Five Elements of Earth

From LoveToKnow Feng-Shui

Feng shui practitioners believe the five elements of earth are the manifestation of chi energy. Chi energy is the source of all life.

Feng Shui: Five Elements of Earth

The five earth elements govern the philosophy of feng shui and it's through the application of these elements that you can improve and enhance your living environment.

Five Elements:

Water
Wood
Fire
Earth
Metal

Goal of Feng Shui

Chi energy exists in each of these elements and is divided into yin (female) and yang (male) properties. The goal of feng shui is to create or restore balance between these two opposite energies. In many instances, you can achieve this balance by weakening an element that is too strong in a specific area either inside or outside your home.

The Five Feng Shui Elements

The five elements (five expressions of chi energy) are constantly trying to recreate the perfection of chi energy prior to its manifestation into the physical world, the earth. This creates a cycle that once it's complete restores the harmony of chi energy. This balancing of chi energy may seem to be a daunting task, but once you understand the principles of feng shui, you can make changes to your home and property to assist chi in coming back together in its perfect form.

Understanding the Chi Cycle of Creation

There are five cycles of manifestation of chi energy once it enters the earth's atmosphere. The chi is immediately transformed into water that falls from the sky in the from of rain. The water nourishes the earth and new plant life (wood) emerges. The wood in turn transforms into fire and creates a continuous feeding of the fire. Fire soon becomes ash (earth) and compresses into metal. This cycle repeats in a continuous harmonious process.

Philosophy of Feng Shui and Elements

The cycle of chi energy as it manifests throughout the world is one that mankind disturbs and interrupts with construction and habitation. The Chinese recognized this disruption and set about creating feng shui as a conscious effort to restore this balance. Feng shui practitioners incorporate symbols and actual pieces of the five elements into a complex science of land and form philosophy and the use of magnetic directions. Classical feng shui known as Form and Compass is a combination of all of these concepts.

The Secret Power of Elements

The feng shui masters guarded the sacred art of balancing the chi energy on a direct mandate from the emperors, the only ones allowed to use feng shui. It's believed that feng shui was responsible for the enormous wealth and power that the Chinese royalty accumulated and more importantly why the dynasties were able to reign for so many generations.

Unleashing Elemental Powers

Chi energy has another important function other than the main cycle of manifestation. There are three offshoot cycles that are a direct result of the cycling of chi energy.

Creative Cycle: First manifestation of water falling to earth.
Controlling Cycle: The destructive power of each element to the others
Weakening Cycle: One weakened element will chain-react with the others.

Misconceptions About Feng Shui Elements

There are many misinterpretations and distorted information about feng shui. Many people have adopted feng shui principles into their lifestyles, but often do more harm than good. In the case of feng shui, the adage that a little knowledge is dangerous rings very true.

Colors and Elements

Each element has an assigned color because it is a symbolic representation of the element. This doesn't necessarily mean that a color can activate an element. Many people ascribe elements to the principle that introducing a color into a room will in fact activate an element. In traditional feng shui, this is not a principle. The color was merely used as a symbol of the element. People choose to wear certain colors when they feel the need to remind themselves of the chi power assigned to the symbol. That's not to say you can't use color in your choices for feng shui design, just be aware you'll need a sculpture, painting or object of the actual element in order to activate it.

Element Colors