Sitting You, facing Mao: what the west gives a site
As a sitting mountain, You puts the back of the stone or house to the west and the face to the east. The dragon must come from the west and settle behind the stone with a firm hill, not a thin bank; a ridge that arrives through Xin or Geng and turns into You at the last step is the entry we look for.
As incoming water, a stream from You crosses the front of a site that sits east, arriving slowly and turning, not straight at the door. A lone peak standing on You is a sand peak noted on the Shaowei layer.
Shaowei, the scholars' star, and the four nobles
You carries Shaowei, the Lesser Subtlety, the asterism of the retired scholars. Its sense is reading, learning and a clean name. On our luopan it is one of the four noble stars, and You is also one of the six elegant mountains, so Lai Buyi's line gives this mountain weight.
A true dragon entering from You, a clean peak on You before the site, or water arriving from You and turning across the front: the star confirms such a form as first rate. A scarred hill on You is not raised by Shaowei. We read the sky to confirm the ground, never to replace it.
What this means on the ground
At a house, stand just inside the front door with your back to it and hold the luopan level. At a grave, stand behind the stone and sight along the face. Read three times a step apart and keep the middle. Keep the plate away from steel: cars, railings, your phone. A phone compass goes on magnetic north.
A reading of 266 to 274 is deep inside You. From 262 to 265 you are drifting towards Geng, from 275 to 277 towards Xin, and a stone there is turned a degree or two inward on the fen jin. Exactly 262.5 or 277.5 is a line reading and is not used.
Common mistakes
The first error is sitting a stone on the line between You and Xin; readings there wobble, and the stone belongs to no mountain. The second is taking true north from a map or satellite view; overseas the declination can move a west-facing house a whole mountain.
The third is treating Shaowei as a verdict: a book says You is noble, so a plot that sits You must be good. Not if the dragon behind is cut by a road or the water runs straight away. The fourth is confusing You with Geng: both are Metal and west, but Geng is a stem and carries Tianheng.
Questions people ask
What direction is You on a feng shui compass?
You is due west, 270 degrees on the luopan, covering 262.5 to 277.5. Its neighbours are Geng and Xin, all three in the Dui group, and its opposite is Mao at 90 degrees. On our luopan You carries the star Shaowei.
Is a house that sits You and faces Mao good feng shui?
It can be, but the degree alone does not decide it. The house needs firm ground or a hill to the west at its back, an open view east from the door, and water or a road that turns in front rather than rushing past.
What does the rooster have to do with the You mountain?
You is the tenth earthly branch, the rooster in the twelve-animal cycle. On the luopan the animal is only a memory aid for the position: due west, the evening hour of 5 to 7, the autumn equinox. It does not make the mountain better or worse.
If your door or your family stone sits in the west, send Master Zhang three readings and a few photos for a site reading.