GETTING THE FACING DIRECTION OF A HOME (Part I)

Determining Your House’s Facing Direction

 What you need:

• A reliable compass

• The frontage of the house (identified)

 So what compass to use?

Most people do not own, use, or even know how to use a compass. Outdoors adventurers or enthusiasts usually do and know the benefits of using one, although not necessarily in all cases. Of course, it depends on each individual’s habits or common sense. Anyway, what I am going to show you here is one of the simplest uses of this tool, which is to get a direction using a specific location as the reference point.

Feng Shui Practitioners normally use a Luo Pan, which was specially created for Feng Shui work. The Luo Pan compass varies dramatically in price. They can go from just a few dozen dollars up to a few hundred in price, depending on the material which it is made of, the quality, the artistry, and the complexity or the working details/capability of the piece, among other factors.

Since I am just showing a beginner how to get a house’s facing direction and it is not my intention at this point to go into any depths of this science, so using a regular compass will be good enough to get the job done.

It is important though, that the compass is accurate and fully functional, as getting an incorrect reading could end up in a big problem in many ways. So it is a favor that you do to yourself to get a reliable compass.

I suggest that you visit an outdoors adventure or sports store such as REI (www.rei.com) or even Campmor (www.campmor.com) if you need to find a good compass. These are only outdoor products based retailers in where I normally shop and which I am familiar with, but any other store that carries quality compasses that you know of must be used as a source. The benefit of investing in a quality compass is also because you will thank yourself later for carrying one when you head out for a hiking trip. To add to the statement, it also encourages you to learn how to use it if you do not already know, as it can turn out to be an invaluable asset! 

Identifying the frontage of the house: 

Although it seems to be a very easy procedure, determining what direction a house faces can be very challenging. Getting an incorrect facing direction can result in an incorrect analysis and later on, in unpleasant, even disastrous outcomes. If the purpose of Feng Shui is to tap into the good Qi and to avoid the bad ones that are present in an environment, getting the correct facing of a building is crucial.  

There are important factors to consider such as, that where the main door is located does not always determine the frontage (or facing) of a house, or that sometimes, what we think to be the frontage of a house may not be the front side, at least in the Feng Shui point of view.

For example, what we think to be the frontage of a house could not be so if the opposite side, in this case, the back of the house, has a stunning view of the ocean or of a beautiful lake or even looking at a golf course. That side (the back) of the house could most likely be considered the facing side of the house, not the other way around. It may not apply in all the cases as these are only examples, although it is most likely to be so in most cases.

There are things to take into consideration when it comes to finding the facing side of a house. One of them is to identify which is the side exposed to the busiest street or road. That should be the facing side of the property. Another thing to consider is that there are internal features in a house that help to determine its facing side, such as the living and family rooms. These are normally located at the front side of the property.

Now that you have a reliable compass and have identified the correct frontage of the house, let’s get started with the reading!

Go to Part II for the next set of steps.