The Chinese teaching of space and orientation: compass directions, the five elements, the bagua and the kua number — traditional knowledge about how people arrange their surroundings.
In Feng Shui, Qi—also spelled Chi—refers to the life energy that flows through spaces, buildings, and landscapes. What matters is not merely the presence of Qi, but the quality of its movement: a flowing, curving movement is considered beneficial, whereas stagnant or frantic movement is considered unfavorable.
In Feng Shui, Sha Qi refers to sharply directed energy that converges on a specific point—such as a seating area or sleeping area. It is the direction and intensity of this energy flow that matters, not the object itself. Both indoor and outdoor structures can be classified as Sha Qi.
Yin and Yang describe two interdependent poles that together form a whole. They are neither opposites nor a matter of judgment—Yin is not worse than Yang, nor is Yang better than Yin. Feng Shui is about finding the right balance between these two qualities for each room, depending on its intended use.
Wu Xing refers to the five phases of transformation in Chinese philosophy: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. They are not fixed substances, but rather qualities of movement—and they differ fundamentally from the four Western elements of astrology, because in Feng Shui there is no element of air, but rather Wood and Metal.
The cycle of nourishment—known as “Sheng” in Chinese—describes how the Five Elements generate and strengthen one another: Wood nourishes Fire, Fire nourishes Earth, Earth generates Metal, Metal nourishes Water, and Water nourishes Wood. In Feng Shui, this cycle is used to gently strengthen a weak phase.
The cycle of control—known as “Ke” in Chinese—describes how the five elements restrain and keep each other in check: Wood drains Earth, Earth dams Water, Water extinguishes Fire, Fire melts Metal, and Metal cuts Wood. It has a direct and tangible effect, but is considered crude and a source of tension. In everyday Feng Shui practice, it is therefore used primarily as a last resort when gentler approaches are insufficient.
The cycle of weakening—known as “Xie” in Chinese—is the gentler alternative to the cycle of control: Instead of directly counteracting an element that is too strong, it is weakened by nourishing its child element. The excess element exhausts itself in the process of nourishing. This principle is considered the preferred first course of action in Feng Shui because it promotes harmony rather than creating tension.
The Bagua is an eight-trigram grid from Chinese tradition that assigns eight areas of life to the eight cardinal directions—supplemented by a ninth center. In Feng Shui, it serves as a tool for orienting spaces to specific aspects of life, such as career, relationships, or prosperity. Depending on the school of thought, it is superimposed onto a floor plan in various ways.
The Qua number—also known as Ming Gua—is a personal number ranging from 1 to 9 (excluding 5) that is calculated based on one’s year of birth and gender. It assigns favorable and unfavorable compass directions to each person, thereby forming the individual basis for personal Feng Shui practice. The Chinese solar year, which begins around February 4, is used as the basis for this calculation.
In the Compass School of Feng Shui, the Qua numbers are divided into two groups: the East group (numbers 1, 3, 4, 9) and the West group (numbers 2, 6, 7, 8). Each group has four favorable and four unfavorable compass directions that do not overlap. Neither group is better or worse—they are simply different.
The Luo Pan is the traditional Chinese Feng Shui compass—a finely detailed instrument with numerous concentric rings that combines cardinal directions, trigrams, and other levels of the system at a glance. For beginners, a regular compass is perfectly sufficient. What matters most is not so much the tool itself as the correct measurement technique.
The School of Form (Chinese: Luan Tou) is the older of the two main schools of Feng Shui. It evaluates the landscape, the shape of buildings, and the surroundings—back support, views, and access routes—and does so entirely without a compass or calculations. Its focus is on what is visible: How is a place shaped, protected, and situated?
The Compass School (Chinese: Li Qi) is the younger of the two main schools of Feng Shui. It works with measured cardinal directions and builds systems such as the Gua number, the Bagua, and the Flying Stars upon them. In practice, both schools are combined—with the Form School traditionally serving as the foundation.
The four animals—the black tortoise, the red phoenix, the green dragon, and the white tiger—are the classical representation of an ideal location in the School of Form. Each animal represents a cardinal direction and its corresponding quality: protection from behind, openness in front, and support on the left and right sides. This model applies to properties as well as to a single seating area within a room.
Every building has a “facing” direction—the active, open side—and the opposite “sitting” direction, which marks the back of the house. These two values form the basis of every Feng Shui star chart. Important: The facing does not necessarily have to be the side with the front door.
The Flying Stars (Xuan Kong Fei Xing) represent the temporal aspect of Feng Shui. Nine stars are calculated based on a building’s construction date, orientation, and line of sight, and they move through the nine sectors in a fixed pattern. This dimension is time-dependent and changes with each period and each year—unlike the Bagua or Kua number.
The Flying Stars operate in twenty-year cycles. Period 9 began on February 4, 2024 (Lichun) and runs through February 2044. It is associated with Fire, the South, and Star 9—Nine Purple. Star charts created before this date should be reevaluated.
The "command position" refers to the spot for a bed, desk, or stove from which the door is in view without being directly in line with it—usually diagonally across from it, with a solid wall behind you. In classical Feng Shui, it is considered the most important single measure in interior design and can be implemented without any structural changes.
Green for wood, red for fire, blue for water—Feng Shui color theory connects color, space, and well-being in a unique way.
What the Bagua is, how to apply the map to your apartment, and what the eight areas of life reveal about your space.
All eight cardinal directions at a glance: elements, colors, Bagua sectors, and specific steps to strengthen or weaken them.
Why the placement of the bed and desk is so important in Feng Shui—and what lies behind it.
Why do some places just feel right? The Feng Shui School of Form offers a timeless answer through the four animals.
Period 9 has begun—but what does that mean for your home? An introduction to Flying Stars Feng Shui and the period leading up to 2044.
What does your Qua number reveal about you? Here's how you can calculate it yourself, step by step.
Which cardinal directions suit you best? Use your Qua number to find out whether you belong to the East or West group.
How to orient your apartment using a compass, find the center point, and avoid common measurement errors.
What's behind the Qua number? Here you'll learn how it's calculated, which trigram it corresponds to—and what that really means.
Wu Xing, Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water—what is the significance of the five elements in Feng Shui and their cycles?
Feng Shui Techniques Explained Simply: How to Balance, Strengthen, and Weaken the Elements—Using All Five Phases.
Criticism of Feng Shui Without Mockery: What the Practice Can Really Do—and Where Exaggeration Begins.
What Feng Shui Teaches Us About Perceiving Space—and Why Sharp Edges, Crowded Corners, and Long Hallways Might Affect Our Well-Being.
Feng Shui is more than just an interior design trend—discover the millennia-old Chinese philosophy of space, energy, and alignment.