What the Four Transformations Are: How to Read Hua Lu, Hua Quan, Hua Ke and Hua Ji

I have seen two readings of one and the same Zi Wei chart: one said that this person "has Hua Ji in the spouse palace, so their love life will be full of ups and downs"; the other said that "Hua Ji only pins the attention to this spot, so he will put even more into this matter instead".

One chart, two passages. The whole difference lies in how the four transformations are read.

What the four transformations are

The four transformations are four "transformed stars": Hua Lu, Hua Quan, Hua Ke and Hua Ji.

They are not stars in their own right; they are derived from the heavenly stem of each palace according to the table of transformations for the ten heavenly stems (Source 1). The Fei Xing (flying palace) system simply takes "flying the transformations from the palace stems" as its fundamental method: the stems of the palaces are used to derive the four transformed stars of Lu, Quan, Ke and Ji, and the flow that forms when those transformed stars land in other palaces is then observed (Source 1).

So the four transformations are not read for "whether there is one" but for "where it goes". They mark which layer of relation is being emphasised and pushed forward.

The character of each transformation

Hua Lu leans towards resources and gain: money, opportunity, favours given and received all belong to this class.

Hua Quan leans towards dominance and intensity: the right to speak, the power to control, the drive that says this has to be done.

Hua Ke leans towards standing and being seen: assessment, qualification, reputation.

Hua Ji leans towards attachment and drain: going over something again and again, being unable to put it down, needing to pour in a great deal of effort.

Note the last of them: the ji of Hua Ji is not the ji of "taboo", nor does it mean bad luck. It is closer to "attention nailed to this spot". Where a person's Hua Ji falls is often where they care most and are most easily hurt over and over — that may not sound like a bad thing, but it is genuinely uncomfortable.

The order for reading the four transformations

Step one, see which palace the transformed star falls into — the landing place decides whether the matter is work, a relationship or the body.

Step two, look at the star in that palace. The same Hua Lu sitting on different stars behaves quite differently.

Step three, look at how it echoes with the opposite palace and the two trine palaces (Source 1).

The San He system and the Fei Xing system use the four transformations rather differently: the former sets more store by how the transformed stars fit the pattern of the original chart, the latter stresses the flow of flying transformations between palace and palace (Source 1). If you have seen two readings that contradict each other, in most cases it is not that somebody calculated it wrongly, but that the two people were using different methods.

Two reminders

The first: do not treat the four transformations as labels of good or ill fortune. Hua Lu does not equal "rich", and Hua Ji does not equal "something goes wrong".

The second: do not look at one transformed star alone. All four exist at the same time, and it is their combination that carries the information; take one out and almost any conclusion can be made to sound convincing.

When I pick up a chart now, I ring the landing places of the four transformations in coloured pen first, and then see whether they link up into a line. Most of the time, that line points at what this person has been going through again and again in recent years.

Tools on this site (for entertainment)

This site offers an entertainment-oriented process: describe your situation clearly → get a method suggestion → read the chart and the interpretation → export the result if you want to keep it. The content is for entertainment and self-reflection only; it promises no prediction and is not decision advice.

This article was last checked on 19 September 2026. Traditional divination has many schools and a long history, and their formulas and versions do not fully agree; the text relies on publicly verifiable sources, and for dates and calendars please refer to the latest official publication.

Disclaimer: This article covers traditional culture and folk custom. It is for entertainment and self-reflection only, and does not constitute medical, psychological, investment, legal or marital decision advice. Please do not submit sensitive personal information such as ID numbers or detailed addresses. If you experience persistent insomnia, anxiety or physical discomfort, please consult a doctor or a qualified professional.

Sources

• "Zi Wei Dou Shu" (《紫微斗数》) — Wikipedia (including the section on the four transformations and the calculation schools): https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-cn/紫微斗数 (accessed 19 September 2026)
• Method page on this site: Zi Wei Dou Shu Chart: https://zhanbumizhi.top/en/methods/ziwei (accessed 19 September 2026)