Desk Feng ShuiFeng Shui · Work Better
Eight Mansions · Free tool

Which way should your desk face?

Your Kua number is a personal feng shui number calculated from your birth year and gender. It reveals your four auspicious directions — and the single best one to face while you work.

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Gender

Born in January or early February? Traditional feng shui uses the solar year, which begins around Feb 4. If your birthday is before that, add your month and day above and we'll count you in the previous year automatically.

How your Kua number is calculated

Take the last two digits of your birth year and reduce them to a single digit by adding the digits together. Then apply the formula for your gender and century:

  • Male, 1900–1999: 10 minus the digit
  • Female, 1900–1999: 5 plus the digit
  • Male, 2000 onward: 9 minus the digit
  • Female, 2000 onward: 6 plus the digit

Reduce the result to a single digit (1–9). If a calculation lands on 5, it's treated as 2 for men and 8 for women, because 5 belongs to the earth center rather than a compass direction.

Your personal compass groups

Kua numbers split people into two groups. East-group numbers (1, 3, 4, 9) sit best toward east, south, north, or southeast. West-group numbers (2, 6, 7, 8) favor west, northwest, southwest, or northeast. Our calculator lists your best (Sheng Qi) direction first — that's the one to point your head toward for the strongest benefit.

Method and sources

This calculator uses the Eight Mansions (Ba Zhai) school of feng shui — one of the most widely taught frameworks for matching a person's birth energy to favorable compass directions. The gender- and century-based formulas above reflect the standard Eight Mansions convention, including the treatment of Kua 5 (males count as 2, females as 8). It's a traditional system with regional variations, so your result may differ slightly from other calculators; we follow the convention that is most commonly cited in English-language feng shui practice.

Reviewed and maintained by the Desk Feng Shui editorial team. This tool is free, runs entirely in your browser, and never stores the details you enter.

What the calculator can't replace

Your compass direction works together with the structural rules — a solid wall at your back, the door in view, no mirror reflecting your screen. If the room can't line up perfectly, keep the structural rules first. See our full desk placement checklist to get both right.

Feng shui is traditional guidance, not medical advice. For persistent health trouble, please see a healthcare professional.