Feng shui (风水 fēng shuǐ) means “wind and water.” It is the art of arranging space so that qi (氣 qì) — the vital current that moves through a room — flows well and supports the people living in it. At Butcher Boy it is treated plainly, as considered spatial arrangement and intention, not superstition and not fear-selling. If Ba Zi (八字 bāzì) reads the person, feng shui reads the room. This guide is the way in: the principles that do most of the work, and links to room-by-room detail.
You do not need to believe anything mystical to feel the difference between a room where the furniture fights you and one where it does not. Most of feng shui is exactly that made deliberate.
The Two Schools
Classical feng shui runs on two approaches, and a full reading uses both.
Form School (峦头 luán tóu) is the older, more intuitive one. It reads shapes, landforms, and the way qi flows through a space — and it is where the single most useful principle, the commanding position, lives. Most practical home advice is Form School, and it is universal: no birth data required.
Compass School (理气 lǐ qì) uses the luopan (罗盘 luó pán) compass and direction-and-time formulas — the Eight Mansions (八宅 bā zhái) personal directions and the Xuan Kong Flying Stars. This is the personalised, computed layer.
风水 · Feng Shui
Find your lucky directions. Plot your chart free and see your feng shui Kua number and the directions that favour you — computed in your browser.
>The Commanding Position
If you learn one thing, learn this. Place what matters most in a room — your bed, your desk, your stove — so that you can see the door without being directly in line with it. Diagonally opposite the entrance is ideal; a solid wall behind you; not directly under a window; not with your feet pointing straight out the door. The commanding position answers most questions about beds and desks before any compass comes out. It is the backbone of our guides to bed placement and the home office.
The Bagua Map
The Bagua (八卦 bā guà) lays eight life areas over your space: career (N), knowledge (NE), family (E), wealth (SE), fame (S), love (SW), children (W), and helpful people (NW), around a grounding centre. It tells you which corner governs which part of life, so a “cure” — a plant, a colour, a clearing-out — can be aimed. Two traditions exist: the classical compass Bagua fixed to true directions, and the Western (BTB) Bagua aligned to the entrance. We name which we use rather than blur them.
The Five Elements
Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water move in cycles — one feeds the next (Wood feeds Fire, Fire makes Earth), and one controls the next (Water puts out Fire). Feng shui balances a space by adding or draining an element through colour, shape, and material. These are the same five elements used in Ba Zi, which is why the two arts sit together so naturally. It is the basis of our guide to feng shui colours.
Your Personal Directions (Kua)
The Compass layer gets personal through your Kua number (本命卦 běn mìng guà), computed from your birth year and sex. It sorts you into an East or West group and gives four favourable directions — for success, health, relationships, and stability — to face or sleep toward. You can find yours instantly: plot your chart in the Butcher Boy app, which now shows your Kua number and lucky directions alongside your Ba Zi. The application to sleep is covered in bed direction.
Room by Room
The principles land differently in each room. Start with the space that is troubling you.
Bedroom — where feng shui matters most, because you are still and vulnerable in sleep. See the feng shui bedroom guide, plus layout, colours, mirrors, and the mistakes to avoid.
Living room — the social heart of the home; seating in command, open flow. See the living room guide and its layout.
Home and entrance — how qi enters and travels. See whole-home layout and the front door, the mouth of qi.
Office and desk — for focus and standing. See the office guide, desk placement, and the home office.
Kitchen and bathroom — the nourishment and drainage of the home. See the kitchen and bathroom guides.
Wealth, Colour, and Cures
Beyond rooms, a few themes recur. The wealth corner is where to concentrate abundance intention; plants and flowers bring living Wood energy; mirrors move and double qi for better or worse; and colour carries the elements into every room. None of these are guarantees — they are adjustments that make a space work with you rather than against you.
Where Feng Shui Meets Ba Zi
Feng shui and Ba Zi are two halves of one practice. Your Ba Zi chart shows your favourable elements; feng shui brings more of them into the spaces you live and work in. The most useful first step is to know your own chart — plot it free with the Ba Zi calculator, which also tells you which elements to lean on. When a home carries real stakes — a move, a business, a difficult year — a personal reading weighs the chart and the space together. Cut through fate, one well-arranged room at a time.