Find your life gua and read the eight directions of your home

Bedroom · Where the bed head points

Head to a lucky direction, feet to an unlucky one; Tian Yi and Yan Nian first, Sheng Qi for ambition, Fu Wei for rest.

• A bed is judged by the direction the crown of the head points when lying down, never by the feet.
• Those chasing a career may point the head to Sheng Qi; light sleepers, the frail, those trying to conceive and elders traditionally take Tian Yi or Yan Nian.
• Keep the head away from Jue Ming and Wu Gui, backed by a solid wall, and not facing the bedroom or bathroom door.

Study and workstation · Which way you face

Sit in a lucky sector, face Sheng Qi; a solid wall behind, open space ahead.

• A desk or workstation is judged by the direction your face points when seated.
• Students and those seeking promotion face Sheng Qi; work that needs quiet depth faces Fu Wei.
• If the seat can only face an unlucky sector, angle the desk slightly so the line of sight avoids Jue Ming and Liu Sha.

Kitchen stove · Sit on the bad, face the good

The stove body presses an unlucky sector; the controls face a lucky one.

• Eight Mansions does not chase luck everywhere; it uses the bad to control the bad. The stove itself sits on Jue Ming, Wu Gui, Liu Sha or Huo Hai.
• The side with the burner controls faces Sheng Qi or Yan Nian, so the cook works towards good qi.
• Avoid a kitchen at the exact centre of the home, and avoid a stove facing the bathroom door.

Apartment towers · Door versus daylight

The inner door takes the flow of people; the window wall takes the light of heaven and earth.

• In a courtyard house the front gate was the facing; in a tower the entrance door often sits in an enclosed lift lobby, and the living-room window wall is the real opening for light and air.
• Daily movement is read from the entrance door, ideally in a lucky sector of your gua.
• Light and view are read from the largest window wall; keep that main opening bright and open. Serve both, and do not force them onto one direction.

The year begins at Lichun

Stem-branch years follow the twenty-four solar terms, not the first day of the lunar year. The moment the sun reaches 315° of longitude, Lichun begins, the year pillar turns, and so does the Eight Mansions birth year. Even a birth on the last day of the twelfth lunar month counts as the previous year if Lichun has not arrived; this tool decides from the birth date and that year's Lichun.

Why the formula changed in 2000

The Kua steps through the nine Luo Shu numbers one year at a time; adding up the digits is only a shortcut. Years from 1900 to 1999 begin with 19, and 1 + 9 = 10; years from 2000 begin with 20, and 2 + 0 = 2, which is 8 less and therefore one step forward in the cycle of nine. So the male base moves from 10 to 9 and the female base from 5 to 6. Each formula is correct within its own century; only mixing them goes wrong.