What do the five elements mean when it comes to Feng Shui?

The five elements influence everything we do in Feng Shui. Feng Shui is very closely connected to the lineage of the Dao, which is also very much connected to traditional Chinese medicine. I like to describe Feng Shui as acupuncture for your home. And when it comes to the five elements, we use them in Feng Shui to balance the energy or attract positive energies to specific areas of our homes and our lives. 

The following is a quick introduction to the five elements, what they are, and how they interact. Plus, I’m sharing two real-life stories about how important it is to keep the five elements balanced in your home. 

 

What are the 5 Elements?

The five elements in Feng Shui are fire, water, metal, wood, and earth. These elements are represented in our homes through various ways but the most obvious connection is through colour. As you read through this list, think about your furnishings, wall color, artwork, linens, curtains, throw pillows… really anything in your home that has colour! 

Fire

Fire is the color red, so anything in your home that’s red, deep orange, and even pink and burgundy represents fire. 

Water

Water is obviously blue, but it includes all levels of blue (like turquoise and aquamarine) and black as well. In addition to colour, the water from the taps and sinks in our homes also represents the water element. 

Earth

Earth is literally the earth, like round stones, crystals, seashells, and things that are from the earth. When it comes to colour, think about natural, earthy tones. 

Wood

Wood is most commonly represented by plants. So literally plants in a home will be what we would see and recognize as wood element. Colour-wise think about things that are green. 

Metal

Metal is typically seen in furniture, our kitchens, utensils, equipment, washing machines, dryers… all of that is the metal element. 

Feng Shui is about the balancing of the nine areas of your home. It’s like placing the acupuncture points like the needle into each of those areas to speak to the right areas of your life. 

So essentially each of those five elements that I’ve shared, and they are used as the activator or the balancer for a home, it’s a very bespoke process. It’s beyond the scope of this post but what I want to really tap into is the different five elements, first of all, how they interact together. 

How the Five Elements Interact 

The five elements interact with each other in three cycles: the creative cycle, the productive cycle, and the destructive cycle. This is a very complex process that we dive into much more deeply as part of my PowerHouse Feng Shui programme. 

Think of it this way… if we water a plant, the plant grows. This taps into both the creative cycle and the productive cycle. Now, if you take fire and burn the plant, that is the destructive cycle. 

Just know that the five elements are playing and interacting with each other around your home, and depending on a number of factors, they can be creating balance and attracting amazing things into your life OR they can be causing imbalances and wreaking havoc on your home and your life.

Create Balance and Avoid Excess

One thing to be really careful about when it comes to the five elements is avoiding any excess of them. I’ve run into this countless times but these two stories really stand out for me. 

Amy’s Story

Amy hired me to Feng Shui her home and during my walk-through of her home, we were in the living room and the walls were a very dark burgundy red. Typically with Feng Shui, it’s not really about repainting or restructuring but this wall really jumped out at me. I told her that I thought the wall needed to be toned down and suggested that she add it to her list of things to do. 

As Amy began putting the remedies into all different areas of her home, some amazing things started to happen. Her abundance area was calling in exactly what she desired and other good things were happening for her. 

It was maybe maybe a year into her journey with Feng Shui that she finally got around to painting the wall… and her family noticed a huge difference in her and so did she. Come to find out, she had been prone to having really big anger outbursts out of nowhere.

That fire element was really triggering anger in her and getting her fired up about things. Once she repainted that wall, the energy in her home shifted and her moods and emotions totally shifted, too! 

Florida Home Story

Another client of mine was moving from Washington, D.C. down to Florida. While they waited for their new forever home to be completed, they moved into their holiday home. This holiday home was near the beach and the whole house was beach-themed. Everything was blue and all the artwork featured water.

Bad things started to happen as soon as they moved in, the first of which was that she and her husband lost a huge contract for their 7-figure business. She had taken the Home Archetype quiz and knew that her home was Good for People, Good for Money – so this wasn’t making ANY sense! Until I got the walk-through… I was like, “Oh my god, it’s just such an excess of water here. This is too much!” 

When we did the analysis, she actually didn’t need any water element in any part of her home. Essentially, every single area of her home was being depleted by the element of water. Thankfully, we got it all fixed and turned around and her business is now flourishing. They’ve actually just moved into their new house which are going to be Feng Shui’ing very soon. 

Feng Shui is powerful. I’ve seen so many phenomenal results from so many clients from all over the world, all walks of life, from all house types like small studio apartments in New York to sea front mansions in Australia. You name it, we’ve Feng Shui’d it – and we’ve seen amazing, profound changes for our clients. Honestly, that’s what this is about. 

If you’re looking for a shift in your life, and you want to reach totally new levels of success, abundance, wealth, and happiness, get started with my Ultimate Feng Shui Checklist. It includes loads of actionable Feng Shui tips that I use to manifest miracles and magic in my life and so many others.