Many learn self-transformation and stop at "this palace self-Lu, that palace self-Ji," but flying-star schools care where the arrow points: the same self-Ji tells two life stories depending on direction.
What This Question Is Really Asking
Asking why you gain yet cannot keep things, or retreat at the final step, you must draw the direction of the self-transformation, not just find the star, to see whether energy gathers inward or dissipates outward.
The Underlying Logic
Centripetal self-transformation points toward the palace center and draws energy in: centripetal self-Lu absorbs benefits that come to you, while centripetal self-Ji pulls debt and obsession onto yourself, prone to internal friction and self-consumption.
Centrifugal self-transformation points away and releases energy: centrifugal self-Lu gives away and disperses fast, so gains slip through your hands; centrifugal self-Ji actively pushes trouble outward—relief now, repayment later.
Treated-as self-transformation is technically the opposite palace's stem transforming into the home palace, looking like self-transformation; it means the matter across the hall acts directly on you and carries that palace's people/environment flavor, so it is not purely self-made.
The order is: confirm the home star self-transforms, draw the arrow direction, then read which of Lu/Quan/Ke/Ji it is. Direction sets inward versus outward, the transformation sets nature; only both layers give the full meaning, and missing one reverses the reading.
A Step-by-Step Way to Read It
- Find which home star the palace stem causes to self-transform
- Draw the four-transformation arrow and confirm whether it points to or away from the center
- Toward center is centripetal, away is centrifugal, and from the opposite palace is treated-as
- Then read Lu/Quan/Ke/Ji to set the nature of the matter
- Read centripetal as absorb/internalize and centrifugal as give/release; add the opposite palace for treated-as
- Use the decade/year that triggers the self-transformation to conclude gather-inward versus release-outward
Three Common Mistakes
Mistake 1: Memorizing self-Lu as good and self-Ji as bad while ignoring arrow direction, lumping centrifugal Lu and centripetal Ji together
Mistake 2: Treating treated-as self-transformation from the opposite palace as purely self-made and missing the people/environment across
Mistake 3: Confusing self-transformation with natal and flying transformations, unable to separate the innate from the flowing
Back to Your Own Chart
The direction of self-transformation is ultimately where a matter's energy flows. Draw the arrow and you tell absorbed lessons from released opportunities, instead of stamping the same verdict on every self-transformation.
Reading Order
- Cast the natal chart first and locate the palaces and major stars tied to the direction of self-transformation 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 the direction of self-transformation 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