水 木 火 大 金
Water Wood Fire Earth Metal
As you walk into a house or room, you like it and feel comfortable. Maybe it’s the layout, the use of colors, placement of furniture and the selection of meaningful objects and art. Clearly, the homeowner has good taste and an inherent sense of style. They may have also had a wonderful architect, designer or decorator; or, they have both a good sense of style and also utilized the services of a specialist. There’s another possibility, and that is the knowledge or engagement of services of a feng shui practitioner.
What’s feng shui?
Feng shui is the ancient Chinese art of placement that dates back more than 3,000 years, and is founded on the study of the land, and wind & water (feng=wind, shui=water) and the benefits that could be harnessed from them. It later evolved to include dwellings and rooms within.
What is the purpose of feng shui?
Feng shui is based on the belief that each dwelling or room has ch’i, meaning energy, and its flow through a dwelling and room. Feng shui’s purpose is to harness the ch’i in a beneficial way and to find a balance. Too little energy (ying) or too much energy (yang), as one can surmise, is not good. Energy affects how we think and feel. We want to have harmonious environments in which we live, and productive environments where we work. Striking a balance of energy with placement of furniture, use of colors and meaningful objects will help “encourage” happiness, health and prosperity for those who live and work in a balanced environment. To do so, feng shui manages the five elements that we should always have in mind when harmonizing our dwellings or rooms: water, wood, fire, earth and metal. Each of these elements move in different ways (ying & yang) and can affect how the energy (ch’i) of a room or dwelling moves.
The three basic schools of feng shui are: the Form School (the energy and relationship of mountains, rivers, roads and placement of structures); the Compass School (the use of a compass called a luo pan, incorporating birthdates and gender to locate “auspicious” corners of a dwelling or room), and the Black Hat School (utilizes a ba-gua, which is chart with eight sections that represent the eight “stations” of life; the entrance the dwelling or room is the starting point when using the ba-gua).
Elisa Cashiola is a feng shui consultant. She works with Mara Handy, a residential and commercial interior architecture and design specialist and owner of Marais Creative in Great Barrington, MA. Elisa recently spoke with me about feng shui and the art of placement. When you enter Marais Creative, you get that feeling that I described in the opening sentence—you like it; it feels welcoming.
Elisa utilizes the ba-gua when working with clients to help harmonize their environments. She explained that when using the ba-gua, it’s important to use the main door of the dwelling or room as the starting point for the chart. When I asked her why the front door, even if it’s the door we don’t often use, she informed me that, “The front door is the door that receives opportunity, and if we don’t use it, we’ll have missed opportunities.” It also receives the ch’i. She further explained that as you enter, the energy moves in a clockwise movement. The ba-gua can also be applied to each room in the house, as well as your office and your desk.
To illustrate the feng shui design concepts Elisa showed me the chart (ba-gua) that employs the five elements: water, wood, fire, earth and metal. Water feeds wood, wood creates fire, fire makes earth, earth forms metal (rocks) and metal directs water. Do you see the flow of the energy? Colors also play an important role as well. Have I lost you? The placement of these elements and use of these colors will help the flow of energy in the dwelling or room, therefore, creating an auspicious environment for that station or part of life.
Marais Creative is located at 70 Railroad Street in Great Barrington, MA.
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