Decade Limits and Annual Years
The natal chart is a static, innate structure; luck cycles are the dynamic activations. The same chart, passing through different Decade Limits and Annual Years, will manifest in completely different ways.
Hierarchy
- Decade Limit (大限): Each palace governs ten years. Counting starts from the Life Palace (命宫) — forward for Yang males and Yin females, backward for Yin males and Yang females. The start and end ages (in East Asian reckoning虚岁) are marked below each palace (e.g., "Decade Limit 34–43").
- Annual Year (流年): The palace corresponding to the year's Earthly Branch becomes the Annual Life Palace (e.g., in a Wu year, the Annual Life Palace is at Wu). The twelve palaces are then rearranged accordingly.
- Monthly Luck / Minor Limit (流月/小限): Monthly luck governs the current month; the Minor Limit serves as a supplementary reference.
Steps for Deduction
- Locate the current Decade Limit: Find the palace corresponding to your current虚岁 age → that palace becomes the Decade Life Palace; the palace's Heavenly Stem generates the Four Transformations (Si Hua).
- Decade Limit sets the framework: The Trinity (三方四正) of the Decade Life Palace + where the Decade Four Transformations land in the natal chart → the ten-year theme.
- Annual Year overlay: The Four Transformations from the Annual Life Palace's Heavenly Stem + the Annual Four Transformations activating natal or Decade Limit palaces.
- Timing of manifestation: When natal-year Hua Ji (化忌), Decade Limit Hua Ji, and Annual Hua Ji stack in the same palace (double or triple Ji converging), this marks a critical period of manifestation; when Lu, Quan, and Ke stack in the same palace, this marks a period of smooth progress.
Interpreting Stacked Palaces
- Decade Life Palace overlapping a natal palace = the focus of that decade lies in this domain.
- Annual Life Palace overlapping a Decade Limit palace = the specific facet of that year within the Decade Limit's theme.
- Annual Hua Ji entering the natal Life Palace (命宫) or the palace of the matter being asked about = obstruction in this area that year.
- Decade Limit Hua Ji clashing with the natal Life Palace (its opposite palace) = a decade whose underlying tone is pressure.
- Natal Hua Ji being activated by Annual Hua Ji (in the same palace or in opposition) = a year when old unresolved issues erupt.
How This Site Approaches It
The "Decade Limit · Six Consecutive Annual Years" panel in the chart calculation results provides, year by year for 2026–2031, the Decade Limit's Stem-Branch, the Annual Year's Stem-Branch, and their respective Four Transformations. Any reading of fortune must consider all three layers together: natal chart foundation + Decade Limit basis + Annual Year activation, avoiding single-point assertions.