Eight House (八宅) Directions: Your Kua and All Eight Direction Scores

Eight House is a feng shui method that starts from the person, not the building. Your birth year and sex give a life gua (Kua number, 命卦, "kua"), one of eight trigrams, and the Great Wandering Year (八宅大遊年) table turns that kua into a quality for each of the eight compass directions: four auspicious, four inauspicious, each with an engine score.

What is a kua, and which group are you in?

The kua comes from the birth year, using the Start of Spring (立春) boundary and separate formulas for men and women. The eight kua then fall into two families. East group (東四命) is 坎 (north), 離 (south), 震 (east) and 巽 (southeast). West group (西四命) is 乾 (northwest), 坤 (southwest), 艮 (northeast) and 兌 (west). People in the same group share the same four good directions, though not the same ranking of them. Find your own number with the free Kua number calculator.

The ranking is pure lookup: Table 1 below is the full Great Wandering Year grid as the engine holds it.

Key facts

• The 8 kua split into an East group (坎, 離, 震, 巽) and a West group (乾, 坤, 艮, 兌).
• The engine scores the 8 qualities from Vitality (生氣) at +3.0 down to Severed Fate (絕命) at -3.0.
• The sample person, 王大明 (born 1988-03-15), has kua 震, East group.
• For kua 震 the best direction is 離 (south) at Vitality, and the worst is 兌 (west) at Severed Fate.
• In 2027 the annual 5 Yellow (五黃) star sits in 坎, the north, and Start of Spring 2027-02-04 starts that year.
• The engine cites the grid to Great Wandering Year, the 八宅明鏡 (Eight House classic) tradition.

Find your own Kua number: free calculator →

What are the eight directions worth?

The engine scores the qualities as Vitality +3.0, Heavenly Doctor (天醫) +2.5, Longevity (延年) +2.0, Stability (伏位) +1.0, Mishap (禍害) -1.0, Six Killings (六煞) -1.5, Five Ghosts (五鬼) -2.0 and Severed Fate -3.0 (method note: these are the engine's weights, not a classical table). Vitality is vitality, the strongest choice for a headboard, desk or main door. Heavenly Doctor is health, Longevity is steady support, and Stability is the calm home position.

Which direction is which for each kua?

Read across the row for your kua. The column head names the trigram and its compass direction, and each cell gives the quality and its score.

Table 1: quality and score of each direction, by life gua

Every kua has Stability in the direction of its own trigram, and the four auspicious cells in a row all lie in that kua's own group.

What is your kua by birth year?

Find your birth year and read across. The pattern repeats every 9 years. People born in January or early February before Start of Spring use the previous year's row.

Table 2: life gua by birth year, male and female

Find your own Kua number: free calculator →

What does a worked example show?

王大明 was born 1988-03-15 as a man, and the table gives him kua 震, East group. Row 震 in Table 1 reads: 離 (south) Vitality +3.0, 坎 (north) Heavenly Doctor +2.5, 巽 (southeast) Longevity +2.0 and 震 (east) Stability +1.0. His bad directions are 坤 (southwest) Mishap -1.0, 艮 (northeast) Six Killings -1.5, 乾 (northwest) Five Ghosts -2.0 and 兌 (west) Severed Fate -3.0.

In 2027 the annual flying star 5 (5 Yellow) sits in 坎, the north. For 王大明 that is his Heavenly Doctor direction at +2.5, so a bedroom or desk in the north would sit under an annual affliction in a good direction. The two are separate layers (see Flying Stars 2027). The 2027 year spirits (年神) positions are Grand Duke (太歲) at 未 (SW1, 202.5-217.5 degrees), Year Breaker (歲破) at 丑 (NE1, 22.5-37.5 degrees) and Three Killings (三煞) in the west, 232.5-307.5 degrees.

How do you apply it in an HDB flat or condo in Singapore or Malaysia?

Eight House is applied to rooms and to the entrance, so the first step is a bearing, not a mood.

1. Take the main door as the facing. In an HDB flat or condominium unit the facing is conventionally taken from the unit's main door, outward. Measure the bearing in degrees.
2. Set the bed head and the desk. Point the head of the bed toward a good direction for the sleeper, and seat the desk so the sitter faces one. A couple whose kua lie in different groups share no good direction, because the two groups use four different directions each.
3. Check the annual layer. The 2027 year starts at Start of Spring, 2027-02-04, so the 5 Yellow north sector counts from that date.
4. Enter the birth year correctly. A birth in January or early February can belong to the earlier year.

FAQ

What is a kua number in feng shui?

Your kua (Kua number) is one of eight trigrams worked out from your birth year and sex, using the Start of Spring boundary. It places you in the East group (坎, 離, 震, 巽) or the West group (乾, 坤, 艮, 兌).

What are the eight Eight House directions and their scores?

The engine scores them Vitality +3.0, Heavenly Doctor +2.5, Longevity +2.0, Stability +1.0, Mishap -1.0, Six Killings -1.5, Five Ghosts -2.0 and Severed Fate -3.0. These are the engine's own weights, not a classical table.

Which kua group am I in if I was born in January or February?

A birth in January or early February before Start of Spring uses the previous year's row. The kua pattern repeats every 9 years, and men and women use separate formulas, so enter the birth year and sex carefully.

How do I use Eight House in an HDB flat or condo in Singapore or Malaysia?

Take the main door as the facing and measure its bearing in degrees. Point the bed head toward a good direction for the sleeper. Seat the desk so the sitter faces one. Then check the annual layer.

Can a couple with different kua groups share a good direction?

No. A couple whose kua lie in different groups share no good direction, because each group uses a different set of four directions. The East and West groups have four auspicious directions each, and none overlap.

Sources and method

• Kua by birth year and sex: the engine's year table with the Start of Spring year boundary of the 子平 (classical BaZi school) calendar.
• East and West groups: the engine's grouping of the eight kua, 坎 離 震 巽 and 乾 坤 艮 兌 (method note).
• Direction qualities: the Great Wandering Year trigram line transformation, 八宅明鏡 tradition.
• Scores for each quality: the engine's own weights (method note).
• 2027 annual star and year spirits: the engine's annual chart and the 協紀辨方書 (Qing almanac manual) year spirits position rules.

Find your kua, your bed and desk directions and a score for every room in the free home tool at /fengshui, or start with the personal reading at /start.