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The Spellbook · Prosperity

The Spellbook · Taoism & Chinese Religion

Activating the Feng Shui Wealth Corner of a Home

How to find and tend the feng shui wealth corner of a home, by compass or by the modern bagua map, with an honest account of which methods are old and new.

  • TraditionChinese feng shui; the 'wealth corner' map is a modern form, popularised from the 1980s
  • ForProsperity, Home & hearth
  • DifficultySimple
  • Time1–2 hours
  • WhenAny time; many begin at the Lunar New Year or on the first day of a lunar month, a new beginning
Feng shui compass box from China, lacquer on wood and brass, 20th century
Feng shui compass box from China, lacquer on wood and brass, 20th centuryHiart · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons

The "wealth corner" is the area of a home that feng shui associates with abundance and the flow of resources. Keeping it clean, alive and well lit is said to let prosperous qi gather rather than stagnate. It is among the most popular feng shui practices in the world today, but the idea has two different forms, one rooted in classical compass feng shui and one devised in the late twentieth century, and it is worth knowing which you are using.

How to do it§

  1. Choose your method. In the compass method, rooted in classical practice, the wealth area is the southeast sector of the home or room, the direction of the trigram Xun (Wind, Wood) in the "Later Heaven" arrangement of the eight trigrams. In the entrance method of the modern Black Hat school, you stand in the main doorway looking in, and the wealth area is the far left corner of the home or room, whatever its compass direction.
  2. Locate the area. For the compass method, stand near the centre of the home with a compass, away from metal and electronics, and mark the southeast on your plan. For the entrance method, lay a grid of three by three squares over the plan with the door wall along the bottom; the wealth area is the top left square.
  3. Clear it. Feng shui holds that clutter blocks qi. Remove rubbish, broken objects and things you do not use. Dust and clean thoroughly, including windows.
  4. Bring in living Wood. Xun belongs to the Wood phase, so a healthy plant is the standard enhancement. Plants with soft, rounded, coin-like leaves, such as the jade plant or the "money tree", are favoured. Avoid spiky or dying plants.
  5. Add Water to feed Wood (optional). In the five-phase cycle Water nourishes Wood. A small fountain flowing towards the room or a clean bowl of water can be placed here. Change still water every few days.
  6. Use colour and symbols sparingly. Green and purple are associated with this area; gold and round shapes suggest coins. Some people add a lidded "wealth vase" or a figure of the three-legged toad facing into the room.
  7. State an intention. Many modern practitioners stand before the corner and say in their own words what they hope for, such as "May this household have enough, and use it well." This is a contemporary custom, not a classical formula.
  8. Tend it. Water the plant, remove dead leaves and keep the area bright. A neglected wealth corner is thought to be worse than none.

Origins and history§

Classical feng shui grew out of the siting of graves and houses in imperial China, and its compass schools assign the eight trigrams to the eight directions. In the "Later Heaven" sequence attributed to King Wen, the trigram Xun stands in the southeast and is associated with wind, wood, gradual penetration and growth. Merchants' handbooks and almanacs linked well-ordered, well-sited houses with family prosperity. More technical "flying star" methods calculate wealth according to the period and the facing direction of the building, and they do not fix a single wealth corner at all.

Tai Chi Pa Kua Tu, the diagram of Tai Chi with Eight Trigrams
Tai Chi Pa Kua Tu, the diagram of Tai Chi with Eight TrigramsChitto · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

The simple rule that the far left corner from the door governs wealth comes from the Black Sect (or Black Hat) school founded by the Taiwanese-American teacher Thomas Lin Yun (1932–2010). He combined elements of Chinese folk religion, Tibetan Buddhist imagery and classical feng shui. His student Sarah Rossbach introduced his approach to English readers in Feng Shui (1983) and Interior Design with Feng Shui (1987). By aligning the bagua map with the entrance rather than the compass, the method made feng shui easy to apply in any flat or room. It spread rapidly through Western books and magazines in the 1990s.

Scholars such as Ole Bruun note that feng shui has always adapted to new settings, from village graves to Hong Kong tower blocks to American interiors. Traditional practitioners often dispute the Black Hat map, however. Both approaches are presented here so that readers can see the difference.

Variations§

In Chinese shops the god of wealth (Caishen) often sits facing the entrance, and a small altar may replace a "corner". Some households place a bowl of oranges or tangerines (ju, which sounds like "luck") in the wealth area during the New Year.

Safety and good sense§

Keep fountains away from electrical sockets and change standing water to prevent mould and mosquitoes. Check that plants are safe for pets: the jade plant, for example, is mildly toxic to cats and dogs. Feng shui is a way of ordering a home with care; it is no substitute for sound financial advice, budgeting or help with debt.

Sources and further reading§