Without action, you aren’t going anywhere. – Gandhi
Are you familiar with the Lo Shu (洛書) or “magic square”? There is a number of tools used to assess your environment’s energy for Feng Shui purposes. The bagua is well known and covered in a previous blog. Another powerful tool is the Lo Shu Magic Square, which I also recommend be part of every Feng Shui enthusiasts’ toolbox. Read on to learn how to Boost Energy with the Lo Shu Magic Square.
History of the Lo Shu
The Lo Shu Magic Square predates the bagua and the compass as a feng shui assessment tool. Its origination goes back approximately 3 millennia when a massive flood occurred in China. Ancient literature mentions that after the flood a turtle surfaced with an unusual square design/grid on its shell. The grid, which became known as the “Lo Shu” had the following features:
- The grid was 3 x 3, with 9 squares total.
- Each square had circular dots, representing a number.
- The summation of the numbers of each diagonal, row, or column on the grid equals to 15, which happens to be equivalent to the number of days within a cycle of the Chinese Solar calendar (there are 24 cycles total each year.)
After its discovery the magic square was adopted by individuals to predict and prepare for events such as flooding.
Today the magic square is still widely used in traditional or classical schools of Feng Shui for energy mapping.
Application of the Lo Shu to boost energy
If you want to practice authentic Classical or Traditional Feng Shui, then it’s good to understand the origins and history of the bagua, as well as its predecessor, the Lo Shu magic square.
In layman terms, the magic square is basically a numerical representation of the bagua. Each number represents a trigram, life aspiration, color, direction, and so forth.
The magic square can be placed as an overlay on a layout of a home, office, or landscape to assess the space and to boost energy. As with the compass and bagua, the Lo Shu has its North on the bottom. Keep in mind, however, that North is North no matter what part of the globe you are in. The same case applies to the South direction.
The magic square can even be used for more advanced Feng Shui practices, including assessing an environment annually, monthly and daily based on time, or for numerology and fortune telling.
Final Thoughts
I am often ask whether the bagua or the magic square is a better tool. At the end of the day, it really depends on your preference and which school of feng shui you practice.
I have personally found both the bagua and the magic square to be great tools in assessing my home and office spaces. Once you know learn more about the bagua and the magic square, you can easily decide which tool to use, or maybe even both?
