Tag Archives: west life

Feng Shui FAQ 4

A newly completed south facing house is good for wealth accumulation. While it may be auspicious for most family members it may not be so for some other. Find out why in this segment.

Also different systems of Feng Shui can result in different sets of recommendation for the same house occupied by the same occupants. How do you resolve these differences? Find out in this segment

Is a South facing house better than a North facing one?

House Facing Direction
House Facing Direction

Some ancient text did state that a south facing house is better than one that face north. I suspect the primary reason was because that undesirable cold winds blow from the north while the desirable heat (at least in the northern country) comes from the south.

Another belief is that a south facing house is good for wealth while a north facing one is north.

How true is this? I can only share with you my observations.

In a hot country like ours, getting heat is not a concern. In fact this is why most developer orientate their properties to face north or south to avoid the morning sun for east facing houses and the evening sun for west facing houses.

Over the years I have consulted on houses that face all the directions. From what I see, you can have good career growth and gain wealth if the house facing is suitable for you, the surrounding land forms are supportive and you are in a decent career and wealth luck cycle.

It may be interesting to note that from a Flying Star perspective, a south facing house in the current period of 8 is classified as “Prosper Water but not Prosper Descendants” meaning that it is good for career growth and wealth accumulation. A north facing house is classified as “Prosper Descendants and not Prosper Water” meaning that it is good for relationships and health.

So which is better? It depends on your needs. If you are in your golden years, have acquire financial security then a north facing house (especially one with a mountain behind) is better than a south facing one.

Conversely, if you are a young fellow with plenty of energy and out to conquer the world, then a south facing one may be better.

For me, I would still give more more priority to your BaZi. Figure out which are your favorable house facing directions based on your date and time of birth and then look for a matching house that means your wealth, health or descendant criteria.

I am from the West Group. Therefore I should occupy a “West” sectors (meaning NE, SW, W or NW) and face one of these directions. However my Feng Shui consultant advise differs. Why?

The East Life West Life method of Feng Shui separates a person into either one of these groups based the person Kua element which in turn is derived from the Chinese Solar year of birth. For example if your Gua or Kua number is 2, 6, 7 or 8, you belong to the West Life group.

Gua 2 and 8 are earth element while Gua 6 and 7 are metal element. In the theory of the Five Elements, metal produce earth and hence there exist a productive or harmonious relationship.

Based on the Lo Shu, each sector of a property has an element. For example NW and W are Metal while NE and SW are Earth.

In the East-West Life system of Feng Shui, it is auspicious to match the person (based on the element of his Gua) to the element of the sector of the house.

Elements that are similar or in a productive relationship are favorable. Therefore it is auspicious for both a Gua 6 and 7 person (Metal element) to reside in the NW and W sectors which are also Metal (based on the Lo Shu). And also in the NE and SW sectors (Earth element) as there is a productive relationship.

Similarly it is auspicious for a Gua 2 and Gua 8 person (Earth element) to reside in the NE or SW sector (due to same element) and also in the NW & W sectors (due to the productive relationship between metal and earth).

However this is only one approach. The Flying Star system, on the other hand, maps the energy influence on different sectors of the house caused by the movement of the planets. At any time, some sectors of the house are auspicious and some are not. And this quality changes over time.

Therefore a consultant using the East West Life method and another using the Flying Star method will come out with different recommendations. Both are correct. Just the approach is different. It is like you have shingles (or snake). The cure offered by a traditional Chinese sinseh is different from that offered by a doctor trained in Western medicine. However both method will result in a cure!

From the approaches you can see that the East West Life method is suitable if you intend to stay in the house for a very long period. The upside to this method is there is no need to make changes but the downside is that it takes longer for the effect to be felt.

For the Flying Star method, the quality of the energy changes over time and her the house needs to be “adjusted” every 20 years to stay effective. The upside is the effect is felt faster (since you are using current energies) but the downside is that it needs to be renewed every 20 years it will lose its effect and sometimes every turn negative!

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Think of it like going from point A to point B, a distance of say 2000 miles. You can drive or fly. Either way you get to your destination but the journey is different!

In the next segment, I will answer questions related to Chinese Astrology in particular BaZi and the Chinese Zodiac.

East Life, West Life

East Life is not the oriental equivalent of the hugely popular boys band from the UK.

East life and West life is a Feng Shui concept where we are classified as one of either based on our Gua number which in turn is derived from our Chinese Solar year of birth.

You can find out your Gua number here.

If you Gua number is 2, 6, 7 or 8, you are a West Life person. The element of a Gua 2 and 8 person is Earth while for a Gua 6 and 7 person is Metal.

If you Gua number is 1, 3, 4 or 9 then you are a East Life person. The element of a Gua 3 and 4 person is Wood while for a Gua 9 Person is Fire. A Gua 1 person belong to the element of Water

For a West Life person, the favourable sectors in a property and personal favourable facing directions are North-West, West, South-West and North-East. For a East Life person, the favourable sectors in a property and personal favourable facing directions are North, South, East and South-East.

Please refer to the table below.

 East Life Element Favourable Sectors and Directions
 Gua 1 Water South-East, East, South, North
 Gua 3 Wood South, North, South-East, East
 Gua 4 Wood North, South, East, South-East
 Gua 9 Fire East, South-East, North, South
 West Life Element Favourable Sectors and Directions
 Gua 2 Earth North-East, West, North-West, South-West
 Gua 6 Metal West, North-East, South-West, North-West
 Gua 7 Metal North-West, South-West, North-East, West
 Gua 8 Earth South-West, North-West, West, North-East

The Eight Mansions system of Feng Shui makes extensive use of the Gua of the the head of the household to decide on the optimal house sitting, utilization of the sectors, and facing direction for the main door, stove and bed.

For example for a East Life person, the house should ideally sit facing north, south, east or south-east. The main door and bedroom should be in one of these sectors and oriented in of these directions.

If you look closely you will find that there is a productive or similar relationship between the Gua element and the sectors.

For example from the Lo Shu, the sectors West and North West are Metal. Gua 6 and 7 have a similar relationship as there are Metal while Gua 2 and 8, both Earth have a productive relationship as Earth Produce Metal.

The Eight Mansions is house only one of many systems of Feng Shui. The Xuan Kong system for example pays greater emphasis to the influence of the movement of the planets as reflected in the Nine Stars and an audit is likely to yield a different set of recommendations.

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Practitioners who are well verse with both systems try to give recommendations that are favourable from both systems. For example for a West Group person, he will select a sector with an auspicious mountain star located in either the West, North-West, South-West or North-West sector.

However this not always possible. So if you are a East Life person and your favourite practitioner recommend that you sleep in the West sector of your house, he is not wrong. The West sector may be highly auspicious during this period.