What is the Five Element Theory and why is it so important in Feng Shui? Oh, I know, here's another Feng Shui post from that Consultant that just doesn't go AWAY! This is a brief overview of what we call The Five Element Theory as it is a very involved subject and I can just give you an overview of why WE think it's important.
The Five Elements are: Fire, Earth, Metal, Water and Wood. They are actually the basis of Traditional Chinese Medicine who believe that man is so closely connected to nature and their environment, if something is out of "sync" in your elements, it can cause illness, acute or chronic. Each Element is associated with several things:
FIRE is associated with the direction of South, The Summer, and the Color Red. It is also associated with an organ; in this case your heart.
EARTH is the Center; the season of Mid-Summer and your spleen, pancreas or stomach and Yellow is its color.
METAL is associated with the direction of West, the season of Fall, its color is white and the organ is your Lungs..
WATER is the direction of North. The season is Winter, the color is black and the organ is Kidney.
WOOD is the direction of the East. The season is Spring, the color is Green and the organ is liver.
Confused yet? It's an in depth subject so I'll just give you a brief overview of how we address this in Feng Shui. The first thing we want to have a balance of the elements in each room. It's likely you already have many of the Elements already but you can look around and see what's missing. What I often find is the lack of a FIRE energy which stimulates and energizes. Is there Red in the room? A balance of the Elements is meant to Harmonize your body in Chinese Medicine and your Environment in Feng Shui.
To confuse matters even more, we need a CONSTRUCTIVE sequence of the elements. For example, wood will feed fire (constructive) while water will put OUT fire (destructive). So how do you apply this to your home or office?
Here is a picture of the Five Elements in a constructive cycle:
As you go from room to room (many of us do the outside as well), check first for a balance of the elements. Then simply see if you can rearrange certain furnishings you already own into a constructive sequence. Have a pretty picture of a waterfall or the beach? It's a water element. It's likely you already have items that can be moved or can address the ones you don't have, say Fire, by simply adding the color of Red.
When the five elements are restored, you are considered to be in a supportive environment. You need not be concerned with the directions just yet as this can become so complicated oftentimes people give up (we address these with new construction, however) although that enhances it even more. When my clients get confused (and who can blame them??), I ask them first to just look for the balance. That's easy enough. And take it ONE STEP AT A TIME. If you'd like to check your personal elements, you can take a simple test; it can show you your primary elements and why YOU might be "out of balance."
Click here: The Five Element Personality Test
*Please remember this is just a brief overview and not meant to take the place of a consultation, rather just to try and explain why Feng Shui Consultants consider this so important both in Feng Shui and Wholistic Health.
Comments(38)