The south is the 離 palace, 157.5° to 202.5°. For the house that sits north and faces south it is the front — the 案劫 position, where the Dragon Gate formula wants water to leave. For three other houses it is where water should arrive.
The south, house by house
Sitting 乾 (northwest): the south is 先天 (and 地刑) — arriving welcome, leaving harmful. Sitting 震 (east): 後天 — arriving welcome, leaving harmful. Sitting 坤 (southwest): 輔卦 — arriving helpful, leaving harmful. Sitting 巽 (southeast): 賓, and sitting 兌 (west): 客 — arriving water favours outsiders; leaving harmless. Sitting 艮 (northeast): 天劫 — the preferred exit and the worst arrival. Sitting 坎 (north): 案劫, the front — water should leave through it, never strike in. Sitting 離: the south is the house’s own back.
Where south water is welcome, and where it is not
Water arriving from the south suits the houses sitting in 乾, 震 and 坤. For the north-sitting house the south is its front: water there should flow away, and water striking in from the front is read as harmful. For the house sitting in 艮 the south is 天劫, the worst arrival. So a south-facing garden pond fed from the south and draining away from the house reads differently from one fed toward the house.
Reading it on the ground
Water in front of a north-sitting house is not simply good: the formula wants it leaving, not arriving. The popular advice to put water in front of the house therefore holds only for flow away from it, and only for some houses. KAXANTA shows which position the south holds for yours, from the facing saved in Settings.
References
Canonical sources that inform this guide.
- 论龙门八局系水法 (华夏大易学社) · WEBSITE
- 三元水法龙门八大局 (简书) · WEBSITE
- Bagua (Eight Trigrams) · WIKIPEDIA
- Feng shui · WIKIPEDIA