What are Salt Water Cures and how should I use them?
The salt water cure is a popular Feng Shui remedy in the Flying Star School of Feng Shui.
Xuan Kong Flying Star feng shui or Xuan Kong Fei Xing incorporates the principles of Yin Yang, the Five Elements (Wu Xing), the Eight Trigrams, the Lo Shu numbers, and the 24 Mountains.
Space, time, and objects are used to create an astral chart that analyzes a building's positive and negative aspects. Flying Star areas analyze wealth, mental and physiological states, success, relationships with others, and health.
Overlay the Flying Star chart for 2023 (below) on your home or office floorplan, and orient it based on the compass directions. This will alert you to what needs enhancing or correcting.
Flying Star chart for 2023, the Year of the Yin Water Rabbit
Many ancient cultures recognize that salt has cleansing properties. It is also thought to ward off negative energy. Combined with water, it becomes a powerful cleansing device. The addition of the metal coins helps to stimulate a chemical reaction, allowing the negative energy to be dispersed and absorbed.
You can use salt cures to neutralize the negative effects of unfavorable annual "stars" in your home or office. Considered a Metal cure (due to the use of coins) the salt water cure combines the purifying effects of salt and water and the chemical reaction between metal and salt.
Salt Cures are traditionally used to suppress the negative Earth energy of the misfortune star 5 and the illness star 2. Some practitioners also use it to “cut” the Wood energy of the quarrelsome star 3. In the cycle of elements, Metal weakens the Earth and controls the Wood.
If you notice that one of these unfavorable stars (5, 3 or 2) is located in your bedroom, living room, office, entrance or kitchen, you can create a salt cure to neutralize the negative energy brought by these stars.
If the stars occupy a room that you almost never use, such as a storage room, garage, or bathroom, you do not necessarily have to place one there.
How to create a salt water cure:
First, find the following ingredients:
Sea Salt
A container (glass, porcelain, metal, etc. -- a mason jar or jam jar is perfect)
6 coins (5 brass coins and 1 silver coin). It is best to use I-Ching coins from a favorable dynasty. You can find these on the web. Make sure they are REAL METAL coins. Here are some that we suggest:
Water
A plate or trivet (to protect your furniture)
Fill the container 3/4 full with salt
Place the 6 coins on top of the salt.
Place your I-Ching coins with the side with 4 characters facing up
Traditionally, I Ching coins are used, but, honestly, any coin will do. If you opt for the traditional coins, place them on the salt with the Yang side visible (the Yang side is the one with the 4 Chinese characters), so that the Yin side (which has only two ideograms) touches the surface of the salt.
Why do we use 6 coins? The number 6 represents the QIAN (Chien) trigram, the metal element that is necessary to mitigate the afflicted Earth energy of the stars 5.
Fill the water container to the brim.
Place the container on the plate or on the trivet and put this set into the sector occupied by the annual flying star 5 or 2.
Most importantly: do not cover the container and do not put it inside a cabinet, because the salt-water-coins mixture must come in contact with the ambient air to create “salt crystals”.
In order to avoid capsizing your cure, you should choose an area where there is not too much traffic, like the corner of the room, for example. The cure should not necessarily be visible for it to work, so you can very well put it behind a plant, behind picture frames or the couch, provided it is not enclosed in a cabinet. Keep it in a place that is easily accessible, as you will have to regularly add water to the brim.
Some Masters like to put another metal object right next to the salt water cure (metal windchime, metal wu lou, metal ruler,…) to get the best result possible.
Once set up, avoid moving it around.
Please take note of these critical details:
The salt water cure is NOT the same as the Himalayan salt lamps!
The salt cure will absorb and accumulate a lot of negative energy, and its appearance may change over time. The more you see salt crystals overflowing around the container, the more you know that the cure is doing its job of absorbing negative energies! Be careful when you want to replace it. Do not attempt to retrieve the container or coins for a second use. It is best to seal it in a baggie and throw the entire thing in the trash.
Traditionally, around Chinese new year (solar new year, around February 4th) is always a good time to place your cures or replace the old ones.
Salt Water Cures should be replaced at the beginning of the Chinese New Year, when we renew the remedies in Classical Feng Shui.
In some cases, your salt cure may develop a significant amount of crystal build-up. If this happens, you can create a new one.