In my series of articles about Feng Shui’s Five Elements we’ve looked at the Feng Shui benefits of the Wood, Earth, Metal and Water elements.
Let’s look now at the warm, charismatic and joyful qualities of the Fire element.
Fire feels magical and transformative, creating a warm atmosphere for a life that’s dynamic, expansive and happily social.
- Fire’s symbolic shape is the triangle, evoking the shape of a merry fire burning in a cozy fireplace. So pointed shapes such as stars do a great job bringing Fire into your space.
- Good lighting is another important way to evoke the vitality of Fire.
- Its color is red: a wise use of red accessories create instant warmth and life to your space.
- Another great way to bring Fire into your environment is with the evocation of living things: leather, animal prints, art featuring animals or people and even your pet dog or cat all represent the warm, social nature of Fire.
- The Fire element is closely related to your emotional health: Fire is passionate and enthusiastic, and loves to be nurtured with a good laugh every day 🙂
- It is the element of the fullness of mid-summer and high noon. Be careful to modulate your use of Fire: don’t get burned!
- The archetype of the Fire element is the Wizard. The magical, magnetic qualities of Fire have always inspired a faith that dreams can come true and desires fulfilled.
On the Feng Shui Bagua Map, Fire is the element of your Fame & Reputation.
The bright and lively Fire element is key to your social life, the way you are seen in the world, and your ability to connect meaningfully with the important people in your life.
Look around and start to notice which objects, furniture, and pieces of art may represent Fire in your space.
Now, let’s look at Fire in the Cycle of the Elements:
- Fire is nourished by Wood in the Creative Cycle.
- Fire in turn nourishes the Earth element, as the ash from a fire transforms itself into the earth under your feet.
- Fire is controlled by Water in the Controlling Cycle, just as a dose of water calms or extinguishes a fire in everyday life.
Important note: When you are considering which element might be represented by a particular object, Shape takes precedence.
For example an object that is triangular (like a 5-pointed star ornament, perhaps), mainly represents the Fire element. Depending on its color and other aspects, other elements may also be present, but Fire predominates in that particular object.
Be sure to check out the Feng Shui details about the other elements in my Five Elements series: Wood, Earth, Metal and Water.
(photo by Neil Fowler on Flickr)
I love your website! It is informative and easy to navigate. Maybe you could help me answer a question I have. I just painted my 8 yo son’s bedroom (all walls and ceiling) in a very pale, barely-there shade of blue-grey (we were going for a beach theme!). His birth element is fire and his room layout is spread equally between fire and earth areas. His bed is wood painted white. The bed rail and one of the bed posts are handmade using driftwood. Fabrics are all beige, taupe and various shades of earth/skin tones.
I was going to add painted (dark red) wooden stars on the “fame/fire” wall, strings of little flags (triangles) mixed in with tiny lights, and leave the rest of the wall mostly bare for him to hang his own artwork.
Do you think this would create enough balance or should I just repaint the walls a different color? Would you suggest anything else? My son likes the wall color, but he was open to pretty much any color, as long as we have the sea, boat and pirate theme!
Thank you for your advice!
Hello Julie,
Thank you for your kind comments about my site 🙂 It sounds to me as though you have done a good job bringing good Feng Shui and balance into your son’s room, but the key will be how well he sleeps at night and whether he is happy, healthy, sociable, etc. I suggest leaving things as they are for now and letting your son adjust to his new surroundings. If his life goes well there will be no need for any more changes until he says he is ready for them.