Feng Shui Compass

Oxford College Library Special Collections


Feng Shui Compass
Wood
Purchased in Kobe, Japan in 1894 for the Emory College Museum
by Methodist minister William Patillo Turner

Feng Shui is a traditional Chinese practice of living in harmony with one’s surroundings and maximizing the flow of energy.  This compass, known as a luopan, would have been used to determine the precise directions of a place, structure, or item.  Luopans typically contain markings for 24 directions with Feng Shui formulas set in concentric circles surrounding the center magnetic needle.  This magnetic needle points to the south magnetic pole and the Chinese word for compass, zhinan zhen, translates to “south pointing needle.”

 

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