The 5 elements

Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water

Turquoise or mint green walls for the bedroom? Square or round dining table? Glass or wooden chairs? What about cushions, fabrics, lightening, floors?

Productive Cycle

These are decisions we often have to make, either when designing our new house or refreshing our existing home.

One of the major principles of Feng Shui is the interaction and blissful co-existence of the 5 Elements in any room, space, building, garden, landscape ....and person. A principle that extends to many other theories, even psychology.

More often than not, we tend to have a preference in how we dress or do our hair. We might end up wearing most of the time white or grey or blue. This has an effect on our internal perceptions and thoughts. Then, we decide a different color or shape or style on us and we discover a different side of us.

Let’s wear all colors, choose different fabrics for different occasions, explore the variety and plethora of choices in the 5 elements and as a result the mind follows in openness and comes up with more options and paths to follow. Subsequently, we go ahead and create environments where all colors, shapes and materials are successfully married; we create an atmosphere that supports us in all our different roles.

When the 5 elements mingle successfully and are balanced among them, the energy of any space is uplifting and favors our smooth ‘sailing’ through life.

In every space, the key is that there is no element dominating over the others and that they all keep close to each other.  

Destructive Cycle

The elements are:

WOOD – FIRE – EARTH – METAL – WATER

They interact with each other in three ways that are called cycles: the Productive, the Exhausting and Destructive cycles.

Productive cycle: Wood strengthens Fire, Fire creates more Earth, from Earth comes Metal, Metal gives power to Water and Water helps the Wood grow.

Exhausting cycle (It is the reverse of the Productive and it is about simple controling the elements. It is a better choice than the Destructive cycle because it still allows all the elements to exist in harmony and in a friendly relationship with each other):

Wood exhausts Water, Water exhausts Metal, Metal exhausts Earth, Earth exhausts Fire, Fire exhausts Wood.

Destructive cycle (sometimes really necessary when there is a need to overcome strong negative energies):

Wood destroys Earth, Fire destroys Metal, Earth destroys Water, Metal destroys Wood, Water destroys Fire.

Below you can find some main representations of the 5 elements around us in Colors, Shapes and Materials:

Colors:

Wood (Green)

Fire (Reds, strong Orange and Yellow)

Earth (Beige, Brown, light Yellow)

Metal (Metal, Silver, Gold, White)

Water (Blue, Black) 

Shapes:

Wood (Rectangualr, tall & high shapes, vertical lines, high furniture)

Fire (Triangular, pyramid forms, pointing objects)

Earth (Square, low and flat forms, horizontal lines)

Metal (Round, circular forms)

Water (Wavy, abstract shapes)

Materials:

Wood (Wood, Bamboo, Plants)

Fire (Lighting objects, glazed tiles)

Earth (Carpets, Fabrics)

Metal (Metal)

Water (Glass, Mirror)