Kua and personal feng shui

Think of the chair at home where you always end up sitting, because the light falls just right. Feng shui (風水) is the old art of arranging rooms so they feel good to live in. One part of it gives each person a number, the Kua, and four directions said to suit them.

Where your number comes from

It comes from your birth year and the Traditional formula in your birth details, Male or Female. There's one formula for each, so a man and a woman born the same year usually get different numbers. The year counts from Lì Chūn, as in your Year pillar.

The numbers go from 1 to 9, but 5 isn't used: a man who would get 5 takes 2, and a woman takes 8.

Two groups

• East group, Kua 1, 3, 4 and 9: your good directions are north, east, southeast and south.
• West group, Kua 2, 6, 7 and 8: your good directions are northeast, southwest, west and northwest.

Four favorable directions, four less so

The app gives each direction a plain name, with the traditional one underneath.

• Growth (生氣): drive and opportunities. Traditionally the desk or the front door.
• Restoration (天醫): rest and recovery. Traditionally the head of the bed.
• Relationships (延年): harmony with others. Traditionally the bedroom.
• Stability (伏位): calm and steady growth. Traditionally a place to study or sit quietly.
• The other four are Mishaps (禍害), Friction (五鬼), Setbacks (六煞) and Most challenging (絕命). The tradition suggests not facing them for long hours when you can avoid it.

The Compass screen

On the Chart tab, open Compass (Kua). You'll see a grid of nine squares with north at the top and your Kua in the middle. Your favorable directions are tinted.

• If other people have a Kua too, switch between them at the top.
• A card tells you which favorable directions you share with another person, or that you share none.
• The Annual layer marks Tai Sui, Sui Po, Three Killings and Five Yellow for this year or next: the directions the tradition leaves alone for building work.

The full reading also has a section on your Kua, with the people in your family.

Its limits

• Kua comes from feng shui, not from BaZi. It doesn't come from your Day Master. As the screen says, a birth date can't tell you anything about a building.
• Small turns are enough. No need to move house. Turn a chair, a desk or the bed where the room allows.
• Comfort and safety come first. If a room only works one way, that's fine. A Kua direction is something to try, not a rule.