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The basic belief behind Feng
Shui is that there are five elements, some combinations of which
create a productive cycle, and some a destructive cycle. When
one of these five elements – water, wood, fire, earth, and
metal, respectively for the productive cycle – are combined
with an element adjacent to the main element, a productive cycle
is perpetuated. The reason being that water sustains wood, wood
feeds fire, ashes create earth, earth creates metal, and metal
holds water. So if you have a room where wood is the main element,
it would be good Feng Shui to add a water or fire element to
the room, as water feeds wood and wood feeds fire. This is where
candles would be a nice touch of good Feng Shui.
A look at the destructive cycle
will show which elements do not work well together: water, fire,
metal, wood, earth. And we can see that water puts our fire,
fire melts metal, metal cuts wood, wood clogs earth, and earth
muddies water. Although these elements are generally considered
bad Feng Shui combinations, one can be used with an adjacent
element in the destructive cycle to minimize an overpowering
element.
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For instance, if a room has overpowering
metal elements, maybe filled with modern metal furniture, you
can minimize that with wood elements like some green leafy plants,
or with fire elements such as red throw pillows, a fireplace,
or even candles.
It is beneficial to bear in mind
the productive and destructive cycles while decorating, but for
optimum Feng Shui, a room would have an equal balance of all
five elements – none being too overpowering. If this isn’t
the case and there is not one overpowering element, then the
productive cycle is a good place to start when decorating. |
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Now that we have a basic understanding
of the elements, we can see how to best utilize candles in our
decorating. In areas with predominately metal or water elements
– rooms which would have a lot of blue or silver colors
or metallic furnishings – a candle would help minimize the
overpowering colors and add balance.
If you want to start using Feng
Shui in a room with no overpowering elements, you could bring
in a candle and a complimentary element like a plant or a brown
oval rug since that color and shape are associated with the earth
element.
Candles can be an easy way to
bring a natural element into your home and can be a good starting
place for implementing Feng Shui design. Not to mention that
scented candles are often great Feng Shui because of the mood-enhancing
qualities certain scents have. Candles provide a simple start
in creating a pleasant ambiance and good decorating style. |
