 60 years old, I just say, “bless your heart” as we say in Texas.

Have any Feng Shui questions? Feel free to contact me at michelle@michellecromer.com and sign up for your Power Color or visit me on Facebook at Michelle Cromer Feng Shui.

6 Ways to Clear Toxic Energy After a Day of Work

Michelle Cromer August 21, 2022 Leave a Comment

My goddaughter recently asked me a great question – she works for a wonderful senator in DC but she finds that work she has begun to take on other people’s energy and sometimes work can be toxic for her and she asked me if I had any advice.

So if you find the same thing happening to you here a few things you can do:

Before you go into your office or workspace close your eyes and wrap yourself up with a white light. Almost as if you are stepping into a white bubble that will serve to symbolically protect you.
Pick an animal that you can imagine walking into work with you. This totem is also for protection.
If someone invades your space take a step back from them.
When you are in a meeting sit at one of the ends of a table or by a window. Toxic energy seems to gather in the middle of the rooms.
Eat protein. This simple tool will help ground your energy.
Take a shower when you get home from work and imagine all the toxic energy is going down the drain with the water.

Have any Feng Shui questions? Feel free to contact me at michelle@michellecromer.com and sign up for your Power Color or visit me on Facebook at Michelle Cromer Feng Shui.

Follow Me