hi beaudy,
Do you know the 24 mountains of the chinese compass? If you know then it will be easier for you to manipulate. Anyway I will try to explain it here...
Qian rep. NW direction (also West group)
Zi rep. N direction (also also East group)
Gen rep. NE directon (also West group)
Mao rep. E direction (also also East group)
Xun rep SE direction (also also East group)
Wu rep. S direction (also also East group)
Kun rep. SW direction (also West group)
You rep W direction (also West group)
Let say you are a west group people the basic direction you can use are NW, NE, W and SW.
To fine tune the direction (best within the best), you can use Qian(NW), Gen(NE), You(W) and Kun(SW).
Not only the four direction can be use but also
Jia (E) because Qian hide Jia.
Bing (S) because Geng hide Bing.
Si(SE), Chou(W), Ding(S) because Si, You, Chou is a metal combo, and Metal hide Ding.
And so to the rest.
This method was teached by some of the world recognised master but how reliable it is ...you test it out, ok