Where Energy Flows

I’m currently reading “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” by Gregory Maguire and in a round-about kind of way, it reminded me of the post I wrote a while ago on the Five Element and the Wizard of Oz and this seems like a good time to offer it again. 

Five Elements and the Wizard of Oz

In Feng Shui the Five Elements are used to bring a balance in our lives. Usually this means having a balance of all five elements of Fire, Water, Metal, Wood and Earth in our living spaces. But first, let’s understand the Five Elements. L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard Oz illustrates this delightfully! In this tale you can see balanced and imbalanced examples of the five elements.

Cast  

Fire: The Wizard
Water:  The Cowardly Lion
Metal:  The Tin Man
Wood: The Scarecrow
Earth: Dorothy

Fire is about taking action. The Wizard is not in balance when we first encounter him. He portrays himself as a firey ball. but he is all talk and no action. When he is revealed as a fake, he steps up to the plate as a real leader and initiator and in so doing, he finds a new sense of direction and purpose for his life.

Water is about emotions and the Cowardly Lion is a very fearful and sensitive creature who cries at the drop of a hat. The Wizard gives the Lion a medal for bravery and the Lion finds his courage. While keeping his sensitivite nature he is much more composed emotionally after he get’s his medal for bravery.

Metal is about rational thought, organization and intellectual powers. In an imbalanced state, someone who has too much metal energy (as the Tin man believes) lacks compassion and depth of emotion: he is rigid and has no heart. At the end of the story, The Wizard gives him a heart, and a testimonial which increases his capacity to both give and receive love.

Wood is about growth, flexibility and productivity. In the beginning the Scarecrow is so flexible he can hardly stand up. He also believes he has no brains, and judging by what happens when he loses his straw stuffing, we see that he does indeed lack substance. The Wizard gives him a diploma and as soon as he believes in himself, he grows substantially and becomes ’smart.’ 

Earth is nurturing and supportive.  Dorothy’s story is about feeling un-nurtured and taken for granted. In her inner journey and interactions with the other characters/elements she learns how to nurture others and through this, recognizes something of her own value, hence the famous line “there’s no place like home.” She comes to rely much more on her inner recources to give her stability and value.

Copyright Deborah Redfern 2007. All rights reserved.

I am delighted to announce the New! Improved! Personality Profile Results Report on my website at Touchstones.  Even if you’ve done it before, I encourage you to take a few moments and do the 5 Element Personality Profile, again, just for the fun of seeing your bar graph and pie chart.

If it is new to you, it’s easy.  There are fifty descriptive words in each category:   Water, Wood, Fire, Earth, and Metal.  All you do is mark the words that you feel apply to you.  When you are finished, you click on “Show me my Personality Type.”  This will give you your current balance of the five elements.What do you do with this information?  Lots of stuff. Some or all of which many of you may already know.  On the other hand, perhaps it is the perfect time to be reminded!

First, you notice what your ‘lead’ element is — the element with the highest number.

You may have a tie between two or three elements.  If that’s the case, one element at a time, read the words you marked.  Out loud.  Pause.  Then read the words marked in the other element.  Which feels more like you more of the time?

You make decisions based on your lead element.  If you’re Water, your desire for deeper meaning will color all your choices.  If you’re Wood, usefulness is your compass.  If you’re Fire, fun rules.  If you’re Earth, other people’s feelings hold sway on your decisions.  If you’re Metal, your choices must be appropriate.

Since each element is ‘housed’ in a particular part of your overall home and each room, it is useful to know which elements are your strengths because those are the safest locations to place ‘necessary evils.’ 

Such things as your knife drawer in the Kitchen, or your shredder in your office, or the drains (Kitchen, bath sinks, bathtubs, and toilets) are ideally placed where you are strong.  This reduces their potential harm.

If necessary evils are located in a area associated with your weak elements, they weaken you further.

Most of the time, how you are in the world reflects your unique combination of elements.  A person strong in Water, Wood, and Fire will go with the flow, having fun, yet be extremely efficient with their time, for example.

When you are stressed or tired or hungry or feel vulnerable in any way you will revert to your ‘default mode,’ which is your lead element.  When stressed, if your lead element is Water, you will go inward.  If Wood leads the way, you will become more focused and less tolerant.  If Fire is your lead element, when stressed you will seek fun elsewhere.  If you’re Earth, you will be accommodating, even to your own detriment.  If you’re Metal, you will become even more reserved and distant.

Choices made solely from the lead element’s viewpoint have only a one in five chance of being the most successful approach to any given situation. The more balanced you are in all five elements, the more you will respond with the combination that is most successful in every situation.  Being balanced also has the perk of becoming stressed less frequently by life’s surprises.

How do you increase an element?  You can use color, pattern, shape, scent, wall art, sculpture, music, or activities.  Stay tuned to learn how to increase each element individually.

If there is a wide gap between your strongest (40, for example) and your weakest element (12), it is best to make adjustments gently and gradually.  If the gap is significant but not dramatic (strongest 18, weakest 10), you can make bigger changes more quickly. 

And if all five elements are basically the same, (28,28,32,30,26) consider yourself … lucky … and balanced.

When you know what your lead element is and you begin to recognize when it is operating without leavening from the other elements, it can serve as an early warning signal that stress is building.

For myself, as my lead element is Wood, when little stuff irritates me like a slow check-out clerk, it is a warning signal.  After all, how much time is even the slowest clerk wasting?  Am I hungry?  Fatigued?  Disappointed?  Whatever it is, my irritation helps me by triggering those questions.  It is then possible to take steps to alleviate whatever the cause is — and the grocery clerk receives kind attention.

What is your early warning signal?  Inquiring minds want to know!

© Copyright Kathleen Tumpane, 2008. All rights reserved.

White is technically not a colour — rather it encompasses all colors in the rainbow spectrum. It is often the colour of choice in healing work (when directing colour to the person being healed) because the person can take whatever colour they need out of white light.

The cultural meanings of white are not straight forward. On the one hand white represents new beginnings, purity, innocence and cleanliness. White is often used to represent ’goodness’ or the right side of the law, e.g., a white knight, the ‘good’ cowboy in the white hat. There is also a religious or sacred connotation of white: it can represent divine realization and humility.

On the other hand, white represents ambiguity and falsehood, e.g. telling a white lie, or to whitewash something, meaning to cover up the truth with lies. A white elephant might be the classic definition of clutter: something you do not use or love.

~*~White in decorating~*~

There is a reason why many books on selling your home recommend painting the walls in your home white: in feng shui we say white walls are a like blank canvas. So prospective buyers can more easily imagine their own colour schemes rather than being influenced by the seller’s choices. However I have found as a Feng Shui Practitioner, that when people do not change the white walls, as they face that blank canvas day after day, it is a little like writers block — or creativity block.

And this is interesting because in the bagua map, white is related to the Children and Creativity gua, and the element of metal, so you would think having a white colour scheme throughout the entire house would make you wildly creative. And it might do that — if you are a person who has a lot of metal energy — someone who has a personality suited to it. But there are four other elements other than metal: fire, earth, water and wood. For these people a little bit of white — such as decorative trim, contrast colour or even just one white wall – as well as a little metal, will help with creativity and decision making, but not four white walls plus ceiling!

Another interesting thing is that white is yang, which is outgoing, extroverted and expansive. But colour healing experts say that large expanses of white can be isolating and make it more difficult to make decisions and take action — and I have observed that to be true as a feng shui practitioner. If you feel lonely or cut off, that your energy is ’scattered’; if you want to be more out-going or make decisions more easily, try bringing in colour.

If painting is not an option one thing you can do is to hang coloured textiles on the wall with curtain rods or other means of attachment. This could be curtains, a quilt or even a rug. Another idea is to bring in warm accessories (think earth tones) that will cast a warm reflection on stark white walls. Having art work hung on white walls is very important as it will help lift the ‘blank canvas’ feeling. 

The colour experts say that white is good in bathrooms and kitchens, but not good in children’s rooms or dining rooms.

© copyright 2008 Deborah Redfern. All rights reserved.

Water is one of the Five Elements of feng shui.  When the Five Elements (metal, water, wood, fire and earth) are balanced, we are more comfortable and productive.  Since many indoor environments have little or no water, I often suggest adding water to a space.  Essential oil misters (which also make great gifts) are a fun and delightful way to add the element of water to your space.

There are many brands of essential oil misters for sale.  Along with making sure the bottle contains pure essential oil, use your intuition and your sense of what smells good to choose your mister.  You can also make them yourself.  This year I decided to make essential oil misters to give as gifts.  I created the misters with charged water.  This water is infused with the vibration of special words and it adds that vibration to the space that the mister is used.  The last ingredient, pure essential oil, adds a refreshing smell as well as special vibrations that come from the essential oils.   

I’ve outlined my process below.

I used:

• Filtered water
• A glass bowl
• Small polished rocks with the words:  love, power, miracle, freedom, success, passion, wisdom, create, and health
• A blend of essential oils that included Lavender, Sweet Orange, Ylang Ylang, Chamomile and Patchouli
• 4 oz. mister bottles (a mister is a bottle with a fine spray nozzle)
• Labels

I arranged the rocks in the bottom of the glass bowl and then poured in the filtered water.  (Note: If you’d like more information about using the vibration of words with water, see Masaru Emoto’s book The Hidden Messages in Water.)

I let the bowl of water sit with the rocks in the window, next to a sun chime for 24 hours.  The water is then infused with the vibration of the words, the sun, the stars, the moon and the chime.

After 24 hours, I filled the mister bottles. 

Then I added between 15 – 20 drops of essential oil to each bottle.  Use your judgment to decide how much essential oil to use for your misters.  Also, use care in handling the oils.  They are very concentrated and should be used with caution.  It is not advised to apply essential oils directly to skin.  To learn more about essential oils I recommend The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Essential Oils by Julia Lawless.

Last I made up some fun labels and put them on the bottles.

To use: Shake to mix the oil and water.  Then mist.

© Copyright Ann Kucera, 2007. All rights reserved.

Black is technically not a colour at all. Rather, it is the total absorption of light. From a feng shui perspective, the qualities of black are power and stillness. Black is associated with power, strength, authority, and independence. Stillness evokes quiet, introspection, the night, dreamtime, the unknown, mystery, self-protection, and to go unnoticed. Black is also associated with beginnings and endings: beginnings - we are born into the light; endings - death, a return to darkness.

From the bagua map perspective black is the color for the Career gua.  The element for the Career area is water, and the trigram means ‘deep water’.  If you have studied feng shui, you may know that Career does not mean only what you do as your job; rather it also refers to the soul-searching that happens when you contemplate your purpose in life. From my book on the bagua Odyssey of the Heart,

Deep water means to go very deeply inside on an inner journey to find the quintessential nature that is you. I believe that through this journey you can find your personal alchemy which gives you the opportunity to turn your life around.

So if black represents finding yourself and your true purpose in life, those qualities of black (power and stillness) are important. For example, do you use your power in a constructive way? There are two types of power, one having to do with the misuse of it and the other having to do with self mastery. The misuse of power (having power over someone) explains one of the cautions I have read on wearing black. It is said to ’express hidden aggressive impulses and causes one to absorb unfiltered energies from the world outside’.

Do the qualities of black help you become more centered or still inside, or does it protect you in some way — to ‘disappear’ or go unnoticed?

Using Black

Black should not be used in young children’s rooms, therapy rooms, or living rooms. 

I sometimes do a feng shui consultation for someone who wants a black and white bedroom scheme. I try to dissuade them because while it might look dramatic and mysterious in the night, by day it depresses the energy. Have you ever been in a night club or restaurant with a black or very dark color scheme by day? Were they places you wanted to linger in?

Similarly, long term wearing of black, head to toe - almost like a uniform - is not recommended from an energetic perspective, but then too, there are colour/fashion experts who tell us that a lot of us just do not look good in black! Some wear black because it doesn’t show the dirt, but personally I find the opposite is true and my black clothing seems to need cleaning after each wearing. But there are times when it is useful:

• If there is a time in your life when you need self-protection or to go unnoticed
• When you are feeling extreme exhaustion
• To quiet an over-active mind.

© Copyright 2007 Deborah Redfern. All rights reserved.

In the fashion world, brown is one of those transient colors: ‘in’ one year and ‘out’ the next. Two years ago, a search of at least a dozen women’s wear shops yielded exactly ONE dark brown cardigan. The following year, brown was ‘in’ and it was everywhere. I love dark chocolate brown. It is a versatile basic that has warmth and richness — a treasure for those who avoid wearing black. But what about the significance of brown, both in your wardrobe and as a home decorating colour?

Since the colour brown is not associated with chakras or is known for its healing uses, the focus for brown is on the Elements. Brown is primarily associated with the Element of Earth, however — especially when talking about home construction materials — there is an overlap with the element of Wood, since the colour of wood is brown or earth-toned. As we consider the effects of brown, we need to keep in mind both the Wood and the Earth Elements.

Wood Element materials include natural wood siding on the home exterior, unpainted wood floors, cabinets, tables, chairs and other furniture - all of which are earth-toned or a shade of brown. Earth Element building materials include brick, tile, adobe, terra cotta (roof tiles, plant pots), and tile floors - especially unglazed natural tile. Earth colours include beige and tan. Do you have either of these common neutral colours as walls or floor treatment? Both are pastel shades of brown.

A garden view will also bring the earth element into your home — through seeing the soil and trunks of trees, of course — but perhaps you also have: a wood or tiled patio or deck; terra cotta, wood or cement plant pots; or cement or clay garden statues and/or fountain.

Like green in nature, we often don’t really see brown - especially when it is wood, clay or earth — we read it as a neutral. Once you count up all the Earth and Wood Elements present in your home, there may be more ‘brown’ than you realise. The key with the colour brown - as with all colours and Elements is balance. In Interior Alignment we use the theory of five-elements to maintain a healthy balance of all elements. Take another look at my post Five Elements and the Wizard of Oz to learn more about the Five Elements. Stay tuned for upcoming posts when I will present each of the Five Elements in turn.

 © Copyright Deborah Redfern. All rights reserved.

In Feng Shui the Five Elements are used to bring a balance in our lives. Usually this means having a balance of all five elements of Fire, Water, Metal, Wood and Earth in our living spaces. But first, let’s understand the Five Elements. L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard Oz illustrates this delightfully! In this tale you can see balanced and imbalanced examples of the five elements.

Cast  

Fire: The Wizard
Water:  The Cowardly Lion
Metal:  The Tin Man
Wood: The Scarecrow
Earth: Dorothy

Fire is about taking action. The Wizard is not in balance when we first encounter him. He portrays himself as a firey ball. but he is all talk and no action. When he is revealed as a fake, he steps up to the plate as a real leader and initiator and in so doing, he finds a new sense of direction and purpose for his life.

Water is about emotions and the Cowardly Lion is a very fearful and sensitive creature who cries at the drop of a hat. The Wizard gives the Lion a medal for bravery and the Lion finds his courage. While keeping his sensitivite nature he is much more composed emotionally after he get’s his medal for bravery.

Metal is about rational thought, organization and intellectual powers. In an imbalanced state, someone who has too much metal energy (as the Tin man believes) lacks compassion and depth of emotion: he is rigid and has no heart. At the end of the story, The Wizard gives him a heart, and a testimonial which increases his capacity to both give and receive love.

Wood is about growth, flexibility and productivity. In the beginning the Scarecrow is so flexible he can hardly stand up. He also believes he has no brains, and judging by what happens when he loses his straw stuffing, we see that he does indeed lack substance. The Wizard gives him a diploma and as soon as he believes in himself, he grows substantially and becomes ’smart.’ 

Earth is nurturing and supportive.  Dorothy’s story is about feeling un-nurtured and taken for granted. In her inner journey and interactions with the other characters/elements she learns how to nurture others and through this, recognizes something of her own value, hence the famous line “there’s no place like home.” She comes to rely much more on her inner recources to give her stability and value.

Copyright Deborah Redfern 2007. All rights reserved.