PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES OF FENG SHUI

Feng Shui relies on the following principles and theories to create a balanced flow of energy (ch’i) in our homes and our lives.

The Five Element Theory

The Five Elements – The Five Elements are another way of balancing and harmonizing the ch’i of a person or an environment. The elements characterize all matter and everything in the Universe belongs to one of these Elements. It is ideal to have all five elements balanced in order to create a harmonious environment, which promotes good health, happiness and well-being.

	FIRE - red, Summer, South, heart
	EARTH - yellow, Midautumn, Center, spleen and pancreas
	METAL - white, Autumn, West, lungs and gall bladder
	WATER - black, Winter, North, kidney
	WOOD - green, Spring, East, liver

Water is associated with fluidity and motion, the color Black, the season of Winter, the internal organ Kidney and the direction of North.

Fire is associated with heat and passion, the color Red, the season of Summer, the internal organ Heart and the direction of South.

Metal is associated with inward and contracting tendencies, the color White, the season of Autumn, the internal organs of Lungs and Gall Bladder and the direction of West.

Earth is associated with stability and nourishment, the color Yellow / Ochre, the season of Midautumn, and the internal organs of Spleen and Pancreas. The direction of center.

Wood is associated with growth and expansion, the color Green, the season of Spring, the internal organ of Liver and the direction of East.

Each of the Five elements have a relationship to one another. They have a productive cycle where they enhance each other and a destructive cycle where they impede each other.

IChing – The I-Ching, The book of Changes, is considered the mother of Chinese thought and practice. The I-Ching codified natural elements and forces to impart wisdom, philosophy, and the ability to tell fortunes to the user, thus further linking man’s fate to nature. The Chinese interpreted knowledge and guidance from trigrams of broken (yin) and unbroken (yang) lines formed by tossing yarrow sticks, wooden sticks or more recently coins.

BaGua – The BaGua is an arrangement of the eight trigrams (from I-Ching) and a center, which serves as a map to match various components of your life with the corresponding areas in your physical world. The Black Sect BaGua or Eight trigrams evolved from the Fu Hsi and the King Wen Ba Gua.

The BaGua is an octagon divided into eight categories that pertain to our lives – marriage, reputation, wealth, knowledge, career, helpful people, and children. Black Sect Feng Shui uses the Ba Gua superimposed on entire plots of land, houses, individual rooms, and even pieces of furniture to interpret a person’s life and problems and offer a cure to resolve them.

Yin / Yang – From Tao came Yin and Yang, the two primordial forces that govern the universe. They are complementary opposites, and together they make up all aspects of life and matter. Yin is dark and yang is light; yin is passive and yang is active. When united, however, they are harmony – Tao. They depend on each other – without cold, the concept hot does not exist, without new there is no old, with out life there would be no death. Yin also exists within yang, and yang exist within yin.

The Yin / Yang concept links humans with their surroundings. According to Feng Shui if you master the connections between yin / yang, you can maintain inner balance and improve your fortunes and destiny. (*)

The Tao – “way” or “path” - Tao is a process and principle linking man with the universe. Tao reflects the natural way, the eternal rhythm of the universe and the way of man within it. It evolved out of ancient Chinese observations of nature and their identification with it. They saw that nature was constantly in flux yet cyclical, and that their crops and fates were determined by and depended on the way of nature. Man and nature follow the same laws. As a principle, Tao is a wholeness stemming from balance, a harmonious union of interacting opposites. As a process, Tao is constant, cyclical change, opposites spawning each other – the yearly cycle of summer leading to winter, returning to summer. Through understanding the patterns of Tao, Feng Shui experts seek balance and equilibrium to achieve harmony with the environment. (*)


Ch’i (pronounced chee) - There are many influences that affect our life course; luck, fate, Feng Shui, karma (good acts), knowledge and self cultivation but the most important is ch’i.

Ch’i or “life force” or “energy” is the spirit or vital force that carries the body – the way we appear or act, and how we move and talk. The ideal is to have balanced ch’i that flows smoothly throughout our body and our homes. If the ch’i in our bodies is blocked, we may appear unsocial or irritable. If the ch’i in our home is blocked, we may not be able to succeed in our careers or relationships. Human ch’i can be enhanced through meditation, human relationships, and a healthy environment. Feng Shui can help balance all levels of ch’i.

Chinese Astrology – According to Chinese astrology there are 12 zodiac signs: Snake, Horse, Ram, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig, Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, and Dragon. Each animal represents relationship to one of the 5 elements (9 Star Ki). Chinese astrology can be used to help establish a harmonious relationship between Heaven and Earth. It can also be used to foretell many aspects of one’s life like finding out auspicious timing for blessings, occasions an tasks.

The Productive Cycle
Fire produces earth; earth creates metal; metal produces water; water feeds wood; wood helps the fire.

The Destructive Cycle
Wood disrupts earth; earth absorbs water; water puts out the fire; fire melts metal; metal chops wood.

The five elements can be associated with colors, times, seasons, directions, body organs and so on.