To find your own star number, you must firstly write down the year that you were born say, this was 1965 then add the last two digits of this number together which in this case would equal 11. You need to reach a single digit number which obviously hasn’t happened here. So, we simply add the two digits together again to reach two.

Before explaining the next part of the process, it’s important to people who were born in January and February to find out which day of the month the Chinese New Year fell on during that particular birth year. As Feng Shui is a Chinese-based practice, the method of finding your star number must be used in such a cultural context. The Chinese New Year can fall anywhere between the 20th of January and the 18th of February depending on which side of this date you were born can mean that your Chinese birth year will be different to your conventional birth year.

For example in 2004, the Chinese New Year fell on the 22nd of January. Therefore, babies born before this date in January will still have a Chinese birth year of 2003. Until this point in the process, both females and males would have followed the same route to working out this star number but now comes the difference. Women simply add five to their single figure number and men subtract their number from ten. So, a woman upon reaching the number two would have added five to establish that her star number was seven. A man would have taken two away from ten to come to eight, his personal star number.

Now, to match your star number with one of the five elements, one is the only number related to water as is nine to the fire element and people with three or four is their star number would be wood. Number six and seven indicate the metal element then the earth for people with star numbers two, five, and eight.

Amongst many of the aspects, each star number is linked to particular directions of the compass. For example, the most harmonious direction for a star number three person would be south. In an ideal road, these persons main door would therefore face in southerly direction. Main door meaning the one that you use most often whether this be the front door or an alternative entrance. Now, not the even the keenest to Feng Shui enthusiast would suggest that you move your front door to the other side of the house if it faces the wrong way.

Luckily, there are other methods that can be applied which are far less drastic than this. First though, it’s important to find out which directions are most auspicious to you. The best direction for a star number one person is southeast. Northeast if you’re star number two and as we’ve already established, south is the most desirable for three. If your star number is four, the best direction for your main entrance to face is north. With female number five is ideally facing southeast; a male number five is facing northeast.

The Chinese believed the number five to be the most changeable of all and receives extra attention which is why it has two separate categories. A person with a star number of six is best suited to westerly directions. Number seven to northwestly bearings; number eight to southwesterly directions with the last but not least of the star number nine favoring the east.

We’ve already explored how to use a compass so you’ll hopefully know which way your main door faces. Now, you can establish if it marries up to your most auspicious direction as indicated form your star number. If you’re not one of the lucky ones, then refer to your element and its color by painting you door in this color. You can deflect any misfortune that might otherwise enter.

Element colors include black, deep blue, which are allied with water; yellow connected with earth, green and light blue with wood, red and purple with fire and the metal element is associated with white and metallic tints. The elements also have their own favorite directions which don’t necessarily match up to the best directions of people who have been assigned that particular element. For example, a water person with a star number of one would favor the southeast. However, the water element’s primary direction is in fact north.

Wood favors the east and southeast via the south, earth the northeast, southwest and the center, our metal’s directions are west and the northwest. It’s now possible to put together what you know about the elements and what you’ve already learned about your house from the magic square technique. The various locations of the rooms in your house will all be linked to the element as has just been indicated for example, rooms to the west and northwest would be linked to the metal element.

You could enhance this area by adding supporting element earth perhaps to incorporate in its color, yellow. The same would apply in order to regain balance in this area if metal’s conflicting element, fire happen to be present. There are other images and shapes that you can incorporate into your home to represent various elements such as the tortoise or wavy lines to provide the water element, a dragon or rectangular shape for wood, a phoenix bird or triangle for fire, an emperor or square for earth and for metal, a tiger or circle and oval shapes.

Adding such elements can be use to change harmful Shah Chi into positive energy while though, overdoing it can also upset the balance so you don’t have to go over board by planting your house full of Chinese ornaments. Your home might also be in the firing line from external negative energy. Remember those poisonous auras or Shah Chi. So look out for any hard, straight, and angular objects that might be pointing toward your front door.

Manmade objects are usually to play with telegraph wires, high walls and roads being particular culprits. To deflect poisonous auras you can use the octagonal Pa Kua mirror making sure it can’t direct Shah Chi at your neighboring houses. Clearly identifying your house is important to promote good career prospects and raising the second digit of a house number slightly above the first gives an uplifting ambience to the house as does a wisely chosen name for the property.

In keeping with Chinese custom, it’s wise to remove shoes on entering a home as they can transmit inauspicious energy. Remember to put them away though as you don’t want to hinder the stream of chi.

If another outer door or staircase lies opposite the entrance that you normally use then good energy can be funneled away as soon as it’s centered without being distributed thoroughly. A plant with a wind chime above can combat these problems by dispelling the chi in other directions. Plants are excellent for aiding the distribution of chi and generally create a pleasant atmosphere but they must be kept healthy. Any sign of decay indicates stagnant energy which means dried flowers are bound to.