What is Sui Jian?

Every year one palace is especially busy: its affairs are often the first to come up that year, and the ones most talked about. That palace is Sui Jian (Year Seat), where Tai Sui (the Grand Duke who rules the year) sits. It is the first of the Twelve Year Gods (Sui Qian), and the whole set is counted from it. To find which palace Sui Jian falls in for you this year, draw your chart.

What Sui Jian is: the starting point of the Twelve Year Gods

Sui Jian is Tai Sui. Whatever the year's branch, Sui Jian is in that branch's palace on the chart: in Zi in a Zi year, in Chou in a Chou year, and so on. One palace on clockwise is Hui Qi, then Sang Men, and so on through to the twelfth, Bing Fu.

Volume two of the Zi Wei Dou Shu Quan Shu (The Complete Book of Zi Wei Dou Shu) calls Tai Sui the Year Lord, saying "the Year Lord is fire, the star lord Tai Sui of the year," and the whole set of Year Gods is arranged around it. The chapter on the annual Tai Sui in volume three also says that "when Tai Sui passes through the Life Palace, good and ill press closest": in the year Tai Sui reaches your Life Palace, things are felt most directly.

In the Annual Luck, Sui Jian always sits in the Annual Life Palace

The Annual Life Palace is the palace of that year's branch, the same palace as Sui Jian. So when you read an Annual Luck, Sui Jian is like a stamp on the Annual Life Palace: this palace is the year's home ground. In 2027, a Ding Wei year, Sui Jian is in Wei. Whichever palace Wei is on your chart, that palace's affairs are one of your focal points for 2027.

What Sui Jian means, in plain words

This is home ground. Things big and small often start here, so look after this area first. Sui Jian itself is neither good nor bad; it magnifies the stars already in the palace. With a strong main star or Hua Lu, things move forward; with Hua Ji or challenging stars, it's where this year needs the most care.

Sui Jian in key palaces

• Life Palace: you're the lead this year, with plenty you want to do and plenty to decide. Settle the direction first, then divide up your energy.
• Wealth Palace: money coming in and going out is this year's focus; income, spending and financial plans often move together. Get your accounts in order first.
• Career Palace: work is where things most often start: new tasks, new roles or new projects tend to come from here. Set your priorities.
• Spouse Palace: love and your partner move to the front, with more to talk over and decide. Spend more time on the two of you.
• Property Palace: there are things to take care of at home: moving, sorting out, buying for the home often come this year.
• Health Palace: your body and daily rhythm come into view; this year you notice more clearly whether you're tired. Put rest on the schedule.

Natal and annual, read separately

The natal chart also has a Sui Jian, in the palace of your birth-year branch. It's background on the chart, and Xingge's palace readings don't cover it separately. The one actually read is the annual Sui Jian: each time the first day of the lunar year passes, it moves to the new year's branch. In 2026, a Bing Wu year, it is in Wu; in 2027, a Ding Wei year, it moves to Wei. For how to read the Annual Luck, see the Annual Luck lesson.