What is a cardinal direction? The cardinal directions are directly North, South, East, or West. And in the Flying Star School of Feng Shui, we are referring to exactly the middle section of North, South, East, and West and after the magnetic declination has been adjusted to the local area.
We have 24 possible directions a house can face which each have 15 degree increments. Each of the eight major directions has 45-degree range. The 24 possible directions are the major directions divided up into three different 15-degree increments. For the direction of Southeast, for instance, we have SE-1, SE-2 and SE-3. It is the middle range of “2” which is exactly in the center of the whole direction’s boundaries. And all of these directions are relative to the center of the house or building.
The “sub-cardinal” directions are Southeast, Northeast, Southwest, and Northwest. Now, to be clear, there is nothing good or bad about any direction! In spite of what you may have heard about “north” being unlucky or “south” being especially lucky, these distinctions have more to do with associations made in Chinese culture, than they do with an actual feng shui analysis. Any feng shui practitioner who promotes this myth has not received a good education.
With the cardinal directions, dead-on North is related to the Rat in Chinese astrology. Dead-on East is related to the Rabbit, dead-on South is symbolic of the Horse and dead-on West is associated with the Rooster. Houses which face these directions can be great houses, but they could have two issues to deal with that is unique from the sub-cardinal directions.
Firstly, if the house faces south, it sits (backs up) to north. With the other cardinal directions, the same circumstance exists. A house facing the Rabbit direction of east will “sit” in the back direction of West (Rooster), as another example. We actually identify houses based on their “sitting” direction and SOME PEOPLE will not be compatible with the house they live in based on this. For example, a house that faces East-2/Sits West-2 has the Rooster energy (the backbone of the house) being very influential. And the Rooster opposes the Rabbit. We can say then that if a Rabbit person lives in a Rooster sitting House, they may find themselves drained physically or financially. It is only the houses aligned exactly with the cardinal directions which are going to create this circumstance.
A house that sits South-2 is in the Horse position and since Rat and Horse are in Opposition to each other, a Rat person living in a “Horse” house may also feel an extra layer of struggles or discomfort. This is not the end of the world as there are numerous things to consider in a comprehensive analysis. Hardly ever is there a “perfect” house. The houses which sit or face the SUB-cardinal directions are in between the twelve zodiac signs and they are exempt from having that situation occur with any occupant.
Another situation which occurs with the cardinal directions is that once every 12 years, that house will be “sitting” in the same direction associated with the Chinese year. That would be a lousy year to remodel or build a house to sit in that direction, attracting more problems to the building project.
Not every house has a front door smack in the middle of the facing wall, but many do. And when that occurs, it also means the occupants will have to endure a cycle where their front door is in the “tai sui” direction for the year, coming and going through a negatively charged area. For example, in 2017, the Rooster is the Tai Sui direction for the year. People who have an entrance in a West-2 Rooster sector might be advised in that year to use another entrance, if possible. As well, the directly opposing direction can be problematic as well. These are the kinds of issues I forewarn clients about in their annual update reports.
These cardinal directions do span a 15 degree-range. But there is yet another, even more precise possibility, which is if the house sits right on the degree that splits the direction in half. This would be 0 degrees North, 90 degrees East, 180 degrees South or 270 degrees West. What is written about these houses is that they can more easily be portals to other dimensions. What is written about them is that they could make good churches or temples, but not necessarily be great for daily living….unless of course you need a personal portal in your home! When it comes to feedback about portals, not everyone is aware of them. So, this is something that cannot be easily verified, such as the impact of the flying stars.
Author: Kartar Diamond
Company: Feng Shui Solutions ®
From: Kartar’s School of Traditional Feng Shui ®
