The Sun takes approximately 15.2 days to traverse a solar term, a series of 24 points on the ecliptic.

Unlike a typical compass, a luopan does not point to the north magnetic pole of Earth.

The Chinese word for compass, 指南針 (zhǐnánzhēn in Mandarin), translates to “south-pointing needle.” Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, three types of luopan have been popular.

Each feng shui master may design a luopan to suit preference and to offer students.

Some designs incorporate the bagua (trigram) numbers, directions from the Eight Mansions (八宅; bāzhái) methods, and English equivalents.

[3] At its most basic level it serves as a means to assign proper positions in time and space, like the Ming Tang (Hall of Light).

Along with divination for Da Liu Ren, the boards were commonly used to chart the motion of Taiyi through the nine palaces.

[5] The zhinan zhen or south-pointing needle, is the original magnetic compass, and was developed for feng shui.