In order for a proper compass reading, well, first you need the right compass. You can get away with using the compass app on your smartphone, just make sure that it’s a reliable one. But I would strongly suggest that you use an actual compass.

So here, I have a sample layout of the first floor of a home.

First locate the main entrance.

90% of the time, the main entrance is determined by the most yang side of the house. In Chinese metaphysics there’s the Yin and the Yang energy. The yang usually means the more active side of the house, most used and has the highest foot traffic.

Be extra vigilant when taking the compass reading for your house, especially what direction your house is Facing. Unfortunately, if you get the Facing wrong, then you are going to get everything else, the placements wrong inside the house as well.

Determine which side of the house to take the reading

Okay, let’s say the house address is 123 Apple Street. The side of the house facing Apple Street, this is the facing of the building. The facing of your house. That side of the wall would be where you take the compass reading from.

So even if this is a condo, the same rule applies. Figure out the address of the condo. Find the street it is named after. That side of the condo, will be the Facing of your home.

Facing Out or Facing In?

The answer. Facing out.

• Stand squarely at the entrance of your home, the Main Entrance.
• Face out into the Street (the street that is in your Home Address)
• Take your compass reading

The Facing of the house determines the energy of the house.

Okay. So as you can see this door, is facing this side, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that this is the facing of the building, right? The door could be facing out here, but if the street is like, I had it before, if the door is facing here, but the street is here. and the facing of the building is actually here, right?

So when you determine the facing of your house, you cannot go by the main entrance. Most of the time you can, but I chose this layout for this purpose to tell you that there are many nuances in fei. So a lot, which is why a lot of the information out there in books and online, unfortunately, is. Not supportive of you because it can give you the wrong information.

Okay, so whatever the facing of the building, you note that down.

Then take out your 24 Mountain Chart for current year.

Get your annual 24 Mountain Chart when you sign up for our Annual Feng Shui Membership. Register here http://www.annualfengshui.com

So once you have the Compass reading note down the actual degree of the compass. So let’s say if it’s 103 degrees. So let’s say 103 degrees, you need to figure out which 24 mountain it falls under, in this case it is on East3.

Next, figure out which direction are the rooms at.

By this I mean ALL the rooms. Your living room, kitchen, store room, office, rooms, bathrooms, etc.

To do this, you take a compass reading from the middle of your home.

First determine the center of your home. Ideally do this by looking at the blueprint of layout of your home. That way you can be certain that you are in fact standing in the middle of your house. Then take a compass reading, it doesn’t matter where you’re facing, because the North is North. We are now determining which direction your rooms/section of your home falls under.

Once you know where’s North, superimpose the 9 Grids on your layout/blueprint.

So some of you who have been practicing Feng Shui for a while, you will be familiar with the 9 Grid. So now you can see which room fall under which direction. It’s a 3×3 grid and I’ve roughly drawn it out here. By knowing this, you can now know what energies are in those rooms based on the Annual Chart for the year.

So this is the first step when you are planning to Feng Shui your home.

To conclude:

You need 2 compass readings.

1. Facing of the building taken from the main entrance facing out
2. Room Direction taken from the center of the house

This is pretty much a general guideline on how we read the compass to determine the Facing of your house, and then determine the direction that each of these room take up in your home layout.

Hopefully this article clears up some of the confusion with regards to taking the compass reading, which is the most important key to Feng Shui success!