Determine the cardinal directions by the sun
It happens that while traveling you lose your compass and map, and the terrain is unfamiliar. To get to the nearest settlement, you need to know which way to go. How to determine the cardinal directions without a compass? In fact, there are a lot of such methods, the main thing is to be able to use them and use your powers of observation.
Method number 1. Using the compass online
To determine the location of your apartment relative to the cardinal directions, and also to understand where the windows of your room face, you can use the online map from Google below.
This map with cardinal directions works correctly with the Google Chrome browser and other browsers based on the Chromium core, but when working with Firerox the resource has problems.
The operating principle of this service is as follows. There is a large compass on the screen, you just need to find your city on the map, and then your house, and in accordance with the compass image (N - north, S - south, W - west, E - east) see which side of the world you are facing the windows of your home are directed. Then, in relation to this, you can understand how correctly you are sleeping.
Feng Shui believes that if your head is positioned on:
- North - this helps the development of intuition;
- Northeast - will help in scientific activities;
- East – guarantees a restful sleep;
- Southeast - will help in developing determination;
- South - will give fame and reputation;
- South-West - will give help in Love;
- West - bestows fertility;
- North-west - will ensure true friendship.
The position of the human body during sleep according to Feng Shui is very important
How to find cardinal directions without a compass using natural phenomena
Sides of the world according to natural phenomena
If you observe certain natural phenomena, you can also find the right side of the world. This is a fairly subjective method, but it is often very accurate, especially if you put several factors together.
- If you observe the anthills, you will notice that they are all located on the south side of the tree. At the same time, its gentle slope is in the south, and its steep slope is in the north.
- Moss and lichen always cover the northern part of tree trunks, stones, stumps and other forest objects.
- If it’s a hot summer day, you may notice droplets of resin protruding from the south side of the coniferous tree.
- Surely everyone knows that in the spring birds head north, and in the fall – south. You can watch the mass flight to determine the direction of the world.
- Mushrooms usually grow on the north side of the tree near its roots.
- If you are in a field, you can find sunflowers. They always turn their flower to the east.
- In summer, large forest boulders are moistened from the northern part more than from the southern part.
- If you find a cut stump, you should look at the rings of its cut: they are always more inclined to the north.
These observations will help you navigate the forest in summer, spring or autumn and find the right side of the world. In winter it is worth using other methods.
Method No. 3. Watch the sunrise and sunset
As you know, our star rises in the east and sets in the west. Therefore, if you stand in such a way that your right hand points to the place where the sun rises (to the east), and your left hand points to the place where the sun sets (to the west), then north will be in front of you, and south behind you. And no online compass is needed to determine the direction of the world in an apartment.
Watch where the sun rises and where it sets
Chinese science
If you are interested in the art of Feng Shui, you probably know that for well-being in life you need to activate certain areas in your home. Let's find out how to determine the cardinal directions in an apartment according to Feng Shui. But first, let's remember the location of each zone. South – fame, self-realization. North is a career. East – family and health. West – children and creativity. Southwest - love and marriage. Northwest - patrons and travel. Southeast - financial success. Northeast - wisdom. Now you can move on to the calculations.
Bagua
This method is the easiest. You just need to draw a Bagua diagram on cardboard and cut it out. You can also use a ready-made diagram from the Internet. Draw a floor plan of your apartment using a similar scale to the diagram. Do you remember where your windows face? The bagua will need to be turned into a mirror image. For example, if the windows face west, the wall with windows on the apartment plan must be connected to the east on the Bagua diagram.
Method number 4. Use a regular needle to determine the part of the world in the apartment
This method involves using a regular magnetized needle instead of an online compass. To do this, you will need NOT a metal bowl with water (or oil), or some kind of floating material (for example, a piece of wood, polystyrene foam, a piece of bark, etc.). And also a pre-magnetized ordinary small needle (instead of a standard magnet, you can use ordinary scissors with which you can magnetize the needle). Place a buoyant material (for example, a leaf) on the liquid in the vessel, and then place a magnetized needle on this buoyant material.
The needle will turn its sides north-south. You can see what it looks like in this video.
Orientation using Google Maps
The simplest and fastest solution so as not to bother with a bunch of programs and devices on your laptop. Although if we are talking about a compass in a smartphone, then the task would be generally elementary (we’ll tell you more at the end of the review)
- Go to the official website of the service (in a computer browser or from a phone);
- Using the search bar we find the desired address:
Related article: Cost of painting wooden windows
- By default, North is at the top, South is at the bottom, East is on the right, and West is on the left. But this is not enough, because if you are indoors, it is difficult to figure out which side the windows face;
- For more information, click on the yellow man symbol in the corner to display routes and panoramic viewpoints:
- Select a point or line that is as close as possible to your object, and after loading the photo, you need to visually find it, and then look at the red compass arrow (it points to North):
Method No. 5. We use mobile applications
For mobile gadgets, there are a sufficient number of applications that demonstrate a digital semblance of a compass on user smartphones and can set part of the light in your home. This can be “Compass 360 Pro Free” (Android), “Compass” (Android), “Compass” (iTunes), “Free HD Compass” (iTunes) and other analogues. This mechanism works due to the magnetometer, accelerometer, gyroscope and GPS navigator built into the phone, allowing you to fairly correctly display the location of parts of the world.
The Compass 360 Pro Free mobile application will show you the location of parts of the world
By the anthill
The anthill is another natural compass, guided by which there are no problems regarding determining the cardinal directions. If you find yourself in the middle of a forest, you don’t have a compass, and you don’t know the way back, then you need to go in search of an anthill that will help you avoid difficult situations. Wild anthills are not entirely proportional; if you look closely, you can see one of the most convex sides and which part this structure tends to. These aspects need to be paid attention to during orientation.
The love for the warmth of these insects can also help humans. The side of the anthill that protrudes the most is located in the southern part of the hemisphere. Knowing that the hump with the greatest convexity is located in the South, navigating the anthill becomes a simple task. The main thing in this process is attentiveness and the ability to observe the processes occurring in nature.
Method number 6. Use a regular watch
If the day is sunny and the sun is shining through your window, then point the hour hand of the clock towards the sun. Now if you divide the angle between 12 o'clock and the hour hand in half, then the resulting middle will point south.
Determine where south is using a clock
How to correctly measure Qi for Feng Shui in a house/apartment (+ video)
This question is one of the most important points in the science of Feng Shui. Incorrect measurement - incorrect calculation - incorrect conclusions - EVERYTHING is wrong!
Therefore, if you want to make or use anything in your home according to the principles of Feng Shui, correctly taken measurements is your first action that is worth mastering.
Even though this is quite a difficult question, with precise instructions it is doable.
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WHY IS ACTUAL MEASUREMENT IMPORTANT?
Feng Shui is about real energy, quite physical, albeit invisible. The Earth is, in principle, a magnetic body, and the energy in different parts of it is heterogeneous. And we need to find out the real, real energy that comes into the house.
Therefore, only real measurements can give us an accurate result.
Why is a map or Google and Yandex not suitable?
Well, it’s probably not news to anyone that the earth is round. At the same time, the map is flat. This is where the main problem lies: the sphere was stretched onto a plane, and distortion began.
When you look at a map (paper or electronic - it doesn’t matter) - you think that exactly at the top is North, and if you draw a vertical line, it will show the exact North, 0 degrees. But that is precisely why it is not so. This is true only very close to the equator.
This deviation has a term - magnetic declination, an amendment that shows the difference between the magnetic compass readings and the true direction north at a given point on the earth's surface.
And sometimes it can be a couple of tens of degrees. Therefore, even if you see on the map that your house is located exactly on the cardinal points, taking such a degree, you risk getting the wrong picture.
Why can’t you measure with a compass on an iPhone or other phone?
How accustomed we are to the fact that our phone has everything - sometimes without thinking about what exactly is there!
It is impossible to fit a real magnetic compass into any phone. If only because the needle of such a compass is extremely sensitive to metal. And guess what the phone is made of?!
Therefore, what the program on the phone can do is correlate the phone’s location via GPS with a map, and give this value as real.
And, I think, it is worth recalling that GPS is often unstable, which, for example, can be observed when using a navigator - but there is no warning about this. And this, of course, is not in favor of an accurate result.
A few more words about magnetic declination:
Some try to use a map's degree estimate taking into account magnetic declination, arguing that this is an accurate formula.
Well, firstly, the exact definition of magnetic declination looks like “the angle between the geographic and magnetic meridians at a point on the earth’s surface, which shows the difference between the magnetic compass readings and the true direction of north at a given point on the earth’s surface in a given historical era.”
The last part is very important. Yes, yes, magnetic declination changes over time, and there is an interesting model here, as it happened in 1590-1990.
Secondly, there are local reasons that can affect energy, and no mathematical formulas will help here. And this is especially true of modern times, and life in cities - where there is more metal and magnetic distortions than we would like. Add the shape and quality of the door material, which can also destabilize energy, and we get too many conditions that will turn such data into roulette.
Why, one might ask, make the quality of the result dependent on all these conditions, when you can simply take and measure real energy?
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So let's begin.
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1.PREPARATION
You will need:
1. Compass.
It would be ideal if you had a burst. But only the real one - souvenir poppings are nothing more than beautiful souvenirs. Anything up to 250-300 dollars can be considered fake compasses: they are simply beautiful, but the measurement accuracy is sometimes even worse than that of ordinary compasses. So if this is exactly what you have, it’s better to put it aside.
But an ordinary tourist compass will do. And, despite its simplicity and cheapness, it is an ideal tool for measuring real magnetic energy.
The first year of my practice, before purchasing the lopan, I took all measurements exactly like this. A little longer, and not as convenient - but the result is quite accurate.
You can buy it at any store that sells travel goods.
This is what it looks like. Although, there may be options.
2. Plan of 24 mountains.
This is the basic layout for almost everything related to Feng Shui. On it you can see the correspondence of the resulting degree to the cardinal points and types of energy.
It can be downloaded here. You might want to print it out for convenience.
3. Tape measure or measuring tape
Oddly enough, but the tape measure is another permanent tool of the Feng Shui master. In this case, we are not talking about a laser, but a regular roulette.
4. Solid base and pencil/marker
This could be a folder, a thick notebook or a board - something stable on which you can place the compass and comfortably hold it in a horizontal position.
5. You.
At the same time, you will also have to prepare: remove everything metal from yourself - belts, buckles. Or rather, I would even say - it’s worth dressing appropriately for measurements - eliminating all metal objects on yourself to zero.
Pull out the phone and give it all to the assistant. Or put it on a bench. In general, somehow invent something so that only you and the compass remain, and eliminate magnetic interference as much as possible.
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2. DETERMINING THE MEASUREMENT LOCATION
If you are going to measure Qi for an apartment, you will measure the door of your entrance.
Yes, yes, if this is an apartment, we go to the entrance door. We always go to the door, which is the main membrane between the house and the street. As Chinese craftsmen say: “that door on which the wind blows and the rain falls.”
And this is one of the reasons why Feng Shui does not work for some people: measuring an apartment door cannot give the degree on which everything depends.
Or rather, they don’t work for everything. For example, we measure the door to an apartment for some other techniques. But this is used very infrequently and is too specific.
Same thing if you are going to measure Qi for an office or store in an office or retail space: You will also measure the main exterior door. If there are several of them, take the one that people use most often.
If you are going to measure Qi in a private house, you will measure the main door. In this case, the main door will be the one that residents use most often.
It often happens that there is a beautiful, seemingly main door with a porch and more often on the facade, and they use another one. So, in this case, this very different one will control the energy.
The same is true if you are measuring a room with a separate entrance and there are several doors to it.
Of course, it is worth noting that if there are many doors, the Feng Shui master measures them all. Sometimes using a different door can change the natal chart of the room, and therefore radically change the fate and luck of the inhabitants of the house. How to do this, if anything, I teach here.
But for now you will be interested in the main door.
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3. DETERMINING TIME FOR MEASUREMENT
Time is also an important factor. Measurements are taken in sunlight, and the closer to midday the better. This is ideal, but not necessary: the main thing is not to take measurements when the sun is just rising and when it is already starting to set.
We also do not take measurements when there is rain or strong wind.
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4. DEFINITION OF UNIVERSAL QI
First of all, in the immediate vicinity of the house, you need to move away from the house, cars, fences, at a reasonable distance - that is, find a place in front of the facade that is free from metal objects.
You stand as parallel to the house as possible, facing the front door, place the compass on the base you took with you (folder, notebook, book, etc.) and align the red end of the arrow with the North (N) stroke. At the same time, you turn the compass itself until they are aligned.
Take your time, stand with the compass, let the needle calm down.
It is very good if before this you look at the location of the cardinal directions relative to the house on the map, and compare whether the position of the North and the direction of the arrow coincide.
This is necessary because, depending on the country of manufacture (and the hemisphere in which it is located), the colored end of the arrow may point to the South. Like, for example, Chinese compasses. But if you compare it with a map, it becomes easy to understand.
If the highlighted end of the arrow points to the North, it means that you will combine it with the N scale.
If it turns out that this direction is South, that’s also okay, it’s just a compass from the Southern Hemisphere. You either combine this end not with the North (N), but with the South (S), or combine with the North (N) the other end of the arrow that is not highlighted with color or stroke.
And you also need to remember (and then immediately write down) the number that is obtained if you draw a perpendicular from the center of the compass to your stomach. This figure is the universal degree of direction of the door of your home.
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5. DEFINITION OF REAL QI
Now you come to the door itself. It doesn’t matter what kind it is - metal or not, with a closer or an intercom.
And the first thing you do is look at the door itself, or rather, at the width of the gap between the floor and the door itself. If the door has one leaf, everything is quite simple: you will be interested in exactly the middle of this leaf.
If the door has 2 identical leaves, both of which open, this is also not difficult: this is exactly the middle between the leaves.
If the doors are not the same, it is important to see if the second one opens. Sometimes it happens that it is possible to open it, it is simply not used. And sometimes the door is just an appearance, and it is welded: that is, there is no gap between the floor and the door. In the first case, we take it into account, determining exactly the middle. In the second, we take exactly the middle of the opening sash.
That is why the easiest way to understand this is by the size of the gap, that is, to estimate the width of Qi entering the house. And determine exactly the middle: for this you just need a tape measure.
Having determined the middle, you need to measure exactly 1 meter from the bottom crack - and you will get a point, which, for convenience, you can mark with a pencil or felt-tip pen directly on the door.
This point is the central meridian, the energy in it is as stable as possible. This will be the most accurate measurement possible.
In classical Feng Shui, it is often indicated to measure at the point of the lower Dian Tian: it is located 2 fingers above the navel. But this is if it is a private house, and the door does not distort. It is often much more effective to measure any entrance door in this way, since there are a lot of people living in an apartment building, and measurements “at the navel” can be blurred.
Next, you again place the compass on the base (folder, book, etc.), so that there is a distance of 15-20 centimeters between the edge of the base and the middle of the compass. And you lean this edge against the resulting point on the door.
We always measure the door in the closed position. At least for classical Feng Shui.
Exactly the same as in the previous case - let the needle calm down and turn the compass itself until the needle aligns with North (N).
You can step away and come back again. Sometimes you have to jump away so as not to get hit in the forehead by the door when unsuspecting people come out - also an important skill). But nevertheless, the needle should calm down and begin to show one degree.
And now you need to remember (and then immediately write down) the number that is obtained if you draw a perpendicular from the center of the compass to your stomach. This number is the degree of direction of the door of your house.
Be sure to write it down.
And if you take measurements at my request, you don’t need to do anything else: you just tell me these 2 numbers.
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6. DETERMINING THE TYPE OF QI
Now pick up the 24 mountain template and find the resulting degree on the circle.
Firstly, you will find out the direction of the world: for example, east or northwest, etc.
But for marking for activations, we also need to know the mountain - this is a 15-degree sector. There are 3 of them in each direction of the world, and they are designated by numbers. For example, the cardinal direction East contains B-1, B-2 and B-3.
And there is one more important point. If the degree you received exactly falls on the border between the cardinal directions (for example, between the North and the Northeast) or between mountains (for example, B-1 and B-2), you will have to take measurements again to determine which one it is. side of the world.
It is impossible to make completely accurate measurements down to a degree with a tourist compass, so sometimes you have to measure again. Therefore, it is good to assess the degree on the spot, so that, if anything happens, do it again.
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7. ESTIMATION OF ENERGY DEVIATION
But this is not all that can be assessed.
If the first and second digits of the measurement (universal and real Qi) coincide: congratulations, you have clear, stable energy, this is the potential for very great results using Feng Shui.
You may say that it doesn't work that way. Nothing like this. I even stood in front of metal doors that did not distort one degree. There are many influences here, if you study Feng Shui further, you will find out why.
If the first and second measurement numbers (universal and real Qi) differ, but are within the same cardinal direction: this is also very good.
If the discrepancy is large (the numbers are in different directions of the world), this is a common thing for the city. Dont be upset. It's not good, but not fatal. This immediately means instability in life as an effect. And the return from Feng Shui activations may not be as strong as in houses with stable Qi. But you can live with it, and you can activate it too.
Many people live in such houses, having an unstable life. But numerous practice shows that the events in the lives of these people fully correspond to the natal energy map, built according to real Qi. Even if it is very different from the universal one.
So, in 95% of cases, the indication of the facade based on a closed door “works”. Sometimes - even if it distorts by 70-80 degrees. This can be verified, because classical Feng Shui is an impeccably accurate science: one house - one card - one destiny.
But never take universal Qi as the basis for mapping and marking. This measurement is needed to determine whether the door is distorting the Qi entering it.
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And now I can congratulate you - you have taken a hugely important step in improving the Feng Shui of your home: you took measurements! We will discuss what to do next with them in the next article - How to superimpose palaces on a floor plan.
One of the episodes of the Useful Program on Channel 31 was devoted to how to correctly measure Qi:
More of my videos on my U-tube channel
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By the way, you can use this information about which measurement is correct as an excellent indicator with which you can evaluate the quality of information from a certain specialist or on a particular Internet resource.
If the master or owner of an online resource (or book) for measuring offers you to look at where the sun rises (that’s where the east is), or measure anywhere - from an apartment to 5-10 meters at the facade of a house, or determine it using a map/Google, or measure with a compass on your phone...
In general, he offers anything, but not what is written below (with minor author’s amendments) - feel free to leave this resource and close the book - because if a person is not interested in you making the correct measurements, and for everything to work for you... What else useful can you learn from him with this approach?!
But this, of course, is up to you to decide)
By the stumps
Tree rings on tree stumps are a phenomenon known throughout society. With their help, you can not only determine the age of the tree, but also navigate the area. The arrangement of the rings along the entire circumference of the stump is uneven; they are closer to each other in the north, and move further apart in the south. You need to take a closer look and compare the distance between the rings. For greater clarity, you can look at several stumps and compare their rings.
Having studied this information, you no longer have to worry about getting lost, even if you don’t have a compass or other device for finding your way around. You can always arrive at the right point using only natural compasses and indicators.
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By the moon
The southern side of the world is different in that there is a full moon there. The degree of its illumination depends on the position of the Sun. During the full moon, the Earth's satellite must be behind the observer; if the location of the moon is different, then the full moon is excluded. To determine the cardinal directions using the moon, it is necessary to conceivably divide the radius of the satellite into six equal parts, and then try to understand how many of these parts are in the field of view, that is, illuminated.
After this, it is necessary to add the number of shares if the moon is increasing, or subtract them if the luminary is waning. The resulting number must be noted on the dial of the wristwatch, and then combined with the position of the satellite. Now you need to find the angle that will be between number one in winter, and between number two in summer, and look at its direction - this will be the South of the globe.