How to apply Feng Shui

 

How does feng shui work? I don't mean getting a compass, drawing up the floor plan and creating a bagua, I mean, how is it applied?

The Five Element Theory is the key. It doesn't matter if you use the compass method, the flying stars method, or the black hat method. To properly apply 'cures' or solutions to feng shui issues, you use the five element theory.

The feng shui elements are essentially different phases of chi, and are represented by physical characteristics such as shape, color, or material. There are five kinds of chi: Water, Fire, Wood, Earth, and Metal. These are the five elements, and shouldn't be confused with the actual elements. They are different phases of energy, and there are three different flows: destructive, supportive, and draining.

The supportive (or creative) cycle of the five elements is where each energy 'feeds' the next.

The destructive cycle of the elements, obviously, is where the energies destroy one another, and the draining cycle calms an element that may be out of balance. Here is a summary:

Water supports wood, destroys Fire (if Wood is weak) and drains Metal. Wood supports Fire, destroys Earth (if Fire is weak) and drains Water. Fire supports Earth, destroys Metal (if Earth is weak) and drains Wood. Earth supports Metal, destroys Water (if Metal is weak) and drains Fire. Metal supports Water, destroys Wood (if Water is weak) and drains Earth.

If you have an overabundance of the feng shui element of Metal in your home, you can use objects that represent either Water or Fire, depending on just how much Metal you have. If you don't have enough Soil, then use things that support Metal as well as Soil.

If you are having relationship issues (or just wish you had a relationship to have issues with), then you do need to draw up the floor plan, and decide which method you are going to use. The bagua used in Black Hat is not the same as the one used in the Eight Mansions.

If you use the Black Hat method, and you find that your Relationships area is in the bathroom, maybe you are flushing that type of energy down the toilet. Now, the element that is active in the Relationships is Earth. The Earth element will destroy the Water element, unless you use some Metal to support it. Metal element objects are round or spherical, made of metal, and are metallic or white in color. A round white porcelain bowl with chunks of pyrite would do it (and no rust). A round mirror would be okay.

In the Eight Mansions method, the bagua is the same as far as shape and number of areas, but there it ends. There are eight different baguas, and the one you use depends on what direction your house sits in. For every bagua, there are four auspicious directions, and four inauspicious directions. There are no designated aspirations in the Eight Mansions; but you still use the five elements to balance out the lucky and unlucky areas.

Let's use the Gen trigram, and say that your bedroom is located in the Disaster location, which here is in the South. This location promotes disputes and legal issues, so you really just want to calm the chi that you find here. To do that you would use objects from an element that either destroys or drains Fire, the element that is present in this spot. Looking at the chart above, we see that you can use either Water, to destroy it, or Earth, to drain it.

Only in rare occasions do you actually want to destroy an element. So I would suggest artifacts from the Earth element, such as painting the walls in earth tones, or carpeting in those tones.

Use squat furniture, like a futon, pictures of mountainscapes, and maybe a cotton quilt.

You do not want to use any Wood element here, as Wood supports Fire, and we already have an issue with that element being too strong here.

I hope that this helps you figure out how to apply the principles of feng shui, at least a little bit. Check out www.western-world-feng-shui.com for more information.

Raelynn Manitz began studying feng shui in 1999, and runs a website for feng shui advice at www.western-world-feng-shui.com