The Feng Shui Handbook - 3 - The Five Elements

The Five Elements

Central to Feng Shui theory is the principle of the Five Elements. Whenever a Feng Shui expert studies the hills or buildings that surround a site, or considers whether the prospective site matches the personality of the cilents, or even advises on the material and colour of the furnishings within a room, all the deliberations and counsel will be based on the interaction of the predominant element, whether Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, or Water.

  This order of the elements is the principal one, because in this order each element is seen to generate the next one.

    Thus:

            Wood              burns, creating
            Fire                 which leaves ash, or
            Earth               from which is obtained
            Metal              which can be melted to flow like
            Water              which is needed to sustain growing
            Wood              and so on

The Feng Shui Handbook - 2 - The Site

THE SITE

Although we have scrutinized the skyline and noted all the possible shapes and features that are likely to affect the Feng Shui of the location, we have yet to discover whether these features are favourable or otherwise - something that can only be assessed once some knowledge of the basic principles of Feng Shui has been attained. For the time being, then, our checklists of environmental features, our notes on the positions of the Dragon and the Tiger, and our sketch plans, if we have made any, can be left to one side while we take a look at the site itself, considering one of the basic principles of Feng Shui, namely, the topic of ch'i, the good influences, and sha, the bad ones.

The Feng Shui Handbook - 1(B) - The Nature of Feng Shui

Special Terms used in Feng Shui

Feng Shui uses special terms taken from Chinese astronomy (Bird, Tortoise, Dragon and Tiger) to represent the four directions-front, back, right, and left respectively. In ordinary terms, the four 'celestial' animals are associated with the four compass points and the four seasons as follows:

                             Dragon                            Spring                               East

                             Bird                                 Summer                            South

                             Tiger                               Autumn                             West

                             Tortoise                          Winter                               North

For comparison, here is a reminder of the Feng Shui use of the terms:

                              

The Feng Shui Handbook - 1(A) - The Nature of Feng Shui

 The Nature of Feng Shui

This opening chapter begins by inviting you to look at the scenic features of your neighbourhood, or the surrounding area of your place of work, by taking note of all the shapes and features that make up the skyline and panorama around you.

  This may seem irrelevant to anyone who had imagined that Feng Shui was all about house or shop interiors. When all they want to know is which direction their bed should face, or whether the back room should be the kitchen or the conservatory, the emphasis on certain details at the outset might appear overtechnical.

  There is a popular impression that Feng Shui is little more than a kind of mystic interior design, but the subject is actually far more profound. In order to give the answers to such apparently simple matters as those above, many varied factors have to be taken into account, among them being the surrounding features, the direction the house faces, and even-not least impotant - how the residents are considered to interact with the house itself. Indeed, the formidable technicalities of Feng Shui are the very reason why most Chinese people prefer to call in an expert, who ia aware of details that might otherwise be forgotten or overlooked, rather than try to tackle the job themselves.