In my series of articles about Feng Shui’s Five Elements we’ve looked at the Feng Shui benefits of the Wood, Fire, Earth and Metal elements.
Let’s look now at the flowing, truth-seeking Water element.
Water is unstructured. It flows and meanders wherever it wishes to go.
Water’s movement, or lack thereof, closely replicates the flow of Chi energy in your life.
The way you arrange your space speeds up, slows down or can even stop the flow of your vital life energy, so wise use of the Water element is essential to creating auspicious Feng Shui.
- Water gives you a place to regenerate yourself, a spiritual and physical wellspring of refreshing nourishment.
But because its inky depths are dark, cold and deep, Water is also considered the element of mystery and courage.
- Despite its nourishing qualities, in ancient China the presence of Water felt dangerous: it froze in winter, its depths were unknowable, it created an almost impossible-to-traverse boundary for the country.
- So Water came to be known as the element of “the Abyss,” an element that it took courage to traverse in any season.
Water can be moving or it can be still; this means that there are many different ways to represent Water in your space.
Water’s symbolic shape is a sinuous, flowing line that evokes its smooth yet unpredictable path. To symbolize its reflective qualities, Water also shows up in highly polished surfaces like mirrors and clear glass.
Here’s some more about the Feng Shui qualities of Water:
- Any shape that’s wavy, flowing or sinuous brings the Water element into your space.
- Water’s color is black or other very, very dark colors.
- Water-y objects create pure reflection: mirrors, glass and crystal all evoke the Water element in your home or office.
- Water itself, of course, also brings this essential element into your space. A water fountain near the entry to your space improves the flow of Chi energy — and healthy finances — into your life.
- Water represents winter in the cycle of the seasons: the darkest season in the northern hemisphere.
- The archetype of the Water element is the Philosopher, whose calm, gentle nature helps to explain the mysteries of the world.
On the Feng Shui Bagua Map, Water represents the Career/Life Journey sector at the bottom-center of the map.
Follow the link above to find out more about this important sector, and how to use the Water element to enhance it.
Look around and start to notice which objects, furniture, and pieces of art may represent Water in your space.
Now, let’s look at Water in the Cycle of the Elements:
- Water is nourished by Metal in the Creative Cycle.
- Water in turn nourishes the Wood element, just as you might expect :).
- Water is controlled by Earth in the Controlling Cycle. Earth controls Water both by creating boundaries or dams to control its flow, and by muddying it to slow it down and reduce its power.
Important note: When you are considering which element might be represented by a particular object, Shape takes precedence.
For example an object that has sinuous patterns in it (like a carpet with flowing patterns), mainly represents the Water element. Depending on its color and other aspects, other elements may also be present, but Water predominates in that particular carpet pattern because of its shape.
Be sure to check out the Feng Shui details about the other elements in my Five Elements series: Wood, Fire, Earth and Metal.
(photo by Hideo on Flickr)
Hi there! I live in Hawaii. I’m about to buy a house that has a water catchment tank underneath the living area. I’m a bit concern as this is water that’s not constantly moving. It gets renewed when it rains (and it rains a lot here) but mainly is just sitting there.. Should I have any concerns ? Would it be ok? Is there are cure I could use? The house is spacious inside. Lots of natural light. The kitchen which is in the living area, has a countertop that’s very much in the metal element. The driveway of the house is curvy through rain forest with lots of amazing trees and looks like a river… And somehow it connects to the room where the water tank is .. So energetically it looks like the water in the tank is flowing through this river flow.. the inside of the house is mainly white with wooden beams .. The main bedroom is off the water tank.. To the side .. So not directly affected ? Any advice ?
Hello Maria,
I agree that this water catchment is a concern, on several levels. Please let me know if you are still considering this house and we can set up a long-distance Feng Shui consultation to work throught the issues. Thanks for writing and here’s to good Chi!
Hi I live in Melbourne Australia
I would like to know how would you control too much water element and metal energy in the kitchen in a home eg too much black and white and the metal energy In the kitchen where there is already too much of the water element.
Thank you
Hello Betty, a home with too much black and white (Water & Metal) needs to be balanced with the other elements (Fire, Wood and Earth). You can use shape and material as well as color to bring in the elements; please continue to look around my website for advice about how to do this.
I am very confused here. I have. A home that has many challenges with sloping etc. I had a fang shui consultant come in and she told me what to do for that year. Now it’s 2017 and I received an update for this years cures. Now the center of our home is tradionally Earth but for 2017 it says Water. Which is it?? Our foyer is South facing and she told me that it is a very hot area for break ins etc and to use lots of blue here and many water elements to calm it. So I have Winter paintings in blue and a water stream painting in blue as well as a full length mirror. We have a couple of blue and gold vases sitting on wood tables. We’ve just updated the hallway (center) off the foyer from the Reds that she had told me to use for that year, with the things I’ve read about this years updates — Water — We removed the red and earth paintings and metal art work and replaced with snowy scene blue and a long black mirror and a winter/water scene painting in black and white. Ugggg so confused!
Hello Linda,
It sounds as though you are working with a Classical Feng Shui consultant, which is not the type of Feng Shui that I practice. Please take a look at this article for more information, and to decide how you wish to proceed with Feng Shui.