Balancing your Backyard with the Five Elements

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balancing your backyard with the five elements
Since your garden and your backyard are an extension of your home it is also important to make sure to balance these areas with the five elements. Here’s how:

Earth Element1. Earth Element: We all have a lot of earth in our backyards and gardens due to the soil and the colors of the earth and the shape of a square. This area always reminds me of the energy of the goddess Gaia, Mother Earth which is life itself, the very soil that sustains us. Every culture has a version of this goddess. The Greeks call her Gaia from the Greek word “ga” which means land in the ancient Greek language and is sometimes spelled with a “ge” which is where we derive the word geology and geography. I learned in Peru that the Incas called her Pacha Mama. This goddess is so old she predates writing.

2. Fire element: This element can be brought in with a fireplace or fire pit or with the color red, orange, or pink in flowers or the shape of a triangle.

balancing your backyard with the five elements3. Water Element: many of us have pools that represent water or you can bring in the color blue in flowers or furniture or the shape of curves.

 

4. Wood element: Often times we have outdoor furniture made of wood or we all seem to have lots of trees. The shape of wood is the rectangle which might be shutters or perhaps you can bring in the colors of wood, browns, and greens.

5. Metal Element: Round is the shape of wood which can be in tables or planters. I have metal statues in my backyard representing the material itself and metal can also be in the color white.

When we balance the energy in our backyards we also balance the chi and the yin and yang within ourselves.

Have any Feng Shui questions? Feel free to contact me at michelle@michellecromer.com and sign up for your Power Color or visit me on Facebook at Michelle Cromer Creating a Meaningful Life.

5 Ways To Use The Elements Of Feng Shui In Your Outdoor Space

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5 Ways To Use The Elements Of Feng Shui In Your Outdoor Space
Photo by Souranshi Fashion and Lifestyle Magazine

It’s summer!

Your outside space is as important as your indoor space. If you have bad energy in your outside space it can cancel out the good energy you have on the inside.

Make sure it’s clean and free of clutter. Remember dead plants are dead energy so clear out the old leaves and dead branches.

Here are five ways you can use the elements of feng shui to harmonize the flow or chi of your exterior space:

  1. Use the elements of Feng shui–wood, fire, earth, metal, and water – in order to bring good energy and prosperity your way.
  2. Balance your paint colors. The color of your house can align with feng shui principles as well. I suggest when choosing a home color make sure it blends in with the elements around it.
  3. Use your bagua map for direction. Use a compass if needed for direction when planning the layout for your space. See my tips for how to fill in the missing corners in your space.
  4. Make your front door count. As you know, I love doors. Doors of any kind! My door just happens to be bright pink. The area leading up to the door should be free from any dead plants or old decorations.
  5. Use wind chimes. Wind chimes can be used to move the energy around you.

In conclusion, your garden or outdoor space is an extension of your indoor space. By using the 5 elements of feng shui, you will increase your energy flow, chi and create a harmonized and balanced garden.

Have any Feng Shui questions? Feel free to contact me at michelle@michellecromer.com and sign up for your Power Color or visit me on Facebook at Michelle Cromer Feng Shui.

Energy Map in Feng Shui, the Bagua

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Ancient China
Photo by JJ Ying on Unsplash

Feng Shui is a traditional Chinese concept that links our destiny to our environment. It aims to ensure people live in harmony with their surroundings. There is a deep belief in chi, which is the animating force that is everywhere. It’s invisible energy. The purpose of feng shui is to enable you to tap into this chi energy in order to remove obstacles to free up the flow of the chi.

Lo-Shu-TurtleThe principles of feng shui have existed for thousands of years. It was first used in China for the graves of the royal family and then the ancestors. Like the Terracotta Army which was the first known grave site that used feng shui and this was the grave site of the Emperor, The Chinese king Fu Xi. He devised the eight trigrams through the observation of the natural world as seen on the back of a tortoise shell.

The king was sitting on the bank of the Yellow River when a tortoise emerged and this concept was downloaded into his consciousness. The eight tortoise markings became the eight-sided map known as the bagua or the energy map of feng shui. Each section of the eight-sided map corresponds to one of the eight areas of our life experience: career and journey; knowledge; helpful people and travel; family and health, children and creativity, wealth and prosperity, fame and reputation, and relationships and marriage.

Click here to downloadThe Bagua

Taoist cosmology is structured on five natural elements: fire, earth, metal, water, and wood. Everything in heaven and earth is characterized by the constant interplay among the five elements, which are in constant motion. In feng shui, the balanced blend of these five elements and the yin and yang, male and female chi creates a harmonious environment.

Seeing that feng shui has been around since the 9th century BC, and is still popular today means it has had a historical impact and there is a reason for its longevity. It works. So when I hear people say feng shui is part of the new age movement which is only around 60 years old, I just say, “bless your heart” as we say in Texas.

Have any Feng Shui questions? Feel free to contact me at michelle@michellecromer.com and sign up for your Power Color or visit me on Facebook at Michelle Cromer Feng Shui.

My Front Door is Summer Ready Using the 5 Elements of Feng Shui

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The front door is critically important in Feng Shui, it represents our careers and life journeys. Its called the mouth of the dragon and it’s the entry point to all the energy that flows into our space. Paint your door a color you love, I like pink representing the fire element. Use jade plants to symbolize wealth and the earth element. I have a black mat and a blue mailbox, both representing the water element. My grey planters represent the metal element and my front door is wood, representing the wood element. I have a greeter, a turtle, to welcome the energy and guests, and it is facing towards the door, the way the energy flows. And finally if you are looking for a new love, a fresh start, or a successful career, then leave your light on, lighting the way for opportunities of all kinds. Spring is a lovely reminder of how beautiful change can be. Happy Spring!

The front door is critically important in Feng Shui, it represents our careers and life journeys. It’s called the mouth of the dragon and it’s the entry point to all the energy that flows into our space.

Paint your door a color you love, I like pink representing the fire element.

Use jade plants to symbolize wealth and the earth element. I have a black mat and a blue mailbox, both representing the water element.

My grey planters represent the metal element and my front door is wood, representing the wood element. I have a greeter, a turtle, to welcome the energy and guests, and it is facing towards the door, the way the energy flows.

And finally, if you are looking for a new love, a fresh start, or a successful career, then leave your light on, lighting the way for opportunities of all kinds.

Summer is a lovely reminder of how beautiful change can be. Happy Summer!

Have any Feng Shui questions? Feel free to contact me at michelle@michellecromer.com and sign up for your Power Color!

4 Ways to Activate the Wealth and Abundance Section of Any Space

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How to Activate the Wealth and Abundance Section of Any Space

If you are needing more abundance in your life I always recommend looking at the far left corner of your home or office. What is there? How is it decorated? What colors are you using? Are the five elements balanced? This particular area loves the water element because it represents power and flow. Two things we need to bring abundance in our lives.

I like the look and feel of this five-element room. Let’s start with the water element, a water feature – the painting of a waterfall. I can’t think of a more powerful image for this area. A waterfall is so forceful and never stops flowing, just as in the case of the money that flows for this family.

As you can see the very corner of this room is activating the wealth and abundance of this family by having a lamp that will “light the way for abundance.” And there is another lamp opposite it, bringing harmony, both bringing in passion and the fire element.

  1. Metal is represented in the color gray of the rug and the couch.
  2. The wooden table and the hardwood floor bring in the wood element.
  3. The flowers on the table, as well as the shape of all the squares in this room, act to ground the space with earth energy.
  4. The room is free of clutter, and is balanced; two blue chairs, two pillows, and two lamps bring in the yin and yang energy.

Finally, no matter what this space may be in your home it must look and feel rich in nature through fabric, color, or structure. Even if this space is your garage you can make sure it is free of clutter and perhaps paint a wall a rich color like deep purple, green or blue. It’s important to spend time in this area visualizing the abundance in your life and standing in gratitude for all the abundance in your life.

 

Have any Feng Shui questions? Feel free to contact me at michelle@michellecromer.com and sign up for your Power Color. Visit me on Facebook at Michelle Cromer Feng Shui.

Michelle Cromer