Annual Luck: this year's theme

The Annual Life Palace

The Annual Luck is simple to lay out: whatever earthly branch this year is, that branch's cell on the chart is this year's Annual Life Palace. 2026 is a Bing Wu year, so everyone's Annual Life Palace is the Wu cell; 2027, a Ding Wei year, moves to the Wei cell. The classics call the Annual Luck "Tai Sui"; it means the same thing.

It's the same cell, but on each person's chart it's a different palace with different stars. So in the same year, one person's Annual Life Palace falls in their natal Career Palace and their focus this year is work; another's falls in the Spouse Palace, and matters of love are felt more.

Starting from the Annual Life Palace, you can lay out Annual Siblings, Annual Spouse, Annual Wealth and the rest, the full circle of twelve annual palaces.

The year it reaches your Life Palace

"On the Fortunes and Stars of the Annual Tai Sui" in volume three of the *Quan Shu* says: "For the Tai Sui, look at the stars of the three directions and the one opposite to judge fortune; when the Tai Sui passes through the Life Palace, good and bad are especially pressing." Two points: the Annual Luck needs its San Fang Si Zheng read just like the natal chart; and in the year the Annual Luck reaches your natal Life Palace, both good and bad are especially noticeable.

That year comes round every twelve years. For someone with the Life Palace in Wu, for example, 2026 Bing Wu is one, and the previous was 2014 Jia Wu.

Many people confuse this with their "zodiac year". The zodiac year follows your Chinese zodiac animal, the branch of your birth year; the Annual Luck reaching your Life Palace follows the branch your Life Palace is in. Someone born in the Year of the Horse doesn't necessarily have the Life Palace in Wu, so the two often fall in different years.

Annual transformations

The year's stem produces another set of transformations. From the *Quan Shu*'s table:

• Jia years: Lian Zhen Lu, Po Jun Quan, Wu Qu Ke, Tai Yang Ji
• Yi years: Tian Ji Lu, Tian Liang Quan, Zi Wei Ke, Tai Yin Ji
• Bing years: Tian Tong Lu, Tian Ji Quan, Wen Chang Ke, Lian Zhen Ji
• Ding years: Tai Yin Lu, Tian Tong Quan, Tian Ji Ke, Ju Men Ji
• Wu years: Tan Lang Lu, Tai Yin Quan, You Bi Ke, Tian Ji Ji

The table for Ji through Gui years, which you learned in Chapter 4, applies just the same. Wherever the annual transformations land on your chart are this year's bright spots and the areas that need extra thought.

Transiting stars

Transiting stars move with the Annual Luck and only act during that year:

• Liu Lu, Liu Yang and Liu Tuo: placed by the year stem, just like Lu Cun, Qing Yang and Tuo Luo.
• Liu Chang, Liu Qu, Liu Kui and Liu Yue: also placed by the year stem.
• Liu Ma: placed by the year branch.

The "Rhyme for Placing Liu Lu, Liu Yang and Liu Tuo" in volume two of the *Quan Shu* gives an example: "in a Ji Chou annual period, Liu Lu is in Wu, Liu Yang in Wei and Liu Tuo in Si". Where transiting stars meet natal stars is where a cell is especially busy this year.

When the year changes

Xingge changes the year on the first day of the first lunar month, as the *Quan Shu* and most Zi Wei schools do. Another school changes the year at Li Chun, around early February. If you're looking at something in late January or early February, the two methods can differ by a year, so keep an eye on it when using other software.

Principles for reading the Annual Luck

Read the Annual Luck under the Decade Luck: the Decade Luck is the season's main thread, and the Annual Luck is this episode's theme. When you see the Annual Hua Ji in some cell, practitioners say that area needs more patience this year, not that something will happen. The Annual Luck only describes focus; it doesn't write the script.