Feng Shui

Feng Shui

Do you remember growing up hearing about elephant sculptures and how lucky it was to have one with the trunk turned up as opposed to hanging down? The lifted trunk represents abundance and prosperity.

Superstition?

The calculated, scientific art and practice of Feng Shui has been used for thousands of years to create prosperity, balance and harmony in one’s life, all aspects of one’s life cycle, and the home environment for thousands of years. The utilization of animal symbolism is based on one’s intention, the meaning one gives to the symbols, the energy the symbols exude, the deeply unconscious and natural acceptance of the symbols as being helpful and hopeful.

The precise grid known as the Feng Shui Bagua, places various aspects of life into a square divided into 9 quadrants. The square represents the general layout of a house or on the microcosmic level – the same directions in any given room.

The following suggested animals are paired with the respective quadrant of the Bagua as an image – painting or photograph, or ornamental objects:

1. Abundance and Prosperity – goldfish, koi – good luck, abundance, wealth and prosperity, longevity, courage, endurance. The three-legged toad represents wealth, prosperity and attaining the unattainable. Kingfisher – prosperity.
2. Fame and Reputation – the rising phoenix; peacock
3. Relationships and Love – a pair of mandarin ducks; dragon and phoenix.
4. Family and Elders – dragons for good fortune; auspicious, benevolent and wise; great power, strength and nature’s creative forces. Grasshopper for nobility and wisdom; shrimp for long life.
5. Creativity and Children – tigers.
6. Skills and Knowledge – elephant for strength, astuteness; grasshopper – for wisdom; horse – speed and perseverance.
7. Career and Journey – turtle, peacock.
8. Helpful People and Travel – magpie bird attracts joy connected with unity of people, peacock to activate luck and fame; images of places you wish to travel to with the animals of that region.
9. Longevity – the crane; turtle is also symbol of immortality.
10. And by the way…fu dogs, tiger and dragon symbolize protection.

Consult a Feng Shui specialist or go online if you are familiar with Feng Shui, for a Bagua map and to research the areas of your life you wish to transform. Either way – animals remind us how nature and animals are in close relationship with family and ourselves, our way of life, and the wonderful things we seek.