The three layers are a map's terrain, roads and lights: birth-year gives terrain, flying gives traffic direction, self-transformation the intersection circling itself, and decade/year says when to move.
What This Question Is Really Asking
People find Si Hua increasingly confusing by blending the three layers, tangling fixed ground, dynamic flow and timing until nothing reads clearly.
The Underlying Logic
Layer one, birth-year Si Hua: set by the birth-year stem, fixed for life in its palace—the body of talent and lesson, read first.
Layer two, palace flying: each stem flies transformations to other palaces, the flow path of events and resources, answering how things connect.
Layer two also holds self-transformation: flying back to the same palace, the inner cycle, answering where things circle themselves.
Layer three, decade/year Si Hua: changes with time as activation; when it overlays birth-year and flying, the matter reaches its timing.
A Step-by-Step Way to Read It
- Step one: read only birth-year Si Hua for lifelong resources (Lu), control (Quan), reputation (Ke) and lessons (Ji)
- Step two: read palace flying to trace how domains flow and connect
- Step three: mark self-transformation for inner cycles and gain-then-loss domains
- Step four: overlay decade Si Hua to see which fixed structures activate these ten years
- Step five: overlay yearly Si Hua to narrow the concrete timing year
- Never conclude from one layer; reliable judgment needs three-layer agreement
Three Common Mistakes
Mistake 1: Blending the three layers into confusion
Mistake 2: Skipping birth-year to play with flying, losing the ground
Mistake 3: Skipping decade/year and treating possibility as imminent
Back to Your Own Chart
Si Hua is not four stars but a system: set ground, read flow, find inner drain, fix timing. Follow body, function and timing in order, and even complex charts read clearly layer by layer.
Reading Order
- Cast the natal chart first and locate the palaces and major stars tied to three layers of Si Hua before judging anything
- Open the triple-direction of those palaces and count the auspicious, malefic and assistant stars separately
- Check where the natal Four Transformations land to set the chart's baseline tone
- Read the decade-limit transformations to see whether the three layers of Si Hua line is activated in this stage
- Then read the annual transformations and the year's palace to pin down this year's trigger and timing
- Layer natal, decade and year before concluding, then decide how to act rather than labeling good or bad