Q. of the Week: Setting Up A Feng Shui Aquarium

This week’s question comes from Verosha, who asks, “I recently bought a fish tank. What colors of fish should I get?”

I love this question since it gives me a chance to write about all the ways an aquarium creates good Feng Shui.

An aquarium is one of Feng Shui’s best-loved adjustments, anchoring your intention for wealth and abundance.

It instantly brings harmony into your space since it contains each of the Five Elements: Wood (green plants), Fire (fish colors and lighting), Earth (sand in the bottom of the tank), Metal (shiny fish and round tank shape), and, of course, Water.

Nine is the most powerful Yang number in Feng Shui and is used to supercharge the energy whenever possible, so it’s most auspicious that your aquarium contain nine fish: eight gold (or orange) and one black.

According to the Bagua, your aquarium is best located in the Career, Self-Cultivation, and Family areas since these are connected with the Water and Wood elements.

And finally, there are two rooms where your aquarium does NOT belong: the bedroom and the kitchen. Its constant motion creates too much energy for a bedroom; likewise the Water symbolically extinguishes a kitchen’s vital Fire energy.

An aquarium is great for offices, too — but that’s a topic for another post

Do you have an aquarium? How do you feel about the energy it’s bringing into your space?

photo courtesy of tropicalfishonline.info

Q. of the Week: Red Walls for a Teenager’s Bedroom?

Here’s a question I received in my email recently:

“My teenager wants to paint her bedroom walls Red. Is this a mistake?”

The answer, of course, is — “It depends.”

In Feng Shui Red is the color for the Fire element, representing warmth and expansiveness. The emotions associated with Fire range from friendliness and enthusiasm all the way to high passion and drama.

So if your daughter feels she’s missing out on some of these things, Red might be just the ticket for her right now, boosting her confidence and bringing her into full bloom.

But the flip side is that Red can exaggerate dramatic tendencies that already exist. In that case I’d suggest trying out a few Red accessories and complementing them with items drawn from the Earth element to create a sense of groundedness.

The key is to let her experiment. Paint is one of the easiest things to change if it turns out not to be a good fit, and learning about yourself in these ways is one of Feng Shui’s most valuable roles.

Let me know what happens!

Five Ways Feng Shui Helps You Achieve Your Goals

One of Feng Shui’s most important roles is helping you achieve your most cherished goals.

Here’s how the Feng Shui’s Five Elements can help you keep you your New Year’s Resolutions:

If you’ve resolved that this is the year for growth and new beginnings, bring the Wood element into your environment. Use symbolic items like the color green, live or silk plants, or things with verticality like columns and vertical stripes.

Would you like to realize your passion or get in better touch with your emotions this year? If so add the Fire element to your space with red items, candles, lighting and pointed or triangular things.

Perhaps you’ve resolved to become more grounded and stable or create a more nurturing environment for yourself. The Earth element anchors this intention with square items — especially earthenware tiles — and earthy colors like sand, brown or yellow.

If this is the year for focus and the completion of projects use the Metal element: rounded objects, the color white or light pastels, and anything actually made of metal. To anchor my own intentions this year I’ve brought out a beautiful metal heart-shaped box and placed my resolutions inside.

This might be the year in which you want to feel more connected, either with new people in your life or by making spiritual connections within yourself. The element to turn to is Water, which you can bring into your space with the color black, or with sinuous objects.

Do you have a balance of the Five Elements in your home and office?

The Water Element: Communication & Reflection

The last of Feng Shui’s Five Elements is Water, an essential part of a well-balanced environment.

When it’s moving, Water symbolizes social activity and communication; when it’s still, Water represents clarity and reflection.

Just in case you can’t (or don’t want to) have an actual water fountain in your home, here are a few other ways to add this wonderful refreshing element to your space.

Water’s depth is represented by black or very dark colors. But I think this bathroom might take the idea of a “water closet” to extremes!!

Clear things also symbolize Water. Elegant, ghostly chairs like this one will definitely bring “something to talk about” into a space

The painting above the couch shows how to represent Water with irregular, sinuous designs, echoing the way it makes its way through the landscape.

How are you bringing Water into your space?

The Metal Element: Focus and Completion

Fall, the season of Metal, is a time when we start nesting for the winter. It’s a great time for planning and getting organized, which is what the Metal element is all about.

Metal is also about money and finances — the coin of the realm.

Here are a few great ideas for bringing Metal into your space.

White, the purest of hues, is the color for Metal but it can easily become overwhelming. In this room the impact is diminished by the dark blues of the Water element, which soften some of Metal’s edge.

This beautiful and sophisticated silver lamp adds the incisiveness of Metal without being too hard edged.

Circles are also associated with Metal — here’s a witty way to add this purest of shapes to your space. Note the Fire elements in the red flowers and book, which “melt” the hardness of Metal while warming up the room.

What do you think? How else might you add Metal to your space?