Dear Karen,

I attended one of your workshops a few years ago and I am now reading your book, "Creating Sacred Space with Feng Shui", for the 3rd time! I am especially interested in bells.

I had a wonderful experience last week at a health farm - after a wonderful cleansing massage the therapist finished the session by ringing a bell over my stomach. I felt waves go through my body like ripples through a pond and had the most overwhelming feeling of emotion which made me cry. The therapist said this was good as stuck energy had cleared! Anyway if I was a little skeptical before about energies and auras, I'm not anymore. The bells she used were actually 2 metal discs attached to each other by a cord and they had a beautiful tone, but she didn't know where they came from.

What I'd like to know as well is if it is OK to buy and use second hand bells if they are purified before use, and do you have to be careful of what's engraved or depicted on the bell eg. animals or star shapes. I would be grateful for any advice on this.

- E.W., UK

Karen's reply:

The first thing to understand is that if someone rings bells over your body and makes you cry it doesn't necessarily mean that stuck energy was cleared. Unless this was accompanied by very clear understandings and resulted in a dynamic resolution to a particular problem you've been experiencing then all that happened was that this person created turbulent waves in your astral body that caused you to cry. The therapist was probably well meaning but has no real understanding of what she/he is doing.

The second thing is, as you may remember from my workshops, I recommend that you only ever use high quality bells in your own personal energy field. Since discovering them many years ago, I now use only Balinese bells. They are simply the best in the world. Inferior quality bells can do more harm than good.

As to second hand bells, this depends entirely on your level of sensitivity to etheric imprints. My husband is the only other person I allow to use my bell and I can tell immediately if someone else touches it. The best method I've found of purifying bells involves using a particular type of Balinese holy water. All symbology has an effect so yes, you certainly have to choose appropriate engravings.