宫干四化（飞宫四化） · Gōng Gān Sì Huà · How palaces connect
Palace-Stem Four Transformations
宫干四化 (Gōng Gān Sì Huà) = each palace's stem flying its own Four Transformations — also called 飞宫四化 (palace-flying transformations) — is the core mechanism of the Flying-Star school. Every palace carries a 宫干 (palace stem — the heavenly stem written on it), and that stem shoots out its own set of Lu/Quan/Ke/Ji into other palaces. This is the answer to 'how palaces connect'. Spouse flying Lu into Wealth = 'your partner brings money'; Self flying Ji into Spouse = 'I can't let go of love'. Follow the flights and the chart strings into a web of cause and effect.
What is a palace stem (宫干)?
Beyond its earthly branch (子, 丑, 寅 …), every palace also carries a heavenly stem — the 宫干 (gōng gān = palace stem). The stems of the twelve palaces are fixed from your birth-year stem by the 'Five Tigers' method (五虎遁): the year stem decides which stem the 寅 palace starts on, and the rest run around in sequence. So your Self, Spouse, Wealth — each palace — owns its own heavenly stem.
The palace stem is the Flying-Star 'launcher'. The birth-year set falls from above (fixed once by the year stem); the palace-stem set is each palace actively firing its own — and that is where the chart truly moves.
How does a palace 'fly' a transformation?
Take a palace's stem, run it through the same ten-stem table, and you get the four stars that palace flies — its Lu, Quan, Ke, and Ji. Each of those stars sits in some palace, so this palace 'flies Lu into palace A, flies Ji into palace B'. Read it as 'from this palace, toward that one': the sender is the subject, the receiver the object.
Lu, Quan, Ke, Ji flown into another palace — what does each mean?
When palace A flies a transformation into palace B, it means 'A does something to B'. Each transformation is a kind of action:
A flies Lu into B = A favours B, helps B, has good affinity with B — bringing ease and joy to B.
A flies Quan into B = A wants to lead, change, push on B — bringing expansion and also pressure.
A flies Ke into B = A gives B smoothness, a benefactor, a gentle quiet concern, and a sense of standing.
A flies Ji into B = A clings to B, demands from B, treats B as a debt. The Ji is the strongest flight — and the 'cause'.
Direction decides meaning: my palaces vs other palaces
Flying-Star splits the twelve into two halves: the six that are 'mine' and the six that are 'others'. The same Ji means opposite things depending on whether it flies from a my-palace to an other-palace or the reverse.
- The six palaces that belong to 'me'.
- Ji flying from a my-palace into an other = I cling, I give, I owe them.
- The six palaces of 'others / the outer world'.
- Ji flying from an other into a my-palace = they demand, they cling, they owe me.
A complete example
To read marriage, fly the Spouse palace's stem. Suppose Spouse flies Lu into Wealth and Ji into Self: Lu-into-Wealth = 'your partner brings you financial benefit'; Ji-into-Self = 'your partner clings to you, demands from you, holds you as their attachment'. Together the two flights tell a relational story the stars alone cannot — exactly the power of palace-stem transformations.
Lineage & classical grounding
Palace-stem flights are the 'function' of the Flying-Star school. Liang Ruoyu strings the flights into 'images that form a case', reading a chart like a knot of cause and effect — the sending palace the cause, the receiving palace the result, the Ji the drawing thread.
More Flying-Star concepts
Frequently Asked Questions
How is a palace stem determined?
From your birth-year stem via the 'Five Tigers' method (五虎遁): the year stem fixes which stem the 寅 palace begins on (a 甲 or 己 year starts on 丙寅, and so on), then the rest run in order around the twelve. So every palace stem is locked by your birth year.
Do palace-stem and birth-year transformations conflict?
They don't conflict — they divide labour. The birth-year set is the 'substance', the fixed innate tone; the palace-stem set is the 'function', a mechanism that fires per palace and per matter. Read birth-year first (the Ji especially), then layer the flights; together they complete the picture.
A flown Ji into which palace deserves most caution?
A Ji into a my-palace you value bites hardest — Ji into Wealth or Property often means drain and not holding on; Ji into Self or Health means a toll on body and mind. But the Ji is also affinity and caring, not purely ill — always read it together with the palace it flew from.
Can one palace fly both Lu and Ji into the same palace?
Yes — 'Lu and Ji into one palace', a classic flying-star image of love-and-ache, sweet-then-bitter: that relationship or area brings you benefit and attachment at once. The sweetness and the snag are two faces of one thing.
What's written in your own chart?
Enter your birth time for a complete chart, free — main star, secondary stars, 12 palaces, four transformations, decade cycles, all in one read. This is your first look at your own chart.
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This reading is distilled from 12 classical Chinese destiny books — from 《周易》 (3000 years ago) to Ming-Qing 命理 masters. Not AI-generated; rooted in millennia-old tradition.
Source: 《紫微斗数全书》 · 《十八飞星策天紫微斗数》 · 《紫微斗数全集》 · 《紫微斗数捷览》 + 2 more classical references
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