"You
can set the compass in the center of a map
or diagram of the space you are analyzing. Or, to read the Ch'i of a
room, stand as close as you can to the middle of it. (Please remove
any metal jewelry and avoid coming too close to metal objects, because
this could adversely affect the accuracy of the reading.) Place the
Ba Gua compass in the palm of your hand and unlock the stem at the compass
base. As the dial begins to float gently, take a leisurely inventory
of your life. Concentrate on those parts of it that use more energy
and abundance. The Ba Gua will remind you of the basic life situations
(people, creativity, career, etc.) that shape your everyday experience.
The compass dial will slowly stop its movement and come to rest at magnetic
North. Now, lock the stem so that the dial is still. You can now clearly
locate the eight trigrams, or life energy fields, in the space around
you. Seeing this holistic grid should enable you to make the connection
between the energy patterns in this space and those at work in your
life. Are any sectors missing? Do any areas feel narrow or constricted?
Are any of the trigrams especially dark or gloomy? The next step is
to make the necessary adjustments. You've just had a very important
Feng Shui lesson: FROM SIMPLICITY COMES CAPABILITY.
The above directions apply to a simple interpretation of the Feng Shui
Compass School method. However, Feng Shui, like other sciences, has
numerous schools of thought and diverse theories. For the Black Sect
approach, which uses the main door as the mouth of Ch'i and the setting
point, rather than magnetic North, you can lock the compass in place
and manually turn it so that the northern trigrams point to this location.
Use the front door locations as your northern set point. The rest of
the room falls into place accordingly. When you have found the area
of the room you want to concentrate on you can turn the rotating top
ring that has a black line printed on the glass. Us this black line
to guide your directional work."