No doubt you may have heard the term if searching Feng Shui. You'll inevitably come up with an article that mentions the terms "favorable and unfavorable directions", 8 mansions, 8 palaces, BaZhi etc. If you're starting with Feng Shui and want to take it to the next level, most people choose 8 mansions. It's a simple system that allow you to use what are called favorable directions. *Please note, there may be error because this isn't a system I use often & probably have the least amount of knowledge about, I get tons of questions about 8 mansions so this is an attempt to explain in hopefully in a simple way.
Eight mansions is looking at 8 types of energies that impact you in different ways... 4 are supportive and 4 are considered negative. These energies are determined based on the year you are born & gender. This gives you what is called a personal GUA number 1-9 (the number 5 will revert to either a 2 for males and 8 for females). This Gua number is like a personal energy number. This number will also sort you into 1 of 2 categories (like the sorting hat on Harry Potter) but rather than being a Hufflepuff or Slytherin, you are either a "East group" or "West Group". More on this below , skip ahead
This number then assigns you 4 "best directions" and 4 "negative directions". You then use the good directions to position yourself within a location you spend a lot of time in, you can orient yourself within any location which is the nice thing about using what are sometimes referred to as power directions. You position yourself facing one of these best directions to benefit from the positive, supportive energy.
BUT... There's 2 ways to look at 8 mansions ie. "favorable & unfavorable" directions
To start off you need to note that there are actually 2 different ways you need to look at this 8 mansion business. 1.Location and 2. direction. Your house Gua and your Personal Gua.
1. Like people, homes have energy signatures also, according to 8 mansions Feng Shui a home can be categorized into 8 different "types" of homes & also assigned a Gua number called a "House Gua". This assigns your home its own energy map with 4 "lucky" & 4 "Unlucky" sectors or locations within the home.
2. Your personal Gua number that we discussed above.
Let's now separate that knowledge of your personal gua, set it aside for now & let's talk about the "House Gua"
Your House Gua Number-
Your home also has a Gua number as mentioned above, this Gua number is determined by the direction your house is oriented on a piece of land. It is based on the SITTING direction of your home. Similarly your home is sorted into East and West groups with with 4 "lucky" & 4 "Unlucky" sectors or locations within the home.
** Technical stuff : Finding the house Gua is actually pretty easy but it helps to know a bit about the Lou Shu (bagua- Feng Shui template- pictured)
The House Gua number is assigned using the number associated with the Gua number of the direction your house SITS- ie. a South Sitting home will be facing north & is called a South #9 (Li Gua) home. As you'll notice later there's no #5 house because #5 is associated with the center but the center isn't a direction and is not assigned a trigram in the LouShu. Hence the name "8 mansions" as theres 8 types of houses for the 8 directions N, S, E, W, NW, SW, NE & SE
Unlike with other systems of Feng Shui like flying stars this is fixed energy within you home and wont change with yearly energies & is not based on the year your house is built, just the direction it is oriented. This is what makes this style of Feng Shui widely used fairly easy to implement. For ease don't mix this with other systems.
Finding your House Gua-
Pull out a compass app on any smart phone and simply stand outside of your home, looking out, so you're facing away from your home. No need to note any numbers on the compass, this is what makes it easy. If it says "North" you've got a north facing home. Now you’ve determined the way your house faces let's add a step and look at the back of the house. This will be the opposite of the front. So, if the compass says North for the front, your house SITS south, FACES North. Remembert that were looking at the sitting and facing direction of the home, if your front door faces another direction, disregard the door.
House Facing (looking out- facing)
If the door and front of the home are facing different directions , use the front facing of the building NOT door facing.
Now you've found your house Gua let's look at the 8 types of houses based on the Gua number. These are also sorted into East and West groupings and assigned 4 lucky and 4 unlucky sectors.
8 types of Houses:
West Group Houses-
Lucky sectors are: Southwest, West, Northwest, Northeast
Unlucky sectors are: East, Southeast, South, North
West Group House
East Group House
East Group Houses-
Lucky Sectors are: Southeast, East, North, South
Unlucky Sectors are: Southwest, West, Northwest, Northeast
Read below for description of what each of these energies mean
Personal Gua- Personal best and worst Directions East and West grouping-
Lets now look at our PERSONAL Gua number (calculate here) then find your number in the chart. Your most favorable directions are pretty easy and divided up into 2 most basic groups East group and West group. The two separate groups will have two totally different sets of directions they can use. Just keep these direction in mind for now and refer back to them after we discuss what the directions are used for.
Or you can find yourself by doing simple numerology & birth year and whether you identify as female or male.
Start by adding all 4 digits of your birth YEAR, If you still have two digits, add those two digits together to reduce it to a one-digit number.
Next Step. If You Identify as Female
Add 4 to that number.
If you have a two-digit sum, add those two digits together to reduce it to a one-digit number.
The final single-digit number is your number.
BUT If you get 5, your number is 8.
If You Identify as Male
Subtract that number from 11.
If you have a two-digit sum, add those two digits together to reduce it to a one-digit number.
The final single-digit number is your number.
If you get 5, your number is 2.
Let's now look at which group you fall in and what each of the terms mean-
Bhazi- 8 mansions terms
Auspicious- Lucky Directions
Life Generating (Sheng Qi) wood
Despite the name, this life generating this area is best left to activities that have to do with work or creativity. It’s considered an active area therefore more useful for work, and less conductive to sleeping. Use this for anything related to improvement performance and studying. It‘s said to govern wealth, success, and business. In a business you locate a door, desk, or cash register here.
Heavenly Doctor (Tian Yi) earth
Unlike the previous, the heavenly doctor is exactly what it sounds like. This area is good to use for health related activities, rest and recuperation. It’s also said that this area governs the presence of helpful people or “nobleman” in your life. You can likewise use this area for improving speech, communication & persuading others.
Longevity (Yan Nian) metal
Again names can be deceiving, although it’s a good place to sleep this has more to do with relationships and networking, this sector governs these topics. You can use this sector for promoting good relationships at home and business as it also governs harmony.
Stability (Fu Wei) wood
This sector is not only excellent for meditation and prayer but also useful for libraries or study rooms. It's said to govern stability and peace of mind.
Inauspicious- Unfavorable
Mishaps (Hou Hai) earth
This sector is exactly what it sounds like, general annoying mishaps. These are the daily occurrences of miscommunication,hassles, obstacles and accidents. Avoid important tasks here. However it’s said that this area can be used if your more diligent in your life. It’s more about taking the time to recognize and stop these things from happening.
Five Ghosts (Wu Gui) earth
The negativity of the 5 ghosts sector is all about gossip, backstabbing and rumors. This is said to bring sabotage and petty people.
Six killings (Lui Sha) water
The 6 killings wont kill you but it's one of the more negative of the unlucky sectors. This sector brings about injury, lawsuits, affairs, sabotage and illness with the need for surgery. Avoid using this area for your bedroom, stove or work desk.
Life threatening (Jue Ming) metal
This is probably the worst of the bunch, The life threatening sector can cause accidents and illness. In extreme cases as the name implies life threatening accidents. And as with the all the unlucky directions, avoid using this area for the purposes stated above.
Although these sectors sound "bad". You'd be best to remember that external environment activates the internal. Therefore if you have external features such as a radio tower, pylon for power lines, 5G tower, or water in the wrong area, this will make the negative energies be more extreme. If you have a fairly nice environment, just focusing on the best areas and quieting down the negative spaces , you can start to see a positive change in the way you feel. This can be done by choosing to put your bed, stove, and work desk in the best areas, then position the furniture according to your personal Gua. Keep the lesser used rooms for things like formal dining rooms and living rooms.
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