Is red colour good for your energy? Should you use blue in your home office? What colour is best to avoid in order to keep your energy strong? You can find your best colors, in both home decor, as well as clothing and accessories, by understanding your personal birth element. While the main criteria for the best use of color is based on the bagua of your house, the very next consideration is your personal birth element. We work with five primordial elements: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water expressing the main universal energies. Each one of us has a predominant energetic quality that needs to be supported in our homes. There is also a specific element, called the personal birth element, that is determined by the element of your birth year.
Even though the five elements theory is ancient and complex, you can start understanding its basic dynamic by observing how these elements are represented in nature, and how they interact on a physical level. We burn wood to create fire (so Fire element is nourished by Wood, while Wood is destroyed by Fire); we use a knife to cut the wood (so Metal destroys Wood).
We use water to help the tree grow (so Water element nourishes the Wood element) and the better the soil, the stronger the tree (Earth element is nourishing and supporting for the Wood element). So, if your birth element is Wood, you would be wise to avoid strong Fire and Metal element colors and decor items in your home. Why? Because in the destructive cycle of the five elements both Fire and Metal elements damage the Wood element.
However, it is important to understand that we need all five elements in our environment, just in different proportions. We have all five elements in our energetic makeup; no one is only Water or only Wood, so be wise and approach this info in an intelligent way. If you look at different disciplines (or even at another branch of feng shui called 9 Star Ki Astrology), you might discover that you have different elements at different levels. For example, you can have strong energy expressed as Metal element in your character, while your personal birth element/your energetic needs for your home are expressed as Fire element.
Here’s my example: my personal birth element is Earth, I feel very nourished and supported in any space with a strong Earth and Fire elements decor. Earth is also my element in 9 Star Ki feng shui astrology, which mostly defines one’s character, or energetic makeup. However, in Western astrology, my main element is Fire, and I certainly relate to the creativity and passion of this element. Looking further, I am Water in Vedic Astrology, and again, I can so relate to this element as I tend to feel things deeply and have a strong intuition. So, am I Earth, Fire or Water? Is this confusing to me? No, it is not. I am a combination of all elements, just like you are, but I also know that for the purpose of creating a space that truly nourishes my personal energy, the birth element is the one I work with.
The chart below gives you just one facet — but a very important one — that can help you create a nourishing home for yourself and for your loved ones; use it wisely. Because your personal birth element is based on your year of birth as per Lunar New Year (which never starts on January 1st), be sure you know your correct year of birth, for this specific purpose. The chart below shows the beginning of year based on Lunar New Year.
How To Use this Chart: Find your year of birth in one of the 5 columns representing a specific element; be sure to check the day, too. Your date and month of birth have to be after, not before the day the Lunar New Year started that year. The format used in the chart is day/month/year. Let’s take an example. If you were born on February 5, 1950 (05.02.1950), your year of birth, according to the ancient lunar calendar is considered 1949, not 1950 because according to it, the year 1950 started on February 17, 1950 (17.02.1950). This means your personal birth element is Earth (for 1949) not Metal (for 1950), as you can see below.
Your Personal Birth Element Chart
Once you know your personal birth element, you can learn how to use it to create a home that best supports your energy, as well the energy of your family members that have different birth elements. You can do this in many ways: with specific home decor and even with choice of clothing colors and accessories that support and strengthen your energy.
Rodika Tchi works with private clients worldwide to create homes that support health, relationships and daily life. She is the author of two published books and has been interviewed by Psychology Today, Business Insider and Elle Décor.
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