Transformation structures

In Four Pillars of Destiny (BaZi), a transformation structure forms when the day stem combines with a neighboring stem and every condition for transformation is met; the pair is then read as the element it transforms into. When the conditions fall short, the pair is combined but not transformed, and both stems stay themselves.

The lesson on stem combinations covered the combination itself; the last column of its table gives the element each pair may transform into. Combining does not mean transforming.

Take the structure first, then look for a transformation

As with following structures, this series first takes the structure from the month, then sees whether the day stem combines and transforms. A transformation structure is a layer on top of the structure, and the structure is still recorded. The True Interpretation of Ziping (子平真诠; Qing dynasty, 18th century) also lists following and transformation among its miscellaneous structures.

The True Interpretation of Ziping · On Miscellaneous Structures

Why pairs transform

The True Interpretation of Ziping traces combining and transforming to the pairing of yin and yang among the ten stems. A yang stem pairs with the yin stem it controls: Yang Wood with Yin Earth transforms into Earth, Yin Wood with Yang Metal into Metal, Yang Fire with Yin Metal into Water, Yin Fire with Yang Water into Wood, and Yang Earth with Yin Water into Fire. The element a pair yields is the transformed element. Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping (子平真诠评注; ROC, 1936) says that not every pairing of stems combines, and not every combination transforms.

The True Interpretation of Ziping · On the Pairing and Nature of the Ten Stems; Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On Stem Combinations That Do Not Hold

What makes a transformation true

The books’ conditions for a true transformation come to five, and all five must hold:

1. The day stem combines with the month stem or hour stem right beside it, and the four pillars hold only one stem of the partner’s kind.
2. The chart is born in a month when the transformed element is in command: Yang Wood with Yin Earth in a Dragon, Dog, Ox or Goat month; Yin Wood with Yang Metal in autumn; Yang Fire with Yin Metal in winter; Yin Fire with Yang Water in spring; Yang Earth with Yin Water in summer. The transformed element needs energy in the branches, in the month and hour branches most of all.
3. The chart holds a Dragon. By the way the lesson on setting up the four pillars finds the hour stem from the day stem, the Dragon hour of a Yang Wood or Yin Earth day is Yang Earth Dragon; of a Yin Wood or Yang Metal day, Yang Metal Dragon; of a Yang Fire or Yin Metal day, Yang Water Dragon; of a Yin Fire or Yang Water day, Yang Wood Dragon; and of a Yang Earth or Yin Water day, Yang Fire Dragon. The stem on the Dragon is the transformed element itself. The books call this meeting the Dragon.
4. The Day Master’s original element is isolated and weak, with no root and no Resource or Peer quietly supporting it; the partner stem must have force.
5. Nothing else in the chart controls and damages the transformed element.

Dripping Heavenly Marrow · The Image of Transformation, original notes; Dripping Heavenly Marrow · False Transformation, original notes; Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated · The Image of Transformation; Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On Stem Combinations That Do Not Hold; Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On Miscellaneous Structures

After the transformation

Dripping Heavenly Marrow (滴天髓) puts the rule in one verse:

化得真者只论化，化神还有几般话。

Our translation: When the transformation is true, speak only of the transformation; yet the transformed element still has more to tell.

Once the transformation is true, the day stem and its partner are both read as the transformed element, and the ten relationships are counted again from it. With Yang Wood and Yin Earth transformed into Earth, for example, Fire is Resource, Earth is Peer, Metal is Output, Water is Wealth and Wood is Authority.

The transformed element has its own strength, which is what the second half of the verse refers to. Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated (滴天髓阐微; Qing dynasty, 19th century) says that a transformed element strong with some to spare is best drained, and one weak and short is best generated and helped. Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping agrees, and points out that only the two combined stems are taken as the transformed element; the other stems and branches stay as they are. The original notes to Dripping Heavenly Marrow give an example: when Yang Wood and Yin Earth transform into Earth and the Earth is cold, it needs Fire to warm it.

Dripping Heavenly Marrow · The Image of Transformation, original notes; Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated · The Image of Transformation; Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On Miscellaneous Structures; Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On Stem Combinations That Do Not Hold

Combined but not transformed

When the conditions are not all met, the pair is combined but not transformed. Each stem stays itself; the two only hold each other, and neither is combined away. A combination the Day Master takes part in is not combined away, as the lesson on stem combinations explains: the Day Master’s strength and structure are judged by its original element, and the partner stem stands closer to it.

The True Interpretation of Ziping · On Stem Combinations That Do Not Hold; Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On Stem Combinations That Do Not Hold; Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated · The Image of Transformation

Dripping Heavenly Marrow calls a pairing that falls just short a false transformation: for example, the Day Master still has hidden support, the partner stem is weak, or there is no Dragon. A false transformation is not a true one; as above, both stems stay themselves in the natal chart.

Dripping Heavenly Marrow · False Transformation, original notes; Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated · False Transformation

Try it on your chart

1. Look at the day stem with the month stem and the hour stem. Do they form Yang Wood with Yin Earth, Yin Wood with Yang Metal, Yang Fire with Yin Metal, Yin Fire with Yang Water, or Yang Earth with Yin Water? If none does, the Day Master has no transformation structure.
2. If one does, see whether the four pillars hold only one stem of the partner’s kind.
3. Check the conditions one by one: is the transformed element in command in the month, is there a Dragon, does the Day Master’s original element have a root or support, and does anything control and damage the transformed element?
4. If all five hold, write transformation structure: count the ten relationships again from the transformed element, see whether it is strong or weak, and write down the elements it welcomes.
5. If not, write combined but not transformed: read the Day Master by its original element, and note the partner stem as the one closest to it.
6. Write the transformation structure beside the structure taken from the month, as a layer on top of it.

See also: Stem combinations and stem clashes

See also: Setting up the four pillars: solar months, the year boundary and the midnight hour

See also: Following structures

See also: Combined structures, overlay structures and “transforms into”

See also: Outer structures: when the month offers no structure