By James Brickman
The five feng shui elements (also referred to as keys) are the basis of this teaching. These primary keys are: earth, metal, water, wood and fire. The golden rule of feng shui is to achieve harmony and balance between these five keys through adjusting the space in which we live.
When the five elements are properly balanced both, indoors and outdoors, the person can expect to gain numerous benefits. These include health, wealth, abundance, and improved interpersonal relationships. Ultimately, this leads to happiness in life. If the elements are, on the contrary, in chaos and imbalance, a person may find themselves experiencing all sorts of issues, including missed opportunities, hindered interpersonal relationships, declining health, and financial hardships. In other words, it’s unhappiness.
So, let’s talk about the five feng shui elements, learn their symbols, and see how they may interact with each other (both, positively and negatively).
The keys can interact with each other in one of the three cycles: enhancing, weakening, and controlling. Some of these cycles are positive, while others are negative. Let’s take a look at the cycles:
The Enhancing Cycle: This is the most positive cycle where all of the five elements are in harmony, which results in happiness, health, and abundance. Here are the steps of this cycle: wood boosts fire, fire boosts earth, earth boosts metal, metal boosts water, and water boosts wood.
The Controlling Cycle: This is the worst cycle where all of the elements are in chaos, and clash with one another. Here are the steps of this cycle: wood controls earth, fire controls metal, earth controls water, metal controls wood, and water controls fire.
The Weakening Cycle: This is a specific cycle that is neither positive nor negative. It’s a tool that can be used to eliminate negative energy. However, if it’s used improperly it can drain the positive energy. Thus, its use requires skills and knowledge. Here are the steps of this cycle: fire weakens wood, earth weakens fire, metal weakens earth, water weakens metal, and wood weakens water.
In order to be able to match the elements into balanced and harmonious energies, we need to know the symbols, shapes, and colors of the five feng shui elements. Here they are:
Water (symbols): glass, mirrors, stained glass, crystal, aquariums, marine landscapes, roads, lakes, and waterfalls. Shapes: serpentine and wavy. Colors: blue and black.
Wood (symbols): flowers, plants, trees, wood furniture, woodcrafts, wicker chairs, rattan mats, cloth, paper, and paintings depicting nature. Shapes: cylindrical and rectangular. Color: green.
Fire (symbols): candles, lamps, incense, heating appliances, fireplaces, stoves, sun, animals, birds, children, wool, leather goods, articles made of feathers; paintings depicting fire, sunrise, and sunset; paintings depicting people and animals. Shapes: triangular and sharp edges. Color: red.
Earth (symbols): ceramics, bricks, crystal, porcelain, glazed tiles, stones, sculptures, globes, and pictures depicting terrestrial landscapes (mountains, cliffs, and desert). Shape: square. Colors: terracotta and ocher.
Metal (symbols): metal objects, bells, coins, swords, jewelry made of precious metals, and the pictures of metal objects. Shapes: oval and round. Colors: white, silver and gold.
As you can see, there is a lot that can be learned in order to harmonize the five feng shui elements, and balance your surroundings in the physical world. Balance your life, and you may become happier.
About the Author: James Brickman runs http://www.fengshuicrazy.com which teaches the ancient art of feng shui. Please visit his website to learn more about the five feng shui elements.
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The rest is here: The Five Feng Shui Elements and Their Interaction