The Eight Trigrams (Ba Gua) are among the most fundamental symbolic structures in Chinese metaphysics, and this section is the place to learn them properly. A trigram is a three-line figure — each line either broken or unbroken — and the eight together encode the basic forces of nature, direction, family and human life that a feng shui reading keeps returning to.

The eight figures

Each trigram has its own article, and each follows the same order: the image it is drawn from and the deeper meaning behind it, the direction and season it governs, the family member and body part it is associated with, the sector of a home it rules, and the personal qualities it describes. Qian (☰) is Heaven and the Creative; Kun (☷) is Earth and the Receptive; Zhen (☳) is Thunder and the Arousing; Xun (☴) is Wind and the Gentle; Kan (☵) is Water and the Abysmal; Li (☲) is Fire and the Clinging; Gen (☶) is Mountain and Stillness; and Dui (☱) is Lake and the Joyous.

Why the trigrams carry directions

The trigrams are what let a floor plan be divided at all. Because each one is tied to a compass direction, a family member and a set of life areas, laying the Bagua map over a home turns eight abstract symbols into eight sectors you can actually live and work in — the relationship sector, the wealth sector, the career sector and the rest.

Use them alongside the Five Elements: a trigram tells you which part of life a direction speaks to, and the element tells you how to adjust it.