Feng Shui

Whether you’re building your dream home, planning a renovation or simply looking to smarten up the exterior paint job, it’s a good idea to consider harmonising exterior colour combinations with the feng shui of the building itself.

The Sitting Trigram of your home is determined by the compass orientation of the building, and this in turn helps us locate the favourable elements associated with harmonious exterior colour choice. To find the compass orientation, you need to first locate the �facing side� of the building, and use a compass to determine its magnetic orientation. You can�t simply try to determine the compass orientation of your home via observing where the sun rises and sets, and you can�t determine it via road maps that use �True North� rather than magnetic North.

OK, so you have your compass ready, now you need to work out the facing side of the building. The facing side is the front or �face� of the building. It�s also the side that is directly opposite the back wall of the property.

Now if you have the main door located on the wall facing towards a busy main road, and the land at the front is an open front garden area which is lower than the land at the rear of the property, then it�s pretty easy to determine the facing wall. However, in some cases, you may enter the home from a side door, or the house may be orientated with the main door on one side, with the main living areas, large windows and balconies on the opposite side, facing towards an open and expansive view of land or water. When in doubt, it helps to walk around the exterior of the building and get a feel for the surrounding landform and how the building was designed architecturally. Imagine the building is an arm chair. Which side would constitute the back and front of the chair? The front of the chair analogy is the facing side.

It�s not always easy to determine the facing wall of a building. If this is the case with your home, then the chi (energy) may be confused and it will be more difficult to tap into positive siang sin/water star locations for attracting abundance opportunities. If in doubt, check with a qualified Xuan Kong Feng Shui Practitioner before you spend money on paint or renovation materials. The facing orientation (along with the construction/renovation date), determines the Natal Probability Chart of the premises, and you need to be absolutely sure of the facing orientation in order to determine the correct Natal Chart and its corresponding feng shui.

Here are some simple guidelines to help you determine the facing wall of your home:

The facing wall will usually have a clear, open space or expansive view in front of it.

The facing wall often corresponds to the wall that is closest to the living room and contains the largest number of windows and balconies.

The wall facing towards a busy road is usually the facing wall.

The facing wall is usually opposite the back yard.

Once you have determined the facing wall of the building, hold your compass at waist height and stand outside facing directly towards the centre of the facing wall. Make sure you are not wearing a metallic buckle, standing directly under power lines or too close to any other metallic objects that may affect the compass. Take note of the compass bearing that you are facing directly towards when facing directly towards the facing wall of the building. If you�re not sure how to use a compass, go to a camping store and ask someone there to show you how to use and read it.

The compass bearing that you are taking is known as the Sitting orientation for the building. It is this bearing that determines the building�s Sitting Trigram. Look up the compass bearing for your building (ie the compass bearing taken while standing outside facing directly towards the facing wall of the building) in the table below and it will tell you the corresponding Sitting Trigram.

157.5 � 202.5 degrees (South) = Li Trigram

202.5 � 247.5 degrees (Southwest) = Kun Trigram

247.5 � 292.5 degrees (West) = Dui Trigram

292.5 � 337.5 degrees (Northwest) = Qian Trigram

337.5 � 22.5 degrees (North) = Kan Trigram

22.5 � 67.5 degrees (Northeast) = Gen Trigram

67.5 � 112.5 degrees (East) = Zhen Trigram

112.5 � 157.5 degrees (Southeast) = Xun Trigram

Each Trigram corresponds to one of the 5 elements, so your colour choice for the exterior of the building will be most harmonious if you use a corresponding colour that either matches or enhances the element of the Sitting Trigram, according to the productive cycle of elements. Look up the Sitting Trigram for your home in the table below, and it will provide you with harmonising colours and materials for the exterior surface of the building.

LI TRIGRAM: use fire and wood colours and forms (ie all shades of red and green, timber finish, columns, pot plants, planter boxes and rectangular or triangular shapes)

KUN TRIGRAM: use earth and fire colours and forms (ie stone, brick, clay, terracotta, ochre, natural earthy tones, any shade from the red spectrum, image of the sun, bright exterior lighting, square or triangular shapes)

DUI TRIGRAM: use metal and earth colours and forms (ie all shades of white, gold, silver, grey, reflective surfaces, metallic surfaces, stone, brick, clay, terracotta, ochre, natural earthy tones, square shapes and/or curved, domed or spherical shapes)

QIAN TRIGRAM: use metal and earth colours and forms (ie all shades of white, gold, silver, grey, reflective surfaces, metallic surfaces, stone, brick, clay, terracotta, ochre, natural earthy tones, square shapes and/or curved, domed or spherical shapes)

KAN TRIGRAM: use water and metal colours and forms (ie all shades of blue, black, white, gold, silver, grey, reflective surfaces, metallic surfaces, wavy, curved, domed or spherical shapes)

GEN TRIGRAM: use earth and fire colours and forms (ie stone, brick, clay, terracotta, ochre, natural earthy tones, any shade from the red spectrum, image of the sun, bright exterior lighting, square or triangular shapes)

ZHEN TRIGRAM: use wood and water colours and forms (ie all shades of green, blue or black, timber finish, columns, pot plants, planter boxes, rectangular or wavy shapes)

XUN TRIGRAM: use wood and water colours and forms (ie all shades of green, blue or black, timber finish, columns, pot plants, planter boxes, rectangular or wavy shapes)

Article by Derelle Ball www.CentaineConsultants.com.au