The Ba-gua: An Essential Tool for Transforming Your Home

Feng shui utilizes an octagonal pattern known as the "ba-gua," which divides our lives into eight sectors called "gua." Each gua represents a certain area or sphere of activity - marriage, career, children, health, et cetera. If you look at the border of the ba-gua you'll see that it's illustrated with three-lined figures called "trigrams." These are linked with the three-thousand-year-old Chinese oracle known as the I Ching or "The Book of Changes."

In the center of the ba-gua is the yin-yang symbol we talked about earlier, signifying balance. You will find an example of a ba-gua on page 8, which you will need to refer to from time to time. Each gua is also associated with a part of the body, a color, and other things we?ll discuss later.

The ba-gua can be thought of as a feng shui blueprint. It is the essential tool in feng shui. As you read this book, you'll use your ba-gua again and again. Soon it will become an old friend. The first step in analyzing any environment is to superimpose this diagram over the room, house, office building, plot of land, or even an entire city to determine which portions of the space or environment relate to which areas of life. "Good luck" or "misfortune" are indicated by the strength or weakness of the ch'i in certain sectors.

If problems exist in a specific gua, you can correct them and thereby invite good fortune into your life by using feng shui. For instance, if you want to increase your income, you'll enhance the "wealth" sector of your home and/or workplace; if you hope to attract a love relationship, you?ll emphasize the "marriage" gua. As you read this book, you'll learn many easy, inexpensive ways to correct problems and improve your life.