DOWNLOAD: The Intro Elemental Bagua Map
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the right map may be a priceless treasure map.
In teaching and practicing feng shui, I have always tried to empower people to maximize the accessibility and practicality of their home or work-space by simplifying. While most of feng shui is really common sense and students find it very intuitive to learn, it is a multifaceted discipline that works on different levels, like the interconnected translucent layering of a watercolor painting.
The Enviromancy Feng Shui Elemental Bagua Map is a tool designed to clearly present, in plain English, the ideas contained in Eastern feng shui compasses and the interpretive knowledge applied to those about what elements to place in different areas. Using this map, you can effectively apply the feng shui principles with confidence without intensive study, and you may quickly experience and witness seemingly miraculous changes.
The Bagua – literally meaning “eight” (ba) “trigrams” (gua) – is an ancient Chinese symbol representing the eight basic trigrams from the I Ching, the oracle of changes. The eight trigrams are the origin of the Bagua map, and they make up its octagonal shape.
Every time I’m stopped at an intersection I find it funny that we are told to stop by an ancient geometric shape that has for millennia represented movement and change.
Using the Bagua
In using the Bagua map, the octagon is expanded into a rectangular grid that is applied directly to architecture.
The eight trigrams also correspond to images from nature: mountain, lake, heaven, earth, flame, thunder, wind, and sea. These describe the nature of environments and their relationship with our changing lives. At the center is the yin-yang symbol, representing the dance of dualism.
The Bagua lets you work on many different levels, either separately or in combination. You needn’t learn them all to get started: You can begin by using just one aspect of the map and gradually increase your mastery over time.
Just as a palette helps a painter keep her favorite colors ready, so does the Bagua map allow you to carry an arsenal of feng shui knowledge without the trouble of memorization. All you need to know is how to apply it.
Full spectrum living
As a Western Feng Shui designer, I found it limiting to stay with the literal primary colors of Eastern feng shui so I’ve expanded their application to a diverse palette of tones. I first designed this map as a one-page support for my own practice and guidance, a sort of cheat sheet to avoid carrying a heavy reference book.
It started out as a black and white map, but quickly I realized that the difference between the color map and the black and white one is dramatic—the colors of the map have a healing effect on the psyche as you look at it and decide how to best symbolize your affirmations of growth.
The back quadrant areas have red in common: The richness of burgundy and purples highlight the Wealth area, the fiery brightness of flaming reds attract lots of attention in the Fame area, and the romantic merging of soft, white-washed reds like earthy terra cotta, luscious apricot, and delicious peach represent the Partnership area.
The front quadrant has a watery feeling. I often refer to the Knowledge area as the shallow blue-green water of a shoreline, a place of contemplative walks and new horizons. The Career area is a deep dark indigo collecting and pooling energy, and the Benefactors and Travel area has the gray reflective surface of water mirroring the sky.
The middle quadrants have natural growing colors. The Family and Personal Health area is the green of the forest and groves, and the Children and Creativity is enhanced by gentle pastels. The central Environmental Health area is golden, like our core truth of existence: ochre, brick, and earthy tones ground us and give a strong foundation to our energies.
Entrances
Orient the Bagua map from the main entrance to each space, whether it be a site, a structure, or a room. The entrance ideally opens into the central Career area or to the areas on the left (Knowledge) or right (Helpers). Entrances should be unobstructed and completely open to unlock the full potential of each moment. Open doors are like open arms embracing occupants and guests with heartfelt welcomes and graceful exits.
Nine Life Aspirations
When the bagua is applied to the building, the front door serves as the guide for the corner-stone quadrants of the dwelling (wealth, relationships, knowledge and travel). The main floor dictates the locations of these areas on upper and lower floors.
Room by Room
However, the map is once more superimposed on each room from the position of its most frequently used door entrance. Each room will have its own set of nine life aspiration quadrants within its walls, and these may be in different locations than those of the house as a whole.
Movements and the Five Elements
Chi moves and flows like the five elements: rising like a flame; descending in the water; expanding like a tree into air, rooting and rising to the heavens; condensing and collecting in metal; gently undulating in balance with the live waveform of earth.
Our diverse life experiences correspond to five symbolic elements in nature that stimulate our inner psychology and our artificial environments also symbolize the elements. We feel most comfortable in a balanced environment with a minimum of three elements represented in any given living space indoors or outdoors. The elements’ contributing and diminishing cycles are crucial to understand—though not easily remembered or mastered, they are key to balancing an environment.
The Bagua is a treasure map to our buried potential and it is the refined distillation of a wealth of information condensed into an easily usable one-page document that can be applied to macrocosms like whole houses and microcosms like rooms and workspaces. It is a universal prompt that calls us to balance the aspects of life that we affirm in every space that we use.
Although the form of the Elemental Bagua Map is useful for everyone from a beginner to an advanced student or practitioner, the information is simplified from timeless psychological wisdom that works for all skill levels. The inspirational words in each area stimulate consideration of diverse and creative solutions to improving spaces. With this brainstorming tool you have a treasure map to organize your treasured things around you to find abundance in life.
The Advanced Bagua Map
Rhea Peake has compiled a wealth of powerful information to create the ultimate tool for feng shui practitioners on a single double-sided map. The perfect learning tool for beginners and an indispensable reference for practitioners, this advanced chart was a year in the making and its comprehensiveness is unmatched.
If you would like to obtain the full-color Advanced Elemental Bagua Map, contact Rhea.
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