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



Through the Five Elements theory, the Chinese are able to classify all things into one of five categories. The expression 'Five Elements' has been adopted for convenience, since they apparently parallel the four Aristotelian elements - Air, Earth, Fire, and Water. Some writers prefer to call the five Chinese categories by other terms, such as the 'five agencies' but since the expression 'elements' has been in use for at least three hundred years there seems to be little point in changing it now. Nevertheless, the five Chinese elements and the four western elements have little in common other than the names of three of them. But there all similarity ceases. To begin with, the four western elements form complementary and contrasting pairs; whereas in the Chinese system, the very fact that there are five elements creates a continual imbalance, which is itself the essential kernel of the Chinese philosophy of continual change.

The Five Planets

The fact that there are five Chinese elements seems to be derived from the fact that ancient astronomers recognized five major planets; and indeed, the five inner planets are known as the Wood Planet (Jupiter); the Fire Planet (Mars); the Earth Planet (Saturn); the Metal Planet (Venus); and the Water Planet (Mercury). The names of the planets are given here out of interest only, and neither they nor the apparent confusion between Saturn and the Earth need concern us further.

The Five Elements and the Five Cardinal Points

The Five Elements symbolize the Five Cardinal Points, namely, the Four Directions - East, South, West, and North - together with the non-direction, Centre. Earlier, we saw that each of the Four Directions represented one of the seasons: East, the Spring; South, the Summer; West, the Autumn; and North, Winter. Now by omitting (for the time being) the central Earth elements, the Four Directions symbolize the four seasons, their colours, and four of the elements, thus:

     East                Spring                     Green                    Wood

     South             Summer                   Red                        Fire

     Centre                                            Yellow                   Earth

     West              Autumn                   White                     Metal

     North             Winter                     Black                     Water

These correlations are explained by the fact that in Spring, plant life (the Chinese word for 'Wood' is wide-reachinh) begins to grow, showing green buds, while Spring is the dawn of the new year and the sun rises in the East. Similarly, red is the colour of Fire; the sun is at its hottest at midday, when it is in the South; Summer is the noon of the year. Yellow is the colour of the earth of central China. Autumn is the time of harvesting, and also when in ancient times, after the harvesting, it was customary to fight wars. For sickles in peacetime, or swords  in time of war, Metal was needed, and white (silvery white) is the colour of polished iron. Winter is  the midnight of the year, when all is black and the sunshine gives way to rains, hence Water is the element of Winter and the North.

Generative and Destructive Orders

The 'generative' order of the elements has already been given. This is the basic order of the Five Elements and should be remembered. It can be shown diagrammatically:

Elements that are next to each other in this order help each other; thus Wood helps Fire, Water helps Wood, and so on. But there is another order of the elements, called the 'destructive' order. When two elements stand next to each other in this series, one destroys the other.

Destructive Order of the Elements

So Wood destroys Earth, Fire destroys Water, and so on. The sequence can be remembered by thinking:

              Wood draws the goodness from Earth

              Earth quenches Fire

              Fire melts Metal

              Metal chops down Wood

On the other hand, observe that some elements act to the advantage of others in the reverse order; for example, Earth nourishes Wood; Water softens Earth (making clay pliable); and Fire boils Water.

  When someone assesses the Feng Shui qualities of a site, it is important to see what are the predominant elements of the surroundings, and then decide what is likely to be the predominant element of the site. In this way it will be possible to ensure that the elemental qualities of the location and the site will be in harmony.

    Firstly, then, let us look at the ways in which the elemental qualities are revealed.

Shape

Perhaps the most obvious way by which a location reveals its elemental qualities is in its shape. We see opposite the shapes associated with each of the elements.
Wood. Trees are tall and upright. The Wood element is suggested by columnar structures such as tall soaring hills (such as those found in parts of southern China), or in man-made structures such as pillars, minarets, factory chimneys, or tall narrow skyscraper buildings.
Fire. Points suggest flames. The Fire element is represented by the sharp peaks of mountains, and by the steeply-pointed roofs of certain eastern temples, the spries of churches, and similar sharply-roofed buildings.
Earth. The ground is generally flat; the Earth element is shown by long, flat hills, plateaux, table mountains, and flat-roofed buildings.
Metal. Bronze mirrors and coins are round; the Metal element is shown in gently-rounded summits of hills, and by buildings that have domed roofs.
Water. Water has no shape and every shape. The Water element is revealed in undulating and irregular hills, and by buildings that have bizarre or complex structures, although rounded rather than angular.

The five Elemental Shapes

Exercises

1. Which elements are associated with:

(a) Sping                                               (b) Winter

(c) Green                                               (d) Yellow  

(e) South                                                (f) East

(g) Tortoise                                           (h) Dragon

(i) Sunset                                               (j) Noon

2. What element produces:

(a) Earth destroys:                                 (b) Water

(c) Fire is produced by:                         (d) Metal

(e) Wood is destroyed by:                     (f)  Earth

(g) Water                                               (h) Fire

Answers        

1. (a) Wood (b) Water (c) Wood (d) Earth (e) Fire (f) Wood (g) Water (h) Wood (i) Metal (j) Fire

2. (a) Fire (b) Metal (c) Water (d) Fire (e) Fire (f) Metal (g) Fire (h) Metal

Element Shapes in Practice

We should now consider the Feng Shui situation that would be the consequence of erecting a building of a particular shape, in surroundings dominated by buildings, or hills, with well-defined element features.

  With the two sequences discussed above, we could imagine five possible cases, when the element of the surrouding is the SAME as the element of the contemplated structure, either precedes or follows it in the GENERATIVE sequence, or futher, precedes or follows it in the DESTRUCTIVE sequence. To take an example; suppose the predominant element of the surroundings (the element of the location) is the Earth element, revealed by squarish, flattopped buildings. It is proposed to erect another building within this location, but its general shape has not yet been decided. The proposed structure might have any of the fire elemental shapes: Wood (tall and slender); Fire (pointed); Earth (flat topped); Metal (rounded); or Water (irregular).

  These are the five situations:

1. Location: Earth/ Structure: Wood

   Earth and Wood are in the destructive sequence, Wood benefitting at theexpense of Earth. This would be very fortunate for those working or living in the proposed building.

2. Location: Earth/ Structure: Fire

    Earth and Fire are in the generative sequence, Earth benefiting from Fire.The situation would not be harmful, but on the other hand not very rewarding. It would be an idea situation, however, for a hospital, school, or library-buildings intended to be of benefit to the community.

3. Location: Earth/ Structure: Earth

    Earth and Earth are stable; the situation is neither beneficial nor hamrful. In cases like this, the structure should have the same purpose as the buildings round it, such as a new residential block in a residential area, for example.

4. Location: Earth/ Structure: Metal

    Earth and Metal are in the generation sequence; the Earth producing Metal. Since Metal represents coinage, such a situation would be financially very rewarding.

5. Location: Earth/ Structure: Water

    Earth and Water are in the destructive sequences, Water being harmed by Earth. Such a structure would not be favoured by the geomancer as its function might have an adverse effect on the neighbourhood.

Later, we shall take a closer look at each of the conditions that can arise when a building stands in a location and the element features of both buildings and location are clearly observable. Before that, however, let us look at the symbolism of each element in greater detail.