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Mindy Byington's avatar

Wow! thanks Dorena for the email about Mercury Retrograde. I didn’t know about it. My oven went off by itself today and now my toaster oven light is turned on and won’t shut off. So weird! What do you recommend for kitchen fixes? Mindy

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Stephanie Dalfonzo's avatar

Printing this out!

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Dorena Kohrs's avatar

love that! then you'll have it when you need it :)

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Stephanie Dalfonzo's avatar

Exactly!

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Jessy Easton's avatar

So after tossing it after 24 hours - when do you replace

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Dorena Kohrs's avatar

Depends...are you tired of. me saying that 🫣

If the space feels clear after 24 hours, then you don't need to replace it right away. I'd wait until the space starts to feel off again. What that might look like is things like....conversations are getting prickly, you're not sleeping well, clutter is starting to pile up.

You could also do it as a matter of routine...like every time you change your sheets, you leave a bowl of salt under your bed for 24 hours. Pairing it with something else you do routinely can be helpful.

And how long a space feels clear is also going to depend upon what other things are in the space and happen in the space. For example, if your teenager is going through a snarky stage and you have a tense conversation every evening in the kitchen, then the energy in your kitchen is going to need to be cleared more often. Or, if there is a lot of clutter in a space, then the heaviness of the clutter is going to require more frequent salt bowls.

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Jessy Easton's avatar

This is really helpful. Thank you! Does feng shui have a specific definition for clutter?

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Dorena Kohrs's avatar

The simplest definition of clutter is anything you don’t love, need or use.

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Kim Roberts's avatar

I love knowing this! I take a salt bath almost every night. But I'll definately start sprinkling salt around my home - I have rodents and some carry viruses. Also bears are always a possibility.

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Jes Raymond's avatar

I used to go to a Korean Women's Spa in Tacoma that had this room where there was about 12 inches of salt on a heated floor, covered by straw mats that you laid on with your towel and it was MAGIC! They had other rooms too- jade, and mud, but the salt was always my favorite.

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Dorena Kohrs's avatar

Oohhh I would love to go there!

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Daria Diaz's avatar

So interesting. So if you're putting your house on the market, it probably would be a good idea to clear any negative energy by doing this?

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Dorena Kohrs's avatar

100%. I always recommend to do a full energetic space clearing before you put your house on the market. People who are buying a home, want to feel like they can see themselves in the home they are buying which means the home, not being overpowered by the energy of those who previously lived there.

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Daria Diaz's avatar

I'm definitely going to do that before we put our house on the market. Thank you!

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Dorena Kohrs's avatar

You’re welcome!

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Katie Beete's avatar

I love the simplicity of this, when feeling overwhelmed the last thing I need is an over complicated ritual or to add more to my ever-growing anxious mind that already feels fried. So thank you for this reminder - not just the salt, but to return to simplicity when I am feeling overwhelmed by, well, everything 🙏🏼💖🌸

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Dorena Kohrs's avatar

You're so welcome! And I can totally relate - which is why I'm a big advocate for simplicity. Sending you oodles of peace!

P.S. You've also inspired me to write a post on all the simple things we can do in our home to combat anxiety. Stay tuned!

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Katie Beete's avatar

Thank you so much for the peaceful blessings, I really appreciate it 🙏🏼🫶🏻 And wow! I am honoured to have inspired you! I will look forward to reading it when it is ready to be birthed 🤩💖

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CassieS's avatar

I must have needed this reminder today! Thanks

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Dorena Kohrs's avatar

So glad it arrived in the most perfect time! I wrote this about a month ago, but it may be even more apropos today!

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Sage Hess's avatar

I've been noticing many of my most used door knobs have come loose all of the sudden. Wierd! I think this means I need to pay attention to, and fix, the little details. Of what though, I'm not sure.

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Dorena Kohrs's avatar

In feng shui, doors represent our voices. So definitely tighten up the knobs but also ponder the question if communication has felt wonky recently for any reason.

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Linnea Solheim's avatar

This retrograde has been crazy for me and my family. Lots of communication problems with health facilities, from important prescriptions not going through, to constant rescheduling of appointments, including my Dads surgery. (I didn't want him to do it during Retrograde but he had to follow the doctors advice of course). And when they finally did the surgery they had to stop and do it again. Then they did something wrong and now he will be in recovery for weeks until they can redo it again! There are constant communication hickups of all sorts, as if Mercury Retrograde is on speed! I wonder what makes this one so intense... 😱

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Dorena Kohrs's avatar

I couldn't tag her in a comment. But here's Maria's substack in case you want to check her out.

https://marialuzorourke.substack.com/

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Dorena Kohrs's avatar

Oh my gosh same! I've been so vigilant at my mom's new place, because of the medication miscommunications. It's been crazy! I knew moving my mom during this time was a big gamble, but we didn't have a lot of choice. Trusting it all smooths out on the other side. I'm going to see if I can tag Maria Luz on your question. She's an amazing astrologer and can probably answer the why this retrograde is so intense right now.

In case you didn't see my post from today...I did a Feng Shui Survival Guide for Mercury Retrograde.

https://housetalk.substack.com/p/your-feng-shui-survival-guide-for?r=1a7l8x

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Linnea Solheim's avatar

Yes, thank you! I really hope things will get better for your mom soon! ❤️‍🩹

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Dorena Kohrs's avatar

And your Dad too! Thinking of you both.

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Terri Lopez's avatar

Wow- this was a fortuitous lesson for me! I JUST unclogged the bathtub - by myself (YAY!).The plumber wanted to charge like $500 to send a camera down- which I thought was overkill. And it was $14.99 for the safe draino type stuff. I did hire the plumber to stop the running water in the toilet. He didn't have the parts and he's coming back for that. I am also getting him to finish putting up the towl bar. I plan on scubbing the tub this weekend! And yesterday for the first time, I trusted my washing machine to wash my throw rug, and it came out beautiful and fluffy after I dried it. One less thing to do - trudge to the laundry mat to wash stuff. Gonna start to let go ( Hopefully...).

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Dorena Kohrs's avatar

That's so awesome Terri! I love that you trusted your washing machine :)

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Luzidity's avatar

I'm totally feeling energetically dusty!! Thanks for this reminder. ☺️

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Dorena Kohrs's avatar

you're in good company! i think a lot of us are.

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Kris Farren Moss's avatar

Love this. Once upon a time, I studied TCM and salt is used medicinally to eliminate toxins and "soften hardness" . . . feels like the world could use a lot more of it these days!

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Dorena Kohrs's avatar

That's very cool! And agreed...the world could definitely use a lot of salt these days!

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Kristi Keller 🇨🇦's avatar

This is so simple, yet who would've ever thought or even known?

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Dorena Kohrs's avatar

easy peasy is the name of the game these days! :)

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Megan Walrod's avatar

Thank you for this reminder!

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Alexander Lovell, PhD's avatar

Yes, this, all of this! I'm a salty person 😉

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Dorena Kohrs's avatar

Ha! Me too!

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