Wetaskiwin District Heritage Museum Centre & City of Wetaskiwin Archives

The luopan, also known as a geomantic or Feng Shui compass, is a Chinese magnetic compass used by a Feng Shui specialist to distinguish the precise direction of an object, structure, or item. The oldest known precursors to the luopan are said to have been dated from sometime between between 278 BCE and 209 BCE, but three versions of the luopan were popular since the Ming and Qing dynasties: the San He, San Yuan, and Zong He. A luopan shares similarities with the conventional compass as we know it as a direction finder. However, where a conventional compass displays markings for four or eight directions, the standard luopan exhibits twenty-four directions! On its surface is up to forty concentric rings which feature the Feng Shui formulas, a plate made up of wood or metal known as the heaven dial. The heaven dial sits on a wooden base called the Earth plate. The red thread or wire pictured across the face of the luopan in a plus formation determines the direction and note positions on the rings. Unlike the North-pointing compass, the luopan reveals the south magnet pole!