San Fang Si Zheng: the rooms visit each other

What San Fang Si Zheng means

"San fang", the three directions, is the palace plus its two trine palaces, three cells forming a triangle; "si zheng", the four squares, adds the opposite palace directly across. The four together are the San Fang Si Zheng.

The trines come from the Earthly Branches: Shen-Zi-Chen, Yin-Wu-Xu, Si-You-Chou and Hai-Mao-Wei, each group of three branches four cells apart on the chart. The opposite palace is the cell six away, like Zi facing Wu, or Yin facing Shen.

Every cell has its own set

Not just the Life Palace: you can count this from any cell.

• Life Palace: Wealth, Career, Travel.
• Spouse Palace: Career (opposite), Travel, Fortune.
• Wealth Palace: Fortune (opposite), Life, Career.
• Career Palace: Spouse (opposite), Life, Wealth.

So if you want to read someone's love life, don't stare only at the Spouse Palace; its opposite, Career, and its trines, Travel and Fortune, all have a say. For example, someone whose Spouse Palace star is romantic but whose Career Palace star is a hard driver will often find dating interrupted by work. It isn't that they don't care; their time gets eaten up by another cell.

Counting it out once

Say the Life Palace is in Zi. Its opposite is Wu, and its trines are Shen and Chen. Name the palaces counterclockwise from Zi: Hai is Siblings, Xu is Spouse, You is Children, Shen is Wealth, and further on Chen is Career and Wu is Travel. The four cells of the San Fang Si Zheng are exactly Life, Wealth, Career and Travel. Wherever the Life Palace moves, the same thing happens, so these four always form a set.

How the weight is shared

Most teachers read it this way: the palace itself carries the most weight, then its opposite, then the trines. The palace itself is the lead, the opposite is the other side always shining in, and the trines stand on either side, sometimes backing it up and sometimes contradicting it.

In the classical texts you'll see a few verbs. A star sitting in the palace itself "guards" or "sits"; from the other three cells, helpful stars are said to "embrace" or "meet", and challenging stars to "clash". Phrases like "embracing light", "meeting" and "clashing and breaking" all describe stars within a San Fang Si Zheng influencing each other.

What the classics say

The "Dou Shu Fa Wei Lun" says:

Helpful stars in the four directions bring distinction; challenging stars gathering from the trines leave little to stand out.

With helpful stars in the Si Zheng, the ancients saw distinction; with challenging stars surrounding the trines, it's hard to shine. The "Tan Xing Yao Lun" in volume three is even plainer about the reading order. Its third step is:

Third, look at the stars of the three directions, Travel, Wealth and Career, for clashes and breaks.

That is, after the Life Palace, read Travel, Wealth and Career next, which are exactly the other three cells of the Life Palace's San Fang Si Zheng. The ancients always judged a cell by the whole set.

Common misunderstandings

Some people think all four cells must be strong for it to count as good. In fact, a mix of strong and weak is the norm; the point is to find which cell is holding things up and which is dragging. For example, someone with an ordinary Life Palace star but a strong Career Palace star often finds themselves through work; someone with a bright Life Palace and a weak Wealth Palace has ideas but isn't great at turning them into income.

Some people also count the cells right next door. The two neighbors are said to "flank" the palace, which is a different relationship; Chapter 5 covers it under flanking palaces.

Why it matters

Many classic combinations only work through the San Fang Si Zheng. Qi Sha, Po Jun and Tan Lang, for example, are always in each other's San Fang Si Zheng; that's the Sha Po Lang covered in Chapter 5. Get the counting down now and chart patterns will be much easier later.