Feng Shui for Beginners

The bagua (BAH-gwa) is a very basic feng shui tool used as a map to find which parts of a space (a home, office building, kitchen, playroom or yard, for examples) correlate with particular areas of life. Once we know which area of a space corresponds to which life aspiration, we can enhance our environment in such a way that our environment helps us achieve our goals.

WHAT?!! Think of it this way: If you felt stressed, what would you do at home to make yourself feel less stressed? One solution is to use feng shui principles such as color or sound psychology to make a room in your home more relaxing.

Traditionally the bagua is in the form of a a nine-section octagon. Sometimes it looks like a grid. Either way, they include the same sections and are read the same way.

WHAT DO THE SECTIONS OF THE BAGUA MEAN?

Various baguas call the various sections of the bagua various things. These different terms are all ways of titling and explaining the same sections, so no need to worry or feel confused. For example: the Wisdom section may also be called the Knowledge or Education section; while the terms technically mean different things they all refer to the same section. My bagua sections include multiple meanings as a reminder that the meanings behind the names are often broader than it seems. (For example, "Fame" doesn't necessarily mean attracting fame to become famous; it can also means attracting positive recognition and reputation.)

SECTION ASPIRATIONS AND COLORS:

• Career / Life Path - career, business, life path (BLACK)
  
• Wisdom - wisdom, knowledge, education, self-cultivation, personal and professional development (BLUE, black, green)
  
• Ancestors / Family - ancestors, deceased and current relatives, family, foundation (GREEN)
  
• Wealth / Abundance - money, wealth and abundance in all areas of life, prosperity, abundance-thinking (PURPLE, GOLD, green, red)
  
• Fame / Reputation - fame, reputation, positive recognition (RED)
  
• Relationships - relationships, love, marriage (PINK, red, white)
  
• Children / Creativity - children, child-like thinking, creativity, artistic creativity (WHITE)
  
• Helpful People / Travel - friends, mentors, benefactors, other helpful people, guides, safe travel (GRAY, white, black)
  
• Health - physical and mental health (YELLOW, earth tones/browns)

Each section has one or more color, the most auspicious listed in all-caps. Each section also has a direction and element, and most have an associated symbol. The directions are on the bagua for use with a compass. The symbols are illustrations of shapes associated with the element.

BASIC ELEMENTS AND SHAPES

• Fire - triangles, pyramids
  
• Metal - circles, spheres
  
• Water - wavy lines, curves
  
• Wood - rectangles
  
• Earth - squares, cubes

Many baguas include special lines called the eight trigrams. Mine excludes these lines but I felt it important to mention them. In English, these lines represent heaven, earth, thunder, wind, water, fire, mountain, lake. When using my bagua, which includes some of them as "elements," think of mountains as earth, wind as wood, and heaven as metal.

SO, HOW DO I READ A BAGUA?

1. Since any space can be analyzed using a bagua, first decide what space you want to analyze (a single room, a smaller space such as a desk or closet, or an entire floor plan).


2. Next, determine the main entrance to your space and stand in the entryway facing into the room or space. (In the Black Hat Sect method, the main entranceway of a space is always the mouth of chi.)


3. Hold the bagua with the Wisdom/Career/Helpful People sections facing you (parallel to the main entryway wall).


4. Determine which section you are standing in. For example, if you are analyzing a room, is the entryway in which you're standing in the left, center, or right? The left corner/area is the Wisdom area, as shown on the bagua map. The middle area is the Career area. The right corner/area is the Helpful People area.


5. Determine the location of the other sections of the bagua. If you're having trouble using the octagon bagua draw a tic-tac-toe board on the octagon to make the divisions easier to visualize laid on top of a space.

NOW WHAT? WHAT DOES THIS INFORMATION TELL ME?

After you determine what areas of your space fall in each part of the bagua you can begin making changes in the bagua area that represents the life aspiration in which you want to influence.

Let's say you wanted a promotion at work or increased profit for your business. First, find where the career and wealth areas are in your home or office. Second, look on the bagua to see what colors, shape and element correspond to that aspiration. Purple and gold colors and wind (wood) correspond to the Wealth/Abundance area of the bagua. Black, water, and wavy lines correspond to the Career area. Third, place items or paint colors of that bagua area in that area of your home to enhance that area's aspiration. You might place a crystal bowl of water in your Career area or a feng shui money tree with dangling Chinese coins in your Wealth area. You may also want to paint a lavender accent wall or hang a dark blue curtain in the corresponding sections. You may also consider enhancing the Helpful People section to attract mentors and other helpful people into your life.

That's it! After you've used a bagua once it's super easy to use it again and again. I even dare to call it fun!

**NOTE: There are multiple ways to use feng shui analysis and the bagua map. The Black Hat Sect method is the simplest, relies heavily on intuition, and the bagua is their only tool, so I find the Black Hat method best for learning.**