The compass: your Kua number
This guide describes the Pillars phone app. The website does the same calculations, but some screens and features work differently or aren't here yet.
Imagine your home with eight doors, one for each direction. Feng shui says some of those doors suit you better than others. The Kua number is the key that tells you which ones. You'll find it on the Chart tab under Compass (Kua).
Where the number comes from
The Kua number comes from two things: your BaZi birth year, which starts at around February 4, and the traditional formula, Male or Female. The app uses that formula only here and for the direction of your life cycles. It says nothing about who you are.
Each number belongs to one of two groups: the East group (1, 3, 4 and 9) or the West group (2, 6, 7 and 8). There's no personal Kua 5: tradition turns it into 2 for the male formula and 8 for the female one.
The grid
At the top you'll read something like Kua 7, West group, and a sentence with your four favorable directions.
Below there's a grid of nine squares with north at the top, like a map. Your number sits in the middle. The eight squares around it each show a direction, a name and its characters.
- The four tinted squares are favorable: Growth, Restoration, Relationships and Stability.
- The four plain ones are unfavorable: Mishaps, Friction, Setbacks and Most challenging.
The grid doesn't turn with your phone. To use it at home, find north with a compass first, then lay the grid over your floor plan in your mind.
Other people
If more people in your list have a Kua number, a switch at the top lets you look at theirs (up to three names, you first). A card below compares two people and shows the favorable directions they share, or tells you they share none. That's common, and it's just information for arranging a shared space.
The annual layer
Under the grid, Annual layer has three options: Off, this year and next year. Turn it on and the grid marks the directions the tradition watches that year:
- Tai Sui, the direction of the year's branch, seen as the one who rules the year.
- Sui Po, the direction opposite it.
- Three Killings.
- Five Yellow, when it falls on one of the eight directions.
A list underneath gives each one's direction. The tradition advises care with these directions during that year. Tap Tai Sui for a short explanation.
Its limits
Kua is a personal direction system from feng shui, separate from BaZi. It doesn't come from your Day Master, and a birth date can't tell you anything about a building. The app says this at the bottom of the screen too.
If you enjoy it, try small things: which way your desk faces, where you sit to read. If it doesn't feel right, let it go. Your home has to work for you first.