XXIII. Annual Flying Stars: How the Year's Qi Overlays the House Chart

1. The Annual Star Is a Triggering Layer, Not a Reordering of the House Chart

Each year, one star enters the center, and the eight stars fly out to the eight directions along the Luo Writing's track, forming the annual chart (liunianpan). This is overlaid on top of the fixed house chart, indicating which kind of seasonal qi triggers a given palace in that year. The house chart's mountain and facing stars do not vanish because of this, and the shop's sitting-facing direction does not change either. The correct set of layers is "the house chart's three fixed numbers plus the annual star's one number," with the monthly star added on top of that when needed.

The fortune or misfortune of the annual star still follows the current period. Within the Ninth Period, Nine Purple currently governs and One White carries life-generating qi; Two Black and Five Yellow arriving at a strongly active palace call for more caution by tradition; Three Jade and Seven Red may, in a particular combination, bring out an image of dispute or loss. If the annual star lands together with a star of the same kind already in the house chart, its force easily amplifies; if it forms a generation-control pass-through instead, it should be analyzed by the Five Phases accordingly.

2. Deriving Which Star Enters the Center for the Year

A commonly used method sums the digits of the year and reduces them cyclically through nine to obtain the star entering the center palace for that year, and then flies it forward through the Nine Palaces. For instance, the commonly used convention for 2026 puts One White in the center. The boundary between one year and the next in this method usually follows the Start of Spring (lichun) rather than the calendar's January first, so early January may still need to be read on the previous year's chart. Whichever calendar convention is used must be stated explicitly.

The calculation is only the first step in plotting the chart. Once One White is placed in the center, it is flown forward along the Luo Writing's track, distributing the other stars across the eight directions, which are then overlaid on each individual shop's own house chart. One cannot write a single article claiming "the whole city shares the same wealth spot" as a substitute for a specific shop's own chart, because the very same annual-star direction lands on a different door, stove, wall, or storeroom in different shops.

3. Taisui, Suipo, and the Annual Star Belong on Separate Layers

Taisui, suipo, and the Three Killings come from the shensha directions of the stems and branches; the annual flying stars come from the numerology of the Nine Palaces. The two may land in the same area, or they may not. A report should mark them separately, and never mistake "the Five Yellow direction" for "the Taisui direction." If a given palace happens to hold both suipo and Five Yellow at once, and there are plans to break a wall or move the stove there, tradition would raise the level of caution; if it is merely a static storeroom, the weight of the effect differs.

An annual direction being inauspicious does not mean that direction cannot be used at all. The main taboo concerns large-scale ground-breaking, demolition and construction, and strong activation. Everyday door use, cleaning, and normal business should proceed according to their function. If necessary repairs must happen in a taboo direction, deal with the safety requirement first, and only then apply the traditional practice of choosing a date, keeping the disturbance light, and shortening the construction period.

4. Four Situations When the Annual Star Overlays the Base Chart

First, an auspicious annual star overlaying an already auspicious base-chart palace that has a door and path is a palace favored by the current of the time — normal use can be reinforced, though it should not be endlessly over-activated. Second, an inauspicious annual star overlaying an already inauspicious, highly active base-chart palace calls for priority on reducing activity, inspection and repair, and Five Phases remediation. Third, an auspicious annual star overlaying an inauspicious base-chart palace requires checking whether the annual star can actually serve as a pass-through — a single year's auspicious star cannot be used to wash away a long-standing problem. Fourth, an inauspicious annual star overlaying an auspicious base-chart palace calls for temporary restraint, keeping the base chart's function intact, and reviewing again once the year has passed.

For example, if the base chart's Nine Purple facing star has found a door, and in a given year Two Black flies in, this forms Fire generating Earth. One can keep the door's necessary qi-receiving function while reducing extra red lighting, heat sources, and ground disturbance there, using a moderate Metal image to drain the Earth — there is no need to seal off the main door. The annual star lasts only one year, and irreversible structural changes should not be made for its sake.

5. An Annual Review Checklist

Around the Start of Spring each year, review nine items: the year's central-palace star; Taisui, suipo, and the Three Killings; the palace of the main door; the palace of the register; the palace of the stove; the central palace; any planned construction; last year's temporary objects; and this year's important opening or lease-renewal dates. Update the layers first, and only then arrange any action. An old annual remediation that no longer applies should be removed, to avoid years of objects piling up layer upon layer.

An annual review report need only note the "key palaces of the year" — there is no need to paint every one of the nine palaces as a crisis. Typically four categories are selected: the main door, the stove, the register, and any palace with planned construction. If a given palace is neither in use nor has any exterior activating form, simply record it, without recommending that it be actively disturbed just in pursuit of good fortune.