What Is Flying Star Feng Shui?

Step Seven: Finishing Up

We're almost done!

Now all that's left to do is fill in the rest of the grid with the rest of the Mountain and Facing Series. However, like I said just moments ago, it isn't quite as straightforward as filling in the the Time Series.

Remember how, earlier, I introduced you to the concept of how star series can move forward or reverse? This is where that becomes important, because one or both of the Mountain or Facing series may move in reverse - although we haven't figured out which does which yet. That's what this step is all about.

This is also the point where it becomes really important that you know very precisely the Facing Direction, as told to you by your compass. Earlier we divided the world into eight directional slices (N, NE, E, SE, etc.) - which on the compass are 45 degrees apiece. Now we have to refine that a little more, by dividing the world into twenty-four directions instead of eight. Each of these twenty-four sections of the compass is only 15 degrees wide, so knowing the exact compass Facing Direction helps a great deal, as we don't have nearly the same room for error.

What we are going to do is divide each of the eight sections of the compass by three (3x8=24). Therefore North now has has three sections - an Early 15 degree section, a Middle 15 degree section, and a Late 15 degree section. All of the other compass directions will also be split that way, too. The following chart will tell you where your Facing Degree fits in:

Facing Direction	Early	Middle	Late
South (S)	157.5 to 172.5	172.5 to 187.5	187.5 to 202.5
Southwest (SW)	202.5 to 217.5	217.5 to 232.5	232.5 to 247.5
West (W)	247.5 to 262.5	262.5 to 277.5	277.5 to 292.5
Northwest (NW)	292.5 to 307.5	307.5 to 322.5	322.5 to 337.5
North (N)	337.5 to 352.5	352.5 to 7.5	7.5 to 22.5
Northeast (NE)	22.5 to 37.5	37.5 to 52.5	52.5 to 67.5
East (E)	67.5 to 82.5	82.5 to 97.5	97.5 to 112.5
Southeast (SE)	112.5 to 127.5	127.5 to 142.5	142.5 to 157.5

Once you've figured out where your Facing Direction lies - whether it is Early, Middle, or Late - make a note of it.

In the example we are working through, I have stated that the Facing Direction of my own apartment is 166 degrees. As you can see from the above chart, 166 falls into the Early part of South.

By the way - even though we will be working on both the Facing and Mountain Series separately, they both use the same Early / Middle / Late range that you just figured out. You only need to figure out this part once.

Both the Mountain and Facing series follows the same set of rules for figuring out which direction each moves. The first time I wrote this page I used the Mountain Series only as an example for applying the rules, but upon later reflection realized that might cause some confusion. So, in the following set of steps I am going to refer to whichever series we are working with as simply "The Series" (understanding that it can refer to either the Mountain or Facing Series), and to the star in the center palace that starts the Series as "The Base Star". When we are working with the Mountain Series, then the Base Star will refer to the Mountain Star in the central palace. When we are working with the Facing Series, then the Base Star will refer to the Facing Star in the central palace.

It doesn't matter which series you pick to work with first. However, you do have to figure them out separately - usually they move in opposite directions, but not always. You will have to follow the next sets of instructions twice - once for each series. So, pick a Series to work with, and let's get on with it!

The next step is a pretty simple one, but it has a kind of weird twist to it, so bear with me for a moment. We are going to use the oddness or evenness of the Base Star in the central palace to figure out which direction the Series moves - unless the Base Star is a 5. This is very important! If your Base Star is 5, use the Period Time Star instead.

5's kind of screw things up a little.

In the example chart that we are slowly building, the Base Star for neither Series is a 5, so the rule doesn't apply in this case. But if either were a 5, we would use a 7 for this step, because that is the Period Time Star (the Time Star in the central palace). We wouldn't erase the 5 from the central palace - it would still be the Base Star (Facing or Mountain, whichever applies) - but we would use the Time Star for figuring out which direction the Series moves. Remember, though, that this only applies to a Facing or Mountain Star of 5. For all the other stars, just use whatever number they happen to be.

Now, recall whether your Facing Degree was Early, Middle, or Late, and check the oddness or evenness of the Base Star (or Time Star if the Base Star is a 5) against the following chart.

Odd or Even	Early	Middle	Late
Odd	Forward	Reverse	Reverse
Even	Reverse	Forward	Forward

Now you know which direction the Series goes!

Using the example chart we are working on, we will start with the Mountain Series. You can see that the Mountain Star in the central palace is a 3, and my Facing Degree of 166 is Early. 3 is odd, so I check the Odd row against the Early column and see that this series moves Forward.

Then, using the "Yikes" grid that I showed you in Step Five, we fill in the rest of the series. Just so you don't have to flip back to Step Five, I will reproduce that grid here:

Not as frightening this time, I hope!

The 3 is already in position "A" in our map, so I continue the pattern, counting forward: 4 goes in "B", 5 goes in "C", 6 in "D", etc. It finally looks like this:

Adding the Mountain Series - forward order.

Now lets do the Facing Series - following the same set of rules as for the Mountain Series. With that, we'll be completely done!

The Facing Star is 2, and we've already determined that my Facing Degree is Early. 2 is even, so we check the Even row of the table with the Early column, and find that this series moves in Reverse!

So, using our "Not So Yikes Anymore" grid as a guide, we fill in the rest of the Facing Series, counting in reverse. The 2 is already in the "A" position, so we put 1 into "B", 9 into "C" (wrapping around), 8 into "D", etc. Eventually we finish, and the chart should look like this:

Adding the Facing Series - reverse order.

There you have it. A completed Flying Star chart! And it only took eight webpages to describe! Could anything be simpler?

Actually, the process only sounds complicated the first time through. It took far longer to describe than it does to actually calculate a complete chart. So, I'll condense it down into just the essentials in the next step (which isn't really a step, as far as that goes, because we're actually done).

But first a slight aside...

The careful reader may have noticed that we said earlier that the stars weren't actually numbers - but then we turn right around here and use oddness or evenness to determine the directions the series go. Numbers might be odd or even, but certainly stars aren't! What gives?

This is what you might call a "hack". It is quite true that the stars, in their forms as trigrams of the I Ching, don't behave like numbers, and shouldn't be thought of as such. There is actually a somewhat more complicated system of determining series direction which many traditional practitioners use. However, as I was researching algorithms while I was programming the Basic Feng Shui Flying Star Calculator, I realized that the stars just happened to neatly arrange themselves in odd or even groups. Accidental or not, I was able to use this feature in the program, and I relate this much simplified method here, to you.

Oh, and one other thing. Why do 5's mess everything up the way they do? Simple. There are nine stars, and whether they are even or odd determines the direction of the series. However, if you keep the 5 in the mix, that means there are four even numbers, but five odd ones. That throws the symmetry of the pattern off. So 5 (the "middle" number) is removed and the Period Time Star gets used instead (which may be odd or even - different charts have different Period Time Stars). The symmetry of the pattern is therefore restored by this procedure.

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