Feng Shui Elements: An overview

Introducing the Feng Shui Elements

The purpose of Feng Shui is to balance and harmonise the energies within your home in order to support your house to support you.

In order to do this, Feng Shui uses the extraordinary strength and influence of the five Feng Shui elements to balance the energies in your home - Earth, Metal, Water, Wood and Fire. These elements work with the energies already within your home to reset and restore harmony.

Each element is associated with specific colours, directions, shapes, body parts, and qualities, which I’ll go into more detail about in due course but today I want to concentrate on the cyclical nature of the Feng Shui elements and how they interact with each other.

The Cycles

Each of the five Feng Shui elements interacts with the others in one of three ways - productive, reductive or destructive thereby enhancing, weakening or destroying as each interacts. Feng Shui seeks to harmonise the imbalances these may cause by either enhancing or negating the elements as appropriate.

The productive/supportive cycle

Earth supports Metal - Metal (ore) comes from Earth

Metal supports Water - Water (condensation) is produced by Metal

Water supports Wood - Water feeds Wood (plants)

Wood supports Fire - Fire ‘eats’ Wood

Fire supports Earth - Fire produces ashes which are Earth

The Reductive cycle

Earth reduces Fire by smothering it

Fire reduces Wood by burning it

Wood reduces Water by drinking it

Water reduces Metal by rusting it

Metal reduces Earth by becoming metal ore

Destructive cycle

Water destroys Fire by extinguishing it.

Fire destroys Metal by melting it, thereby changing it’s structure.

Metal destroys Wood (plants) by chopping it down, thereby killing it.

Wood destroys Earth by leaching nutrients from it.

Earth destroys Water by damming it, thereby stopping its progress.

Implementation

As you may have surmised, the cycles above influence how the elements interact with each other, which in turn influences which remedies are recommend in each gua in order that they may either support, reduce or negate the influence of the element already naturally within your house.

A brief overview of the five elements:

Fire element

Fire element is represented by the colour red, and all other colours seen in a flame. It energises and galvanised and gets things moving.

Earth element

Earth element (stones, rocks and shells)represents stability and calm, and is represented by warm browns and mustard shades. It is an excellent element to use in a bathroom as it soaks up excess water.

Water element

Water element is represented by darker shades of blue and black, and of blue-y purples. It has powerful influence on the emotions and can affect your finances. Don’t use too much blue in your bathroom and tie a red ribbon around the outlet pipes under sinks and basins to ensure money isn’t washed down the drain.

Wood element

Contrary to its name, Wood element is represented by plants and is a powerful symbol of growth and progress. Having a live plant on your desk can help grow and support your business or education. There is one HUGE exception to this and that is a Cactus. Cacti have a very negative energy and should not be kept in the house. Wooden furniture and flooring etc has no negative or positive effect on your life or home.

Metal element

Metal element is the most powerful element of them all as it cuts through negative energy like an axe. Every home has at least two areas of permanent negative energy (and can have up to six areas some years) where they would be advised to keep metal.

Implementing the Feng Shui elements

In Feng Shui, every house/office/building/dwelling is different, with different energies in each area, and each area associated with a specific area of the inhabitants’ lives according to their placement within the building . These energies can have a powerful effect therefore great care must be taken when adding them to your home.

Traditional Feng Shui/Classic Flying Stars practitioners use information specific to your house to calculate which elements are affecting which areas within your home, what influence these elements are having on your home and life, and how to either enhance, mitigate or nullify their influence as appropriate. It is a fascinating experience and has had a huge impact on many many lives.

If you are interested in implementing Feng Shui within your home, please click the button below to have a look at how I can help, and to arrange a 10 minute zoom call to discuss.

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