What is Self-transformation (Zi Hua)?

Self-transformation (Zi Hua) in Zi Wei Dou Shu is a case in the flying-stars method where a palace's stem produces Hua Lu, Hua Quan, Hua Ke or Hua Ji and the star it transforms happens to sit in that same palace, so the palace's impulse doesn't fly out but circles at home. Practitioners often read self-transformation as "comes fast, goes fast," and it's one of the most frequently asked-about cases in flying stars. It's a flying-stars idea, not in the original Zi Wei Dou Shu Quan Shu (The Complete Book of Zi Wei Dou Shu), and should be read together with the San Fang Si Zheng and the main stars.

The short version:

• Formula: self-transformation = a star transformed by a palace's own stem sits in that same palace.
• Four kinds: self-transformed Lu, Quan, Ke and Ji, usually read as matters in that palace coming fast and going fast.
• Outward and inward: a palace transforming its own star is outward self-transformation (↻); one school also reads a star transformed by the opposite palace's stem as inward self-transformation (↗).
• Weight: it's a footnote to the main star. It doesn't override the main stars or the birth-year transformations, and it doesn't predict events.

How to calculate it

1. Find a palace's stem. Palace stems come from your birth-year stem, laid out from the Yin palace: Jia and Ji years start at Bing Yin, Yi and Geng at Wu Yin, Bing and Xin at Geng Yin, Ding and Ren at Ren Yin, and Wu and Gui at Jia Yin.
2. Look up that stem in the transformation table to get its four stars for Hua Lu, Hua Quan, Hua Ke and Hua Ji.
3. See whether any of those four stars sits in this palace. If one does, the palace has a self-transformed Lu, Quan, Ke or Ji.

An example: a palace's stem is Geng, and the Geng stem gives Tai Yang Hua Lu, Wu Qu Hua Quan, Tai Yin Hua Ke and Tian Tong Hua Ji. If the star sitting in this palace is Tai Yang, the palace has a self-transformed Lu; if it's Tian Tong, a self-transformed Ji.

After you draw your chart, stars marked ↻ on the detailed chart are self-transformations.

Self-transformation lookup table

Read the transformation table the other way round and it becomes a lookup: given the palace stem, if one of these stars sits in the palace, that's the self-transformation.

Stars that aren't in the table (Qi Sha, Tian Xiang, Qing Yang and so on) never self-transform. An Empty Palace can still self-transform if it holds a minor star that transforms, such as Wen Chang, Wen Qu or You Bi. The table follows the Quan Shu's transformation verse in volume two, with Tian Fu Hua Ke for the Ren stem.

How to read the four self-transformations

• Self-transformed Lu: this area easily brings rewards, but they don't stay long. When things go well, remember to set some aside.
• Self-transformed Quan: you want to run this area yourself and can overdo it suddenly; practicing sharing the work makes it much smoother.
• Self-transformed Ke: cares about face and appearances; reputation comes quickly, and you need to be able to live up to it.
• Self-transformed Ji: you often wrestle with yourself here, going over the same thing again and again. Seen another way, when you want to let go, you really can.

Treat self-transformation as a footnote to that palace's main star: the main star says what the palace is like, and the self-transformation says how its energy tends to flow. For example, a Wealth Palace with self-transformed Lu means money comes easily and goes quickly; rather than chasing more income, setting up an account you don't touch is more useful.

Finding every self-transformation on one chart

Take a chart born on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month of 1984 (a Jia Zi year), in the Xu hour. Checking all twelve palaces turns up four self-transformations and two transformations coming in from the opposite palace:

A few readings:

• Self-transformed Lu in the Fortune Palace: this is a Jia-year chart, so Tai Yang already carries the birth-year Hua Ji; sitting in the Fortune Palace with its Geng stem, it also self-transforms into Lu. Read the two layers separately: the birth-year Ji says there's something you find hard to put down by nature, and the self-transformed Lu says that mood comes fast and goes fast, so stretches of overthinking usually don't last long.
• Self-transformed Ji in the Friends Palace: matters with friends and colleagues tend to go round in your head, like a single remark you carry for days. The upside is that once you've thought it through, you really let it go and don't hold grudges.
• Quan coming into the Career Palace: the Spouse Palace's Bing stem transforms Tian Ji into Quan, and Tian Ji sits in the Career Palace. One school reads this as a partner or your love life pushing you to be more decisive at work.

Outward and inward self-transformation

What's described above, a palace's own stem transforming its own star, some teachers call "outward self-transformation," meaning the energy disperses outward. Another school also reads "inward self-transformation": a star transformed by the opposite palace's stem that sits in this palace, read as outside forces pushing in.

Both are used. Xingge's detailed chart marks both: ↻ for self-transformation and ↗ for a transformation coming in from the opposite palace.

Self-transformation vs. flying vs. birth-year transformations

The same star can carry several layers at once, like Tai Yang above with both a birth-year Ji and a self-transformed Lu. Read them layer by layer instead of collapsing them into a single "good" or "bad."

Keeping it in proportion

• Self-transformation doesn't override the main star. The main stars and birth-year transformations are the chart's skeleton; self-transformation is supplementary detail.
• Self-transformation doesn't predict events. A self-transformed Ji describes "you tend to go over this again and again," not something that will happen.
• Schools read it very differently. Some teachers read self-transformation as "absent" (for example, self-transformed Lu as money that comes and goes and can't be kept), others as "fast." Xingge takes a more neutral reading: comes fast, goes fast, and needs you to steady it.

The full introduction to self-transformation and flying stars is in the lesson an introduction to flying stars and self-transformation.