The southwest is best known in feng shui as the home of the Kun trigram which represents love and relationships.
It’s status don’t usually gain much attention in a home occupied by a married couple.
But it becomes a primary directional sector to focus on when a home is inhabited by a single female, or when the main breadwinner in the household is the matriarch.
The southwest is as important to a wife as the northwest is to a husband.
A homeowner from Utah recently told me that she thinks that a southwest facing house would favor the women in the household because the main entrance if often located at the face of a home. Thus, it would enable such a house to suck in chi that is beneficial to females.
But these are generalizations that cannot be applied to all houses that face southwest.
This is because there are too many factors to consider when assessing the feng shui of a property.
Feng shui bagua map
The Kun trigram is just one of 8 trigrams that is present in the bagua. And each of them represents different people in the family unit.
The 8 representations are:
- Chien – Patriarch
- Kun – Matriarch
- Tui – Youngest daughter
- Sun – Eldest daughter
- Li – Middle daughter
- Chen – Eldest son
- Kan – Middle son
- Ken – Youngest son
So while the southwest is a particular interest of patriarchs, other members of the household would have a trigram that symbolizes them as well.
For example, the east is associated with the Chen trigram. If this area of the house is afflicted by a hostile interior sha chi, then the eldest son can suffer from career setbacks and even ill-health. The same can be said of the southeast and the eldest daughter.
And if the east turns out to be a missing corner of the house, then the eldest son would really be out of luck for a long time… until the feng shui ailment is remedied.
Does that mean that every area of the house needs to be perfect?
If you can accomplish that, it would of course be ideal. But that is not always possible.
We would always need spaces for toilets, storerooms, pet areas, etc.
The good thing is that the average household seldom consist of so many family members. 8 members made up of the couple and 6 kids is uncommon in modern times.
This indicates that sectors of the house that do not represent any members can be used for toilets and such.
To delve deeper into this we can apply 8 mansions feng shui to the home.
8 mansions feng shui
8 mansions feng shui basically demarcates the layout of the house into 8 separate segments.
These 8 segments consist of 4 lucky and 4 unlucky areas.
The auspicious sectors are:
- Sheng Chi (SC)
- Fu Wei (FW)
- Tian Yi (TY)
- Yen Nian (YN)
The inauspicious sectors are:
- Jue Ming (JM)
- Hou Hai (HH)
- 6 Sha (6K)
- 5 Ghost (5G)
For a house that faces southwest, it would be sitting northeast. Therefore, the below natal chart can be applied to a southwest facing house.
From the above illustration, it can be observed that the front central area of southwest is the SC area and this makes it ideal to locate the main door into the premises.
It would then be ideal for the living room to be located at the southwest as well so that the main door opens right into it. This enables auspicious energy to enter the house and spread throughout the interiors.
It would also be fine for the living room to take up part of, or the whole, space at the west as this is a favorable area as well.
Bed rooms can be located in the northwest and northeast where TY and FW are situated.
The kitchen is an interesting area of the home according to 8 mansions theory. It states that the kitchen should be in an area that is recognized as an inauspicious area. So it can be located at any of the 3 unfavorable sectors.
Is it good or bad?
If this is an apartment that we are talking about, with the main door at the back of the unit rather than the front, then it is also alright if the main door is situated at the northeast or from the side at the northwest.
To add some refinement, we should then bring flying star feng shui into the equation.
Flying star feng shui
Like 8 mansions, flying stars feng shui serves to identify good and bad areas of a house.
But it is not as straight forward as 8 mansions as it auspicious and inauspicious areas are determined by the nature of stars and their combinations.
Let’s carry on with the example to help you see this more clearly.
If the house was built during the period of 8 and faces southwest directly, it would have the below natal chart.
A look at this chart would throw a spanner into the works of what 8 mansions has stated earlier.
This is because the southwest and west are not ideal areas for the main door due to the presence of unfavorable water stars shown on the right of their respective grids.
With reference to the 4 auspicious sectors identified by 8 mansions, flying stars only agrees with the northeast and northwest as good locations of the main door. This can be observed by the lucky stars on the top right of their respective grids.
With this in mind, if we are to find harmony between the two schools of thought, then a landed house might need to locate the main door at the northwest. While an apartment which commonly has the main door at the back would of be fine if the door is at the northeast…
… at least that’s what it looks like on the surface…
Because if you are well versed with flying stars feng shui, you should be able to identify this natal chart for a south west facing house is the parent string which belongs to a special category of auspicious energy maps.
So you can go ahead with the suggestions of 8 mansions to harness the full feng shui potential of such a house facing southwest.
In addition to this, there is an all-conquering rule of feng shui called the direct and indirect spirit.
This states that during the period of 8 until 2024, houses with mountains in the southwest and water at the northeast would enjoy unrivaled good luck.
For this house, it would imply that if the facing of the house has a mountain view and the sitting has a water view, the magic of the direct and indirect spirit would be triggered to bestow the residents with good luck and blessings.
A period of 8 house with a facing of direct southwest do look like it has the potential to bring abundance.
However, remember that remedies must still be put in place to subdue the bad stars of 2, 3, 5, and 7.
And finally, do take note of where the west sun is as it can be a source of sha chi as well.
