Feng shui and ceilings

The Fifth Wall

What You Need to Know About

Ceilings and Feng Shui

Publisher, The Red Lotus Letter

www.redlotusletter.com

Ceilings are often overlooked when it comes to home or office design. Yet they are as important as the walls or floors, because they most directly offer us shelter and protection from the elements. When we think of our homes as shelter we often refer to them as “the roof over our heads.”

Well, in feng shui, ceilings are not only important because of the protection, but because of how they can influence you, particularly when you are sleeping. This is because ceilings exert such a strong influence to our heads.

It’s this relationship with our heads that makes our ceilings so important to consider when we are looking at the design of our spaces. What’s overhead has an impact on us just as much as any of the other four walls. That’s why we should look to see if there is anything pointing at our heads, such as beams, points or arrows, low or slanting ceilings.

Read on for more important information about ceilings and what you should know about them.

Ceiling height

The optimal ceiling height in a room is between 10 and 12 feet high. That doesn’t mean that you have a problem, though, if your ceiling is less than 10 feet. This is simply the best height. However, if your ceiling is lower than 8 feet, chances are your progress in life is limited and you’ll be burdened with problems.

Ceiling colors

White is the color of “heaven” and the best choice for ceiling colors. If you have another color, do not worry unless it is a dark blue or other “water” color. That’s because water overhead is very bad feng shui. If you have a ceiling a different color than white, it is not necessary that you repaint. Just be aware that white is the best choice.

Slanted ceilings

These generally do not pose a problem unless you are seated under them or sleep under them. These have too much energy pushing down to benefit you, making a slant in the ceiling a poor choice for sleeping. If you must sleep or sit under a slanted ceiling, hang bamboo flutes above you to lift the chi.

Skylights

Skylights in and of themselves are fine, although there is debate in the feng shui world about whether they are helpful or not. I personally view them as windows to heaven.

However, if there is a skylight over your bed, vital energy is being drained away. Married couples should be especially wary of skylights over the marital bed as they drain away conjugal happiness. Better to move the bed under a solid ceiling.

Tray or dropped ceilings

Another design trend has been the tray ceiling. These ceilings look handsome, but too often it means sleeping or sitting under the portion that is lowest, as the center of the ceiling is often higher.

If this is the case in your bedroom, consider creating a canopy from the lower section out to the center and sleeping under the canopy, making sure the canopy is level. You can also place bamboo flutes of rods on the ceiling placed at an angle to help lift the chi, but I prefer the canopy.

Ceiling Beams

Many design magazines now feature beams and coffered ceilings in houses because of the visual interest they lend to home design. Either way, either of these ceilings creates the same kind of harmful energy called poison arrow energy. This is especially true if you must sit under a beam or sleep under one. It creates an oppressive force that is hard on the body. That is why it is never advisable to sleep or sit under a beam.

If a beam is structural, you can always install a false ceiling or hang a canopy over the beams to create an appearance of a smooth, solid surface. If the beams are decorative, try to arrange seating so that beams are not directly over your head.

Special Treatments for Ceilings

Mirrored ceilings: These create too much disturbing chi, especially in bedrooms. Never put a mirror over the bed. This invites infidelities and causes rifts in marriages or relationships.

Painted ceilings: As noted earlier, these are fine as long as they are not dark blue or black.

Tin or metal ceilings: OK in West, NW, or North sectors.

“Sky ceilings”: These ceilings, painted to resemble a sky with clouds are very popular now, too. I don’t see these as a problem unless they leave you feeling exposed and unprotected.

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Kathryn Weber is the author of the ebook Applied Feng Shui and the Everydayclean.com Cleaning Calender. For more information or to subscribe to her popular Red Lotus Letter feng shui e-zine, log on to www.redlotusletter.com.