What inspired this article was perhaps the hundredth time I have been asked what color clothing a person should wear, based on their “Ming Gua” or Personal Trigram. This is the Feng Shui-equivalent of wearing a certain color based on your zodiac sign. In a nutshell: The assignment of an ideal color to wear, based on your birth year, is too superficial to be taken seriously.
How did this notion come into being? Well, in other astrological systems, the entire birth date of an individual can be calculated, revealing in the person’s chart how they may be lacking or deficient in some areas. The concept is that the person can then re-enforce or fill in the gap by wearing a certain color to strengthen their health, success potential and positive mind-set.
In Vedic astrology, one can wear certain gemstones to enhance a person’s constitutional health. For example, it was suggested that I wear garnets on Mondays (a day ruled by the moon). Some of this is just fun to know about, but I caution people all the time to not let these suggestions become a strait jacket, where you limit yourself in ways which really do not influence your health or character all that much. I say this as someone who wore all white clothing for 16 years, naively persuaded by a yogi who said it would strengthen my aura.
In Feng Shui, each person is assigned a Personal Trigram based on year of birth and that Trigram is related to an element. That element is associated with a color, among many other attributes, and people get the erroneous impression that they should wear that special color the majority of the time. For example, a “Fire” person might think they need to wear red. A “water” person might think they need to wear blue or black. But this is too rigid and does not even take into account a more personalized calculation of the actual mixture of elements we all are, not just one.
Another interpretation of this misguided concept is that one should wear a color that enhances the element associated with your Personal Trigram. This is a misrepresentation of Five Element Theory, but it goes something like this: If a person is the Metal element, and Earth strengthens Metal, then the person should wear earth colors as a catalyst. Using the Productive Cycle of the Elements is effective in Feng Shui and Chinese medicine, but not necessarily appropriate for your wardrobe.
People in general are always searching for ways to have a lead or an edge over their competitors. People search for ways outside of themselves to improve their circumstances in life for health, love and financial gain. I do believe that a holistic approach is best and to utilize whatever tools are available to you in a multi-pronged approach. The only time I get cranky is when I see Feng Shui being used or perceived in the more far-fetched ways, which deviate significantly from how Feng Shui theory is supposed to be applied (to natural and man-made environments). If I had wanted to become the Wolfgang Puck of Feng Shui, I could have created a “Feng Shui Frozen Food line,” but that would be grossly misleading and take away from what authentic Feng Shui really has to offer. Don’t buy into rigid mandates about what colors you should wear. Most people where colors they like and if that makes you feel good, it can support your immune system as well as your self-confidence.
Author: Kartar Diamond
Company: Feng Shui Solutions ®
From the Feng Shui Myths and Misinformation Blog Series
