Bagua Home Map
Map the eight trigrams onto your home's directions and see what each palace governs, which element it holds and how to use that corner.
Map the bagua onto your home
How to use it
- Select the direction of the corner you want to work on.
- Read the trigram, element and what that palace governs.
- Use the 'use this corner for' guidance to pick the right activity or object.
What the bagua actually is
The bagua is the eight-trigram diagram from the I Ching, and in feng shui it maps the eight directions of the compass onto the nine-palace Lo Shu grid. Eight trigrams surround a centre, which is the number five and has no trigram of its own.
Each trigram is made of three broken and three unbroken lines, and each line carries a yin or yang. Read together, they describe a fundamental pattern — growth, radiance, warmth, descent, stillness, immersion, receptivity and force — and every direction inherits that pattern.
Because the bagua is a compass system, it is always relative to the facing direction of the building, not to your street. Facing a south-facing house from the north, south is still south. The diagram does not rotate with the map; it rotates with the house.
The nine palaces
Eight palaces plus the centre. Here is the full grid with what each one governs.
| Palace | Trigram | Element | Family role | Governs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North | Kan ☵ | Water | Mother | Wisdom, adaptability, career, kidneys |
| Northeast | Gen ☶ | Earth | Granddaughter | Stillness, study, concentration |
| East | Zhen ☳ | Wood | Eldest son | Growth, energy, new beginnings, liver | Southeast | Xun ☴ | Wood | Eldest daughter | Gentleness, wealth, receptivity |
| South | Li ☲ | Fire | Middle daughter | Recognition, beauty, clarity |
| Southwest | Kun ☷ | Earth | Mother | Nurturing, support, loyalty |
| West | Dui ☱ | Metal | Daughter | Joy, sociability, pleasure |
| Northwest | Qian ☰ | Metal | Father | Authority, ambition, decisiveness |
| Centre | — | Earth | — | The whole house's cohesion |
How the bagua is used in practice
The bagua is a map, not a prescription. Three ways it gets used in a real home.
- Determining the element of the house. The element of the facing direction tells you what the home fundamentally is. A south-facing house is a fire house, which means it already has strong fire energy and should be balanced with water and wood rather than more fire.
- Locating the special corners. The southeast is the wealth position for a south-facing house, the north is the fame position, and so on — these shift with the facing direction, which is why a bagua map is always drawn relative to the house.
- Assigning a purpose to each corner. The northeast is the study position, the southwest the relationship position, the north the career position. These assignments come from the flying star layer, but the bagua gives you the vocabulary to talk about the house as a whole.
To use the compass layer properly, pair this with the flying star calculator for the year and the direction finder for your bearing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a feng shui bagua map?
A diagram of the eight trigrams overlaid on the nine-palace Lo Shu grid, aligned to the compass directions of your home. It is the reference layer that every other feng shui system uses, and it tells you what each direction of your house traditionally governs.
Does the bagua map rotate with my house?
No — the directions stay fixed to the compass, but the assignments shift with the facing direction of the building. A south-facing house and a north-facing house have different wealth positions and different purposes for the same physical corner.
What is the centre palace for?
The centre is number five and has no trigram. It represents the whole house rather than one area of it. Traditionally it should be kept clear and open, and it is where a small central feature — a round table, a plant, a bowl — is often placed. Never place a toilet, a stove or a heavy storage stack in the centre of a home.
How is the bagua different from the eight mansions?
The bagua is a map of the house — it is the same for everyone living in the same building. The eight mansions is a map of the person — your kua number tells you which of those eight palaces happens to be auspicious for you. Use the bagua to understand the house and the eight mansions to understand where in it you should spend your time.