Water is everywhere moving. It permeates our existence, condensing as watery liquids on land and evaporating as vaporous winds in the air we breathe, circulating through our bodies and surrounding our lives.
Water’s steady flow carves the bedrock of our landscape while its momentary descent cools us with tiny sprinkling raindrops, changing everything it touches just as it transforms from ice to sea to cloud to rain to river to sea again.
Liquid’s transformative energy is conducted through nature by diversities of meanders and spirals as it seeks the path of least resistance toward its infinite source, the ocean.
In harmonious movement between earth and sky, it brings balance and nurtures life. In disharmony, its misconduct dissipates in scarcity or floods overwhelmingly. Water surges, monsoons, freezes and stagnates on the earth and tempests, whirlwinds, becalms and fogs from the windy heavens.
This principle was understood for millennia by Chinese sages as Tao or ‘the way’ and confirmed in this century by scientist/inventor Viktor Schauberger as the longitudinal vortex, who wrote, “With incorrect, ignorant handling, water becomes diseased, affecting human, animal and vegetable life alike, causing physical decay and, in the case of people, their moral, mental and spiritual deterioration as well.” The Tao developed an art and science of harmonizing the flow of life and called it feng shui.
Feng is wind and shui is water, and the life force energy that flows is chi. Practicing feng shui, we always seek beneficial balance in water and wind circulating throughout our environment. We do this by offsetting stagnant or flooding energy, attracting chi by mitigating extremes of stillness, yin, and motion, yang.
Water or shui influences career and is analogous to wealth; Where water is, an abundance of chi is attracted and accumulates. It is a reflective mirror-like surface, doubling the images reflected, manifesting greater prosperity. Putting a mirror in a dining room doubles the food and the people.
Water features like ponds and fountains are popular and help especially in arid areas to bring a sense of refreshment and balance. In summer, water balances the strong solar effects, quenching our thirst, cooling and soothing our bodies, and offering all kinds of fun activities and sports.
A half-moon-shaped pond outside the front entrance brings good fortunes and possible windfalls. Ponds in the back are less auspicious. With a variety of plantings overhanging the irregularly shaped edges naturally with odd numbers of stones randomly scattered, the flow can be broken up and the balance of yin and yang assured.
Swimming pools are also better irregularly kidney-shaped. Water in the back of the property is not considered ideal because it lies in the fire element, and keeping it a comfortable distance from the home is preferred. A simple solution is to add the fire and earth elements in the form of terracotta pots with red flowers, since moving an existing pool may be impractical.
Aquariums containing an odd number of three to nine gold fish with one black to absorb the negative energies represent the five elements: gold fish are fire, gravel is earth, plants are wood and the pump is metal and circulates water.
Water that moves too straight accelerates dangerously into ‘poisoned arrows’, and water that is deep and still like in a pond can become too yin. When water becomes too dark, deep and without circulation, it is too yin. We may become depressed and overly emotional. Black furniture and dark woods are watery and may cause one to feel overly sensitive, balancing with earth and wood help the element seem to naturally supported, complemented and counter-balanced
Feng means water upon the wind, the very breath of life. The character is said originally to be derived from a combination between sun and motion, because wind is caused by air moving in response to differences in temperature caused by the sun. It is associated with wealth, fortunes, blessings and good luck.
Windsocks, mobiles, flags, chimes and even the circulating actions of fountains are encouraging of the motion of water in air. The sound of trickling water represents wealth flowing in. Flowing away drains finances, so the flow should be directed toward the home. A fountain facing the dwelling attracts beneficial chi.
Birdbaths and bird feeders are wonderful affirmations of birds cleaning up your finances and carrying seeds in all directions. Flying off with your messages of abundance and generosity, their gratitude returns ten-fold bringing income from all directions.
One of my clients built a collection of bird houses with baths and feeders and their family now watches them joyfully from the dining room. The family feels enriched and their guests love the unique bird village theme in their bird sanctuary of a garden.
Viktor Schauberger wrote, “Water is the carrier of life or the ur-source of what we call consciousness. It is akin to blood in the human body – the most important life-giving and energy-empowering substance on the planet.”
It is 97% of our physiology and the source of our life, which sprang from the great waters of our mother earth, filling and surrounding us visibly and invisibly. Harmonizing with its natural principles is the key to health, wealth and well-being.
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