Feng Shui: Using Candles to Balance a Room

Feng Shui (English pronunciation: fun-shway) is the ancient Chinese art of arranging one’s environment to promote health, wealth, and harmonious relationships. The practice takes into account space, weather, astronomy, and geomagnetism—in essence the major forces of the universe. The goal of Feng Shui is to arrange one’s environment on spots with favorable Chi (“Ki” in Japanese). Chi is a big concept and difficult to explain precisely, but to keep it simple we can call it “the universal life force, which flows through everything.”

Feng Shui has been called “architectural acupuncture,” and Feng Shui masters are said to be able to feel the flow of good and bad energy. If you consult with one when building your home or decorating a room, the Master will tell you where to put the bathroom, if a room needs green plants or some red roses, which way your bed should face, and where to hang your mirrors, among a myriad of other adjustments that, it is hoped, will turn your home or office into a more positive environment.

Proponents of Feng Shui maintain that the universe is composed of five basic elements, and those elements will create either a productive or a destructive cycle, depending on how they are combined.

The five elements are: water, wood, fire, earth, and metal.

When combined in that order they not only support one another but make a circle. For example: water sustains wood, wood feeds fire, ashes create earth, earth creates metal, and metal holds water.

So when one of those elements is combined with an adjacent element, it can strengthen the Feng Shui in a room; however, if the element is combined with an element that is not adjacent, it can cause disharmony and create a non-productive cycle.

An example of creating negative energy would be to combine fire and water—which are not adjacent—because water does not support fire; it extinguishes fire. Nor would it be a good idea to combine wood and metal because metal cuts wood.

If your living room emphasizes wood—wooden furniture, picture frames, etc.—you can balance it by adding either a water element or a fire element, the two elements adjacent to wood in the above list. And a good fire element that is easy to add is a candle—arrange a few of them around the room.

For the optimum well-balanced room, none of the elements should be too overpowering. If there’s too much metal in the room, tone the effect down by adding wood elements like green leafy plants or fire elements—again like candles, or a fireplace, or red pillows.

In rooms containing lots of blue or silver colors or metallic furnishings, candles can tone down the effect and balance the room. Scented candles create great Feng Shui because certain scents have mood-enhancing qualities.

In summary, the philosophy of Feng Shui is that people should live in harmony with nature, rather than resist nature. If we surround ourselves with negativity we create unproductive energy, but if we surround ourselves with beauty we create productive energy.

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