San He Reads Star Combinations Across Four Palaces
The Three Combinations (San He) school reads a chart by how stars combine, not one star at a time. It rests on the old classic, the Complete Book of Ziwei Doushu (Ziwei Doushu Quanshu).
For any palace, the school reads its Three Directions and Four Squares (San Fang Si Zheng) as one group: the palace itself, the one directly opposite, and the two that form a triangle with it. To judge money, for example, you read the Wealth Palace, the Fortune Palace opposite it, and the Life and Career Palaces in its triangle.
Open the free Ziwei Doushu calculator and click the cell labelled 命宮, your Life Palace, since the chart labels are in Chinese. The chart then marks the palace opposite and the two in its triangle, and a reading in this school starts from those four cells.
The Four Transformations are four tags a star can carry: Hua Lu (wealth), Hua Quan (power), Hua Ke (fame) and Hua Ji (obstacle). This school uses only three sets of them. One comes from your birth year, one from each ten-year Decade Cycle (Da Xian), and one from each year.
See your Ziwei Doushu chart
Generate your natal chart to discover which stars shape your destiny and how they interact across your twelve palaces.
The Main Schools of Ziwei Doushu
The chart is usually read by one of two broad schools, San He or Flying Star (Fei Xing). They draw nearly the same chart and differ in how they read it.
- San HeBased on the Complete Book, it reads how stars combine across four palaces.
- The Zhongzhou school is often counted as one of its branches.
- Flying StarAlso called the Si Hua school, it tracks how the transformations fly from palace to palace.
- Well-known branches include Qintian Si Hua and Heluo.
How San He and Flying Star Differ
The two schools differ in what a reading centres on. One looks at which stars sit in each palace and how they combine. The other gives each of the twelve palaces its own stem, then tracks which palace each transformation flies into.
| Aspect | San He | Flying Star |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Star combinations across four palaces | Where each transformation flies |
| Transformations | Birth year, decade and year | Also each palace's own stem |
| Stars used | Major, helpful and harmful stars | Mostly major stars and transformations |
| Decades and years | The four-palace group and transformations of that period's Life Palace | How palace-stem transformations tie palaces together |
| Where to start | Learn star traits and combinations | Learn palace stems and flying rules |
The two are different angles, and neither is agreed to be more accurate.
How San He Reads Star Combinations
This school first asks which star group the Life Palace's major stars belong to, and then checks whether the four-palace group forms a pattern. A star group only sorts the major stars and is not a pattern.
| Star group | Major stars |
|---|---|
| Sha Po Lang | Qisha, Pojun, Tanlang |
| Zi Fu Lian Wu Xiang | Ziwei, Tianfu, Lianzhen, Wuqu, Tianxiang |
| Ji Yue Tong Liang | Tianji, Taiyin, Tiantong, Tianliang |
| Ju Ri | Jumen, Taiyang |
A pattern is a star combination with clear conditions, and Fortune Cloud recognises only the eight a program can check.
| Pattern | Conditions | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Yang Liang Chang Lu | Taiyang, Tianliang and Wenchang in the group, plus Lucun or a wealth tag; no malefic stars or obstacle tag | Modern common definition |
| Huo Tan | Tanlang and Huoxing in the Life Palace, both Temple or Prosperous; Tanlang without the obstacle tag | Complete Book |
| Ling Tan | Tanlang and Lingxing in the Life Palace, both Temple or Prosperous; Tanlang without the obstacle tag | Complete Book |
| San Qi Jia Hui | All three birth-year tags for wealth, power and fame in the group; no malefic stars or obstacle tag | Complete Book, where it reads "Ke Quan Lu Gong" |
| Shi Zhong Yin Yu | Life Palace in Zi or Wu with Jumen; Lucun in the group, or a wealth or power tag on Jumen; no malefic stars or obstacle tag | Complete Book |
| Zi Fu Tong Gong | Life Palace in Yin or Shen with Ziwei and Tianfu together; helpful stars or a wealth, power or fame tag in the group; no malefic stars or obstacle tag | Complete Book |
| Qi Sha Chao Dou | Life Palace in Yin, Shen, Zi or Wu with Qisha; helpful stars or a wealth, power or fame tag in the group; no malefic stars or obstacle tag | Complete Book |
| Lu Ma Jiao Chi | One palace in the group holds Tianma with Lucun or a wealth tag, and none of Tuoluo, Huoxing, Dikong, Dijie, Kongwang or the obstacle tag | Complete Book |
"No malefic stars or obstacle tag" means the four-palace group around the Life Palace holds neither the obstacle tag nor any of the six malefic stars.
| Kind | Stars |
|---|---|
| Six malefic stars | Qingyang, Tuoluo, Huoxing, Lingxing, Dikong, Dijie |
| Helpful stars | Zuofu, Youbi, Wenchang, Wenqu, Tiankui, Tianyue, Lucun |
Patterns come only from the birth chart, so no decade or year ever adds a new one.
How Fortune Cloud Uses San He
Fortune Cloud's charts and reports follow the San He rules, and a program can apply each rule the same way every time.
- Three transformation layersOnly birth year, decade and year; monthly readings add the month.
- Transformation tableThe Ren stem's fame tag goes to Zuofu, where the Complete Book names Tianfu.
- No Flying Star methodsNo palace-stem flying, self-transformation, cause palace or chasing the obstacle tag from palace to palace, so the two schools never mix.
- Seven brightness levelsA star's strength runs from Temple (Miao) down to Fallen (Xian), set by the branch it sits in.
- Empty palaces borrowA palace with no major star borrows the major stars of the palace opposite.
