The Five Elements of Feng Shui

There are five elements in Feng Shui:

• wood
• fire
• earth
• metal
• water

They provide visual balance to every room in your home or office. However, you don’t need the actual element in every room; you can substitute a symbol for some of them. Each element is represented by a color and certain shapes.

SYMBOLS OF EACH ELEMENT

Wood is generally represented by green. Its shape is like a tree trunk, upright and column-like.

Red, red-orange, and pointed objects symbolize fire.

Earth is related to the colors yellow and brown, as well as square and flat objects.

In addition to actual metals, you can represent this element with white and light grey colors, and round objects.

Finally, the color black symbolizes water, along with free-form shapes.

WHEN TO USE EACH ELEMENT

In Feng Shui, many–but not all–areas of your home or office are assigned an element.

• Family/Stability = Wood
• Fame/Reputation = Fire
• Health = Earth
• Creativity/Children = Metal
• Career = Water

So, using the bagua–the design grid that Feng Shui is based on–you would favor each element in its assigned area.

For example, if you’re using the popular Black Hat Sect (BHS) approach to Feng Shui, your front door is in your Career area. It’s not unusual for people to place a fountain at the entrance to their home to add the water element.

Likewise, when you walk in your front door, many older homes feature a fireplace directly ahead of you. This is ideal for the center of that far wall, which–in BHS Feng Shui–is the area of Fame and Reputation.

WHAT EACH ELEMENT DOES

In addition to an element’s connection to an area, each element has its own energy or theme.

• WOOD – rooted, growing, steady, bends to survive storms
• FIRE – attention-getting, soaring, hot
• EARTH – solid foundation, productive, stabilizing
• METAL – moldable but firm, a symbol of wealth and power
• WATER – life-giving, flowing, restful, sparkling

So, if your career needs a bit more direction, be sure to add more symbols of water. If that’s not enough, you might add more metal elements around the entrance to your home. Metal is a symbol of affluence, and it also directs water (in pipes, for example) which is your Career power element.

BALANCE IS VITAL

When you are decorating with Feng Shui, each area should have a balance of these five elements, with emphasis on its most important element.

If a room or area doesn’t have its own element, use logic.

For example, in your Money/Wealth area–the back left corner of your home or office–lean towards metal and water, and perhaps a little wood.

But mostly, keep balance in mind. If your living room has white walls and white or light carpeting, offset that with red and orange fire elements.

The same could be said for a bathroom with white walls and furnishings, and the obvious metal hardware. In that almost wholly metal room, include the color red to “warm up” the room a bit.

SUMMARY

Like everything else in Feng Shui, the elements should be kept in balance. Favor one element in its assigned area, but generally make sure that each area of your home or office includes some representative of each element.