In feng shui, the bagua map divides the spaces where you live, work, and play into sectors. Each of these sectors affects the energy of a certain aspect of your life, such as career, health, relationships, and more. You can use the bagua map to guide you in how you lay out the interior of your home, a specific room, or your office to bring energy that supports growth in each area.
The Western Bagua
The map we are using is a simple Western bagua, which is a 3x3 rectangle grid that you can place over the layout of your home with the bottom center at your front door. You can also place it over the layout of any room in your home or office, or even over your work desk to discover where to place feng shui objects to enhance each type of energy.
You may have seen the traditional octagonal Chinese feng shui bagua that uses compass directions. We find the Western bagua easier to use — no compass required — but you can use either if you wish. Just be sure you choose one or the other, not both.
How to Use the Bagua for a Rectangle House or Room
You can just sort of eyeball things and guess where each sector is, or you can use graph paper to draw a to-scale replica of your home's or room's layout and then place the map over the top. If you live in a standard rectangular home or the room is a standard rectangle, you can then use the colors and feng shui elements listed in each sector on the map to enhance the energy in these spaces. For example, if you're looking for a mentor, you can enhance that energy by using gray and metal objects in the helpful people & travel section of your space. It's that easy!
How to Use the Bagua Map for an Irregular-Shaped House
Not everyone lives in a rectangular or square house where the bagua lays out easily over the shape of the house. For example, I live in an octagonal house with an L-shaped addition off the back of the octagon. When I lay the bagua map over my house's layout, I'm essentially missing the love and marriage sector. Fortunately, I'm not doomed to not having love in my life because, as with everything in feng shui, there's a remedy.
If you have an irregular-shaped home, you'll need a remedy, too. First, draw your floor plan (it doesn't have to be to exact scale, but get as close as you can) and then lay the feng shui grid over the top. Note where there are "missing" areas. Once you've discovered the missing areas, you can do a few things.
- Place a landscaping light that's always on facing towards the house from a missing corner. The light beam will visually "draw" the room.
- Add a light post to the missing corner to "draw" the room and create it with the light.
- Plant a grouping of shrubbery in the missing corner or missing area.
- Place a boulder in the missing corner or missing area.
What to Do About Bump-Outs
If your house has a few bump-outs that are just small protrusions (think a bay window or a bumped-out closet), it won't harm your home's feng shui. In fact, it amplifies the area that's extended. So if you have a bay window in your prosperity corner, it amplifies prosperity energy.
Use Feng Shui Elements to Activate Chi Energy
You can now use the map to help strengthen various aspects of your life, such as career, money, relationships, health, and more. Opt for just one or two items in each sector — you don't want everything cluttered with stuff, because clutter interrupts the flow of energy. Here are just a few suggestions to get you started.
- Fame & Reputation (fire): Candles, wood, the color red
- Love & Marriage (earth): Crystals, pottery, ceramics, the color pink
- Creativity & Children (metal): Metal bowl, round metal objects, the color white
- Helpful People & Travel (metal): Any type of metal objects, the color grey
- Career (water): Fish tank, water fountain, the colors black or blue
- Knowledge & Self-Cultivation (earth): Pottery, maps or globes, the colors black, green, or blue
- New Beginnings & Family (wood): Plants, wood furniture, the colors green or blue
- Wealth & Prosperity (wood): Plants, wood figurines, the colors purple, red, or blue
- Health (earth): Crystals, ceramics, the colors yellow, orange, or brown
Activate Good Energy in Your Life
The bagua is a great place to start when you're trying to bring better feng shui into your life. Of course, there's a lot more to it than placing objects, but it's a really good place to start to lay out your spaces for the best possible energy.
