San He School vs. Northern School Flying Star
Zi Wei Dou Shu (紫微斗数) has been passed down through the ages and today mainly divides into two major systems. Our chart generator supports switching between both.
San He School (Traditional Mainstream)
- Centered on the Trinity (三方四正): reading the combined stars of the Life Palace (命宫), the trine palaces, and the opposite palace.
- Emphasizes star combinations and brightness levels, with rigorous pattern identification (the system of *Gu Sui Fu* 《骨髓赋》 and *Tai Wei Fu* 《太微赋》).
- Uses the mainstream table for birth-year Si Hua; Decade Limits (大限) and Annual Years (流年) are primarily read through palace layering.
- Suitable for beginners and general readings; most mainstream fortune tellers in Hong Kong and Taiwan belong to this school.
Northern School / Flying Star Si Hua (Qin Tian System)
- The core lies in Flying Palace Si Hua: each of the twelve palaces' Heavenly Stems emits Lu, Quan, Ji, and Ji, which land in other palaces to form a network of "whoever emits, whoever receives" relationships.
- The Si Hua table differs from the San He School (for example, the Geng stem's Hua Ke and Hua Ji correspond to Tian Fu and Tian Xiang rather than Tai Yin and Tian Tong).
- Emphasizes the Lai Yin Palace (来因宫 — the palace containing the birth-year stem) to trace karmic origins; readings are more "dynamic."
- Systematized since the Republic era through lineages like the Qin Tian Men (钦天门), it has become popular in mid-to-high-end metaphysics circles in recent years.
Key Points of Divergence
| Divergence | San He School | Northern School |
|---|---|---|
| Si Hua table | Mainstream table | Entries such as the Geng stem differ |
| Focus of reading | Star combinations + Trinity | Flying transformation relationship chains |
| Leap month | Mostly counted as the current month | Some schools count it as the next month |
| Early vs. late Zi hour | Disagreement exists | Disagreement exists |
How to Choose
- Cross-referencing with most books/websites from Hong Kong and Taiwan → use the San He School (default)
- Studying the Qin Tian / Flying Star system, or wanting to see the flying transformation relationship network → use the Northern School Flying Star
- If unsure, generate both charts and compare: if the Life Palace and patterns match, the two schools arrive at the same destination by different paths; where they differ is precisely where the schools' viewpoints diverge
The top of our results page will indicate which system is currently in use, so there will be no confusion.