For as long as I can remember I’ve loved the sound of wind chimes*. My first memories of hearing them involve being at my grandmother’s house in the Catalina Foothills of Arizona. I associate them with the wind signaling the coming of rain or a storm; something I still find thrilling even after all these years of living in rainy Seattle. In the cycle of elements, metal creates water. The NW (metal) of the US is a rainy place to live (water).

In the practice of feng shui, a wind chime with 6 metal pipes is often recommended to activate using the metal element, or cure using the metal element. The pipes are made of metal and the number six has to do with the 6 Gua (NW) which has to do with metal. The wind chime can be placed indoor or outdoor, depending on what your house is like.

Sounds pretty simple right?

There are lots of other layers here to consider, such as the birth chart of your house, the current year and month, and the compass location where you are doing the adjustment. For example, using metal in a compass location that corresponds to E or SE is probably not a great idea because those areas are related to the wood element. In the dynamic cycles of the elements metal chops wood.

Another important factor is timing. You don’t want to try to activate or cure one thing only to cause some other problem by doing it at the wrong time.

Here’s how I see it from my gardener’s perspective:

Using metal as a feng shui activation or cure, like pruning, is only healthy if it is done at the right time and in the appropriate fashion. Before you start cutting you need to understand whether the tree is evergreen or not, the growth habits, the mature size it will attain, and when it is the appropriate time to do it. Hacking and chopping, especially in the wrong season will maim a tree forever or leave it dying a slow death.

There is a magical enhancement in artful pruning just as there is in the proper application of feng shui.

*Did you know you can get wind chimes that have different tunings? If you are curious about wind chimes you may want to check out this site: https://www.musicofspheres.com/. I have the Balinese one.