Over three thousand years ago, ancient sages studied the landscape, hills, water, valleys and compass directions to discover the most auspicious sites for the graves of their venerable ancestors. It was then extended to the favorable planting of crops and positioning of houses. Naturally, the most favored sites were in areas of “gentle winds and smooth waters”, as opposed to harsh, stormy areas containing smelly, stagnant pools and ugly, misshapen rocks. Mathematical symbols were important and the original system of Feng Shui was based upon complex formulae.
I-Ching and Trigrams
The development of the eight trigrams is attributed to Fu Hsi, a Chinese emperor, said to have found the markings on a tortoise shell around 3000 BC. The trigram symbol is a way of expressing the various combinations of Yin and Yang forces and their respective associations. Yang is depicted as a complete straight line and Yin is a straight line broken in the middle. These are arranged in three lines combining to make a hexagram:
The Top Line - represents the duality of heaven and creation (earth).
The Middle Line - represents heaven and creation coming together to create the four seasons and the cardinal points of the compass.
The Bottom Line - represents the elements and people.
The eight trigrams are the root of the Chinese “Book of Changes” or I-Ching and combine to make sixty-four hexagrams each comprising multiple meanings, connotations and symbols. This first eight-sided arrangement was known as the “former heaven sequence” and is only used today for the siting of graveyards and holy places. Later, around 1000 BC, the trigram arrangement was transformed by King Wen, a philosopher and founder of the Chou dynasty, into the “later heaven sequence” known as Pa Kua or Ba Gua.
Pa Kua or Ba Gua
An octagonal symbol corresponding to the four cardinal and secondary directions of the compass. The middle is known as Tai-Chi and represents the Earth. Each of the nine divisions is called a “Gua” and each is represented by a trigram. Which in turn depicts other attributes including: seasons, elements, colors, parts of the body etc. In correct positioning they support each other, but poorly placed they can have the capacity to nullify or destroy each other. This is particularly true with the interaction of the elements.