The Earth element I preserve and I transform
In Feng Shui, Earth is the centre and the time of late summer and harvest. It stands for constancy and care. Its colours are ochre, terracotta, mustard and brown, its forms flat, square and horizontal. Typical materials are stone, ceramics and brick.
- Compass directionCentreLate summer and autumn
- Strengthened byFireweakened by Metal
- Earth years8 or 9as the last digit
What does the Earth element stand for?
- Compass direction
- Centre
- Season
- Late summer and autumn
- Planet
- Saturn
- Yin organ
- Spleen, pancreas
- Yang organ
- Stomach
- Body
- Connective tissue, flesh (muscles, fat), lips, sense of taste
The Earth video is by my Feng Shui student Frauke. She wrote the text, chose the images and recorded the voice.
When Fire has burnt Wood, it becomes ash, which solidifies into Earth, mountains and solid mass. Typical Earth people are grounded, easy-going and caring. They take time to get going and weigh things up. After Wood’s growth and Fire’s sales patter, Earth sits down to enjoy the sales success with a good glass of wine and some delicious food.
Calm, family, care, security, stability, the mother of the company, family people. These are quiet, balanced people who make you feel safe. Earth has a deep trust in life: “Everything is fine; it will work out.” Earth people have profound knowledge and like order: everything in a box, a folder, neatly in a cupboard. Feet are associated with Earth: being “grounded”.
Earth people are often good with money, though in extreme cases they tend towards excessive thrift. They like things orderly, square, practical and good. They live beneath flat roofs and enjoy entertaining there. They like weighing costs against benefits. Pragmatists, logisticians: they want to understand the world.
Western teaching also knows Earth among its four elements, as a fundamental substance. In Feng Shui, it is a phase in the cycle of five elements rather than four.
What strengthens the Earth element?
Earth is strengthened by Fire, weakened by Metal and controlled by Wood. Earth is the centre, the middle, and therefore gets along quite well with all the elements. It mediates.
Too little Earth
Unfocused, unstable, unproductive, moody, vague. Fire then supports Earth.
Too much Earth
Stubborn, headstrong, conservative, stressed, dogmatic, stagnant. Metal then moderates Earth.
In their negative expression, Earth people tend towards excessive worry and brooding. They develop a compulsion to collect, cannot throw anything away, cannot get going, want to start nothing new, cannot let go, remain stuck in old structures and fill every space to the brim.
Earth is autumn, harvest festivals, late summer and taking in nourishment.
Earth in a room: colours, forms and materials
Colours
Dark orange, dark yellow, terracotta, ochre, mustard, brown, clay colours. Whether terracotta or ochre suits a wall depends on the room’s compass direction. Read more under Earth colours in Feng Shui.
Forms
Box-shaped, square, horizontal, flat, ground, long flattened hills, plateaux, table mountains, flat-roofed buildings, farmland with horizontal furrows, horizontal movement.
Materials
Stone, ceramics, porcelain, bricks, boulders, tiles, clay jugs, boxes, chests (rustic wooden chests), sand, minerals, stones of every kind, substantial box-shaped furniture, square rugs and runners.
Earth in the garden
In a Feng Shui garden, the south-west stands for Earth and the colour orange. I explain the other directions under compass directions in the Feng Shui garden.
The centre of the house
The centre of a floor plan belongs to Earth. In the Bagua, this is the Tai Qi. It should be clear and quiet, without clutter.
Wood controls Earth
In Oman, I saw trees whose roots split the rock apart. The roots grow from barren ground and break Yang Earth, the rock, into pieces. That is precisely what the phrase means: Wood controls Earth.
Earth contains everything: Wood, Metal and Water. Only Fire does not originate in Earth; it has to be made. Earth is receptivity.
Buildings and occupations associated with Earth
Building uses
Warehouses, brick, clay and concrete buildings, storehouses, larders, garages, tunnels, hospitality, canteens, agriculture, construction, engineering, civil engineering, ceramics, meditation rooms. The horizontal, rectangular body of Erfurt Cathedral is a good example of Earth in architecture.
Occupations
Homemakers, mothers and fathers, hospitality, gardeners, farmers, potters, occupations involving ceramics, diplomats, body therapists, cooks, stonemasons, tax advisers, bookkeepers, doctors and nursing staff.
Personality: the Yang and Yin sides of Earth
Yang qualities
Dry, stable, persistent, stubborn (immovable, cautious), endurance, loyalty, letting things bounce off, contemplative, indecisive, rational, separating the useful from the useless, evaluating, logical, cautiously analytical, weighing costs and benefits, solid relationships, property managers.
Yin qualities
Moist, fertile, security-minded, worrying, fertility, maternal instinct, nurturing, kindness, caring for others, treating oneself well, collecting, creating support and security, making a home, settling into calm, self-sacrifice, mother of the business, taking responsibility for others, overextending oneself without limits, clinging, conservative, accumulating provisions and pounds.
Earth in the Chinese horoscope
Earth alone has four animal signs: Ox (Yin Earth), Dragon (Yang Earth), Goat (Yin Earth) and Dog (Yang Earth). Earth years, however, are only those ending in 8 or 9. An Ox or Dragon can therefore be born in a Wood or Water year; see the five elements overview. I explain how animal and element work together in the Chinese horoscope under Chinese astrology. Bazi reveals how much or how little Earth is present in your birth date.
Where is the centre?
I visit you throughout Germany, Austria and Switzerland to determine the centre of your house on site from its floor plan. I explain how it works under Feng Shui consultation.