Your Holiday Feng Shui

~Peggy Cross

Happy Holidays!!  Have you ever wondered why these holidays – the season of Christmas and Hanukkah – feel so special?   Here is one reason. Whichever holiday(s) you celebrate, the décor that you add to your homes is a Feng Shui enhancement.  Impossible you say – I don’t have any of that in my house. Well, yes you do.  Feng Shui is about energy and from this perspective the lights, trees, candles, decorations, symbols, and colors are additional energy, or chi, that we add to our lives.  This additional energy increases our enjoyment of our homes and enhances our lives during a celebratory time of year.

Lights are fire, literally and symbolically, and fire is transforming according to the Five Element theory.  The five elements or transformative powers – water, wood, fire, earth, and metal – are used in Chinese medicine and acupuncture as well as Feng Shui.   Putting lights on a Christmas tree represents the creative element cycle because wood (the tree) creates fire (the lights).   For myself, I love candles and use them on my Christmas tree in addition to lights.  The fire element relates to our fame and reputation; on a spiritual plane, it symbolizes enlightenment.

Wood is the element that relates to our families.  Be as expansive as you wish and include friends, community, or universal oneness in your family circle. Wood also represents the Feng Shui gua (area) of abundance and blessings of all kinds.

The Bagua is an octagon used in Feng Shui as a life map.  It is divided into eight “guas”, each representing aspects of our lives and surrounding the tai chi symbol in the center.  Fame/Enlightenment is one gua; Abundance is another and Family another.  The center, the Ming Tang, which is connected to all aspects of our lives, represents unity, balance, and the flow of life.

The Hanukkah menorah brings light to homes as the symbol of a miracle.  The tradition is to light the Shamash or helper candle (raised candle in the center) each night of Hanukkah and to use it in lighting the other eight – one the first night, two the second, and so forth.  This symbolizes increasing light through the eight days of Hanukkah.  Here too fire symbolizes enlightenment.  Is it possible the menorah has a meaning that could relate to the nine areas of the Bagua?

Traditional Christmas colors of red and green also represent the elements of fire and wood.  Trees decorated in lights, bows, and balls of a single color could be interpreted as representing a specific gua.  For example, pink is the major color to symbolize the Marriage gua; I have seen pink trees laden with pink ornaments.

Traditional Hanukkah colors – silver and blue – represent metal and water in Feng Shui.  Metal creates water in the creative cycle of elements.  Metal is the element relating to the gua for our Children and our Creativity – both gifts from the universe and sources of joy.  It likewise represents the Helpful People gua – philanthropy and being of service as well as receiving assistance and blessings from others…both those on this earthly plane and angels or others on a non-physical plane.  Blue also represents the Wisdom, Knowledge, and Spirituality gua.

Holidays and our homes are full of myriad symbols.  Seen through Feng Shui eyes, with gratitude, these symbols, colors, and décor all present a creative flow of joy and blessings in our lives.

Peggy Joy Cross, A.S.I.D.
Artist and Feng Shui Practitioner
Virginia Beach, VA