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You may have heard of the Chinese practice of feng shui, an art having to do with the conscious arrangements of objects in a space (be it a bedroom, office, or garden) to achieve harmony with the environment and to create more peaceful surroundings. This brief article gives a quick introduction to the principles of the practice.

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Feng shui handles five main elements in order to achieve harmony and balance in any space. These five feng shui elements are: wood, fire, earth, metal and water. Each one of them has its own characteristics and properties.

According to Chinese traditions, everything is constantly changing and interacting and that happens through these five main elements. Feng shui traditional knowledge and all its guidelines are based on these five feng shui elements. Therefore, when wishing to harmonize a place according to feng shui, these elements must be properly employed according to their characteristics and effects.

One first feng shui element is wood, which has the Chinese name of Mu. Wood represents innovation, creativity and birth, and it is a sociable element. This element corresponds to the color green and the east direction. By placing this element at a strategic spot in any space, you would be adding all of which it represents.

Another feng shui element is fire, called Huo in China. Fire symbolizes and brings activity, enthusiasm and energy to the places where it can be found. It is a warm element that must be treated with measure since too much of it can destroy what surrounds it. Fire is represented by the color red and direction south, and symbolizes the puberty years.

A next element is earth or Tu in Chinese. This feng shui element symbolizes stability, patience and honesty. It is a methodic element that can also become demanding, and is ideal for everything that is related with real estate and inheritances. Earth is symbolized by color yellow and is representative of the early youth years.

Metal or Jin in Chinese is another main feng shui element. It represents success in businesses and harvesting. It can also represent a knife or cutting metal and be destructive through it. White and gold are the colors that symbolize it, and its direction is west. This feng shui element symbolizes the adult years of human life.

One last element is water, called Shui in Chinese. It has a very important role among feng shui elements, and actually the name feng shui contains its name in it, meaning water and wind. Water mainly represents communications and traveling. But it also represents learning, arts and media. Water is elemental for living, not only for humans but also animals and plants. It can be quiet or violent. This element is represented by the color black and direction north, and symbolizes the old human years.

Feng shui colors knowledge can allow you to choose the right colors to create harmony in any living or working space as well as it can be used with anything that involves choosing colors. According to feng shui colors specifications, colors should not be used randomly but according to what they represent.

Each one of the five elements, water, wood, fire, earth and metal are represented by different colors and that allow us to create feng shui colors based harmony. We will detail the colors each one of the elements represent through the next lines in order to help you choosing the right colors for your home or office decoration as well as the look for harmony within anything involving the use of colors.

The element water, according to feng shui colors representation chart, is represented by the colors blue and black and all their shades. This means that if, for example, you need to add more of the water element in a room, you could do so by adding these colors to it.

Next, and according to feng shui colors spectrum, wood is represented by all shades of green. Therefore, by painting a room green or adding green objects you would be including more wood in it. The next element, fire, is represented by red, pink and maroon and adding any of these colors within a space would be as adding that element.

The last two elements symbolized by feng shui colors are earth and metal. The feng shui element earth is represented by the color orange, yellow, and brown. And the element metal is represented by color white, silver, gray and gold. Using any of the colors within these last two groups would add more of the element which they represent.


A house position also determines the color which we should ideally use in its exterior. A house facing south should be white, gray or blue, facing SW should be in red or earth shades, facing west should be in blue or green or if it is facing north it should have green shades or red. A house facing NE should be painted in earth shades or red, and if it is either facing east or SE it should be in metal or earth shades.

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This week, try incorporating a few of these tidbits into your living space! If you’re feeling a lack of creativity, for instance, you might be lacking in the water element. If you’re hoping for success in business, try including a bit of metal or gold. And if adjusting your home seems a bit much, don’t worry! Next week, we’ll look at how you can use this ancient wisdom to help you not just create a more harmonious living space, but to improve your personal life as well.

For more, check out http://www.fengshuicrazy.com