1 OR 2 NOTES ON FACING, SITTING AND MING TANG

Compass reading at the Facing side

There is much more to be said about Ming Tang, Facing and Sitting and we’ll address some of the issues further down. Before we do we reflect on the compass reading.

Now that you have determined the Facing and Sitting take an exact compass reading at the Facing side.

For a general house the result of your reading can be then equally applied to each floor and each individual room.

Now we need to determine the Eight Palaces and draw the Flying Star chart.

The combination of the twenty year Feng Shui Period and the compass orientation at the Facing provide the data to chart the horoscope of the house.

Please realize that the determination of Facing and Sitting, or a true reading cannot - or hardly ever - be done from a floorplan.

All this, including a compass reading, requires a person to be actually present at the site to determine the Facing and Sitting, and often the Period of a building, and to calculate and interpret yet other features revealed by the Luo Pan and the Flying Star chart. The descriptions and explanations given here can never be complete and should not in any way be taken as covering all possibilities and exceptions. However, this should give you your preliminary diagnosis.

The first aspect of reading a compass is to understand the compass.
A compass basically consists of three parts:

-  the magnetic needle
-  the pivot bearing
-  the housing

The magnetic material rests on a pivot bearing. The pivot bearing is anchored into a base for stability. The magnetic material pivots on the bearing and aligns itself with the Earth’s magnetic field.

The perimeter of the compass housing contains directional data.
The compass directional data consists of a 360 degrees circumference.
These 360 degree markings are indicated in 1 degree increments.

There are eight directions indicated by the compass. The four cardinal directions include South, West, North, and East. The four secondary directions include Southwest, Northwest, Northeast, and Southeast.
Each of these directions delineates 45 degrees of arc on the circumference.

The explanation is simple because the compass is in reality a very simple tool. However, reading of the compass in Feng Shui applications becomes more complex because of all of the information generated by the determination of degree.

Any ordinary compass may be used in Feng Shui. However, there are specially designed geomantic compasses termed Luo Jing or Luo Pan which are available. These Luo Jing and Luo Pan contain additional outer rings outside of the normal degree markings. These outer rings contain information pertinent to the geomancer including the 24 Mountains, Trigram Directions, and various other information as necessary.

Perhaps by far the best Luo Pan you can wish for can be found here.
Also as a help in determining your house chart, find a calculator here.

The 24 Mountain Ring

You will need the 24 Mountain Ring to arrive to a Flying Star chart. The 24 Mountains delineate the compass directions into further sections. Each of the eight directions delineates 45° of arc and also contains 3 of the Mountains. Each of the Mountains delineates 15° of arc on the circumference.

When you take a compass reading of your Facing it is not sufficient to say that your house is facing North. North is 45 degrees in whole, but can be further divided into three smaller sections of 15 degrees each. These smaller segments are called Mountains. A compass has 8 directions times 3 Mountains is 24 mountains.

The North sector of 45 degrees can be divided into three smaller sections of 15 degrees each. It is quite easy to refer to these sectors as N1, N2 and N3, going clockwise over the Luo Pan.

The 24 Mountain Ring consists of the Ten Heavenly Stems, the Twelve Earthly Branches and four of the eight Trigrams.

You must obtain an accurate compass reading to arrive at the exact degree and thereby the specific 15 degrees Mountain.

The accuracy of the compass reading is absolutely critical in Feng Shui applications.

When reading a compass it is suggested that you remove all jewellery, metallic objects, and electronic devices from your person. Remain as distant as possible from any metallic objects, electrical devices, and underground water. Other materials such as wood, glass, brick, and, stone have also occasionally demonstrated the ability to disrupt the compass.

Stand outside at the Facing of the building with your back to the building. The direction you are facing is the Facing Direction of the building.
Hold the compass stretched away from your body at about navel height so that it is visible and easy to read. Align the compass so that the needle is correctly pointing North and South according to your particular compass.
The compass will now properly display the directions.

Now you can begin to refine the reading to determine the exact degree of bearing. You do this by taking readings from a multitude of locations and distances around the building, including the sides and
at the Sitting side.
Note discrepancies and re-evaluate until you arrive at an accurate reading.

Repeat each reading while continually adjusting the height of the compass to knee level, navel level, and chest level and observe any anomalies. It will also become necessary to hold the compass up to chest level and adjust the square of the housing to the square of the building for accuracy.

Inclination of the compass needle

You will find most compass readings easy.
Take three readings, one at the middle of the Facing wall and two other readings to either side of the Facing wall.
Mostly the needle shows definite bearing.

 


However, you will engage situations where the needle shows all sorts of inclinations, in which cases you want to take another series of readings a little farther away from the building, again at 3 locations along the Facing wall.

You may check your findings at the Facing side by taking a compass reading of the Sitting side.
The house indicates good Feng Shui when the needle is stable.
Qi may be not stable if we need to take numerous readings.

When none of the readings is satisfactory, you can ask the needle to tell you why.

Take the compass and walk along the Facing wall as indicated. Keeping your attention focussed on the needle, you will be able to study its inclinations.

Carefully record all the different readings and be sure to state on your report whether the compass was at knee level, navel level, or chest level, and the locations on the property where the readings were obtained, and any anomalies noticed.

Occasionally a compass reading may prove difficult, but it will get much easier once you forget that you are there. In other words, the needle will tell the story and you need only observe. Listen to the needle, don’t control it.

Use the best quality compass or Luo Pan possible, which is usually the best compass you can afford.

Never work from blueprints, survey maps, architectural drawings, or any other map or drawing regardless of who they are provided by, because maps mostly show geographic North. In Feng Shui we determine magnetic North.

From this routine you can accurately determine the Facing degrees and construct an accurate Flying Star chart for the building.
The flying star chart for the house can also be superimposed onto each individual room. So when the house has three Stars in the South sector, each South sector of each room has the same Stars. However, standing at the center of the house or any given room, the door will be in a different section and we need to determine the physical center of each and every individual floor or room.

Doors and windows determine a lot of the Qi qualities coming in or leaving your house, but they do not determine house horoscope. House horoscope is determined by year the house was been built (Time factor) combined with the specific orientation in degrees of the Facing side of the house (Space).

Checklist compass reading

  • Be sure to use a good Chinese compass, showing exact degrees in its most outer ring. A larger needle renders a more stable reading.

  • If you do not own a Luo Pan, be sure to use an accurate (digital) western compass.

  • Never work from constructional drawings provided by official organisations or architects, these will bear geographic North rather than magnetic North which you will be needing as your Feng Shui reading.

  • Never take a reading from inside a built structure.

  • Stand outside the house at the Facing with your back towards the house, nose towards the horizon.

  • Take several readings along the entire Facing wall, not just in one spot and find verification to your findings at the Sitting side.

  • Be sure before you take a reading that you are ‘fit’, i.e. not tired and forget what you already think you ‘know’: you are now a consultant, not the occupant. Be sure to have a clear, rested and efficient mind.
    Let the compass tell you the outcome, don’t go telling the needle what it should instead tell you.

  • Be sure you have no metal objects on your body and that you are away of any metal in the house or environment.

The result so far must be that:

  1. You have determined the definite Facing side of the built structure.

  2. You found the structure’s construction date, i.e. the correct Feng Shui Period.

  3. You know the exact Facing degree of the compass.

  4. You have arrived to the exact 15 degree mountain as seen from the 24 mountain ring.

  5. You found the physical center of the structure and superimposed the Ba Gua according to directions.


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