Ernest Hemingway

The Destiny Palace has no Four Transformations activation, but Tian Tong in its balanced position itself is a state of potential energy not yet activated. Since Tian Tong does not actively trigger transformations, the native's life drive relies more on the Hua Lu, Hua Quan, Hua Ke from other palaces to 'borrow light'. For instance, the Wealth Palace with Ju Men in prosperity (Body Palace) and the Parents Palace with Wu Qu Hua Lu form a wealth star activation, prompting him to transform Tian Tong's sensitivity into writing material; the Spouse Palace with Tian Liang Hua Ke allowed him to gain social image enhancement through marital relationships. Overall, the 'stillness' of the Destiny Palace needed external 'movement' to activate it, making Hemingway a complex personality who was passively swept into the era's torrents and then actively conquered them.

The configuration of Tian Tong and Di Jie in the Destiny Palace manifested in Hemingway as: throughout his life he sought a 'peaceful' self (Tian Tong), but was constantly pushed by 'turbulent' external events (Di Jie). In youth, he went to war, was wounded, and became famous through writing; in middle age, he had four marriages, traveled between Europe and Cuba, and participated in the Spanish Civil War; in his later years, after winning the Nobel Prize, he shot himself. Each life turning point appeared to be his active choice, but in reality it was the tug-of-war between the inner 'fortune star's desire for comfort' and the 'calamity star's creation of crises'. Tian Tong in balance gave his works human warmth, while Di Jie imparted a profound sense of tragedy — this is the spiritual source of 'finding meaning in death' as seen in 'For Whom the Bell Tolls'.

Wu Qu Hua Lu in the Parents Palace strengthened the father's material and spiritual support. Hua Lu caused Hemingway to receive financial support from his father in his early writing days (such as travel expenses to Paris in 1920), and more crucially, the 'tough-guy philosophy' imparted by his father became the core of his works. However, the firmness of Wu Qu in its temple also led to friction in the father-son relationship: his father disliked Hemingway becoming a writer instead of a doctor. After his father's suicide in 1928, Hemingway's feelings toward his father were complex — both admiration and guilt.

Hemingway's father Clarence (1858–1928) was an obstetrician-gynecologist and nature lover who often took young Hemingway fishing and hunting on Lake Michigan (the outdoor attributes of Wu Qu). His mother Grace was an opera singer who wanted him to study music (suppressed by Wu Qu). His father's suicide due to diabetes and depression made Hemingway fear hereditary illness all his life, and indirectly influenced his own later suicide due to depression. The positive effect of Hua Lu was the growth environment provided by his parents (shotguns, fishing rods, books) that shaped his writing material. The shotgun left by his father was precisely the one Hemingway used to kill himself.

The Fu De Palace has no Four Transformations, but the Prosperous Tai Yang and Tian Ma form a 'Sun-Horse Intersecting' active mindset. The enthusiasm of Tai Yang in Prosperity drove him to constantly seek new spiritual anchors: wars, bullfighting, hunting, deep-sea fishing. Tian Ma represents a mind that never rests; he often worked on multiple writing projects simultaneously, but in his later years, he became agitated from creative exhaustion (the entanglement of Tuo Luo in Decline). Tuo Luo in Decline deepened his depression gradually, and the psychoanalysis treatment he started in the 1940s could not reverse it. Overall, this is a palace that 'seeks darkness within brightness'.

Hemingway's mental state: Tai Yang in Prosperity made him high-spirited in youth, engaging in various adventures and writing with vitality. You Bi made him generous with friends (supporting impoverished writers), and Tian Ma prompted him to make ten transatlantic journeys. Tuo Luo in Decline manifested as: he wrote for four hours each morning, relieved stress with alcohol in the afternoons, and fell into the anxiety of 'write or die' in his later years. In 1961, he committed suicide at his home in Idaho, having dined with his wife the night before. Beneath the optimistic exterior of Tai Yang in Prosperity, the depression of Tuo Luo in Decline ultimately prevailed. He often said he had 'lived too long', which corresponds to Tian Ma's 'ceaseless movement is a torment'.

The Tian Zhai Palace has no Four Transformations, but Po Jun in Prosperity and Lu Cun together form the 'Po Jun Lu Cun' phenomenon. Po Jun implies 'destruction followed by reconstruction', and Lu Cun provides a financial buffer, so that after each move or renovation, the economy did not collapse. After buying his first property in Key West, Hemingway added a swimming pool and study himself; after buying the estate in Cuba, he expanded the watchtower. Lu Cun allowed him to purchase a home in Idaho after selling the Cuban property in his later years. Wen Chang in Decline suggests his careless handling of land contracts; in the 1970s, the Cuban government confiscated the estate on the grounds of 'unpaid taxes'.

Hemingway's property history: After his father's suicide in 1928, he settled in Key West (the starting point of Po Jun), renovated the villa in the 1930s (added walls), purchased the Cuban estate ('Finca Vigía') in 1940, was forced to leave Cuba in 1960 (the abandonment of Po Jun), and bought his final home in Ketchum, Idaho. Lu Cun was reflected in his ability to cover property expenses with writing income, and even sometimes rented the villa to tourists. Wen Chang in Decline led to his failure to keep the Cuban property documents safe, and the estate was eventually confiscated by the Cuban government, though he had already passed away by then.