Glossary entry
The four transformations (四化, si hua)
Four of the fourteen main stars are turned by the birth year stem into 化禄, 化权, 化科 and 化忌 — prosperity, power, fame and obstruction. They mark the four palaces where this chart opportunity and pressure actually land.
What each one marks
化禄 marks where things come easily and money moves; 化权 where authority is taken; 化科 where reputation is built; 化忌 where a situation sticks and keeps costing. The same star reads differently depending on which of the four it carries.
Why 化忌 is read first
In the readings here 化忌 comes first: it is the palace where the chart already knows it is paying. The full reading names it before anything else and says what the payment is for.
Questions
Do the four change from year to year?
In the chart they are fixed by the birth year stem. The yearly layer reads a further set for the current year, which the continuous readings cover.
Is 化忌 bad luck?
It marks where something sticks and keeps costing, which is often where the work is. The reading says what it costs; it does not call it a curse.
Zi Wei Dou Shu chart, free See a completed reading first The full glossary