Think of the feng shui bagua (pa-kua) as the ultimate energy map of your home. use the bagua map for prosperity and love, for fame and reputation in the office, but also for health and family.
If you haven’t heard of this before, it’s not too surprising. it does not lend itself to easy description in the way that the five essential elements do. The bagua map is represented by the 5 feng shui elements: fire, water, wood, earth, and metal.
Reading: Feng shui map 2021
Harmony in a living space (home, office) is influenced by the energy at each cardinal point (n, e, s, v).
but that in no way implies that they are difficult to implement, because they are not. once you figure out exactly how feng shui pa gua works, you’ll be using these “instructions” for your home map with an enthusiasm that may surprise you (and may annoy your family!) but don’t worry about them , they too will reap the boost of positive energy from your efforts).
The positive energy present in every corner of the house attracts harmony in relationships, a good financial situation and longevity. this energy has a special influence on each individual regarding every aspiration in life related to love, career, health.
the classic bagua map
The classic map of the Feng shui pa gua is an octagon, with eight sides. Think of a stop sign and that’s exactly the shape of the map you’re about to overlay on the outline of your house. Each side of this octagon corresponds with a specific direction. And not surprisingly, in the practice of the art of feng shui each direction represents a different area of your life. 
But more than that this map is intimately tied to the use of the five elements we just learned about. Yes, the more you know about the layout of your house – from the view of the Feng shui pa gua – the more effective you’ll be in using the five elements.
how to use a bagua map
Each individual side of feng shui pa gua is a different area or aspect of your life. feng shui recognizes nine main vital centers.
ha! You may already be wondering: eight sides, nine areas? what about that?
eight of the aspects of life radiate from the sides of the octagon. one skin is neatly tucked inside the octagon!
Each aspect is assigned a fraction of your home. some purists may assign specific geographic addresses to these areas. And while all feng shui experts recognize this, it’s also traditional to start at your front door and place the area of the map corresponding to the career aspect on top of your house plan.
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You can also assign this map in the same way to any room in your house. simply take the feng shui pa gua map (energy map) and place it over the main entrance to any room (for example, a bedroom, your home office, or your kitchen) and then simply move counterclockwise of the clock through the map. every wall and every corner has a corresponding aspect of life.
you can find at first, the actual address mapping, and then the relative use of the map with the location of the gateway a little. . . well, paradoxical. and indeed it could be. but, in a way, they are just different theories of placement.
for our purposes, although we have provided you with directions, we will use the relative map that is centered on the main entrance of a structure to indicate certain sectors of life.
the 9 feng shui bagua areas
the basics of the bagua map: the nine areas, called centers of life and their directional assignments are:
- fame, sometimes called popularity, and reputation: south
- relationships and love: southwest
- prosperity and wealth: southeast
- family — east
- health: the center of the octagon
- knowledge and skills — northeast
- career and recognition — north
- children and creativity -west
- travel and helpful people — northwest
It also seems logical that health should be at the center of everything. makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? after all, how many times have you heard people say, perhaps you among them, that if you have no health, you have nothing! even feng shui principles acknowledge this.
Now, stand at the front door of your house. let’s apply this relative map of ba-gau to your living room. once you learn this description, you will be able to visualize this map in reference to your entire house.
the front door is considered the race area. you’re going to work counterclockwise. that means the corner to your left represents the travel life sector and helpful people. the wall on your left corresponds to children and creativity. the corner on the other side of the wall is associated with marriage.
The “wall of fame,” so to speak, is right in front of the career wall you’re featuring. the next corner is your corner of wealth and prosperity. (In case you get lost at this point, it should be right in front of the first corner dedicated to travel.
this means that the wall directly opposite that we have assigned to the children is the family. the only corner left, which is directly to your right as you stand in the doorway, is knowledge, skills, and wisdom.
ugh! That quick “feng shui tour” of your home may make you a little dizzy, but before you know it, you’ll have all those areas memorized. later in this chapter, we provide an alternative map that is used by some.
outlines the house according to “squares”. but you can get an idea of where these areas are in relation to your front door. btw, on this map, we’ve also included directions, in case you feel more comfortable using this technique.
basic feng shui bagua rules and tips
See also: How To Feng Shui Fireplace Area: 9 Rules, Placement Guide
put it all together in a feng shui way and understand the feng shui bagua (energy map) principles:
In addition to the directional assignment, each aspect of life also possesses one of the five essential elements and their colors and shapes. and again we’ve also included the very traditional instructions in this.
north, which is the vital aspect of career and recognition, is closely related to the element of water and the colors blue and black. especially effective here is the color black.
the northwest area of your home (the area to the left of your door) corresponds to the aspect of life of discovering helpful people, travel, and blessings. the essential element that enhances this area is the metal with its grey, silver, gold and white colours. Do you want to be more of a blessing to others? then focus on white and grey.
if you are worried about your children or creativity, then you need to know that the direction assigned to the aspect of life, the west, is especially sensitive to the energy that emanates from the essential element metal and its colors white, grey, silver and gold. if you want to especially enhance this part of your life, then focus on using the color white.
The vital aspect of love and marriage or relationships is in the southwest of your home and uses the earth element to create qi. the colors of this aspect of life are yellows and browns, as well as cool or muted shades of orange. here again, if you read certain books or look on websites, some feng shui practitioners may recommend the use of pink.
in your home,the south and its life zone of fame and reputation use the fire element and the colors that symbolize and create positive energy related to this element, oranges, reds, yellows and even purple. To be especially effective at creating healthy qi and increasing your fame, popularity, or reputation, think red, red, red.
the direction of southeast and its inherent vitality aspect of prosperity and wealth also uses the element of wood and its light blue and green colors. Especially helpful in creating wealth energy is the color green. Don’t be surprised, however, if as you continue to learn about their ancient art, you discover that some experts recommend the color purple.
the direction of the east and its vital aspect of the family is represented by wood and the color green and all its shades and light blues. If you want to be more effective here to create a healthy family life, please focus on the color green.
the northeast of your home, whose assigned aspect of life is knowledge and skills, is represented as an element by earth and the colors of muted oranges and yellows. some feng shui experts will even tell you that a little brown in this area would do wonders for unblocking the qi in this area.
At the center of it all, snugly smack dab in the middle of the “stop sign” itself, is the vital aspect of health and wellness. health is represented by the earth element and its muted orange and yellow colors, especially the yellow ones.
see also: feng shui lucky colors for 2022, according to the Chinese zodiac
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