Guest Author - Diane Kern

Our Feng Shui tour of the trigrams continues with Xun, the Eldest Daughter. Traditional Feng Shui names the eight divisions of the compass after members of the family, elements, direction and other characteristics. Each division equals 45 degrees on a compass. When looking at a building or landscape we relate our findings to the area of the bagua, or trigram, to determine what effect it will have on the occupants.

Xun is located in the Southeast portion of the compass and your house. Her element is wood and color is green. The shape associated with wood is tall and rectangular. When using wood as an element use only living wood and not the dead wood of furniture.

When the Southeast portion of your house is missing or is subject to some sort of sha then women in the family can suffer. It will also affect who ever spends the most time in this section of the house. This sector also represents relationships and creativity in traditional Feng Shui. So you must be careful to keep the area clean and free of clutter both inside and out.

Metal dominates wood so take care not to have too many metal items or round shapes in the area. Fire reduces wood. Too many red, orange or purple items in the Southeast can cause problems. The same goes for real fire in this trigram. Triangle shapes represent fire so avoid those as well.

After you have considered the above situations look into your furnishings and how you arrange your belongings in the Southeast. Is it all cluttered with stuff and books or just a general mess? If it is, what effect is it having on you? Do you have sufficient light, is the ventilation good, is your furniture well placed to allow the movement of qi? Are there any sharp corners or dying plants? What is outside? Dead trees, trash piles, high tension wires, a pool could all negatively affect the Southeast trigram.

To enhance the Southeast consider the water element. Actual water such as fountains and fish tanks must be carefully placed. All the energies of the area must be considered. If the other energies in the area, annual, monthly or period do not work with water you should avoid real water. In this case you can use wavy shapes and black or blue colors to enhance the trigram.