My theme this time is about legacies – not the ones involving being on the receiving end of lovely cash, but something much more valuabel and worthwhile. I am talking about those gifts that we leave behind after we are gone. The best way of putting it is
How will we be remembered when we are gone’?
What will we be remembered for?
I realised that my experiences over the past few weeks were all linked by this theme.
My wonderful birthday celebration in the south of France that I mentioned last time. The city of Nimes and Arles are both Roman and full of Roman architecture and artefacts, awe inspiring and amazing, if you are interested in that sort of thing – which I am. What a legacy the Romans left for us – these two places started to become more important in 2BC and growing into large cities with fountains, heated public baths, theatres, amphitheatres etc – how amazing is that?! 
The following weekend I had to go to London for the annual Feng Shui Conference. Whilst listening to classic FM previously, I heard a concert advertised in the Royal Albert Hall for the night after the conference to celebrate ‘VE Day at 70’. This was clearly far too much of a coincidence and could not possibly be missed as both my parents had been in the 2nd WW, my mother in the Navy and father a pilot in the RAF. What a night! Full of breath taking music played by the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra with John Suchet and Myleene Klass as the comperes, Katherine Jenkins and Wynne Evans singing and three well known actors speaking the lines from ordinary people who lived through that terrible time. I was transported, very emotional and felt extremely privileged to be there. Later, thinking about the whole experience, I realised what a unique legacy we had been left by every single one of the people alive at that time, fighting for the freedom that we take for granted. Sometimes we need to give ourselves time to appreciate that tremendous gift that they gave us.
Last week a friend and I met up for our annual get together – this time it was to be in Manchester. My friend suggested that our time should be spent in the Whitworth Art Gallery as it had recently been totally refurbished. After coffee, with not a huge amount of enthusiasm I have to admit, we chose our route and started off. However, much to my surprise, our first port of call took our breath away – a medium sized room with a pool of water in the middle. The curved walls were covered in hemp (linen) and what we first took to be typical painted Chinese art work, reflected into the water of the pool – very impressive. 
However, after closer scrutiny, we realised that the art work was certainly not typical but had been created by laying the fabric on the floor and then placing gunpowder in various sweeps, shapes etc onto the fabric, lighting a fuse and literally burning and exploding the design into the fabric – WOW! We have never seen anything like it before. It had been created by Cai Guo-Qiang, a Chinese artist now living in New York. He it was that put together the firework displays for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics in 2008. What a brilliant legacy to leave the world!
So, back to us in our little corners. Are we particularly interested in leaving a legacy – do we want to be remembered? Many of the things that we love doing are because someone shared it with us and it caught our attention – their legacy to us.
I believe that this question really links into one of the most important zones of the bagua, Number 9, that of Illumination or Fulfillment, the element being that of Fire. 
It represents status, reputation and spiritual enlightenment (inner fulfilment), how others see and remember us, together with our self-image. The energy is very powerful and exciting.
Our passion and purpose in life – what is it and how do we find it? Should we share it with others?
If you are interested in taking this a step further, digging a little deeper, I would be more than happy to email you the information, just get in touch and let me know.