The Big Picture Of Direct And Indirect Spirit

There are various macro and micro concepts and factors in the practice of flying stars feng shui.

In addition, flying stars theory itself is all but a subset of San Yuan (三元) which is a much broader study of feng shui.

This means that flying stars is a micro concept when compared to the macro concept of san yuan.

Yet in the lines of the big taichi and small taichi, there will always be big picture and small picture stuff at any level of feng shui.

This is just like a favorable flying star natal chart meant to bestow good luck to residents can become impotent when there is unfavorable landform. This is because landscape feng shui takes precedence.

In flying stars feng shui, there is a concept of direct and indirect spirit that deals with the macro level of things.

In mandarin, it is called zheng shen (正神) and ling shen (零神) translated as direct god and indirect god respectively. In practice, we substitute the word god to spirit instead.

Concepts to direct and indirect spirit

Because the original text and commentary describing the direct and indirect spirit is left vague just like the I-Ching, different feng shui masters and scholars actually have different interpretations of how to derive the two.

There are at least 5 different ideas that I have came across. All generating different results when calculated.

So don’t be surprised to discover where is the direct spirit and have someone else attempt to debunk you with absolute conviction that he is right.

Yet even though there are diverse ideas about the indirect and direct spirit, there is a general consensus of feng shui practitioners who agree that one particular equation makes the most sense. And therefore, it is the most widely accepted idea within this concept today.

And that is that the direct spirit would be the directional area of the timely period star, while the indirect spirit would be the directional area opposite the timely star.

This means that the following table describes the locations of both spirits in the 9 periods of flying stars.

Once the two directional sectors are identified, activation requires that there be the presence of mountain at the direct spirit and presence of water at the indirect spirit.

The logic behind this is that yang chi come from above in the direct spirit location and needs mountain to collect it. And yin chi rise from below in the indirect spirit location and needs water to retain it.

The implications in the practice of flying stars feng shui is that no matter where is the facing of a house, during this period of 8, mountains like boulders should be at the northeast and water like ponds should be at the southwest in order to harness the power of the two spirits to bring good fortune to the household.

However, homeowners must note that this is a formula that is all-conquering and applies to all homes.

While the main focus is on the northeast and southwest during the period of 8, we can further divide the 8 main directions into 2 groups consisting of:

1. 1,2,3,4
2. 6,7,8,9

This grouping comes from the inner plate and outer plate of the hetu diagram.

Because the current period 8 belongs to the second group, the other numbers of that group would also favor the location of mountains. The other group of numbers would then favor the location of water.

The direction that each individual number represents would take reference from the magic squares.

When we put this into application, let say a house has a favorable mountain star (or sitting star) at the north, and is indeed supported by a real physical powerful mountain in that direction. But because mountain at the north is contrary the rule of direct spirit during the period of 8, the property would not be able to reap maximum benefits from the favorable sitting star.

Limitations of direct and indirect spirit

While identifying the directional sectors of these two spirits is easy enough, practitioners need to be mindful of natal charts as well to see whether the presence of mountains or water in particular areas can harm the house.

For example, if you intend to construct a fish pond at the southwest to call on the indirect spirit, this setup might not be ideal if there is a 2 black star taking position as a water star at this sector.

So even though a household might enjoy good fortune with the help of the indirect spirit, household members can also suffer from illnesses regularly as the water feature has also activated the sickness star 2.

The same warning applies to the indirect spirit and mountain stars.

Finally, the direct and indirect spirit concept is most potent when applied to landed houses with outdoor space. It can be ineffective, or even pointless, to put it into practice in apartments for reasons previously mentioned.