Jerry King is a Feng Shui consultant and trainer in the Four Pillars of Destiny based in Vancouver Canada. He consults in China, Hong Kong, North and South America. website: www.whitedragonhome.com

Many people who are familiar with Feng Shui understands that the Five elements/phases/cycles play an important part in Feng Shui analysis. Those five elements are water, wood, fire, earth and metal. The five elements can be used to enhance certain energies or prevent some from being activated within the living space. Methods such as the flying stars, annual stars, annual afflictions and eight mansions utilise the five element theory.

In Chinese Astrology, the five element theory also serves as a basis for analysing a Four Pillars chart (sometimes called BaZi 八字). It is important to understand what the Four Pillars are and how they relates to Feng Shui.

The Four Pillars include the Year, Month, Day and Hour. Each of these are considered a Pillar. A Pillar has a heavenly stem and an earthly branch, making it a composition of eight characters, hence the Chinese name Bazi or Eight Characters (八字). The heavenly stem in a Four Pillars birth chart can be composed of any of the ten stems:

On the other hand, the earthly stem includes:

Each of the animals consist of one or more hidden elements. Many of you are perhaps familiar with the animals since it is well known that the Chinese welcome the new year with many predictions, books and articles about the year ahead for the specific animal. For example, 2010 is the year of the Tiger. Whenever you undergo a Four Pillars reading, the consultant should present you with a summary of your luck cycle and perhaps the annual stars since the cycles can sometimes cause major changes in your life from good to bad and vice versa.

So how do the Four Pillars relate to Feng Shui consultations? It is important for the practitioner to first determine the favorable and unfavorable elements of your birth chart. Each of the elements are related to a specific direction in Feng Shui and the same goes for the Four Pillars. To maintain a simple approach, Fire is to the South, Water is to the North, Metal is to the West and North-West, Wood is to the East and South-East and Earth is to the South -West and North-East. The elements and animals are also seasonal. The Spring is composed of the Tiger, Rabbit and Dragon; in the Summer, there are the Snake, Horse and Goat; for autumn, it includes the Monkey, Rooster and Dog; and finally, in the Winter, the Pig, Rat and Ox.

To quickly sum up the five element theory, each element produces, controls, or reduces an element. For example, water produces wood, wood produces fire, fire produces earth, earth produces metal, and metal produces water. While water produces wood, wood itself reduces water; the same goes for fire reducing wood and so forth. On the other hand, water controls fire, fire controls metal, metal controls wood, wood controls earth, and earth controls water.

From a directional point of view, if the bread winner of the household has a four pillars chart that likes metal, it would be preferable that the person bought a house facing West since West has metal energy. In addition, sleeping with the head pointed towards the West is also beneficial. White colours and round objects are also related to metal, therefore, using colours and shapes can also affect one's attitude and life. Some people may find that they are overwhelmed with a certain element. For example, one may have an overabundance of water in their chart; it is better for this person to avoid North, since water is to the North, and Northwest and West should also be avoided since metal produces more water. Using East and Southeast can serve as a remedy since they are the direction of wood and wood reduces water.

The use of the Four Pillars can help determine where one can thrive on our planet. If a person asks about their career and wants to know which countries they would be suitable to work in, determining the favorable elements can help a practitioner solve this problem. A person who is favourable with wood can head East; East Asia, Eastern United States, East of Australia, and so forth since those regions are  favourable to those who needs wood or thrive utilizing wood.

Shapes can be used as part of the remedy. For example, fire is a triangular shape, earth is considered a square, metal is round, water is a wave-like pattern, and wood is rectangular. These shapes can be applied in the living space if one is in need of water. There are businesses and websites that use shapes and colors that are in favour of the owner of the company. It is very apparent in Hong Kong as many restaurants would use certain colors, shapes and patterns to decorate their restaurants aside from figurines and statues.

The practitioner can also present you with remedies in terms of how you can minimise the impact of an upcoming problem experienced from the luck cycle or annual stars. For those who may anticipate health problems seen in the luck cycle, a practitioner can place their bedroom in the Tien Yi (天醫) position by using the Eight Mansions theory in Feng Shui. They can also place their bedroom in the number Eight sitting star by using the Flying Stars method.

As you can see, there are many methods in Feng Shui that can be applied after performing a precise reading for a client using the Four Pillars.
After a professional Feng Shui practitioner, with the proper training and experience, determines your most favourable and unfavorable elements, the practitioner would be able to come up with solutions to enhance a part of your life such as career, wealth, health and/or relationship.

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