A 5-element pagoda is an energy tool of great protection for the home, especially if you know how to use it properly. For serious feng shui practitioners, it is the first item to be placed in the home or office. Most people who have heard a little bit about feng shui tend to concentrate on the wealth aspect; they tend to purchase a ‘money toad’ and then wonder why it doesn’t work. Feng shui is the study of energy (chi) movement through our dwellings and grounds. The energies are called ‘auspicious’ and ‘inauspicious’. An analogy would be blood flow in the body, where the blood circulating from the heart carries oxygen and nutrients to the cells and the blood returning to the heart is deoxygenated and has waste products needing to be carried out of the body. Good chi carries positive energies, good luck and health. Waste chi is stagnant, toxic and dangerous. Both occur as a normal course of living in the third dimension. It all circulates around the earth and sometimes the bad, or inauspicious, chi comes in and wreaks havoc in our lives.
One of the most powerful tools to stop the inauspicious chi from damaging us is the 5-element pagoda. The five elements refer to earth, wood, fire, metal, and water; these are represented by the five shapes of the pagoda. The most common sort is about five inches tall, made of hollow brass that comes apart to reveal three sections. The top bowl-shaped section can be used as an incense burner. The mid-section is a nifty thing to have in case the screw-on base slot gets lost inside the pagoda (yeah, ask me how I know that). The base has a threaded slot-you know, one of those things you use a coin to turn-and is the access used to fill the pagoda. There are certain items that must be included inside; these increase the protective power of the item.
While some items placed inside the pagoda can be more personal, such as things that are considered protective by the owner, there is one thing that must always be included: dirt. A spoonful or two of dirt from around the home or business is used to ‘lock up the bad chi’. The pagoda usually contains a mantra of protection, incised into the brass, but including a small scroll of the Ten Mantras of Protection can add a layer of security. Stone chips, usually crystal, can be added, as well as some kind of grounding stone like hematite or tiger iron, pyrite or copper, in the shape of spheres. Add a charged crystal and it’s good to go. To charge the crystal, hold it in your hands and concentrate on having it act as your guardian-program it to serve as a repellant to any negative energy. The final step is to add a red ribbon or tassel and set it in place, instructing it to henceforth be always on guard to protect the home and its occupants.
Placement of the 5-element pagoda varies according to which school of feng shui one adheres to; the Flying Star school being my personal favorite (for more on this fascinating branch of feng shui, see my previous articles and website). Placing the device wherever the #5 Yellow Star of Misfortune resides for the year (South-west in 2010) pretty much takes care of those errant energies that could cause huge problems in life. Since that particular star brings “illness, injury and death” it seems prudent to guard against that. The 5-element pagoda is a handy little device that packs a big enough punch to knock those bad energies right out.
©2010 Dr.Valerie Olmsted All Rights Reserved