Northwest (乾)

The direction of heaven — associated with the father, with authority, and with the head of the household. Northwest is the heaven direction (乾 Qian). It is read as the direction of command and of the person responsible for the household, carrying the helpful-people aspect in the Eight Mansions method.

Directions are read as a set, not one at a time. The direction of heaven — associated with the father, with authority, and with the head of the household. Northwest is the direction most tied to hierarchy in the classical scheme, which makes it the one modern readers most often want to reinterpret — and the one where the traditional reading is most explicit about what it is describing.

Qian is all solid lines — the tradition's image of pure activity. It is read as the father and as the seat of authority in the house, and the classical sources treat the condition of this direction as a statement about how the household is led. It is grouped under Metal (金) in the five-element system.