I’ve received several questions recently asking about use of the ba gua and/or ba gua mirror, and whether or not it’s “bad luck” to have one in the home.
No wonder people are confused. There are many styles of feng shui (some much more superstitious than others) and a lot of conflicting or even misleading information out there. I’m wondering if this tip, which recently appeared in someone else’s newsletter, may be why I’ve been getting ba gua-related questions lately:
“The Bagua is an all-powerful tool to ward off bad energies and poison arrows from your home, and they are expressly created to be hung at the exterior of one’s home. Do not under any circumstances hang one inside your house as a form or decoration!”
This tip was accompanied by photos of various ba guas and ba gua mirrors as though they are the same thing. But according to the contemporary style of feng shui that I practice, the advice quoted above applies to ba gua MIRRORS only, not to the ba gua itself.
A ba gua mirror is a round mirror in an octagonal frame. The frame is usually yellow or red, with black and/or green accents, marked with the eight I Ching “trigrams” arranged like this:
The ba gua MIRROR is a powerful tool for deflecting negative energy, and yes, it should only be used outside the home.
BTW: I have occasionally seen octagonal mirrors marketed as “ba gua” mirrors, but they’re not. It’s the octagonal frame and trigrams that make it a “ba gua mirror.” An octagonal mirror is just an eight-sided mirror. While the octagon itself is considered an auspicious shape because it references the ba gua, an octagonal mirror has no special qualities in and of itself.
However, the BA GUA is not the same as a ba gua MIRROR. The ba gua is a representation of the univeral energy qualities of a space, and as such is a HIGHLY AUSPICIOUS object that can be used anywhere in the home. It is particularly good to place in the center of the home as a symbol of good chi and good fortune. This includes a feng shui compass, because the compass includes the trigrams on one of the innermost rings. 
The trigrams on the ba gua symbol or compass are in a different arrangement than they appear on the mirror. The ba gua map/symbol/compass shows the trigrams in the later heaven sequence (on the left, below), while a ba gua mirror should have the trigrams in the early heaven sequence (on the right, below).
So, to summarize:
Ba gua MIRROR: a protective remedy used only to deflect NEGATIVE chi, and only outside the home.
Ba gua (no mirror): a positive symbol that can be used INSIDE the home to add POSITIVE energy to your space.
As always, that’s my opinion, coming from the contemporary style of feng shui practice. Practitioners from other traditions may disagree.
Originally Syndicated via RSS from Fast Feng Shui Blog