Feng Shui Birth Element Calculator

How to use it

1. Enter your full date of birth.
2. Read your personal element, your Chinese zodiac animal and your year element.
3. Check the element profile for your colours, directions and the practical application.

How the birth element is determined

There are two elemental figures attached to every person, and confusing them is the most common error in birth element readings.

The year element comes from your Chinese birth year and follows the Heavenly Stem cycle. It describes the energy you were born into and is the same for everyone sharing your year.

The personal element comes from your birth month and follows the Earthly Branch the month falls in. This is the figure used for personal colour and direction advice, and it is far more individual. The two together are often read as a picture of your natural tendency (year) and your working environment (month).

The month branches begin at roughly the same point as the solar year, around 4 February, and each runs for about thirty days. A practical rule: if you are born between 6 February and 5 March you are a Yin wood person; between 6 March and 4 April, Mao wood; 5 April to 5 May, Chen earth; and so on around the cycle. The calculator does this for you.

When your year element and personal element differ

When the two match, classical practice reads it as a stable, well-supported constitution — the two systems agree, so there is less to correct. When they differ, the traditional approach is to strengthen the element that your personal element generates, because that is the one your personal energy feeds and therefore depletes most.

For example, a Water personal element with a Wood year element would lean toward strengthening Wood, since Water feeds Wood. This is the element the calculator recommends as your supportive colour family.

It is worth saying plainly that this layer of the system is the most contested part of feng shui practice. Different schools weight the year element and the personal element differently. The calculator shows you both figures so you can see the whole picture rather than a single verdict.

Using your element in a real room

Element advice is only useful when it translates into objects, and the translation is straightforward.

• Wood — bamboo, rattan, light and dark woods, living plants, green textiles.
• Fire — warm light, candles, red and amber glass, red and pink textiles, warm-toned art.
• Earth — ceramics, stoneware, terracotta, beige and ochre textiles, timber floors.
• Metal — brass and steel, glass, marble, white and grey textiles, chrome and silver.
• Water — glass, mirrors, navy and charcoal textiles, dark woods, moving water.

The most common application is colour, and for that the element match tool gives you the full colour list for all five elements side by side.