In ancient times it was known that the king who was named “Di Ku” and was famous as he knew and was quite well versed in the study and subject of astronomy. He was known to make most of his decisions based on careful study and consultation of the stars and he also was known to have made a deep and detailed consultation of astronomy and consequently he sat and took his place as Emperor. It is an ancient fact that even before there was the invention of the magnetized direction telling instrument there were various devices already present that studied and calculated the stars.
The advent of the magnetized instrument of direction came quite afterwards in the annals of this art which itself is very long. However going by the ancient scholars such as Zhouli the most original device used to measure and calculate the proper feng shui could have been around a lot earlier than what it is expected. It is also known that prominent figures like Yao, Huangdi were known to have devices called the gnomon, and pointing horse carriage. The instrument used to measure and calculate feng shui in the earlier days was called a “loupan” and was of a scientific nature, which was also used as a device to measure the stars and their distance. The device was used for astronomical purposes. Since the magnetic compass came into existence for the application of measuring and calculating feng shui the fact that some types of accurate, measurement relating to feng sui requires the use of scientific method and discipline. The history of this instrument can be traced back to the year 0-6 BCE and that was the time period of the Zhou dynasty in ancient china.
The compass came to be when the king of that time who was ruler shing incorporated the study of this compass with the knowledge they had about the I-Ching. This was fitted with a magnetized sharp pin which when place straight will start to point towards the magnetic north and not what is naturally considered the accepted north. All the fundamental principles of I-Ching lie within trigrams. Trigrams are considered to be a group of 3 disjoint lines that you can find in an oriental mirror.
The traditional compass in one which consists of thirty-six rings of knowledge and information. Trigrams are known to lie within the first ring of the loupan (compass). The working of this compass is based on the knowledge of the formation of rings that get aligned with the compass and the way the combination of these are read. The resulting is what will determine your fortune. Earlier forms of this compass are called the south pointing spoon, which in the Chinese language is known as the San Yuan and is also called as the San He or Zong He. The English word for the compass called the south pointing spoon when translated to the Chinese language means Zhinan Zhen.
