How to Find Your Kua Number and Use Your Four Supportive Directions

Of all the Feng Shui tools I use, the Kua number is the one people put to work fastest. It is a single digit, it takes a minute to calculate, and it gives you four directions you can use the same day: where to face when you work, where to point your headboard, which chair to take at the table.

Here is how I explain it to clients, including the one detail most online calculators get wrong.

What the Kua number is

The Kua number comes from a school of Feng Shui called Eight Mansions, or Ba Zhai. It links each person to one of the eight trigrams of the I Ching, and through that trigram to a set of directions. Four of those directions are considered supportive for you, and four are considered less supportive.

Your Kua number is personal. Your partner, your children and your parents may each have a different one, which is why a home can feel right to one person and slightly off to another.

How to calculate it, step by step

You need your year of birth and, for the traditional formula, whether you were born male or female. The two versions of the formula come from the classical texts.

1. Check your solar year first. The Chinese solar year begins at Li Chun, the start of spring, which falls around February 4. If you were born between January 1 and about February 4, use the previous year. Someone born on January 20, 1985 uses 1984.
2. Add the last two digits of the year, and keep adding until you have a single digit. For 1985: 8 + 5 = 13, then 1 + 3 = 4.
3. Apply the formula for your birth century:
   • Born 1900 to 1999, male: 10 minus that digit. Female: 5 plus that digit.
   • Born 2000 or later, male: 9 minus that digit. Female: 6 plus that digit.
4. Reduce to a single digit if needed.
5. There is no Kua 5. If you land on 5, it becomes 2 for men and 8 for women.

A worked example for 1985: the digit is 4. A man gets 10 minus 4, which is Kua 6. A woman gets 5 plus 4, which is Kua 9.

The January and February catch matters more than people expect. I regularly meet people who have been arranging their bedroom by the wrong number for years because they were born on January 28.

East group and West group

The eight Kua numbers fall into two groups:

• East group: Kua 1, 3, 4 and 9. Supportive directions are North, South, East and Southeast.
• West group: Kua 2, 6, 7 and 8. Supportive directions are West, Northwest, Southwest and Northeast.

Your group already tells you a lot. If you are East group and your desk faces Northwest, it may be worth an experiment.

Your four supportive directions

Within your group, each of the four directions has its own character. The classical names are Sheng Qi, Yan Nian, Fu Wei and Tian Yi. I describe them like this:

• Growth (Sheng Qi): momentum, new projects, moving forward.
• Relationships (Yan Nian): harmony with partners, family and colleagues.
• Steadiness (Fu Wei): feeling centered, clear and like yourself.
• Rest and support (Tian Yi): a calm, restful direction that feels supportive.

Use a compass app standing in the middle of the room, away from metal and electronics, for the most reliable reading.

Putting it to work at home

You do not need to rebuild your house. Start with the places where you spend the most hours.

Your desk

Try to sit so that you face your growth direction while you work. If that is not possible, any of your four supportive directions is a good second choice. Keep a solid wall behind you if you can, and avoid sitting with your back to the door. There is more on this in my guide to the home office desk.

Your bed

For the bed, what counts is the direction the top of your head points to while you lie down, which is the direction of the headboard. Rest and support, or relationships, are lovely choices here. A solid wall behind the headboard matters as much as the direction itself. I go into the details in Feng Shui Bed Placement.

The table

At the dining table, simply choose the chair that lets you face one of your directions. It is the easiest change in this whole guide, and family members can each take their own seat.

When partners have different directions

This is the question I hear most. One partner is East group, the other West group, and the bed can only go one way.

Here is how I approach it:

• Share the room, split the details. Point the headboard toward one partner's direction, and let the other partner use their directions at the desk, the table and their favorite chair.
• Take turns by priority. Whoever is going through a demanding season, a new job or a big project, might get the bed direction for now.
• Use the room layout. Sometimes the bed position is limited by doors and windows anyway, and the most important thing becomes a calm, solid placement rather than the perfect compass point.

Feng Shui should serve the relationship, never become a source of arguments.

Let the free map do the math

If you would rather skip the arithmetic, my free BaZi map calculates your Kua number for you, with the solar year handled correctly, along with your BaZi Day Master. If you are new to the chart itself, start with What Is BaZi?

Directions are one layer. In a full consultation I combine them with the facing of your home, the layout, and the first impression of your entrance, which I wrote about in Feng Shui for Your Front Door. You can read more on my Feng Shui page.

As with all of my work, these directions are a tool for reflection and a more comfortable home, not a promise of particular outcomes.