Most of you know that I have been studying Vedic yantra and mandala painting since 2008 and I just got back from a retreat at ananda ashram with my teachers, Mavis Gewant and Pieter Weltevrede. You can see some of my newest work here.

Over the years I’ve painted dozens of planet yantras, but it’s only this year that I started incorporating the wisdom of the planets in my everyday life. Did you know that each day of the week is named after one of the planets?

The names for each day of the week have slightly different meaning, depending on the culture, but the names we use in America are derived from the Roman culture. In selecting names for the days of the week, or the time it takes for the moon to move between phases, the Romans chose the names of our sun, moon and, at the time, the five known planets (Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn). As a note, these planets were already named after Roman deities (in Latin, of course), so not only are the days of the week named after planets, they're name after Roman deities as well!

Sunday SUN radiant and bright orange

Monday MOON light feminine blue

Tuesday MARS fiery red

Wednesday MERCURY emerald green

Thursday JUPITER expansive yellow

Friday VENUS soft whites & pastels

Saturday SATURN introspective dark blue & black

I started wearing a piece of clothing or jewelry for each planet on their day of the week. For instance, today is Wednesday, so I often wear this green jade mala that I made with Satya Scainetti.

This is from the vedic tradition, but I also connect the colors and planets with feng shui principles. For example Mars and red can relate to the Fame and Recognition area of the feng shui bagua map. I find that it helps me to understand the feng shui colors on a deeper level to connect the planet and god/goddess associations.

Wearing the color of the day can help you invoke the power of that planet to give you a little more support on that particular day. Or if you want more of a particular energy, you can wear that color. For instance you can wear orange for more radiance. It’s interesting to see how people will start to respond to this. For instance, my ascendent is the sun, and when I wear orange on Sunday, I just get so much attention!

Try it out yourself and see what happens!

by Anjie Cho

Visit the Holistic Spaces Store

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending a Mala Workshop with Satya from Satya Jewelry. Malas are prayer beads, used to keep count while reciting mantra.

Above are images of the before and after. Maybe you can't tell, but I hand knotted the silk thread between each bead. Of course there are 108 beads total. Why 108? Satya said that's the number of Gods and Goddesses. In Feng Shui and in Buddhism, 108 is a very auspicious number. It's a multiple of 9, and in Feng Shui we do most everything in multiples of 9. Nine is the number of completion.

Satya spoke of her journey that led her to where she is now, and we did a small visualization before we started. Satya means "truthfulness" in Sanskrit. She embodies her name through her symbolic jewelry that inspires and encourages us to be honest and truthful with ourselves. The gemstones have healing properties and meanings as do the symbols and metals that she designs with.

I chose the green onyx beads. Satya suggested we really take risk when we chose our beads. Bright green is not something I wear typically, I wear a lot of black and muted colors. First I picked up jade, a pale green... and then I realized it was so predictable of me! So I took a risk and went bold! And I'm glad I did. Satya describes the meaning as "Endurance: Guides decision making in challenging times." I'm not necessarily having challenging times, but I can always use guidance from above.

My mala took about three hours to create. It was an wonderful meditative experience. I love my mala!

by Anjie Cho