Feng Shui Applications
in the Southern Hemisphere

John Mausolf
June 1999

Great controversy continues to surround the subject of whether or not changes are necessary for applications of Feng Shui in the Southern Hemisphere. We shall examine this controversial subject here with a minimal amount of technical Feng Shui jargon in order to avoid confusing the perceptions. We will just use plain and simple logical thought and a few diagrams to make it easier to understand.

First though, we need to understand some basics of Feng Shui and what it is actually based upon.

Primarily, Feng Shui is based upon a template known as the Luo Shu.

Luo Shu

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  • The Luo Shu is a magic number square, with any line adding up to 15 in any horizontal, vertical, or diagonal direction.

  • The Luo Shu is a representation of the energies of the universe through the recognition of stellar bodies and phenomenon (some tangible and some intangible) and how they interact with our planet Earth.

  • The methods for working out ones auspicious directions known as the Ming Gua are based on the Luo Shu.

  • The methods for working out a homes intrinsic/fixed energies, known as the Ba Zhai or 8 Houses, are based on the Luo Shu.

  • The methods for working out the changing energies/astrology of a home, known as the Flying Stars or Xuan Kong, are based on the Luo Shu.

  • The Luo Shu is universal in it's application to Feng Shui, not localized.

  • The Luo Shu is a map of the energies of the universe and displays how they interact with the planet Earth. We do not need to change any of these workings for the Southern Hemisphere.
    • Using the planet Mars as an example in reference to the second point above, Mars will remain where it is regardless of our position on this planet and regardless of whether we are in the Southern or Northern Hemispheres. It is absurd to think that by stepping over the Equator Mars suddenly zips a couple of million miles across the Universe just for us humans.

    There is no convention or invention of man that can change the Luo Shu.

    Now we will examine the Ba Gua.

    The Ba Gua is a simplified template of our local energies.

    The Xian Tian Ba Gua was the original Ba Gua. The order was rearranged by King Wen many years ago to depict the localized area in Central Mainland China so that the common folk could refer to it as a guide of when to build, when to plant crops, etc. This revised diagram demonstrated how to co-exist with nature so as to ensure the survival of the kingdom.

    King Wen's adaptation became known as the "Later Heaven Sequence", the Hou Tian Ba Gua.

    Now, if King Wen could adapt the Ba Gua, why can't we? He was a mere mortal just like us, and not a God after all.

    Let us look at the Ba Gua and see if we can use one Ba Gua for the Northern Hemisphere and another for the Southern Hemisphere.

    Here we have the Later Heaven BaGua displayed as a nine square grid for simplicity and including elemental qualities.

    Northern Hemisphere
    Ba Gua

    NW
    METAL
    N
    WATER
    NE
    EARTH
    W
    METAL
    Northern
    Hemisphere
    Ba Gua
    E
    WOOD
    SW
    EARTH
    S
    FIRE
    SE
    WOOD


    People who advocate making changes to the BaGua for the Southern Hemisphere have agreed on the following adaptation, basically flipping North to South, NW to SW, and NE to SE.

    Proposed
    Southern Hemisphere
    Ba Gua

    NW
    EARTH
    N
    FIRE
    NE
    WOOD
    W
    METAL
    Southern
    Hemisphere
    Ba Gua
    E
    WOOD
    SW
    METAL
    S
    WATER
    SE
    EARTH


    So far, so good, right?

    Well, let us look at a house that is straddled over the Equator, what do we do there? We can't just say that these houses don't exist. Look at South Africa, South America, the Pacific Islands, Asia, etc.

    We will need to take the top half of the Northern hemisphere version (as the top half of the home is in the Northern hemisphere) and the bottom half of the Southern hemisphere version (as the bottom half of the home is in the Southern hemisphere), then meld them together so as to form a new Equatorial BaGua.

    The Northern, Southern and the resulting New Equatorial BaGua are diagramed below:

    1. Take the top of this Ba Gua...

    NW
    METAL
    N
    WATER
    NE
    EARTH
    W
    METAL
    Northern
    Hemisphere
    Ba Gua
    E
    WOOD
    SW
    EARTH
    S
    FIRE
    SE
    WOOD


    2. Add the bottom of this Ba Gua...

    NW
    EARTH
    N
    FIRE
    NE
    WOOD
    W
    METAL
    Southern
    Hemisphere
    Ba Gua
    E
    WOOD
    SW
    METAL
    S
    WATER
    SE
    EARTH


    3. And we get the
    New Equatorial Ba Gua!

    NW
    METAL
    N
    WATER
    NE
    EARTH
    W
    METAL
    New
    Equatorial
    Ba Gua
    E
    WOOD
    SW
    METAL
    S
    WATER
    SE
    EARTH


    NOW WE HAVE A PROBLEM!

    Where is the Fire section? And why are there three Metal sections, two Water sections, and only one Wood section now? This complicated misrepresentation is completely unbalanced! It doesn't work, does it?

    Using Western astrological terms as an anology, it's like telling someone that they were a Libra, until they crossed the equator, but now they are an Aries.

    So even the Ba Gua is Universal in its application.

    But what about the climate and the weather?

    Some advocates of changing Feng Shui for the Southern Hemisphere talk about the weather and how the cold in the Southern Hemisphere comes from the South and not from the North like in the Northern hemisphere. They then base their entire applications of Feng Shui on this interpretation.

    Well, looking at Australia as an example :

  • In Adelaide, South Australia, the cold comes from the Southwest, not the South.

  • In Melbourne, Victoria, the cold comes from the Southeast, not the South.

  • In Darwin, the Northern Territory, they don't have a cold season, but their wet season comes from the North, not the South.
    • So if we are to make changes to the Ba Gua then we need to do it on a localised scale. In other words, we need to do it for every individual location on Earth!

    Keep in mind though, that if we do make localized changes for all the locations on Earth, we can end up with nearly 300 different variations of the Ba Gua. And, how do we know where one Ba Gua starts and the next Ba Gua finishes?

    In Conclusion...

    Feng Shui, like most sacred knowledge, is Universal in application.

    Regardless of location on the planet, whether Northnern Hemisphere, Equator, or Southern Hemisphere, the compass remains constant. Regardless of location on the planet, the Ba Gua must remain constant. Regardless of the relationships of elements to the seasons, the Ba Gua must remain constant.

    We do not need to make any changes to the Ba Gua for correct application of Feng Shui regardless of where you are going to apply it on our small planet.

    We can examine the qi of the universe, but we cannot change it. We can examine aspects of the sun, planets and stars of our solar system, variations of global climates, variations of hemispheric seasons, and variations in the directional movements of water in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, but this still cannot change the properties of qi.

    Alteration of the Ba Gua is a recent modern convention which undermines the philosophy of Feng Shui.

    John Mausolf, © 1999, All Rights Reserved