Which Direction and Climate Suit You: Favorable Directions and Warm Versus Cool
"Should I build my career in the north or the south?" "Would I do well in the tropics?" BaZi has two answers to draw on: the directions of your favorable elements, and the climate preference set by Climate Adjustment. The first depends on where you start from; the second you feel every day once you live there, which usually makes it the more practical of the two.
Directions of the favorable elements
| Favorable element | Direction | Share whose favorable set includes it |
|---|---|---|
| Wood | East | 50.5% |
| Fire | South | 48.5% |
| Earth | Center (southwest, northeast) | 40.9% |
| Metal | West | 45.1% |
| Water | North | 53.2% |
Favorable elements usually come in a set of two or three, so most people have two or three directions to consider. Directions are measured from where you live now: for someone in London, east might mean the Continent; from Los Angeles, west means across the Pacific. They are an aid, not a verdict; the jobs, cost of living and people in a place matter far more. How favorable elements are worked out is on favorable elements.
A favorable direction is not an Eight Mansions lucky direction
The two often get mixed up. The directions here come from the favorable elements of your BaZi chart and are about which way to head in work and life. Eight Mansions feng shui works out a "life trigram" from your birth year and pairs it with the facing of a house; it is about where the bed, door and desk go. One is about where the person goes, the other about how the house is arranged, and neither can stand in for the other.
Climate: more practical than direction
Climate Adjustment reads how warm or cold a chart runs. Going by the birth month and how much Fire and Water the chart holds, we sort each chart into cold, hot or roughly balanced:
| Your chart | Places that suit you better | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Runs cold and lacks Fire | Warm, sunny places | 12.0% |
| Runs cold but already has Fire | Slightly warm is enough; little difference | 12.3% |
| Runs hot and dry and lacks Water | Cool, humid places | 15.8% |
| Runs hot but already has Water | Slightly cool is enough; little difference | 18.5% |
| Roughly balanced | Almost anywhere | 41.4% |
In other words, about 27.8% of people have a clear climate preference. Qing, on the overview, was born at the start of winter with a cold chart short of Fire, so she will be more comfortable somewhere warm; Ming’s chart is balanced, so climate is not something he needs to worry about. The details of Climate Adjustment are on Climate Adjustment.
Born in the Southern Hemisphere? Your favorable elements may differ
The solar terms were set by the seasons of the Northern Hemisphere. For someone born in Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland or São Paulo, the Wu month is actually winter and the Zi month is high summer. Our approach is to cast the four pillars as usual and only reverse warm and cold for Climate Adjustment, so the same chart can have different favorable elements depending on the hemisphere of birth.
How we counted: our engine cast one chart for every day from 1960 to 2005 (birth hour drawn at random, alternating male and female), 16,802 charts in all; the timing figures cover the ten years 2026 to 2035. This describes how chart structures are distributed; it says nothing about whether any real person will move or emigrate.
Take Qing: born at the start of a Northern Hemisphere winter, her favorable elements are EarthMetalFire. Born at the same moment in the Southern Hemisphere, it would have been early summer, with no need for Fire to warm the chart, and her favorable elements would be only EarthMetal.
Note that this is about where you were born. Moving to the other hemisphere later does not change your BaZi. The climate you live in does shape how you feel day to day, though, and that is an adjustment of environment: someone who needs Fire living somewhere warm, someone who needs Water living somewhere cool and humid, is living with the grain of their chart.
A straight word: BaZi shows tendencies; whether to move is a life decision
Whether to go abroad, and where, really turns on work, visas, family, savings and language. What BaZi can add is a reminder of how restless you are by nature, what kind of place you tend to feel at home in, and which years are more likely to bring a move, so you have one more thing to weigh. Everything on this site is for reference and entertainment and is no substitute for professional immigration, financial or legal advice.
Where would you feel at home?
Enter your birth date and sex to see your favorable directions, the climate that suits you, and which of the next ten years are likely to bring a move.
Favorable directions and climate: FAQ
Is my favorable direction measured from where I was born or where I live now?
From where you live now. Direction is only a minor aid; the climate, jobs and living conditions of a place matter more than the compass point.
Are favorable directions the same as Eight Mansions lucky directions?
No. Favorable directions come from the favorable elements of your BaZi chart and are about where to head. Eight Mansions lucky directions come from the life trigram of your birth year and the facing of a house, and are about how a home is arranged. One cannot stand in for the other.
If I move to the Southern Hemisphere after I am born, does my BaZi change?
No. Your BaZi and favorable elements are fixed by the moment of birth; moving changes only your surroundings. Someone who needs Fire living somewhere warm, or someone who needs Water living somewhere cool and humid, is living with the grain of their chart.