Question: Should
we turn the ba gua around as we are in the Southern hemisphere?
Answer: This is one of the most common
asked feng shui question for people living in the Southern hemisphere like
Australia, and has created heated arguments among the feng shui practitioners
and professionals. Listed below is the typical argument between the “yes” and
“no’ camp:
“Yes” Camp:
“Because of
the origin of Feng Shui in northern China several thousand years ago, and the
lack of awareness that a southern hemisphere existed, original Feng Shui
methods did not consider the differences between the northern and southern
hemispheres. Because so many Compass School determinations and calculations are
dependent on seasonal changes and solar orientation, differing in the two
hemispheres, these adjustments have made it possible for Feng Shui
practitioners in the southern hemisphere to make accurate Feng Shui” - International
Feng Shui Guild
“No”
Camp:
“There was
for a short time some misconception that you need to flip the directions for
North and South hemisphere, but when you understand advanced feng shui where we
actually use three measurements of North, then you know that the
recommendations apply the same to every place wherever you are. In feng shui,
accurate compass directions are important as a point of reference.” – Lillian Too
As a feng
shui professional, I have been doing some research in this topic and have read
different arguments from both camps and here are my personal inputs for this
controversial feng shui topic:
First of
all, the primary reasoning and argument from the “Yes” Camp is that the weather
or temperature in the Southern hemisphere is directly opposite to the Northern
hemisphere. For example, in Australia, the cold comes from the South and the
warmth from the North, in China, it is reversed. This is a true fact and no one
can argue about it, but this is based on the perspective of the weather pattern. However,
in feng shui, we are primarily dealing with the magnetic fields of the earth.
For instance, the needle of the Lo Pan or compass is always pointing at the magnetic
North, it will not change whether you are standing in the Southern hemisphere or
Northern hemisphere.
Secondly, I
believe all these arguments are basically stemmed from the configuration of the
Earlier Heaven Ba Gua (先天八卦), where the North is located at the
bottom and the South is located at the top of the ba gua, which is created with
the climates in China as the basics. The heat mainly comes from the South and
thus the Fire element of the ba gua is assigned to the South. Since there is
abundant storage of water in the form of ice in the North and thus the water
element is assigned to the North.
In my many
years of professional experience, I have the opportunities of working with
clients living in both hemisphere, and I basically applying the authentic Chinese
type of feng shui, namely the Xuan Kong Flying Star feng shui and have achieved
positive results; without having to flip the ba gua upside down to suit the conditions in
the Southern hemisphere. The reason why I do not need to make any
adjustments is the Xuan Kong Flying Star feng shui is it is dealing only with the
magnetic fields (the facing and sitting direction of a site) measured by the Lo
Pan when I am calculating the natal chart; therefore, a house with the facing reading of 16 degree North means the house is always facing North and sitting South even in the Southern hemisphere.
To conclude, I believe this argument will carry on for a long time and it will be difficult to reach a consensus of opinions among the practitioners in the near future. Therefore, I believe we need to experiment and decide for ourselves. I will list below the links to some web pages regarding this topic for people who are interested:
To conclude, I believe this argument will carry on for a long time and it will be difficult to reach a consensus of opinions among the practitioners in the near future. Therefore, I believe we need to experiment and decide for ourselves. I will list below the links to some web pages regarding this topic for people who are interested:
