Feng Shui Bagua Compass
The feng shui compass directions and their associations are one of the first things you need to understand in order to practice feng shui. Being one of the main tools used in feng shui to analyze the energy of any given space, bagua (meaning “8 trigrams”) is thus considered as the energy map of our home.
The bagua compass is also an interpretation of the inner most ring of a large, traditional Luo Pan compass. Understanding these 8 trigrams of the Bagua enables you to understand how to enhance positive chi and correct negative chi. The different energies are related to career, relationships, wealth, luck, children, family, helpful people and health sits in the center.
Enhancing an area can be done by balancing the flow of qi/chi through the place or also by placing auspicious objects (such as feng shui crystals, feng shui coins, etc) with related attributes to the section of the bagua map those rooms fall under.
How to Map Your Home Using Bagua
When using bagua compass, stand as close as possible to the middle of the space you are analyzing. Avoid coming too close to metal objects and remove any metal jewelry as this can adversely affect the accuracy of the reading. Place the compass in the palm of your hand and wait until the compass dial stop its movement and come to rest at magnetic North. After that you can easily locate the eight trigrams in the space around you. From here you can notice is there any missing sectors? Do any area looked constricted or narrow? and whether any of the trigram especially gloomy or dark. The next step is to make the necessary adjustments.
However, some other schools of feng shui always use the main door (the mouth of chi) as the setting point, rather than magnetic North. If you follow this one, then you can lock your compass in place and locate the northern trigram on your main door facing outside and the rest of your rooms will fall into place accordingly. If there is no building on the area you are analyzing then the compass is laid out by direction so Career would always be in the North and Fame always in the South. But if the house is already there then the compass would be reoriented to place Career at the front door.
The easiest way to map your home using bagua is when your home is a square-shape. With this shape, every area of your home can be easily fitted into the different sections of the bagua. If your home is L shaped or U shaped then the bagua map will usually be extended outside the home and areas of walkways, garden, etc are also taken into account.
If you have areas of the Bagua that fall outside the boundaries of your home (we call it “missing bagua areas”), you may still need to enhance or improve those areas from the outside. You can do this by adding a patio, deck, fences, trees, plants, lampposts or even a new room to those particular places.
The picture above shows of a home with an irregular shape. The corresponding area of the Bagua is considered to be missing. In this house, the front entrance is in the "Knowledge"area and the "Relationships" part of the house is missing.
The Eight Directions of Bagua
In Bagua compass, each of the 8 directions, or areas, has a feng shui element, energy, colors and life areas associated with it.
North
Life Area: Career and Path in Life.
Feng shui element: Water.
Colors: Black and blue.
Compass reading: From 337.5 – 22.5.
North-east
Life Area: Self Cultivation and Spiritual Growth.
Feng shui element: Earth.
Colors: Light yellow and beige.
Compass reading: From 22.5 – 67.5.
East
Life Area: Family.
Feng shui element: Wood.
Colors: Green and brown.
Compass reading: From 67.5 – 112.5.
South-east
Life Area: Wealth or Money.
Feng shui element: Wood.
Colors: Green and brown.
Compass reading: From 112.5 – 157.5.
South
Life Area: Reputation and fame (a better translation is the Light Within You).
Feng shui element: Fire.
Colors: Bright yellow, purple, pink, orange and red.
Compass reading: From 157.5 – 202.5.
South-west
Life Area: Relationships and Marriage.
Feng shui element: Earth.
Colors: Light yellow and beige.
Compass reading: From 202.5 – 247.5.
West
Life Area: Children and Creativity.
Feng shui element: Metal.
Colors: Gray and white.
Compass reading: From 247.5 – 292.5.
North-west
Life Area: Helpful people and blessings.
Feng shui element: Metal.
Colors: Gray and white.
Compass reading: From 292.5 – 337.5.