The Ming Gua (命卦) is a simple concept in 8 mansions feng shui that assigns a number from 1 to 9 to each person depending on gender and birth date.
When this gua number is determined, then it is possible to identify the different directions the subject can identify with in terms of favorable and unfavorable directions.
It is one of the most basic and most widely practiced concept of feng shui today.
This Ming Gua can often be referred to as the life star, life gua, or most commonly simply as a personal gua number.
The gua number 9 is associated with the Li trigram ☲, which is a representations of the fire element in the south.
Like the Kan gua of the north, the Li and Kan trigrams are the only ones of fire and water elements respectively. This makes them particularly unique as there are no other sources to tap on these elemental energy.
Attributes Of Gua 9
Because of the linkage to the fire element, gua 9 personalities can be passionate, warm and generous people.
They tend to be the helpful people of others as they provide resource and support to the people around them.
However, people might often get a bad first impression of those with gua 9. And once they get to know them, they find friends of gua 9 invaluable to their life. Especially in terms of emotional support.
But while people of gua 9 can provide a source of strength for others, they can be very dependent on others for success and happiness.
This is because they often be indecisive and fickle-minded. Being in a dilemma almost all of the time as if it’s a bad habit.
So they need the help of decisive people around them to make the most of their potential.
Basic feng shui
The application of the gua number in feng shui is the hallmark of Ba Zhai.
This firstly involves identifying the different directions that affect different life aspects depending on the life star of the individual in question.
For a person of gua 9, the below table describes the different directions that apply to him or her.
| Gua | SQ | TY | YN | FW | 5G | 6K | HH | JM |
| 9 | E | SE | N | S | W | SW | NE | NW |
With the above sector identified, one can then use these information to plan the space inside the house.
For example, because the 6 killings is a sector of betrayal and scandals, having it in the bedroom can bring the prospect of infidelity into a married couple’s relationship.
However for a single guy, this might be desirable as it bring about more opportunities to meet and attract others of the opposite sex.
By the same token, if a person is suffering from bad health, the Tian Yi sector would be a great location for a bedroom so that he or she would be able to tap onto healing energy while asleep.
Generally speaking, all favorable directions are suited for living spaces such as the living room, bedroom, study, library, etc.
Negative directions can be where storerooms, missing sectors, or other quiet sectors that are seldom visited. The exception being the kitchen as that would flip the unfavorable area into a favorable one.
Personal grand duke
The personal grand duke concept states that every person would have a grand duke sector represented by the zodiac direction.
For example, because the goat zodiac is located at SW1, a person of the goat zodiac would have the personal grand duke in that location. This directional sector and the sector directly opposite will then be unlucky sectors not suited for areas like work spaces and beds.
The below table shows the grand duke direction referencing the year of birth and gua number.
Male Gua 9
| Year | Grand Duke Direction |
Clash Direction |
| 1919,1955,1991,2027 | SW1 | NE1 |
| 1928,1964,2000 | SE1 | NW1 |
| 1937,1973,2009 | NE1 | SW1 |
| 1946,1982,2018 | NW1 | SE1 |
Female Gua 9
| Year | Grand Duke Direction |
Clash Direction |
| 1913,1949,1985,2021 | NE1 | SW1 |
| 1922,1958,1994 | NW1 | SE1 |
| 1931,1967,2003 | SW1 | NE1 |
| 1940,1976,2012 | SE1 | NW1 |
The personal grand duke sector and the clash sector are undesirable for the individual in question.
Generally the clash directions would be in a bigger conflict.
When placement of living spaces in these areas are unavoidable, then remedies need to be set up to manage the negative energy present so that disasters would not befall the resident.