The bagua is one of the principal tools used in feng shui. The bagua is the feng shui energy map comprised of eight life areas around a center. “Ba” translates to eight, and “gua” means area, so “bagua” means eight areas in Chinese.
Each bagua area has attributes associated with it. You can activate a gua by bringing in the color, element or shape. Here’s a quick overview of each bagua area and its related qualities.
Note: Most feng shui schools use the same bagua as described here, including BTB, Flying Stars, and the Classical or Western feng shui schools. What differs from school to school is the application of the bagua on a floor plan.
Feng Shui Bagua Colors
When you look at the Feng Shui Bagua Map, you see different colors associated with each section. What do they mean, and why are they there? How do you use them, and how much should they be taken into consideration? Read on for the inside scoop on Feng Shui Bagua colors.
If you’ve already mapped the Feng Shui Bagua for your home, well done! Still need to take this step? Get your free copy of my Feng Shui Bagua Map which comes with an overview of how to apply it to your floor plan.
Each of the squares represents some influence in your life. When you use Feng Shui principles to enhance any particular section, the vital Ch’i energy of the space improves. You may, in turn, draw upon this new, auspicious energy to improve your life.
Use your copy of this most essential Feng Shui tool as a reference while we cover the who, why and what of Bagua colors.
Being different expressions of light, each color also carries a specific quality of energy defined in feng shui as the energy of one of the 5 elements. Colour is also the easiest way to quickly create a very different quality of feng shui energy in any space. We all know that a fresh coat of paint can make the room feel happier, brighter and just so much more enjoyable to be in. While choosing color is certainly a personal choice based on your likes and dislikes, home decor style, etc; I highly encourage you to look into best color choices based on the feng shui energy of your home.
What is the right choice of color? And what is the feng shui color wheel? Actually, both questions are related and lead to the same answer – the mystical feng shui bagua, or feng shui energy map, that you most probably have heard about. Bagua is a feng shui energy map that divides any space into 8 areas. Each one of these 8 bagua areas has a specific feng shui element that needs to be nourished there for good feng shui. Now, there are 5 feng shui elements, as you probably know, and there are quite a few colors that express each element. The feng shui color wheel is based on this dance, or web and flow of the five feng shui elements that are easily expressed in colors, as well as shapes.
Peculiar Choices of Colors
When I walked in through the door I noticed some peculiar choices of colors. Every single room in the home was painted in a different color. It is not necessarily wrong to choose a different color for every room. In fact, in many cases it may be recommended. However, if you do this, all your colors need to come from one harmonic color scheme.
This lady, however, had chosen colors that didn’t integrate well, but actually clashed with each other.
How She Had Chosen Her Colors
I didn’t have to ask her how she chose her colors. I could tell as soon as I came in that she had painted each room in the colors of the Feng Shui bagua map.
- Her kitchen was in the wealth area, and the color for the wealth area in the bagua map is purple, so she chose lavender, a type of purple.
- Her master bedroom was in the love area, and the color for the love area in the bagua map is pink, so she painted her bedroom in hot pink.
- Her home office was in the fame and reputation area, and the color of this life area in the bagua map is red, so she painted her home office in red.
Could You Live with Those Colors?
I would like you to imagine a lavender kitchen. How much do you think you would feel motivated to cook in this kitchen? How comfy or cozy would you feel to sit down to have a meal in this kitchen? The client admitted that since she painted her kitchen she was cooking less, and getting takeout more, which she ate in her family room, in front of the TV. She often also went through fast food drive through, something she had never done before. As a consequence, she had been spending a lot more on food.
Now imagine your master bedroom was painted in hot pink. How would your husband feel about it? How many men have you met that would choose hot pink as a wall color? My client was not married, but she confided that before she repainted her bedroom she had three very nice potential suitors, which all disappeared shortly after she painted the room hot pink. Her room looked more like the room of an elementary school girl, who loved princesses and unicorns, than the room of a grown woman.
Stretch your imagination a bit further and visualize your home office painted in red all around. How long do you think you could stay in such a room and be productive? The client confessed she was having trouble getting work done, and often felt like socializing and partying rather than working, since she repainted.
Why She Painted Her Rooms in the Colors of the Bagua Map
I understand why this client reached the conclusion that it would be OK to paint every room in the colors of the bagua map. She thought that by doing this, she was turning each room into a gigantic Feng Shui cure.
She thought that:
- by painting her kitchen in lavender her wealth would increase
- by painting her bedroom in pink she would find love
- by painting her home office in red her reputation as a professional would grow and she would get more referrals
Life Area Cures are Usually Rather Small
What my client didn’t know was that the colors of the bagua map only point to the preferred color for the Feng Shui cure or enhancement for the life area, but not for the whole room. Feng Shui cures tend to be small, and the more challenged a life area, the smaller the cure needs to be.
How to Choose Feng Shui Correct Colors
In proper Feng Shui color selection, the colors of each room are chosen according to the five elements and which is the dominant element for the function of each room.
For example: a master bedroom needs to promote communication and intimacy. The colors of the earth element are the best at generating the best mood for this type of room.
Another example: a family room has the function of promoting socialization, with your own family members, with friends, and the community at large. A family room decorated all in cool, subdued tones, is not likely to bring in the fire energy needed for socializing.
Don’t Paint the Room in the Colors of the Bagua Map
The moral of this story is this: never paint each room in the colors of the bagua map.
Instead do this:
- choose wall colors that go with the mood you want to create in every room, but still look good when you place them together side by side, or
- choose one wall color for the whole home, and then choose different accent colors in your furniture, decorations and accessories to create the mood needed in each room.
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