Debunking Feng Shui Myths: Why the SE Corner Isn’t Necessarily Your 'Wealth' Location

Posted on March 24, 2024 by Derelle Ball

Have you ever been told to place a water feature in the Southeast corner of your home or property to attract wealth and prosperity? This piece of advice is a common one, especially for those who are just beginning their exploration into the world of Feng Shui. However, from the standpoint of Classical Fei Xing (Flying Stars) Feng Shui, this one-size-fits-all approach to determining the 'wealth' corner of a home is not accurate.

Let’s dive into the intricacies of this ancient practice and debunk this myth.

Understanding Classical Fei Xing Feng Shui

Before we delve into specifics, it's essential to understand the basics of Fei Xing, or Flying Stars Feng Shui. This method involves the movement of yin and yang "stars" (ie energies) affecting your home and property, with each energy (also known as Qi) travelling along magnetic pathways and meeting up in the gravitational centre of the building (irrespective of where the building sits on the block of land). The positioning of these stars and their interaction with the surrounding landform, combined with the construction history of a house, influences the Qi (energy) and, therefore, the fortunes of the occupants, with the yin stars connecting to health and relationship Qi and the yang stars connecting to abundance opportunity.

So, Why Not the Southeast (SE) Corner?

One size doesn’t fit all. The principle behind Flying Stars Feng Shui is that it's dynamic. Just as each person has a unique DNA, every building has a distinctive energy chart according to the time period of construction, magnetic orientation and the influence of surrounding landform. Therefore, a generalised statement that the Southeast sector is the automatic ‘wealth corner’ does not resonate with the personalised nature of this ancient practice.

In fact, in some cases, the addition of a water feature to the Southeast sector (without knowing and addressing the inherent Fei Xing energy flow and surrounding landform), has the potential to attract significant litigious and financial misfortune!

The idea of the Southeast sector (or Southeast corner) being the automatic ‘wealth area’ arises from Black Hat Sect Feng Shui, which is a newer, more westernized adaptation developed in the US during the late 1970’s and 1980’s. It’s different from the classical methods used in Fei Xing Feng Shui.

The Classical Feng Shui Approach to Attracting Abundance Qi

The first step is to find out during which 20-year period your home was constructed or most recently significantly renovated and/or extended (while empty of furniture and occupants). Feng Shui divides time into various periods, each lasting 20 years, and each period corresponds with a specific energy chart.

Note: renovating some rooms in your home while still living there will not alter the time period of inherent energy flow. If in doubt, it's best to check with a qualified Xuan Kong Fei Xing Feng Shui professional before embarking on significant renovations or extensions to ascertain if any negative annual energy influences could be triggered and if its possible the change could initiate a whole new natal chart of energy flow and whether or not this could be beneficial or detrimental to the occupants of the home.

Using a Luo Pan Compass (or orienteering compass), you then need to determine the exact facing orientation of your home. This isn't always the direction your front door faces; it's the side of your home where the most Yang energy is generated, (and this can be in the form of a busy road, the side with the most active Yang rooms, windows and balconies, the architectural face of the building and/or the side which has the most expansive view or a large expanse of water in the external landform).

In some cases, there can be competing facing orientations for a building or apartment and when in doubt, careful observation of the slope of land and surrounding landform and determining the side with the most Yin energy (which is almost always directly opposite the true Yang side) can help you work it out.

Once you have the correct time period of construction and facing orientation (measured according to Magnetic North and NOT Map North), you can plot the natal chart for your home. This chart will indicate which yin mountain star, time star and yang water star occupy each compass sector (remembering that each compass sector begins in the gravitational centre of your home and extends to the boundary lines of your property, like 8 big pieces of pie).

When looking at a Flying Star Natal Chart for a home, you will see 3 numbers in each compass sector. The number on the far left is the mountain star energy (affecting the health and relationship Qi of the occupants), the number in the centre is the time star connecting with the Time Period of construction and the number on the far right is the water star energy (affecting the abundance potential).

If you’d like to give it a go yourself, here’s a link to a Flying Star calculator you can use once you have determined the true facing orientation and time period of construction for your home:

Note: the Replacement Stars feature is only applicable if your home happens to face a direction that is on the dividing line that creates 2 completely different charts. This is more advanced Feng Shui and not within the scope of this article, suffice to say, if this is the case, there are usually indicators in and around your home and via the occupants demonstrating confused and inconsistent energy flow. Homes of extreme hoarders often fall into this category, although a true Replacement chart is still quite rare, with the energy flow often being drawn towards one side or the other over time.

Generally speaking, if you add a water feature such as a dam, pond, pool or fountain to the location of the ruling time period Qi and future ruling time period Qi in the surrounding landform, you will be connecting with timely energy that can attract abundance opportunity to the household. For example, during the Period of 9 (from 4 Feb 2024 until 3 Feb 2044) the ruling wealth Qi is the water star 9 and the future wealth Qi is the water star 1.

A lot also depends on how you want to use the Qi for wealth. For example, a medical practice can productively use the Qi of the water star 2 to attract sick patients to their business and a law firm can productively use the Qi of the water star 3 to attract litigious work to their business. There are also many methodologies for fine tuning this further depending on the location and orientation of external doors, whether or not the doors face towards a timely Zheng Shen Hexagram, and whether or not you can facilitate beneficial communication between the facing Hexagram of the door, the Hexagram of an activated water mouth in the surrounding landform and the day or year of birth Hexagram of the owner(s) of the property.

It also helps to activate a beneficial water star energy in a suitable location during a favourable time frame according to Date Selection while also avoiding excavation in a location currently affected by a negative annual energy influence that could trigger misfortune if disturbed.

When applied correctly, advanced Feng Shui Water Methods such as Xuan Kong Da Gua, 3 Shan Shui Long Fan Gua, Pure Yin Pure Yang and various other San He applications can fine tune the exact placement of a ‘water mouth’ to attract the most beneficial source of abundance Qi.

While the allure of a quick fix or one size fits all remedy is strong, understanding and respecting the complexities and nuances of Feng Shui can yield more accurate and potent results.

So, instead of assuming the Southeast sector or the far-left corner of a room is the definitive 'wealth' spot, consider consulting with a professional who is well-versed in Classical Fei Xing Feng Shui, San He (landform) and advanced Feng Shui Water Methods. This way, you'll be tapping into a more precise, tailored, and effective approach to harmonizing and enhancing the energies affecting your home without accidentally activating a financial misfortune energy in the process.

Australian Feng Shui Master, Derelle Ball can help you enhance the health, wealth and nurturing Feng Shui potential of your home with a detailed user-friendly Feng Shui Report. For further information click: Off-Site Residential Feng Shui Consultation.

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