What's Your Element?
Finding the Personality Typing System for YOU!
If you've read my previous blog, Not Your Mother's Personality Typing, then you're already familiar with the various personality typing systems popular today. The newest trend, Human Design, is more of a complex system based on a combination of modalities. Others are based on self-assessment tests and behavioral psychology.
The 8 Elements is just one of many personal typing systems. So, if you don't resonate with your personal feng shui element, you can find a personality typing system that does. Even though most of them are based on Western philosophies, if you resonate more with the holistic Eastern philosophies, you still have quite a few options to explore. In my decades of coaching I've come across a few people who don't resonate with The 8 Elements and more specifically, their personal feng shui element. Best not to try to make it fit, if it doesn't. The good news is, you can research, study and learn other personality typing systems to see if they're a better fit. Some are as easy as taking a quiz! No precise birth times or complicated natal charts required. Western systems are quite varied. You can get your Western astrological natal chart read. Explore the many nuanced aspects of your Human Design energy blueprint. Take the Enneagram and Myer's/Briggs tests. The Big Five psychology test is especially good if you like to see percentages instead of a single or primary and secondary types. Like the elements but don't like feng shui? Don't resonate with my take on the personal energy of The 8 Elements? Read about some other element based typing systems and find one that works better for you! The Four Elements
Western astrology assigns one of four elements to the 12 signs of the Zodiac. The classical elements are Fire, Earth, Air & Water. Later, Aristotle added a fifth element, ether and named it the quintessential element. So, while people consider themselves to be an Earth sign, Fire Sign, Air sign or Water sign based on their sun sign, other elements may be at play as well. Your rising sign, revealing how you see the world and how others see you and your Moon sign, revealing your emotional life are both associated with one of the four elements. The four classical elements is a good system for people who really like Western astrology, Westerners in general and the West Group personal feng shui elements - Earth and Metal. The Five Elements
Traditional Chinese Medicine is based on the Five Elements Theory. Acupuncturists use their extensive knowledge of the energy system of the body and their powers of observation to evaluate a person's constitution based on their body type. Expertise in Chinese face reading can also be employed to determine a client's primary element. And the symptoms they present at an appointment can point to weaknesses in certain yin and yang organs that are related with the Five Elements. If you're not a TCM doctor or acupuncturist, or if you don't want to be assigned an element based on your birth date and sex, you can take a Five Elements personality typing test. Similar to other personality typing tests, this quiz will provide you with your primary and secondary elements, based on your answers to simple questions. This is a good option for people who appreciate the wisdom of Eastern philosophy and Chinese medicine but don't resonate with their personal feng shui element or prefer to self-identify based on their personality traits instead of their personal energy. The Nine Elements
The Nine Star Ki system is considered an astrological companion to feng shui. It's the Japanese version of the Chinese Eight Mansions of East/West feng shui. This system has nine elements because the 5th element is included even though it doesn't have a personal trigram. With the Nine Star Ki, your primary element is determined by your natal year. However, this system does not take into consideration your sex. It assigns the same element to both males and females born in the same year. What this means is that the yang number order that establishes the element for the year is also assigned to every person, male or female born that year. The yin number order that the Chinese Eight Mansions system honors for females is known, but not employed. In addition to this energy imbalance that allows the yang (masculine) energy to dominate, this Japanese system also features energy reversals. Yang is described as contracting inward and yin energy is described as expanding outward. Fire is considered the most yin element and Water is defined as a yang element. The Nine Star Ki may resonate with people who honor Japanese spiritual and health practices or who don't resonate with the yin or yang energy associated with their Fire or Water personal feng shui element. It might be a better fit for women who identify with the element for males associated with the yang number order and choose not to honor the yin number order for females. It’s also recommended for people who identify as non-binary or gender non-conforming and have rejected the scientific fact of biological sex. The Ten Elements
The Chinese Heavenly Stems & Earthly Branches was established during the Han dynasty to record time. This traditional method of numbering days, months and years in cycles of sixty years was used in ancient China and is still used in modern Chinese astrology today. The ten celestial stems, represented by the yin and yang expressions of the Five Elements is based on the solar calendar. And the twelve terrestrial branches, represented by the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac is based on the lunar calendar. BaZi, meaning "eight characters", is an application of Chinese astrology that is divined by the two sexagenary cycle characters assigned at birth by a person's birth year, month, day and hour. This results in eight characters - four Heavenly Stems & four Earthly Branches. The Four Pillars of Destiny is a very detailed and super comprehensive natal chart that reveals your personal destiny. Your BaZi destiny chart includes your personal trigram or personal feng shui element, also called your kua number or Life Star. The corresponding four favorable and unfavorable directions associated with your personal Feng Shui element are provided. The four favorable directions, that we honor in feng shui, are what I call your Best Directions for promotions, prosperity, partnership and peace. Your Chinese zodiac animal and accompanying yin or yang element is determined by the year you were born. It's based solely on the 60 year cycle of the stems and branches systems interacting with each other in the lunisolar calendar. Chinese astrology is a good system for people who would like to know their element based only on date of birth and not their sex. The 8 Elements
As a classical feng shui consultant with over 25 years of experience and as the creator of The 8 Elements: Feng Shui for YOU!, The 8 Elements is the system that resonates the most with me, both personally and professionally. It honors the balance of yin and yang energy. It honors both males and females. And applying feng shui principles to your personal feng shui element provides you with the tools you need to both balance and honor your personal energy. You get discover not just WHAT element you are but HOW to balance and honor, embody and express YOU! Discover your element!☯
For personal energy or relationship dynamics coaching, contact me! Or, read about my coaching packages.If you’re ready to get professionally feng shui’d, read about Virtual Feng Shui Consultations.To read more about The 8 Elements, subscribe to the Feng Shui Yourself blog. Learn about my other Inner Chi Mastery offerings.Subscribe to Feng Shui Yourself on Substack.If you enjoyed this publication, please like, comment and share!