Interior Decor: Paintings/Pictures

I understand that the South wall of my house is of the Fire element. Can I place a picture of a waterfall there?

Yes, a painting (mountain with waterfall) symbolises water (waterfall) and earth (mountain) elements. The painting must not be placed in the bedroom. as bedrooms are suppose to be places of yin (or rest) and such a painting is yang. Yin places are meant for rest and too much yang in the bedroom is not advisable.

Next thing you need to do is:

1. where is your front door located? If it is the south, then the house takes on the element of " Fire ".
2. The next thing you need to know is , is your house on it's own? or a condominium.

What you need to find out is from the external, what is the shape of the roof? Is it pointed? If the roofs are pointed then the house/condo is of the Fire element. If the roof is not pointed, then we will momentary not look at the external issue. What this leads to is, if your house main entrance is South and in addition to this your roof is of the Fire element, your house takes on more `intense' Fire or we say a `strong' fire, in such a situation, there is too much fire. I doubt if your house is as such. In this situation, it would be good to have the painting on the South wall to cool down the intense `heat'. Characteristics of an intense fire house is one where there are lots of petty quarrels within the family.It is auspicious to have the painting on the South wall even if your front door is not south or your roof is not of fire element i.e. let it remain: This is because your painting is well balanced under the 5 elements concept.

For more details go to Neutralizing elements or 5 elements. The reason is because the picture of the mountain represents EARTH element. The waterfall represents WATER element. Under the destructive sequence of Feng Shui, Earth destroys water. In this case, it makes WATER element weak. So much so that it is weak enough to be placed at a South wall to take some of the heat from the `south' without doing any damage to the Fire element. A weak water element does not hurt the Fire element. Furthermore, although there is a waterfall, the mountain is symbolic of a tortise or `solid backing' (again we can ignore the waterfall) as moutain is of yang energy overwhelms water of the yin energy.

How about a picture of a horse?

A picture of a horse will not hurt your luck. Only pictures of tigers (hungry tigers with mouth wide open) signifying that it is hungry and in some instances pictures of Dragons (the most YANG) of all the Chinese astrology animals may be too `forceful' or strong for certain locations in a home. The best location for a dragon or a picture of it is on the East wall. If you remember the Four Symbolic Animals principle, the Dragon is on the East.

What other pictures can I hang on the wall?

The most common paintings found in Chinese households are:-

1. a painting with 8 or 9 carps (KOIs).
2. a painting of 8 or 9 goldfish or dragon fish.
3. Chinese paintings/scrolls with a balance of yin/yang e.g. a picture of a building on a hill and behind it is a mountain scenery.
4. Chinese paintings with encouraging words or a poem or picture of flowers, monkeys etc.
5. In the dinning room, you can hang a painting/picture of a bowl of fruits, fruit salad or vegetables or anything symbolically representing plentiful harvest e.g. a field full of grapes, oranges, apples etc.
6. Any other `beautiful' pictures that are pleasant e.g. country side pictures.

Avoid images of skeletons, `fierce' looking animals e.g. pack of wolves, tigers and lions with mouth opened, lots of bloodshed, war paintings etc.

In addition to this avoid placing trophies of deer, lion, tiger and other animals. These are not auspicious for the home.