Cycle of Elements
Feng Shui is an ancient Chinese practice which studies the effect of environment on our everyday life. This Chinese practice is based on the idea that the way we feel and way we act is influenced by the environment in which we live. By properly organizing the environment around us, it would be possible to mitigate problems faced by us in our daily life.
To study the environment, Feng Shui considers that our environment could be described in terms of five main elements. These elements are: wood (‘Mu’ in Chinese), fire (‘Huo’ in Chinese), earth (‘Tu’ in Chinese), metal (‘Jin’ in Chinese), and water (‘Shui’ in Chinese). According to the Chinese philosophy, these elements correspond to specific colors, shapes, tastes, seasons, directions, and parts of the body. These five elements are constantly changing and then reaching a balance. All these elements could enter into cycles which could be either constructive or destructive.
A constructive elemental cycle could be described as:
Wood→Fire→Earth→Metal→Water→Wood
In this constructive cycle, wood creates fire which creates earth and so on. This cycle uses the positive manifestations of each element and their basic compatibility. For instance, a person born in a wood year would be compatible with a person born in a water or fire year.
A destructive elemental cycle could be described as:
Water→Fire→Metal→Wood→Earth→Water
In this cycle, water puts out fire, which destroys metal, which chops wood, which depletes the earth, which is washed away by water. In this cycle, the elements placed next to each other are not compatible. So in our arrangement of the environment, these elements cannot be placed together.
In ancient Chinese philosophy, there is a concept of buffer also. When a compatible element is placed in between two elements which are not compatible, then the adverse effect of this incompatibility would be reduced by this buffer element.
In the practice of Feng Shui, we should try to promote constructive elemental cycle and discourage using destructive elemental cycle in our arrangements of the elements.
To promote constructive elemental cycle, we require having some representation of these elements in our home. In this cycle, the element to the left feeds, nurtures, creates the elements to the right. Therefore, this element should have some representation in our home. In case, a number of people live in the house, then we will have to ensure that everybody’s supportive element is present in the house and there is no major conflict amongst these elements.
It is hoped that you must have got some idea regarding cycles of elements as defined in ancient Chinese philosophy.