The fire element has become associated with the direction of south for a variety of reasons; originally Fire was just the polarity of Water in the North/South axis and a way to express the magnetism of the North and South poles.

The South sector, which is a very comfortable anchoring direction for Li trigram people, can be used for sleeping or other relaxing activities, when practical to use. If you are the Li trigram for instance, and the south sector of your house is the kitchen, then you would not be attempting to meditate or sleep in your kitchen. However, you could sit with your back to south in whichever room is practical to do so.

The Li trigram is symbolic of the middle daughter in a family structure or a middle-aged woman in general. Li people are a little more prone to accidents or injury than illness. But the eyes and heart are also vulnerable areas for Li people. Since they can be risk takers or move fast, Li people often agree that they bump into things frequently, moving or driving fast.

All of the eight trigrams repeat perpetually every nine years. Those born in 1946, 1955, 1964, 1973, 1982, 1991, etc. are the Li trigram. The Feng Shui Solar calendar begins on February 4th or 5th, not on January 1st. February 4th/5th represents the mid-point between the December solstice and the March equinox. A person born in January of 1947 would then be considered born in 1946 and a Li person.

This is the feng shui equivalent of a zodiac sign and it can reveal personal best directions for sleeping, entering a house, sitting and working for a long period of time, facing a group to speak or sell something. Since Li people can be risk takers, maybe they can use a good personal direction for which side of the card table be on when gambling.

The Li person’s best direction for attracting wealth is the East, according to the Ba Zhai School of Feng Shui. This does not infer that a Li person should live on the East coast. It just means the direction of east, relative to the center of any given building one may be dwelling in.

A secondary wealth stimulating location for the Li trigram person is Southeast. Using a compass is essential to establish real and accurate directional points. To quote Stephen Skinner, “The lo’ pan (compass) is to feng shui what the telescope is to astronomy…you can’t do one without the other.”

For a Li trigram person, the direction of north is one which harnesses good will, likeability and trustworthiness. This direction can help the Li person be a better communicator with family members as well as with co-workers.

Within the Ba Zhai School, also known as the Eight Mansion School, the Li person is considered easterly, which means they favor the directions of North, South, East and Southeast. The West Group do better in the directions of Southwest, Northwest, West and Northeast. This understanding of how energy (qi) moves, electromagnetism and personal magnetism work together, was developed over centuries and put into practice more than several thousand years ago.

I have listed birth years for what would be considered only the male personal trigram, according to present-day Eight Mansion practitioners. The personal trigram is also referred to as a Ming Gua.

Back in the 8th century during the Tang Dynasty, a new branch of Feng Shui was created to suit the demands of the Chinese Emperor, who wanted to exploit the new version for his own political purposes. A member of his established Astronomy Bureau was assigned the task of altering some fundamental Feng Shui teachings, simplifying some applications, in addition to giving females a different personal trigram than males born in the same year.

Although this is a controversial topic, more and more classical practitioners are reverting back to the original format for determining a personal trigram, where there is no gender distinction. This has to be clarified in everything I write related to the personal trigrams because nearly all books will list separate trigrams for males and females born in the same year. And since more women than men are interested in Feng Shui these days, it is imperative to get case study feedback.

Author: Kartar Diamond
Company: Feng Shui Solutions (R) Since 1992
From the Health & Personal Matters Blog Series