Using the Bagua in my Bedroom

West Meets East©

By Caroline Patrick

Using the Bagua in My Bedroom

Dear Caroline,

I live in a house with two levels. I have my bedroom in the second level. The bedroom is accessed by stairs and they are on the left side of the main door of the house, that is on the Knowledge area – I guess.

Now, I don't know if I should consider the stairs as the main entrance of the bedroom or still use the main door of the house as a reference point.

I have also tried to use a compass to find out for example where the Relationships area is. In theory, it is in the southwest part of the house. But when I use the bagua and use it according to the main entrance situation, the result is completely different.

Could you help me with this?

Thank you very much.

With Best Regards,

A Reader

Dear Reader,

Hello, sorry for the delay, I’m in the middle of packing. I will be moving to the Puget Sound in Washington this week. Please contact me again this weekend if possible with these answers – are you using Black Hat Feng Shui or Compass school? I know it can be confusing having different books giving different ways of mapping your home.

As a consultant, I have found the system which works best for the novice is the school of thought which aligns the Bagua or 8-sided octagonal shaped grid. Master Lin Yun brought this school of Feng Shui to the United States in the early 80s. His teaching of this ancient form of harmony and balance began at Berkeley, California. His schooling began at age five in China, and the world has never been the same. When attending his classes, I witnessed his humility, spiritual awareness and honesty when presenting Feng Shui to Americans.

My newspaper column called West Meets East, seen weekly in the Benicia Herald, can also be read on my website. There is an archive of over 100 stories and teachings on this site to help inform and answer questions pertaining to Black Hat School of thought. Many of these might answer your questions.

Black Hat School can be used without the compass and provide excellent results. I began my career using Compass School, which works very well also, but is complicated for the client. My goal was to educate the client, so the client could take control of his or her life with the diagram or floor plan of their home or office after I left the home. Each of my consultations became a private lesson. This is a very empowering gift for the owner of the dwelling.

So, according to Black Hat methodology, place the Bagua over the house centering the grid with the center of the house as closely as possible. Also include the garage if it is built onto the structure, as most garages nowadays hold 2-3 vehicles and are a large part of the floor plan. Place an invisible thumbtack in the center of the Bagua and swing the Career section of the Bagua to your FRONT DOOR. For most home this works. Now the architectural front door becomes the "mouth of the Chi."

Next, there are two options at the top of the second story. In Master Lin’s early teaching, the second level was considered a second and new Bagua alignment, and in this second phase the Career zone started at the top of the stairs, but I found this understanding was quite confusing and left many "missing pieces." Although this mapping is still used by many consultants with success, I find Terah Collins’, author of many Feng Shui books and a San Diego school, advice quite helpful. Terah’s idea is, as below so above. She is also a past student of His Holiness and follows many of his teachings. This system also works very well on modern homes with multiple stairways.

Last year when attending one of Master Lin’s workshops in Portland, or maybe it was Harvard, I heard him contend, yes, the second floor could be considered as below so above. For many of his 30-year students, this was a shock, but this is the reason his teachings are so valuable. He feels the Bagua is a part of your being and this invisible energy or Chi is always changing and always flowing. Life is never the same from second to second, and we must adjust to the Chi’s changing and life forces. New inventions and discoveries become the norm and we must adjust accordingly. The Bagua and all of the 5 elements, and all the 9 aspects, us and the cosmos.

The Bagua can be placed over the home, car, boat, property, the body, the face and the nation. What a concept the ancient world lived by, and we are just now experimenting with the possibilities of saving the world with harmony and balance used over 5000 years ago.

I hope this helps you understand that most schools of Feng Shui have much to offer. They should quit arguing over details and focus on the outcome.

Chose your consultant wisely and ask questions. If someone suggests a doorway be boarded up or tells you must follow their advice only and predicts scary situations, run, don’t walk to a known and proven consultant. Good Luck!

PS: I am still available consultations by email. I will post my new phone number on the web by September. This service can be done by fax and phone with an appointment.

Caroline Patrick

I will be available by email for phone consultations until my office opens in Anacortes, Washington on September 2003. I’m excited about my new adventure and will share those experiences with you through the column and on my website in the near future. Please continue to email your questions and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Caroline Patrick

caroline@fengshuiartistry.com