What is the Front Palace of the Home and do you have one?
In Feng Shui principles, the front palace is an important area in the home because it’s the first place where new energy enters and permeates your space.
The foyer, entrance — even front courtyard all act like the front palace of the home.
The front palace is a space where new energy can enter your property and have a moment to spill and gather and undulate. When there is space for energy to gather like this, cosmic chi develops on/in the property, creating an air of auspiciousness. You can FEEL the healthy flow of energy within the space, and creatures and inhabitants tend to thrive.
Your Human Design Environment
Since this is such an important area within the home, I think about it from a Human Design perspective a lot, and what each of the classic environments may resonate to. How do we need to flavour the energy around us before it enters the home, while considering what Caves, Markets, Kitchens, Mountains, Valleys, Shores, and family units resonate to?
Not having a front palace is a missed opportunity. When energy flows into the home with too much yang or sha chi (killing energy), it can wreck havoc on the occupants and dwelling itself. Not all homes are designed with access to a front courtyard, nor do they all have a front entrance, foyer, or landing site when you first enter.
Doing your best to create a space like this will affect the overall energy within the home. Getting creative or maximizing a small space can have a huge effect on how the energy feels as it first enters your home. This is an important space.
By getting to know the energy around your home, you’ll have a greater understanding of the energies that are potentially flowing into your space. Check out this post on how to read the energy in the landscape around your home.
Assessing the main door/entrance to the home and whether anything outside the front palace is sending afflicted energy is good practice. As this can affect many areas of life, taking a moment to assess your main door, the space outside your front door, and the space inside the home once you walk in can help you start to see wider themes playing out in your life.
Regardless of your living situation and whether you’re in a detached home, apartment, or communal living space, the main door is significant; it’s the access point that frees, releases, or lets in new energy. Every time you use it, you activate an opportunity to attract abundance, prosperity and auspiciousness into your greater energy field.
Get in touch with your Front Palace
Consider this: which way does the main door open?
The main door will either open into the home, or the door will open by swinging to the outside. If the door opens to the outside, it needs protection. The main front door usually opens into the space, and if there is a screen, the screen will open to the outside, for example. Or maybe your door just opens outward! If your door needs protection, consider protection amulets according to your cultural background, or what makes you feel personally safe. Try using black crystals like onyx, tourmaline, obsidian, or a charged quartz, as they emit protective energy. If you’re struggling to find them, amethyst is another protection stone, as is placing selenite wands around the front door. In traditional Feng Shui, Elephants with their snouts pointing upward are great protectors and guardians.
Bring in Celestial Guardians
Having a pair of protective creatures flanking your door or front palace helps create a sense of security around the property. It is better to have these on the outside of the property, but if that is not possible due to the space available, placing them inside the front door is a practical replacement. Feng Shui principles have strict rules and practices, and is also centred around what is most practical for the current era. Look for Guardian qualities — creatures designed with earth energy, made of stone, porcelain or ceramics to create a grounding, protective energy. Imagine all the energy that enters your space first needs to bow to these guardians out of respect. That’s the kind of energy that’s going to enter your home.
Ensure your door is SOLID
The front door must be proportionate to the space it’s with. If it’s too small in any way, it’s as if the flow of energy doesn’t want to come through, making it more difficult for vibrant auspicious chi to enter the home. This translates into other areas of your life, making it challenging for all kinds of opportunities to find you. But if the door is TOO big, all the great interior chi just spills out. It becomes hard to hang on to things in life; resources flood out quickly. Every time the door is used, it activates the flow of energy, welcoming opportunities for prosperity and good fortune — or a chance for unnecessary loss. Therefore a fragile looking door, or a door full of windows is not as auspicious (windows can be smashed and the door broken into). You want a strong attractive door. Ensure it is NOT damaged in anyway. The main door needs great care and respect. A dingy, rotten, or damaged door is a poor omen.
Are you in an Apartment?
Some townhouses, apartments and rentals have limitations around the customization of doors, or there isn’t great flow into the space because it’s connected to a hallway or elevator. In these cases, if there’s a less than dersiable front palace or cohabiting limitation, look to the largest picture window in the space or balcony. This can become a Bright Hall where you are able to create a hot spot to activate auspicious energy and move it into the home. By decorating this area with window treatments, colour, cleaning rituals, and closing it down at night as if it were a main door — this becomes the facing direction of your home rather than using the front door. In high rises, the main windows have more yang energy around them then the front doors attached to a communal hallway. This is where energy would actually flow into your space, rather than a back door tucked away somewhere.
Create the Bright Hall
The area just outside the front door should be activated in various ways to attract energy and also stir up the energy before it enters your home. It’s as if you’re sprinkling magic on how you want the energy to feel when it finds you. Imagine cloaking your home with spells and incantations that permeate the energy field, leaving an imprint. Having some kind of bright light that can be turned on is a great way to activate this area. Using Guardians, decor items such as plants and welcome mats, and colour are other ways to stimulate the Bright Hall before entering the foyer/front palace of the home.
Remove any blocks
When we’re looking at the front palace, we’re dealing with the front of your house and your career opportunities. Anything that blocks the front of your house is inauspicious because it blocks opportunities from flowing to you. When you’re standing in your front door facing outward from the home, scan your eyes to see if there are any poison arrows coming toward you (pointy corners or sharp objects), or if there are large items blocking your view, path, etc. Then turn in the door frame to face into the home; are there any blocks or poison arrows here? Identify what’s hitting or interacting with the flow of energy and how it moves between the inside and outside of the home. Consider removing or softening any of these blocks or harshness.
Not too small, not too crowded
Just inside the main door, you want there to be a chance for energy to collect and gather, creating that feel-good cosmic chi. Having a landing site or a drop zone is a great way to achieve this. Throwing down a rug can define and anchor a space, while also sopping up any messes from outdoor footwear. Playing with mirrors can make a small space seem larger, just make sure there is no mirror directly across from the main door as all the auspicious energy will just bounce right back out as soon as it enters your home. Bring in a lamp to bring light to the space, and consider what other items you may need to define this space, such as a bench, shoe storage, a key dish, etc.
