The 8 Mansions is a straight forward classical concept of feng shui practice that can be applied proficiently on any house with little errors.
This is because the time dimension is not taken into account and the equations behind it are not as dynamic as something like flying stars feng shui.
It is also sometimes referred to as 8 house feng shui depending on translation. But they refer to the same thing.
According to the 8 mansions school of thought, a house will be categorized into one of two types depending on it’s sitting and facing.
It will either be a:
- West house
- East house
Once the sitting and facing can be determined, a lot of characteristics can be identified.
| Sitting | Facing | Element | Trigram | Kua | Group |
| S | N | Water | Li | 9 | East |
| N | S | Earth | Kan | 1 | East |
| E | W | Wood | Chen | 3 | East |
| SE | NW | Wood | Sun | 4 | East |
| NW | SE | Metal | Chien | 6 | West |
| SW | NE | Metal | Kun | 2 | West |
| NE | SW | Earth | Ken | 8 | West |
| W | E | Fire | Tui | 7 | West |
It can be said that a house facing N, S, W or NW is an East House. Conversely one that faces SE, NE, SW or E is a West House.
Once the type of house is identified, the 8 sections of space described in 8 mansions can be applied to the layout of the house.
The 8 sections are:
- Sheng Chi (SC) translated as life force and prosperity, wood, linked to tan lang star
- Tien Yi (TY) translated as divine healing, earth, associated with ju men star
- Yen Nian (YN) translated as longevity, metal, related to wu qu star
- Fu Wei (FW) translated as harmony and stability, wood, connected to fu bu star
- Jue Ming (JW) translated as death, metal, link to po jun star
- Liu Sha (LS) translated as chaos and adversity, water, linked to wen qu star
- Wu Gui (WG) translated as problems caused by others, fire, related to lian zhen star
- Huo Hai (HH) translated as an inability to achieve success, earth, associated to lu cun star
If you find it hard to memorize, just remember that the first four are favorable areas while the remaining four are unfavorable.
At this point, it is important to note that in pure 8 mansions, the 8 sections listed above can also be described as stars. And each star is linked to the stars in flying stars feng shui. However, the elemental base can be different from those of the flying stars. For example, sheng chi is linked the tan lang star but it is of wood element while the latter is of water element. This is because, as explained in ba zhai ming jing, 8 mansions wandering stars originate from the early heaven hetu bagua while flying stars are referenced from the later heaven luo shu bagua.
With the kua number of a house identified, we can now find the favorable directions.
| Kua | SC | TY | YN | FW |
| 1 | SE | E | S | N |
| 2 | NE | W | NW | SW |
| 3 | S | N | SE | E |
| 4 | N | S | E | SE |
| 6 | W | NE | SW | NW |
| 7 | NW | SW | NE | W |
| 8 | SW | NW | W | NE |
| 9 | E | SE | N | S |
When feng shui masters and practitioners talk about the orientation of a bed so that the position in which a person sleeps has the head pointed to a certain direction, it is most probably recommended with reference to 8 mansions and the favorable directions listed above.
For example, if someone wants good health, sleeping pointing at a direction of TY or YN will ideal.
Conversely, if a resident has the bed orientated to point at a negative direction, it is best practice to review the layout so that the head is pointed in any of the favorable directions instead of those that are unfavorable.
It must be noted that each individual will also have a kua number which can be calculated with a simple equation.
When the individual kua number is determined, with reference to the tables above, one can identify which are his favorable and unfavorable directions.
He can then pick a suitable house according to 8 mansion feng shui or design a suitable layout with the floor plan to orientate his bed position, sofa placement, sleep direction, etc, to harness positive energy from his favorable directions.
