So you have decided to install an aquarium at home.
This after pondering for days over whether to keep fresh water or salt water fish and creatures.
If you think that is the toughest decision you have to make regarding the aquarium, you have seen nothing yet when feng shui placement of the aquarium comes into the picture.
First things first.
It must be emphasized that from a classical feng shui perspective, the main reason why aquariums and fish tanks can play such a potent role in feng shui is due to the presence of a substantial amount of water inside the house. And with live fishes swimming in them, the active fishes create yang water energy.
So from a purely technical perspective, a water tank that is bubbling caused by filters can be considered yang water. Which in turn can be enough to provide the yang water energy desired by a homeowner.
However, that lacks life force.
Whether you are keeping goldfish or arowanas for example, feng shui aquarium placement would play a critical role in whether your pet hobby would bring good luck to the household or befall every family member with bad luck.
Before we go on, do note that we are discussing fish tanks meant for placement inside the house. Not fish ponds for outside the house.
Here are some ways to determine the best locations in the house for feng shui fish tank placement.
Feng shui bagua map
According to the later heaven feng shui bagua map, the 8 directional sectors of a house corresponds with particular elemental energy that makes up the energy foundation of those specific sectors.
They are:
- Water at north
- Wood at east and southeast
- Fire at south
- Earth at northeast, southwest and center
- Metal at west and northwest
From an elemental perspective, water should definitely not be placed at the south sector of a house as that presents a direct elemental conflict with fire energy present.
So an aquarium should avoid the south unless there are specific remedies in place to make this placement alright.
From a lesser perspective, but also harmful, fish tanks should also avoid the center, northeast and southwest as earth energy clashes with water energy.
However, it would cause less damage to auspicious chi as compared to the southern placement. And remedies or cures can often be more effect in these areas compared to the south.
The rest of the directional areas all have an elemental base that is in harmony with water.
Placement of yang aquariums at these remaining areas can bring good luck with wealth and money aspects of life. The east can also enhance health luck and longevity.
Because specific sectors of the house represents different members of the family, the choice of where among the favorable spaces to locate the aquarium can also be determined by whose luck is your priority.
The following are the family members represented by the favorable directions.
- North for middle son (kan)
- East for eldest son (chen)
- West for youngest daughter (tui)
- Northwest for patriarch (chien)
- Southeast for eldest daughter (sun)
However, it must be noted that fish tanks when placed right can bring good fortune to all residents of the house. It’s just that the member represented by the trigrams located in that location might draw the most feng shui benefits.
While the methodology of the bagua trigrams are the most fundamental in feng shui, many feng shui practitioners feel that they are too basic and general for aquarium placement.
Since real actual moving water is going to be placed inside the home, many contend that there are more potent ways for placement determination to bring more prosperity into a household.
This is when we often move into flying star feng shui.
Flying stars feng shui
Flying star feng shui, at it’s core, states that there are two most relevant stars present in each of the 8 directional segments of a house plus the center (making up a total of 9) which are namely the water star and mountain star.
The water star is activated by the presence of water features, and thus, locating an aquarium at an area with a favorable water star can help a household activate the positive attributes that it brings.
For example, if a dwelling built in the period of 7 has a facing of W1, then it would have the following flying star natal chart.
In this case, we are looking for the favorable numbers of 1, 4, 6, 8, 9, on the top right corner that represents the water star within the grids.
With the 8 star being the star that governs wealth luck, the southeast sector of the house would appear to be the best place to locate the fish tank for feng shui purposes.
From the house’s birth chart above, it can also be seen that SE, S, SW, NW, and center are good living spaces to locate an aquarium.
For most practitioners, this might be enough to determine an ideal location. But we can actually get more meticulous into it.
We can attempt to match the discoveries of flying star feng shui with the guidance provided by the bagua map.
As we can observe, both southeast and northwest are favorable areas identified by both feng shui concepts.
So if you have feng shui OCD, your options for selection are essentially down to these two directional sectors of the house.
Don’t forget to write off the bedrooms, kitchen, storerooms and toilets as these are understandably not great locations to place an aquarium.
Water wall
There are instances where using an aquarium to create a water wall can help to act as a barrier against sha chi from attacking important areas of the house.
For example, when the infamous fork through the house exist where the main door opens with a view to the other side of the house via the windows, an aquarium can be used to block the direct flow of energy to prevent it from piercing the house.
This simply remedy for poison arrows can be very useful to protect home environments from very powerful forms of negative energy.
For example, some apartments might have a balcony view of very hostile external structures. An aquarium can be strategically placed between the balcony and the living space to shield the living space from the harm in which the hostile structure can bring.
As it is almost impossible to list down all possible sources of sha chi, just remember that creative use and placement of fish tanks can not only enhance auspicious space, but also protect them from harm.
To close off this discussion, be mindful that aquariums can have very potent positive feng shui effects on a house with the right placement. And it can also cause great catastrophe when feng shui placement is wrongly executed.
So be careful and don’t be embarrassed for spending too much time contemplating it’s placement in the house.