The first step in using feng shui to attract a partner or improve your love life is to find the relationship power spots in your home. Once you have located these areas, feng shui cures and enhancements can activate these areas and increase your love luck.

The feng shui "ba gua" is an energy map that divides any space into eight ("ba") sections ("guas"), each of which affects a specific aspect of life. Love and marriage are governed by "Kun" gua. Your relationship power spots are the Kun guas of your home, bedroom, and other main rooms.

In traditional Chinese feng shui, Kun gua is the southwest (SW) sector of the home. Secondary Kun guas are the SW sector of each room within the home. Contemporary Western feng shui defines the ba gua in relationship to the entry. Using this method, Kun gua is the area of the home or room that is farthest to the back on the right-hand side, when you stand in the doorway facing into the space. (Always use the formal front entry to the home when you are using this method, even if you go in and out through a side or back door most of the time.)

One reason many people find feng shui confusing is that they don't know which to method to follow. With so many places within the home that might be called Kun gua, where do you place your feng shui objects?

Follow these steps to find the best relationship "power spots" in your home by combining and comparing these two methods.

1. Using a compass, find the room or rooms that are located in the SW sector of your home. (If you have a floor plan that indicates North, you can use that to figure out which direction is SW.) If you have no way of confirming SW accurately, just use the doorway method.

2. Stand in your front entry, facing into the home. What room or rooms are in the back of the house on the right-hand side?

3. Compare the rooms you identified using these two methods. Stairways, narrow hallways, closets, bathrooms, and bedrooms occupied by anyone other than yourself should be crossed off your list. If you identified the living room, dining room, kitchen, or any other comfortable, pleasant space, keep those rooms on your list.

4. Your personal bedroom will always be a good place for romance feng shui. Put it on your list, even if it is not in the SW or right-rear area of the home. If your bedroom is in the SW or the rear right area of the home, it is a very strong relationship power spot for you.

5. Find the relationship areas within you bedroom. First, use your compass to locate the SW area of the room. Then stand in the doorway facing into the room and locate the far corner on your right-hand side. If these two areas overlap, you have identified a very powerful relationship power spot for feng shui enhancement.

6. If these two areas in your bedroom (SW and far-right corner) are not the same, compare them. Which is brighter, cleaner, less cluttered, more attractive? Which has potential for adding feng shui enhancements: a section of wall where you could hang a poster, photograph, or framed piece of artwork; the top of a dresser or bedside table, a fireplace mantel, or a bookcase where you could clear a little space on a shelf for a romantic figurine or other object.

7. Now, find the relationship areas within any other rooms on your "approved" list. First, using the compass, locate the SW area of the room. Then stand in the doorway, facing into the room, and locate the far corner on your right-hand side.

8. Again, compare your options, and look for clean, uncluttered, well-lit, attractive places where you could place feng shui objects or romantic artwork or imagery.

9. If by the end of this process you have more than three good options available to you, continue to prioritize your list. The most desirable "power spots" will be:

   1. in your bedroom

   2. places that you see most often as you go through your normal daily activities

These are now your priority power spots for love and marriage. Some easy ways to enhance these areas are with:

• imagery or artwork representing lovers

• two pink or red candles set side-by-side

• a red, pink, or white heart-shaped box

• two round or heart-whaped red or pink pillows

• two red silk roses in a pretty vase

• fresh flowers with red or pink blossoms

• a pink faceted feng shui crystal, hung over your bed or in a power spot

• imagery or artwork of pairs of mandarin ducks, doves, or swans

• the Chinese symbol for "double happiness"

• any image or object that represents love, marriage, or romance in a way that has strong personal meaning for you

There is much more to feng shui than activating power spots, but these simple steps will get you off to a good start. The feng shui imagery and objects that you place in your power spots help to shift the energy of your home, and are visual reminders of your intention to find happiness with a romantic partner who will be everything that you have dreamed.

(c) 2003 Stephanie Roberts