Mirrors are known as the “aspirin” of Feng Shui. There are many wonderful uses for them, but you do need to employ them with care. They are powerful!
Here is a brief list of ways you can use mirrors to their most beneficial effects:
Remedy for Power Position: Probably the most functional way to use a mirror is to place it in a position so that you can see what is going on behind you. This is very useful if you cannot place your bed or desk in such a way that you can easily see the doorway or cannot have a full view of the room you are in.
Deflect Negative Energy: Hang a mirror to re-route and deflect negative energy. The type of mirror typically used for this job is a “bagua” mirror, which is always placed on the outside of a home (or facing out a window, in the case of an apartment).
Provide Eye Relief: It has been proven that doing very focused tasks, especially on a computer, our eyes benefit from the presence of a mirror in our work spaces, to ease eye tension. The rationale is that a window view provides depth for our eyes and without the presence of a window, mirrors can serve this purpose.
Use as the Water Element: Add a mirror to incorporate the Water element into your room. This mirror is being used as a way to manage the abundance of Fire (fireplace) in the Earth area (center) of the home. Water “dowses” Fire in the 5 Element Theory.
Create Abundance: You can place a mirror to reflect something that is seen as representing abundance. This can be a cash register, a stove (stoves in Chinese culture represent abundance), or even a body of water reflected into your home.
Create Illusion of a Window: I often proscribe the placement of a window in a room that receives little natural light. The mirror will reflect and double the sunlight is receives, however limited. It gives the illusion of an additional window.
Create Illusion of Expansiveness: If a room or entrance foyer to a home is very narrow, I suggest the placement of a mirror to create more expansiveness of the space. In fact, if the foyer has two parallel walls that are very close, I suggest placing a mirror on both sides to really open it up.
Do’s
Do be sure that wherever you place a mirror, the reflection is a pleasant one.
Do use a mirror in your bedroom. This may seem heretical to die-hard feng shui fans, since mirrors are seen as a very yang feature due to there reflective quality, however, in my experience they are fine. That is, unless the client has issues with sleep. In that case, I would recommend that they remove or cover the mirrors for a couple of weeks to see if that resolves their sleep issues.
Do have at least one full-length mirror in your home, so that everyone can see themselves fully. This contributes to positive self-esteem.
Don’ts
Do not hang a mirror in a cluttered room or reflecting something that is offensive (i.e., a garbage pail or circuit box). A mirror will double whatever is reflected, so it is important that you are mindful of placement.
Do not hang a mirror in a way that will effectively “cut off” someone’s head in the family. In other words, be sure that everyone in the family can see their head in the mirror and are not taller than it. This creates disorientation.
Do not use mirrors that are individual mirrored tiles, broken, distorted or damaged mirrors in any way, which will bring negative energy into that space.
Still have mirror questions? Let me know here!
Donna says
I like this mirror topic. I always wondered about the mirror in my bedroom. I have a full length mirrors on my sliding closet doors & mirrors over my dresser facing the bed, which probably isn’t good..? But it does also reflect the sunlight coming through the window on either side of my bed. I have to ponder this one.
Maureen says
Good question, Donna! My question back to you is, how well do you sleep? If you sleep well then it probably is not effecting you. If there are sleep issues, try covering them up at night (perhaps get a tension rod/curtain panels for closet) and see how it goes!
lovenlite says
Hi Maureen, thank you for your article on placement of mirrors in the home.
I have some questions :-)
I have a mirror in my bedroom hanging over a dresser. The mirror faces my bed. From what I understand, this is bad feng shui. If I were to cover the mirror with something other than a sheet, what could I use? I was thinking of using contact paper, something decorative. If that is permissible, does it need to be solid so that the mirror does not show through or can I use something semi transparent?
I also have a full-length mirror on the wall next to my closet. The mirror faces my bed but is not aligned with it so it is slightly diagonal from it. This same mirror is also diagonal to my bedroom door. Is this position OK for this mirror? There is no room to hang inside my closet so I need to know if this position is OK.
Finally, I just read that pictures of water/water scenes are not a good idea in bedrooms. I’ve had a photo of a water scene above my bed for many years now and have decided to take it down. I was going to use the same photo in my bathroom on the wall alongside the toilet. Do you think this would be OK?
Any insight you may provide is very appreciated. Thank you!
Maureen says
Hi and thanks for your questions.
First, I need to mention to the readers that you emailed me and told me that you don’t sleep well.
So if you are having trouble sleeping, I recommend that you test to see if the mirrors are a contributing factor. You can use a light scarf or light curtain panel to cover the mirror at night. I recommend doing that for a few weeks to see if sleep improves. If it does, continue doing this at night or remove the mirror. This advice goes for both mirrors.
Full-length mirror is ok where it is positioned.
Symbols of water are fine in the bedroom. What you don’t want is real running water which can cause you to use the bathroom more at night!
Yes, you can put this image in your bathroom instead, as you mentioned.
Just keep in mind that there are many factors to consider for placement – your birth date, the layout of your home and your home. So, I did my best to give you general guidance, but a consultation will be most beneficial.