Feng Shui
Feng Shui Luo Pan: A Cultural Introduction
A cultural introduction to the Luo Pan (羅盤), the traditional Chinese feng shui compass: its 24 mountains, layered rings (天盤 / 地盤 / 人盤), and how practitioners use it for orientation, direction reading, and home review.
What is the Luo Pan and how is it different from a Western compass?
A Luo Pan is the traditional feng shui compass: a magnetic needle in a central pool, ringed by concentric dials encoding the 24 mountains, the early- and later-heaven Bagua sequences, the 60 GanZhi cycle, the 28 lunar mansions, and (depending on lineage) the Xuan Kong Flying Star tables. A Western compass tells you which way is north; a Luo Pan tells you which "mountain" sector a direction sits in, which is what feng shui calculations actually need.
What are 天盤, 人盤, and 地盤?
天盤 (heavenly plate) is calibrated to the magnetic / true-north reading and is used for assessing water and external flow. 地盤 (earth plate) is the 24-mountain dial used for sitting and facing of a structure. 人盤 (human plate) sits between them and is used for assessing the influence of nearby mountains, neighbors, and major surrounding objects. Different schools weigh these rings differently.
Can I use my phone as a Luo Pan?
You can use a phone compass for a rough azimuth reading (within ±5°), but a serious feng shui audit needs a calibrated steel compass that has been zeroed away from rebar and electronics. Phone magnetometers are heavily distorted by laptops, refrigerators, and the device's own antennas, so any phone reading should be treated as approximate.
How does this connect to BaZi and Xuan Kong?
BaZi works on a person's birth time. Luo Pan works on a building's orientation. Xuan Kong Flying Stars is the bridge: given the year a building was constructed and its 24-mountain facing read off the Luo Pan, the flying-star chart indicates which sectors carry which energy in a given period.
Keep reading
Related articles
Feng Shui Cures
Door Facing Door Feng Shui
Understand door-facing-door feng shui concerns and practical ways to soften direct alignment with screens, spacing, and visual breaks.
Feng Shui Cures
Missing Corner Feng Shui
Learn what missing corners mean in feng shui and how mirrors, lighting, plants, and layout choices are commonly used as remedies.
Feng Shui Cures
Feng Shui Plants
A calm guide to feng shui plants, including money tree, lucky bamboo, plant placement, and practical care considerations.
Try next
Related tools
BaZi
BaZi Compatibility
Compare two birth profiles through a BaZi-inspired relationship lens, then unlock a deeper AI report with timing, communication, and long-term compatibility insights.
BaZi
Bone Weight
Traditional 称骨歌 (Bone Weight Song) reading by 袁天罡: birth profile maps to a year+month+day+hour weight, the total keys into a canonical 51-entry fortune table.
Naming
Name Selection
Compare Chinese candidate names against a birth chart using five-elements balance, Wu Ge stroke structure, and wording notes.