A feng shui elephant is a powerful symbol that can invite auspicious energy into your home. An elephant is a venerated animal in Asian cultures because of their intelligence, physical prowess, and memory. They symbolize wisdom, strength, and good luck.
You can use a feng shui elephant to help bring positive energy into your home. Feng shui elephants are represented in a variety of forms including figurines, paintings, and photographs. There are a variety of interpretations and meanings based on the color, material, and placement of a feng shui elephant.
Feng Shui Elephant Symbolism Compared to Other Cultures
Elephants are majestic creatures that have been a companion of man across time and have been represented in human art since the days of cave paintings. Just like their animal counterparts, feng shui elephants represent dignity, strength, longevity, stability, and good fortune.
Eastern Cultural Associations with Elephants
Because elephants are indigenous to Asia, Asian cultural and religious associations with elephants have a long and deep history. In Hinduism, elephants are considered a sacred animal symbolizing wisdom, fertility, and good fortune. The Hindu god, Ganesha, is depicted with an elephant head. Elephants are also a symbol of royalty. In Thailand and Burma, white elephants are rare and venerated as they are in many Buddhist cultures as these are a particular symbol of purity and spiritual attainment.
African Cultural Associations with Elephants
Elephants are also native to most parts of Africa. Elephants are not just a member of the continent’s wildlife, but they play an important role in community identities and cultural and religious symbolism. Like Asian cultures, African communities value elephants as a symbol of strength and power, but they also value the elephant’s cooperative strength in important communal tasks and loyalty. South Africa features a set of elephant tusks on its flag to portray strength, moderation, and eternity.
Western Cultural Associations with Elephants
Even though elephants are not indigenous animals in the Western world, you can find references to elephants throughout Western writings and pictorial representations from the Greeks through the modern era. Elephants often symbolize power and loyalty as they were sometimes used in ancient wars between Eastern and Western empires. Many sports teams in the West use the elephant as their mascot to symbolize this powerful presence including the Oakland A’s, Tufts University, and the University of Alabama.
In Western literature, writers portray elephants both literally and imaginatively. For Westerners, elephants also represent creatures of curiosity. In this context, elephants symbolize wildness, fantasy, and creativity.
Feng Shui Elephant Symbols
The shape and material of a particular elephant will symbolize slightly different meanings.
- Elephant with its trunk up – An elephant with its trunk up is the most common feng shui elephant symbol. This figure represents good luck, prosperity, and success.
- Elephant with its trunk down – An elephant symbol with a trunk pointing down represents grounding, stability, and hard work.
- White elephant – A white elephant symbolizes royalty and high status. It can also represent purity and a calm mind.
- Wooden elephant – A wooden elephant symbolizes the earth element and represents stability and a connection to nature.
- Brass elephant – A brass elephant symbolizes clarity, precision, and order as it represents the metal element.
- Pair of elephants – You can use a pair of elephants in different ways depending on the space. Because elephants represent protectors and guardians, you can use a pair of elephants at your home’s entrance to signify security. You can also use elephants with trunks intertwined to represent love and connection.
- Elephant with a rider – An elephant with a rider is a common symbol for overcoming obstacles. One particularly popular feng shui elephant features a monkey as the rider. This symbolizes good luck in your career.
Tips for Using Feng Shui Elephants
Like similar symbols in feng shui, correct usage and placement must govern the use of the feng shui elephant.
Choose an Appropriate Location
Make sure to place the feng shui elephant figurine or picture in a place where you can see and appreciate it. This does not just mean in particular areas of the house, but a place within the room where the symbol will be noticed.
Correct Position
Ensure that your feng shui elephant figurine is facing into the room rather than facing outward. Feng shui practitioners believe that this encourages positive energy to flow into the room rather than away from it. Also, avoid positioning a feng shui elephant facing a window as this can cause energy to escape from the room.
Avoid Clutter
The area around feng shui elephants should be clean and clutter-free as the build-up of clutter can cause energy to stagnate. This also means that you should avoid too many feng shui elephant symbols and too many can create confusion.
Choose the Right Size
Just like you need to choose an appropriate location, your feng shui elephant should be an appropriate size for the space you place it. A large elephant can overpower a small room and a small one will get lost in a large room.
Consider the Bagua Map
A bagua map shows you areas in your home where a feng shui elephant can be used most effectively. For example, an elephant with a coin in its tusk is ideal for the wealth area of your home or to enhance a feng shui money corner. A pair of elephants is auspicious in the love and relationship area of your home in order to help you develop strength and endurance with your partner. A painting or figurine of a mother and child elephant is helpful in the area of your home that symbolizes children or family in order to strengthen the natural bond between children and parents.
Consider the Element
A feng shui element can also symbolize unique qualities based on the material that was used to make the figure. Use the material of the figure to balance the five elements throughout your home. You can also use certain elements to activate specific energy that you want to attract into your home.
Feng Shui Elephant Placement and Symbols to Avoid
Most feng shui elephant symbols are positive, but there are some areas where these objects are not optimal.
- Broken elephant – Do not display a broken elephant as this can symbolize shattered energy and bring bad luck. Instead, remove the broken figurine until you can repair it.
- Elephant facing the door – Position an elephant so that it is facing toward the room rather than facing the door. This will symbolize energy that flows into the room rather than out.
- Elephants in certain rooms – Many feng shui practitioners avoid elephant placement in bathroom spaces of the home as these areas signify the flushing away of positive energy. Some feng shui experts also discourage the placement of feng shui elephants in the kitchen. While most feng shui experts believe that elephant symbols in the bedroom are positive, they may create an excess of strong energy that makes it difficult for some people to relax and sleep.
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