Find Your House Facing Direction
Feng shui compass school practitioners may use a feng shui compass, called the luo pan, to locate the directions of your home. If you want to try this on your own, there’s no need for a luo pan. You can use a regular magnetic compass, or (even easier) the compass app on your smartphone. One key difference between the luo pan and a regular compass is that the Chinese version has the pointer facing south, while a regular compass faces north. One of the things that a compass school feng shui practitioner would review is referred to as the facing direction. To keep it simple for a novice, the facing direction is typically determined by standing in the front door looking outside while positioning the compass pointer straight out the door. Note: It’s always recommended to work with a qualified feng shui practitioner to determine your facing direction because there are other factors that influence your home’s direction. Depending on a building’s unique circumstances, sometimes the facing direction is not oriented at the front door.
What a South-Facing House Means in Feng Shui
In all the schools of feng shui, there is an energy map called the bagua. This is a mandala of eight areas around a center. Each of these eight areas has multiple layers of meaning such as an element, a color, etc. These areas are also connected to a magnetic direction. The south sector of the bagua is called Li in Chinese, and is connected to the element of fire (of the five elements), the season of summer, your fame, reputation, passion, illumination, and inspiration. This sector is also related to the colors red and fiery oranges. The south facing home is traditionally considered very auspicious because in the northern hemisphere, if your home (and farmland) faced the south in ancient times, you had the fortune to receive the sunlight in great quantities to bring prosperous crops and energy into your family. Even in our modern times, we can look out and see that a tree receives more light on the south side. It has more abundant leaves and fruit.
How to Activate the Energy of a South Facing Home
You can take advantage of the fiery energy of your south facing home by making some feng shui adjustments in this south sector.
Fire and Wood Element Colors
A couple of ways to support the fire in the south sector is with five element color theory. You can add more fire element with the colors red and fiery orange. In the five elements system, wood is the element that creates more fire energy. Therefore you could also use the colors related to wood energy such as green, blues, and teals. Painting walls and doors can make a dramatic energetic shift. If your facing direction is determined by your front door, you can paint the door a fire or wood element color to invite more prosperity. The front door is the way in which qi enters your home. But you can also bring in the colors with home decor items like a front door mat, flowers and foliage, artwork, and furniture.
Enhance the South With Fire
Other ways in which you can activate the fire of a south facing home is to enhance this sector with fiery items and shapes. Fiery items include installing bright light bulbs or beautiful and illuminating light fixtures. Also take care to dust and keep them free from debris. Fire is the shape of triangles and zig zags, so you could also find playful ways to bring the fire shapes into the south sector of your home to bring in more fire for a good reputation, more inspiration, and visibility in your life.
Enhance the South With Wood
Since wood creates more fire, it may be helpful to also work with this south fire sector using the wood element. This includes potted plants, trees, and flowers to bring the life energy in,
