Space & Placement
Feng Shui Bagua Map
Stand in the doorway of any room, facing in. The nine-square bagua lays over the floor from where you stand — near wall at your feet, far wall opposite. Everything below is read from that one position.
What are you working on?
The nine areas
Xun
Wealth & Abundance
Wood · Far left of the room from the door
Money, self-worth, accumulation
Add
- ✓A healthy plant with rounded leaves
- ✓Something purple at eye height
- ✓Anything genuinely valuable to you, kept visible
Remove
- ✕Bins
- ✕Dead plants
- ✕Broken electronics
Li
Fame & Reputation
Fire · Far centre, opposite the door
Recognition, visibility, how you are spoken of
Add
- ✓Candles or warm lamps
- ✓Awards, diplomas, published work
- ✓Triangular or pointed shapes
Remove
- ✕Mirrors
- ✕Water features
- ✕Blue-grey palettes
Kun
Love & Partnership
Earth · Far right of the room from the door
Romance, marriage, receptivity
Add
- ✓Objects in pairs
- ✓Soft square shapes
- ✓A photograph of two, not one
Remove
- ✕Single-person imagery
- ✕Clutter under the bed
- ✕Sharp corners aimed at the bed
Zhen
Family & Health
Wood · Middle left
Ancestry, elders, physical vitality
Add
- ✓Family photographs
- ✓Tall wooden furniture
- ✓Living green
Remove
- ✕Metal wind chimes
- ✕Unresolved paperwork
- ✕Photos of estranged relatives you have not made peace with
Tai Ji
Centre & Wellbeing
Earth · The middle of the space
The health of everything else in the map
Add
- ✓Open floor
- ✓Ceramic or stone
- ✓A single grounding object
Remove
- ✕Furniture pile-ups
- ✕Storage boxes
- ✕Anything you keep walking around
Dui
Children & Creativity
Metal · Middle right
Play, offspring, new projects
Add
- ✓Round metal objects
- ✓Art you made yourself
- ✓Clean, empty surface to work on
Remove
- ✕Fire colours
- ✕Unfinished projects on display
- ✕Heavy earth tones
Gen
Knowledge & Stillness
Earth · Near left, beside the door
Study, self-cultivation, quiet
Add
- ✓Books you actually read
- ✓A meditation seat
- ✓Mountain imagery
Remove
- ✕Televisions
- ✕Noise
- ✕Anything demanding a reply
Kan
Career & Path
Water · Near centre — the doorway wall
Work, direction, flow of opportunity
Add
- ✓A mirror or water image
- ✓Curved, flowing shapes
- ✓A genuinely clear entrance
Remove
- ✕Shoes piled at the door
- ✕Blocked hallways
- ✕Earth colours in quantity
Qian
Helpful People & Travel
Metal · Near right, beside the door
Mentors, allies, journeys, timely help
Add
- ✓Metal bowls or bells
- ✓Images of places you intend to go
- ✓Contact details of people who help you
Remove
- ✕Dust
- ✕Broken phones
- ✕Unanswered messages
Room by room
Bedroom
Do
- ✓Place the bed in the command position — able to see the door without facing it directly
- ✓Use a solid headboard against a solid wall
- ✓Keep both sides of the bed accessible if you want partnership
Don't
- ✕Store anything under the bed except linen
- ✕Hang a mirror facing the bed
- ✕Sleep with the soles of the feet pointing straight out of the door
Entrance
Do
- ✓Make the door open fully, without scraping
- ✓Add light — the first three metres set the tone for the whole home
- ✓Keep one clear surface for keys
Don't
- ✕Pile shoes or post at the threshold
- ✕Let a bulb stay dead
- ✕Face the door straight onto a bathroom door
Kitchen
Do
- ✓Keep the hob clean and every ring working — the stove maps to wealth
- ✓Stand where you can see the room while cooking
- ✓Repair drips immediately
Don't
- ✕Put the stove directly beside the sink without a break of wood or plant
- ✕Leave the fridge chaotic
- ✕Store knives on show
Desk & Workspace
Do
- ✓Sit in command position with a wall behind you
- ✓Keep the left side (from your seat) open for wealth
- ✓Face into the room, not into a blank corner
Don't
- ✕Sit with your back to a door
- ✕Work directly under a beam or low shelf
- ✕Let cables tangle where you can see them
Bathroom
Do
- ✓Keep the door closed and the drains covered
- ✓Add a plant to absorb draining energy
- ✓Fix every leak
Don't
- ✕Place the bathroom door opposite the kitchen or front door without a screen
- ✕Use it as storage
- ✕Leave damp towels overnight
In short
Lay the nine-square bagua over any room: which corner governs money, love, career or study, the element and colours for each, and what to add or remove.
- Repair before you decorate. A dripping tap in the wealth corner is the classic reading of money leaking away, and it is also just a dripping tap.
- Mirrors amplify whatever they face. Never point one at the bed or at a cluttered surface.
- Live plants in the east and southeast; keep dried or dead material out of the house entirely.
- Change one area per month and note what shifts. Changing everything at once tells you nothing.
9
Bagua areas
5
Elements in the cycle
24
Mountains on the luopan
Feng shui — literally wind and water — began as siting practice: where to place a tomb, a village, a capital so that it sat in the lee of the hills with water in front. The Form School read landscape directly; the Compass School, arriving with the luopan and the Book of Changes, read direction and time instead.
Both schools travelled with Chinese architecture across East Asia and reached the West in the twentieth century, usually in a simplified Black Hat form that maps the bagua to the front door rather than to magnetic north. That version is the one most Western readers meet first.
Underneath the metaphysics is a durable core of environmental psychology: sightlines to the entrance, backing behind the seat, light, air movement and the absence of clutter are all measurable comfort factors that classical feng shui encodes as rules.
Questions Readers Ask
Which bagua method should I use?
If you have a compass and want the classical route, use the directional bagua. If you want a fast, usable home audit, use the door-aligned Black Hat grid — just don't mix the two in one map.
What is the command position?
A placement where you can see the entrance from your bed, desk or cooker without sitting directly in line with it. It is the single highest-value change in the whole system.
Do mirrors really matter?
In practice yes, because they redirect light and attention. Treat one as a doubling of whatever it reflects.
How long before I notice a difference?
Give a single change a full month. Feng shui reads as slow environmental pressure, not as an overnight switch.