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Using
Candles in
Feng
Shui Decorating
by: Jennifer Hall
The
basic belief behind Feng Shui is that there are
five elements, some combinations of which create
a productive cycle, and some a destructive cycle.
When one of these five elements § water, wood,
fire, earth, and metal, respectively for the productive
cycle § are combined with an element adjacent
to the main element, a productive cycle is perpetuated.
The reason being that water sustains wood, wood
feeds fire, ashes create earth, earth creates
metal, and metal holds water. So if you have a
room where wood is the main element, it would
be good Feng Shui to add a water or fire element
to the room, as water feeds wood and wood feeds
fire. This is where candles would be a nice touch
of good Feng Shui.
A
look at the destructive cycle will show which
elements do not work well together: water, fire,
metal, wood, earth. And we can see that water
puts our fire, fire melts metal, metal cuts wood,
wood clogs earth, and earth muddies water. Although
these elements are generally considered bad Feng
Shui combinations, one can be used with an adjacent
element in the destructive cycle to minimize an
overpowering element. For instance, if a room
has overpowering metal elements, maybe filled
with modern metal furniture, you can minimize
that with wood elements like some green leafy
plants, or with fire elements such as red throw
pillows, a fireplace, or even candles.
It
is beneficial to bear in mind the productive and
destructive cycles while decorating, but for optimum
Feng Shui, a room would have an equal balance
of all five elements § none being too overpowering.
If this isn’t the case and there is not one
overpowering element, then the productive cycle
is a good place to start when decorating.
Now
that we have a basic understanding of the elements,
we can see how to best utilize candles in our
decorating. In areas with predominately metal
or water elements § rooms which would have
a lot of blue or silver colors or metallic furnishings
§ a candle would help minimize the overpowering
colors and add balance. If you want to start using
Feng Shui in a room with no overpowering elements,
you could bring in a candle and a complimentary
element like a plant or a brown oval rug since
that color and shape are associated with the earth
element.
Candles
can be an easy way to bring a natural element
into your home and can be a good starting place
for implementing Feng Shui design. Not to mention
that scented candles are often great Feng Shui
because of the mood-enhancing qualities certain
scents have. Candles provide a simple start in
creating a pleasant ambiance and good decorating
style.
Contributing
Author
Jennifer
Hall is the founder and editor of
http://Candle-Lite-World.com,
http://Savvy-Cafe.com,
a journal for fun home ideas and an online guide
to saving money; and http://onetimesone.com,
an online magazine featuring independent music
and film. When she's not online, Jennifer's spending
time with her family, gardening, or playing the
piano or accordion.
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