Fifteen years ago Linda Kay read an article in a magazine that changed her life.

“If you feel stuck in your day-to-day,” the article read “then try moving 27 things around inside of your home or your apartment.” It seemed like a completely far-flung concept, and something that Kay, a longtime marketing consultant, wouldn’t ever have given a second thought.

But nobody was home, and therefore nobody would ever know whether she gave this crude attempt at Feng Shui a chance. So she followed the advice, made the shuffle, and went on about her business without paying it a second thought.

The next day while she was at work, she got around to calling two phone numbers that had been sitting on her desk for months – leads that she had previously been too intimidated to actually follow-up on. It wasn’t until after she got off the phone that she realized she had done something significant. She made the link to what she had done the day before.

So after work she went out, found a book that outlined the principals of the 5,000-year-old practice in Western-world terms and set out down a path that would forever change her world.

“The article said that doing so would change the energy, and I thought that was kind of silly,” she said. “It wasn’t until I made those phone calls and I was hanging up that I realized what happened and I thought to myself, ‘There might be something to this.’

“It was totally effortless, and that’s what really caught me off-guard about the entire process. I found a book that explained things in a way that made sense to me and that got me started down the path. It’s been an amazing journey.”

The author of said book, Terah Kathryn Collins, ended up having a school in Southern California that outlined the principals of Feng Shui. Kay immediately jumped at the chance to learn more about her newfangled interest – never even considering that she would pursue it beyond the classroom.

But it took her only two classes before she realized that she had to share what she was learning with the outside world. When she finished up her studies she embarked on what would become a long and successful career as a consultant for home and business owners looking to align their chi in a way that would serve them best.

She also ended up writing her own book on Feng Shui. Kay is one of nearly four dozen authors who will appear at the second annual Great Valley Bookfest on Saturday, Oct. 19, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Promenade Shops at Orchard Valley, the 120 Bypass and Union Road.

The decision getting into Feng Shui wasn’t, Kay said, about making money. She very quickly learned how beneficial it became for her personally to see other people take an interest in what had become such a huge part of her life, and letting the world in on her little secret seemed like a great way to spend her free time outside of work.

The benefits of doing so, she says, are immeasurable.

“It’s wonderful to be able to help people enact a positive change in their lives and to see that change actually take place,” she said. “They discover the benefit of something that’s been tried-and-true for centuries, and that’s thrilling to watch. Everybody has walked into a home or a building and felt uncomfortable – that’s the energy that you work with in Feng Shui.

“On the other end we’ve all walked into a home or a restaurant and felt like we belonged – like you’ve already been there. If you want to get technical about things, the laws of thermodynamics say that energy cannot be created and it cannot be destroyed – it can only change form. That’s what you do with Feng Shui – you’re changing the form of that energy to work for you.”

And working with other authors and like-minded individuals, she said, is a reward unlike any other.

“I think that the more aware we are of the incredible people around us in our community, the more connected we are in that community,” Kay said. “You find people that didn’t even know were here, and you give them an opportunity to find you. That’s what this is all about.”