The Five Elements, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water and Wood are found not only in Feng Shui but also in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Qi Gong. There is a nourishing cycle where successive elements nourish and feed one another to keep the cycle going on infinitely. There is a controlling cycle where elements can offset excessive amounts of another element – for example, the metal element represented by an axe, can control the amount of wood in an area, represented by a tree for our example, by cutting it down. And there is the reductive cycle where one element pulls on another element to exist, thus reducing the energy in the pulled-on element. This can be seen in the way that wood feeds a fire, reducing the amount of wood.
In our spaces, we prefer balance – not too hot, not too cold, not too dark, not too light. As seen by the 5 Elements Chart and as is experienced in Nature, when there is a balance of the 5 elements in our spaces, we will be continually nourished as they feed one another and in turn the people living in the space. In Feng Shui, we do our best to balance the 5 elements in a space to keep the space and the people occupying the space supported.