When Not To Have Mirrors in Your Home

Those who have no mirrors in your home, raise your hand.

I bet there won’t be many raised hands. Mirrors are everywhere. You can say it is one of the wonders of the world. Let us look at two places in our homes and the effect that mirrors have. It is so important to understand how to use them correctly.

Many of us would have sometime, somewhere seen a movie in which ancient warriors dressed for battle in armor shining and glinting in the sunlight.

In the tale of King Arthur, we have, was it Lancelot, dressed in shining armor. It probably was of polished steel. Must have given him that aura of invincibility striking great fear in the hearts of his adversaries.

The modern day equivalent is seen in the glass skyscrapers as they jostle to tower and overpower, feeding the egos of the corporate warriors.

Mirror, mirror on the wall. Interesting it is to think that something sinister is about to happen to snow  white in this fairy tale. The queen who uttered this may not know it but she is calling on the dark forces and as we all know she eventually met her doom.

To call it evil or sinister is too strong wrong, but in feng shui, mirrors are yin or rather they attract the yin forces.

Yin forces? Yin is a counterpart of the Chinese understanding of yin-yang.

Yin yang? Loosely, they can be described as masculine and feminine. Other concepts would include hard and soft, light and dark. These, again are rather loose attempts at describing yin-yang for there are no apt term in English.

Coming back to our mirror and their place in our home. It is generally not advisable to place too many mirrors in one’s home. The home is a place where the yang or masculine needs to be vibrant as compared to its counterpart yin. In a real situation, it would mean that ideally a home should have a good balance of natural light. A home with good natural light is healthy and suitable for human occupation.

Mirrors create the opposite effect of yin. Feng shui recognize them to draw in yin energy. Because of its property to reflect, we may think that it throws out energy but in feng shui, mirrors suck in rather than throw out. In speaking of energy, it is said to draw in yin energy and at the same time deflecting yang masculine energy.

Living rooms should be filled with yang energy. This energy should be vibrant and the room should be evenly suffused with this positive masculine energy. It is the area where we can both rest and rejuvenate.

I saw one apartment where the lady had one wall of her living room lined full with a mirror. Her idea was to give the room a feel of space. The effect I must say was achieved but as you enter you will feel that there is no harmony in the space. In fact, it gave rise to disorientation.

The human mind works too on a subtle level. Familiarity may hide the disorientation but the subconscious knows. Along with it stress seeps in. In addition, there were other parts of the layout and design which affected the feng shui but the mirror was a major factor.

The queen in the fairy tale above must be speaking to her mirror in her bedroom. Bedrooms, some say are yin or should be yin places. Perhaps this concept is misunderstood.

The bedroom is a place where our real self feels most comfortable. There we heal our wounds from the bashings of the outside world. As such quietude and rest is desired and allow the motherly yin energy to do nourishing us.

Then, can we have lots of mirrors in the bedroom? No no. The yin of mirrors is not motherly yin. It is cold and harsh and will not do. Can you imagine sleeping in icy cold water? A good bedroom should be filled with a good harmony of light and the temperature comfortable and relaxing. Anything beyond that on either extreme would make it too yang or too yin.

The bottom line is not to overdo placement and usage of mirrors believing that since it reflects light and lends a (false) sense of space, they are good to have in the home. Mirrors are employed in very specific ways, the underlying reason being the balancing of yin and yang. For general situations, the less mirrors there are, the better.

Tagged as: House Feng Shui, Mirrors