About the Author
Tisha Morris is a feng shui consultant, interior designer, certified life coach, energy healer, and yoga instructor. She is also the author of Feng Shui Your Life (Turner Publishing, 2011). She is based in Los Angeles, California, and can be found online at TishaMorris.com.
Llewellyn Publications
Woodbury, Minnesota
Copyright Information
Decorating with the Five Elements of Feng Shui 2015 by Tisha Morris.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any matter whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Publications, except in the form of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
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First e-book edition 2015
E-book ISBN: 9780738747064
Book design by Bob Gaul
Back cover photos: iStockphoto.com/66136765/loonara, iStockphoto.com/41849560/suprun, iStockphoto.com/15181981/AlexandrMoroz,
iStockphoto.com/44461192/janniwet, iStockphoto.com/33411352/worac
Cover design by Ellen Lawson
Cover art by 500786295/Astronaut Images/Getty Images
Editing by Laura Graves
Interior art by Llewellyn Art Department
Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Morris, Tisha, author.
Decorating with the five elements of feng shui / Tisha Morris.
1 online resource.
Includes bibliographical references.
Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.
ISBN 978-0-7387-4706-4 -- ISBN 978-0-7387-4652-4 1. Feng shui in interior decoration. I. Title.
BF1779.F4
747--dc23
2015018887
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Llewellyn Publications
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contents
Preface
- : Discovering the Five Elements
of Feng Shui - : The Duality of Yin and Yang Energy
- : Characteristics of the Five Elements
- : The Cycles of the Five Elements
- : The Five Elements and You
- : Whats Your Element?
- : Wood Types: The Pioneers
- : Fire Types: The Manifestors
- : Earth Types: The Stabilizers
- : Metal Types: The Organizers
- : Water Types: The Philosophers
- : Using the Five Elements
in Your Home and Property - : Incorporating the Five Elements in Interiors
- : Incorporating the Five Elements in Outdoor Areas
- : Integrating the Five Elements Using the Bagua Map
- : A Room-by-Room Guide for Using the Five Elements
- : Integrating Your Personal Element for Optimal Balance
- : Using the Five Elements to Heal You and Your Home
- : Characteristics of Yin and Yang Energy
- : Yin and Yang Characteristics in People
- : Yin and Yang Characteristics in Outdoor Areas
- : Yin and Yang Characteristics in Interiors
- : The Five Elements
- : Properties of the Five Elements
- : How the Five Elements Work Together
- : Constructive Cycle of the Five Elements
- : Destructive Cycle of the Five Elements
- : Insulting Cycle of the Five Elements
- : Personal Element According to Chinese Astrology
- : Five Element Personality Traits in People
- : Examples of Five Elements Found in Interiors
- : Examples of Five Elements Found in Outdoor Areas
- : Bagua Map with the Five Elements
- : Bagua Map with Crystals>
Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes.
Dont resist themthat only creates sorrow. Let things
flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.
Lao Tzu
preface
When I first began practicing feng shui, the five elements were a very overlooked part of my practice. I understood the concept from an academic perspective, but I didnt have a particular appreciation for them. And then, like most things in my life, a house changed that for me.
On the day of closing the sale of my home, a contract snafu came out of nowhere that ended up delaying the closing for almost a year. The stress during this time started to take a toll on me physically and so I visited an acupuncturist. As it turned out, I had an excess of the Wood element and needed more Earth with a dash more Metal, a typical imbalance for Wood element people.
Not coincidentally, there was also an overabundance of the Wood element in the homes finishes, furnishings, and dcor. Based on feng shui principles, I found ways to bring more Earth and Metal elements into the home. These changes helped shift my energy and the homes energy. I ended up falling back in love with the home that had caused me so much angst, which finally led to a successful closing. This experience showed me how we can use the five elements in our interiors to balance not only the energy of our home, but ourselves. From then on, using the Five Elements with clients took on new meaning and took my feng shui practice to a new level.
Working with the five elements has also allowed my passion as an interior designer to come out and play in a new way. Its one thing to create beautiful spaces, but its quite another to create beautiful spaces that heal and support its occupants. This is what I call conscious design where spirituality meets design. We will begin to see this integration more and more in all creative arts. In essence, it is the resurgence of sacred geometry that architecture once had. But it is no longer just for cathedrals and sacred sites. Conscious design is now available in our homes and in our everyday livingfrom the items we purchase to the placement of them in our spaces. Using the five elements in our spaces is the conduit through which we can live in harmony with the earth and create our own sacred spaces.
This book was about to go forward with no acknowledgments until I found myself sitting in a very sacred space at Esalen in Big Sur. I wrote this book during a solitary time of my life. In hindsight, I was in a Yin phase, specifically Water phase, and I fought it the entire time! There are seasons in all of our lives. These seasons are the five elements and a necessary part of our growth and evolution. What I was really fighting was the Tao.
The Tao called for this season of my life to be Water, even though I so badly wanted it to be Fire. The Tao had other plans for me. To find the flame of your heart you must sit in the stillness, in the dark night of winter. We teach what we most need to learn. This book taught me that you can only fight the Tao for so long. It is after all your divine plan. Notice which way the wind is blowing and surrender to it. For it is the only Way, or at least the way of least resistance.
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