The Dragon Gate formula is about water on the site — the direction it arrives from and the direction it leaves toward. Placing a pond, a stream, a drain or the fall of a paved yard by it means reading those two directions against the house’s formation, which is set by the palace the house sits in.
Where water should arrive
Water arriving from the 先天 and 後天 palaces is what the formula looks for, and 輔卦 is read the same way. For a house sitting in 坎 (facing south) that means water coming from the west (先天) and southwest (後天), with the northeast (輔卦) also welcome. A water feature that is fed from one of those directions and flows toward the house follows the formula; the same feature fed from the 天劫 palace does not, whatever it looks like.
Where water should leave
Let water leave toward the 天劫 palace or through the front — the 案劫 palace the house faces. For the 坎 house that is the southeast or the south, and the water mouth is the 巽, 丙 and 丁 mountains. Grading, gutters and drains that carry water away in those directions follow the formula. Never let water leave through the 先天 or 後天 palaces (the sources call it 流破, breaking them), and not through 地刑.
What the formula does not say
The sources consulted give positions, not measurements: they do not prescribe a distance from the door, a depth, or a size, and they read the water around the site rather than decorative water indoors. A feature placed only for its looks carries no reading until you know which way its water arrives and leaves. KAXANTA shows your formation — every position, the water mouth and the 曜煞 mountains — from the house 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