by Kathryn Weber
Many people don’t realize how much they’re affected by symbols and signs. Even words have an influence over us when we hear and see them daily. Symbols are so powerful, we dream in symbols each night. The random images your mind shows at night have you often trying to figure out what your subconscious is telling you.
Simply seeing a red octagon will tell you to stop. A green light tells you to move your car forward. Symbols, such as a dollar sign or a happy baby also speak to us. A client of mine told me she was unhappy in her marriage and as she began to look around her home she couldn’t help but notice how many images she had in her home with a solitary woman who looked forlorn. When she took those images down and replaced them with images of a couple, a family or just plain landscapes, her marriage took a turn for the better.
In feng shui there is a pantheon of images and symbols to choose from to enhance your love life, your financial state, or to bring health or business opportunities to your home.
Using symbols and images is a powerful way to shift your personal energy and the energy of your home. Pick the symbols that are most meaningful to you.
If you don’t like a symbol, no matter how much good fortune it’s said to have, it’s no good having it if you don’t like it, so pick images and symbols that personally enjoy and find pleasing. Make choices that are appealing to you and that will look attractive in your home. Lastly, when you pick a symbol, ask yourself what it means to you and what you want it to represent, versus just buying something and sticking it in a certain corner. This simple, intentional act can help you create a stronger connection – and a stronger result from your chosen symbol.
The list below isn’t the complete list by any stretch, but it does include some of the most commonly known and associated feng shui symbols that you can use to power up your home.
Health Symbols
Health is one of your greatest assets. Health can be symbolized by fruits and flowers, such as apples, fruits, peaches, and flowers such as peach blossoms, bamboo, and pine tree, and animals such as deer, tortoises (which are known to live hundreds of years), cranes, and objects such as the wu luo gourd or vase. Jewelry includes jade for longevity and to purify blood. Even a simple green plant is a great energizer for wealth.
Wealth Symbols
There are many wealth symbols, from crystals such as citrine and amethyst to diamonds to symbols such as vases, gold ingots, sailing ships, horses and toads. Images such as waterfalls, lakes and fish that swim in them, from arrowanas to the simple goldfish or koi fish are wonderful wealth symbols. Dragons and the phoenix are also potent symbols of power and prestige as are tortoises, dragon tortoises, money trees, Chinese coins, the laughing or money Buddha. The figure 8 is also a number of abundance and ceaseless wealth.
Prosperity Symbols
Fountains, images of important buildings, cities, ships sailing in, prosperity bowls and vases, a symbolic money tree, gem or coin tree. Prosperity bowls of gems, coins and ingots. Colors such as black, blue, purple and red are all associated with success, material possessions and earning potential as are coins, images of money and metallic objects. Images of mountains and an abacus represents stored wealth and income. Pi yao’s are related to dragons and only eat gold and don’t excrete, so they represent stored wealth and assets. And who could forget the prosperity Neko cat waving it’s paw and beckoning wealth to visit?
Love Symbols
Animals like mandarin ducks, geese, and love birds are all birds that stay with their mates and represent committed love. Adding items in pairs symbolizes having another person in your life. Butterflies are a symbol of romantic love as are crystals such as rose quartz, flowers like the peony and crystal balls. The double happiness sign is also a powerful sign as is the symbol of a red heart.
Good Fortune Symbols
All flowers are beneficial and bring wonderful good fortune to your home and life, especially golden mums and narcissus, lotus flowers and orchids. Citrus trees bode good fortune and wealth, jade plants, oranges, pomegranate, conch shells, elephants and horses, flocks of birds are just some of the many symbols of good fortune.
Symbols that Protect
Fu dogs and chi lins are both excellent protection animals as is the rooster, elephant, rhinoceros, eagle, owl, and pi yao. Images that protect are Buddha, Kwan Kung, the God of War, coin swords, the evil eye, crystal balls, wind chimes, five element pagodas, and fans. Red colors burn through anger and represent success. The wheel of fire helps burn through legal problems and anger. Chinese coins can also protect, as do pendulum clocks, and fans.
Symbols of Intelligence, Education, and Creativity
Maps, images of mountains, crystal globes, hands, pens, yellow colors, pictures of the earth, quartz, amethyst and citrine crystals, images of intelligent people such as Einstein.
