八卦 · bā guà · the eight trigrams

Feng Shui, the Bagua of a Room

Feng shui (風水, wind and water) is the old Chinese art of arranging a space so its energy moves kindly through it. The Bagua (八卦) is its central map, the eight trigrams plus a still center, laid as a three-by-three grid over a room. In the Western Black Hat method the grid is anchored to the door rather than to a compass, so it re-lays itself room by room: the wall you walk through becomes the bottom edge, with career at your feet, relationship in the far corner, and health at the heart of it all. Stand at one door, lay the grid, and tap any of the nine areas. The room speaks; what you tend is yours to choose.