We finally fixed the internal living room stone wall. It was messy, dusty and one of those ideas that you regret until a week has gone by. It was repointed with some new stones, cleaned up and plastered. Now that the dust has settled, the natural stonework shines through. When thinking of walls, images both positive and negative appear. I recall many years ago we had moved into a new house, a new job had been offered and the Friday before I was to start, there was a re-organisation and my new role was gone. Taking the phone call, I turned around and literally watched the small garden wall slowly collapse! I was given another position, the wall was fixed but the image of walls falling emotionally and literally are still captured in that mental picture.
Walls represent many different aspects of our lives. In some cases, they can be psychologically claustrophobic and at other times, provide a sense of safety and protection. Our five years in Berlin come to mind, a city that truly knows all about walls. Now we live within a fortressed French town with plenty of stone and ramparts around, both Roman and more modern. In the pandemic, many have sought comfort in their homes, making them a cosy space. Ask yourself, what do your current walls say to you?
Feng Shui First – Earth
Stone walls represent the Earth element in the Bagua map. This element focuses on being grounded and feeling calm and nurtured. To activate this element, ceramics, stone, leather and shades of yellow and brown are ideal to use. Looking at the elements cycle, it can be seen that on a positive note, fire is created and becomes earth and earth polishes metal. In a negative cycle, earth muddies water and water dries up in earth, drying up the energy of the area. Whilst wood grows in earth, too much wood can take out the nourishment and leave the earth element dry. From previous posts, you can read why Feng Shui practice recommends using earth elements to soak up the water aspect in bathrooms to balance energy loss.
The Relationship Corner
The ideal sector for Earth is the relationship corner. The stone wall is in our living room in this area and is ideal as it is said to ground and calm relationships. Metal elements of silver picture frames and white furniture have been used to balance the beige tones, wooden floors and stone. In other posts, you will have noted that pinks and rose shades are recommended. Not exactly colours used in a living room! Instead, consider soft lemon tones or beige and look for symbols that represent relationships and art work that symbolises two people such as birds or trees. We have art work of a music group which is an important part of our friendships and connections. And so our renovated wall softly glows in the evening light and adds the clarity of old stone from a different century in combination with newer soft fabrics, furniture and decor. With that, a quote from Frank Lloyd Wright comes to mind – “form follows function – that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union.” It is all about interior harmony.
