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The Bagua is one of the most basic and fundamental tools of Feng Shui. It is a map of the energetic qualities of your space. In Chinese it means “eight areas”. Ba means eight and gua means area. This map relates the various aspects of your life to the 8 living spaces. These aspects being things such as wealth, fame, health, family, relationships, knowledge, travel, and creativity. The center of the bagua is considered the ninth area and it helps to harmonize all the other areas.
This map is then used by feng shui consultants to identify which areas of the home are either auspicious, meaning it has good energy and is good for you or inauspicious, meaning it has negative energy and not good for you. You can determine this with the map and a sketched area of your floor plan. The map is positioned over a plan of your room or home. So yes, you can apply the map over an entire floor plan or just one room. You can even apply the map to your desk but that will be a future blog.
To apply the bagua to your plan align the bottom edge of the map with the wall of your front door. The door will be in the ken, kan or chiens spaces called a “gau”. Always make sure to align the bagua with your front door, even if you usually enter your home through the garage or a back door. If there is another level above or below this one then also align it with the front door. Once positioned properly you will see which rooms correspond to each “gau”. This then allows you to understand how each area of your home will need to be decorated in order to get some good energy flowing! Here is a description of each gau, beginning with the rear left.
Prosperity & Wealth – (rear left) WOOD This area, which represents money is important since feng shui follows the basic principles of physics that like attracts like. Intentions are a very important part of feng shui. Place any object that represents wealth to you in this section. It can be actual money, pictures of a successful person you admire, whatever may represent wealth to you. Use beautiful feng shui crystals to invite desired wealth to this space. Fountains are a great way to remedy bad energy and attract wealth in this area, even pictures of water flowing & fountains will do the trick. A wind chime will also work, just don't forget to ring it regularly! Add a fish tank, feed the fish and watch your prosperity grow. Keep your stove clean, the Chinese have always believed that the stove has a direct connection to your wealth. A mirror above the stove may sound silly but it works, doubles the amount of burners you have therefore doubling your cash flow. If money is unimportant to you then use this area to display pictures of people in your life that you are grateful for. Prosperity is ruled by the color purple so try painting the room this tone or even just displaying an object of this color in it. Other enhancing colors for this gua are red and green.
Fame & Reputation – (rear middle) FIRE This area is to be treated with seriousness and respect. Display your greatest achievements in this gau. Display your awards, trophies, diplomas and symbols of victories. Think about what you want to be known for and what you can put there to symbolize this. Make sure this is who YOU want to be, not what others want you to be. Fire rules this gua so candles will work here and a fireplace is even better! The color red is particularly effective in activating the fame and reputation gau so be bold with this color. For those who are a little timid of this wild color try adding just a few objects in his shade. This space is also an excellent place for a vision board. If you are shy about displaying your achievements don't worry, these things don't have to be physically displayed to work just placed in the room somewhere like a closed cabinet or even behind a sofa.
Love, Marriage & Relationships – (rear right) EARTH This is the area that love reigns. Foster the growth of a current relationship or inspire the consummation of a new one here. In this gua is where you want to hang a picture of your loved one and wedding photographs. Store love letters and tokens of affection in this space. Anything that comes in pairs should be placed here to symbolize the union of two lovers. A pink quartz crystal is a very powerful symbol of love as well. If you are single and looking for a partner make sure to light some candles every night to help ignite the spark of romance! Pink, red and white govern this area so candles in these colors are ideal for this gua. Make a list of a potential mate, keep it positive, focus on what you want in this person as opposed to what you don't. Instead of saying “I hope he isn't a stick in the mud” say something like “he will be fun and full of life”. Remember, intentions are everything when it comes to good feng shui.
Health & Family – (middle left) WOOD This area represents new beginnings, growth and family ties, this means close friends as well. Integrate the elements of wood and water into this space. Green is the best color for enhancing the family gua so displaying plants in fresh water is ideal or introducing any other living element. Anything made of wood placed in this gau is a good thing. Place something that reminds you of family and good friends in this room. Hang a reminder of the fun things you did together in this space, games played or even music listened to together. For people wishing to enhance their health this is a great space to store exercise equipment. Mirrors in this area can be a good cure for bad health and sudden illness. Placing blue and green items in this area can help to activate this gua quickly. Place items or animals that represent a long life in this area, such as a tortoise. If you are having issues with conceiving a child, place a dragon in this area. To enhance health based on your kau number, sleep with your head towards that direction. I will be explaining the kau number in a future blog if you are not familiar with it yet. Place healing crystals in this gua or books about herbs, healing and nutrition.
At the center of the bagua lies the Tai Chi , this area is all about achieving wholeness. It is all about personal healing and the awareness of the need for change. As our beliefs change so do our lives, until you really know what you want from life the universe won't be able to help you so help activate this area by meditation or prayer. Ensure to decorate with religious symbols or anything else that may inspire your spirit! Ask for the answers and they shall be delivered.
Creativity & Children – (middle right) METAL This gua is all about fostering creativity and the birthing of children and new ideas. Enhance this area if you wish to conceive, improve relationships with children or be more creative. Obviously any photographs of family and children are perfect for this space. Any sentimental childhood toys or memorabilia that allow your inner child to come out and play are ideal. This is the space to do artwork, crafts and hobbies in or anything else that gets those creative juices flowing. Fill this gua with beautiful colors, particularly pastels and whites. This is an excellent area for a kid's bedroom of course.
Skills & Knowledge – (front left) EARTH When you want to gain wisdom, get better grades, land a better job or maybe just think more clearly this is the gua to boost. Earth element things work well, like plants which symbolize growth, earthy pottery, clay urns and porcelain will enhance this space. A bookcase filled with books will help to reflect your knowledge and a globe placed in this room will enhance your knowledge of the world. Frame those special words of wisdom and display them here. Also display pictures of people you think are wise in this room. Colors for this gua are green, blue and black, so paint a room in a peaceful green or blue to help you concentrate and retain all that wisdom coming your way.
Career & Life Path – (front middle) WATER This is the space to focus on if you are embarking on a new career or life path. Again you will want to add some plants which represent growth and some inspiring quotes that will keep you motivated. Display brochures of classes or schools you may want to attend or business cards of a place you want to work at. With water being the element here a great aquarium or water feature would be ideal. Black is representative of water in feng shui and black is the color of this gua so make sure to add some of it wherever possible.
Helpful People & Travel – (front right) METAL This is the room to display your travel items and brochures of places you wish to travel to. Map out an itinerary of your trip and keep it where you can look at it often. Try to visualize yourself already there and use affirmations to confirm this. If you wish to attain a better synchronicity to your life so that you can attract helpful people display religious items, figurines, crosses, a Buddha, anything associated to your spiritual or religious beliefs. Helpful people are seen as guardian angles so leave a prayer or a note with thanks for what you have in your life which then in return will attract even more positive things and people. Like I said before, like attracts like. If you aren't spiritual or religious anything which represents communication like a computer or a phone are a great thing to display in this spot.
Love this quote about why feng shui is important.
“The things surrounding you in your home serve as subliminal reminders of who you are. They will continue to direct you towards old patterns of behavior. Subconscious beliefs are generally so deep-seated that one is not aware of them.”
~ Denise Linn, Feng Shui for the Soul
Happy Decorating!!!
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