Guide to the Feng Shui Compass: A Compendium of Classical Feng Shui

I bought this book motivated by an enthusiasm to uncover the secrets of a fascinating type of "mandala", the Chinese Lo P'an compass, and to understand Feng Shui. However, I am having trouble finding enough information in this book to make sense of any readings I might take with the Lo P'an. Stephen Skinner does a great job presenting the history of the Lo P'an, or Chinese Feng Shui compass, which intriguingly predates European compasses by 1500 years. He describes the two main types of Lo P'an, and the different rings on them. However, the one area the book doesn't address, which for any practical use of the Lo P'an seems MOST important to address, is the meanings of the individual sectors of each of the rings. Without being given meanings for these sectors, I find myself completely unable to make any practical use of the Lo P'an, and thus rather frustrated.For instance, the most important ring on the Lo P'an is described as the "24 Mountains" ring. This is a ring of 24 sectors, each of which has a certain Chinese name. HOwever, apart from correlating each of these 24 sectors with yin or yang, and the Chinese 5 Elements Wood, Water, Fire, Metal and Earth, no meanings for each of these sectors is given. So if for instance I take a Lo P'an reading on the facing direction of a particular structure, and find that it corresponds to earth and to yang, what the heck does that tell me about it, compared to any other possible combination of yin/yang and the 5 Elements? The same problem exists, as far as I can tell, for all of the other rings on the Lo P'an, such as the "60 Sexagenary Combinations" or the fascinating-sounding "60 Mysterious Gates", or the tantalizing sounding "72 Dragons": the NAMES of each of the Sectors are given, in Chinese and in some cases in English too, and sometimes associated animals or planets are named as well, but for NONE Of these sectors is any actual MEANING given, nor is one instructed on any method of finding such a meaning.The one ring where information is presented which comes closest to an attribution of meanings, is for the Hsiu ring, or the 28 Lunar Mansions. HEre we are given associated planets, animals, chi luck paths, as well as lists of other correspondences, images, and what look intriguingly like sigils from a modern Chinese Almanac. However, Skinner makes no mention of whether these Chinese Lunar Mansions correspond to the INdian/Arabic 28 Lunar Mansions, and I don't find any similarities in the correspondences.I would dearly love to know what the 72 Dragons stand for, or discover the secrets of the 60 Mysterious Gates, or be able to penetrate the significance of the 24 Mountains in their 3 forms of Earth, (Hu)Man and Heaven, or know any of the meanings of any of the other rings and their sectors, but alas, nowhere in the 430 pages of this big book can I find any of that, and so all I can do is look at my pretty Lo P'an and be unable to use it. Am I missing something? Are there other books on Feng Shui out there that provide these meanings, so important but so elusive within this large and sadly incomplete guide?

This is a most needful work for anyone interested in truly getting into the guts of Feng Shui. Most excellent book. And highly detailed with nuance and instruction - would buy it again in a heartbeat for friend or students! I purchased a smaller version compass (4 inch) for portability in the house and on our land - or where ever, along with this book. I hope at some point to have or make a full sized compass, this book is invaluable for that as well! (Am not totally read in it yet, but just going through finding areas of immediate interest has not left me dry!

The author informs us of the history and usage of the Chinese compass, a topic vital to the heart of all Chinese thought of cosmology and philosophy. With that being said, I dare anyone to find anything more than a paragraph on the topic in any work (in English)anywhere in the world. This was a labor of love, and it reads and feels like it. I love my Kindle but you will want to buy an actual copy of this book, and hold it while you read, look at the glossy pictures, etc. I thank the author for taking what had to be a lifetime devotion to the topic to be able to talk as intelligently on the subject as he does. I have learned a tremendous amount about Chinese culture and thought from his work. I recommend it highly, and equally for scholars and feng-shui enthusiasts both.

I purchased this book a while ago. It takes time and effort to read it. I kept hearing this is one of the essential books for understanding how Feng Shui developed. There are great illustrations in it. Advanced readers may find it more enlightening.

thank youbook is very rich in information, and very helpful for feng shui pratitioner beginners or advanced. easy way to follow

Good book

This book is a treasure for anyone seriously interested in Feng Shui and its history, through the evolution of the luopan (compass) over a several thousand year period. As a professional practitioner for over 20 years, I learned many new things about the luopan from this book, as well as about early Feng Shui masters and their contributions. I am so grateful to Stephen Skinner, fulfilling a very essential need for this kind of information to be preserved as well as explained in a modern context.Not all teachers or schools in the classical Feng Shui community discuss all the rings of the luopan, which is really quite fascinating, regardless of whether one even intends to use more of the rings for their applications. The descriptions and history creates a greater appreciation for the whole field and its origins in astronomy. That said, this book is not "light" reading. I can see how some references may even be hard to follow, unless one is already familiar with classical Feng Shui and the basics in Chinese metaphysics. But with that prerequisite, the reader should have many epiphanies reading about the origins and justifications for so many additions to the luopan over time. It should be obvious that the author was not intending to write a beginners Feng Shui how-to book. Guide to the Feng Shui Compass was meant for the more advanced student or practitioner. His earlier books make for wonderful companions to this one.Over the years I have been asked to recommend other Feng Shui authors and the list has always been a bit short, with just a dozen or so authors compared to the hundreds who have written books in English since the 1990's. Skinner's books are a much higher caliber than most, to say the least.In Guide to the Feng Shui Compass, Skinner has no part in the folklore and fairy tales which plague many books trying to relate a kind of pseudo-history of Feng Shui. The facts are there and the luopan's history lets readers understand better what were the priorities of the Chinese, so long ago, and how sophisticated they were in both metaphysics and in science.