How to read a 流年: put the year inside its 大運
Fix the annual pillar at 立春, find which ten-year 大運 it falls inside, then read how it relates to the 大運 and the natal chart.
What you will be able to do
You can work out the 流年 stem and branch for any year, say where it sits in the 大運 sequence, and explain why reading a year on its own is unreliable.
What you need first
- A natal chart with its four pillars
- The 大運 you are currently in (see the guide on 大運 and 起運)
- The year you want to read
01Establish the 流年 stem and branch
The 流年 is simply that year's year pillar — and the year pillar turns at **立春**, not at New Year's Day and not at Lunar New Year.
Take 2026: the 丙午 year begins at 立春 on 2026-02-04 04:02:08. A moment before that still belongs to the previous year, 乙巳.
- 01Look up the year pillar for the target year
- 02Check whether the moment you are reading has passed that year's 立春
- 03If it has not, use the previous year's stem and branch
02Find which 大運 the year falls inside
A 流年 never stands alone — it always falls inside one ten-year 大運. The same annual stem and branch means different things under a different 大運.
Add ten years per step to the 起運 age and you can work out which 大運 a given age belongs to.
- 01Use the 起運 age to determine which 大運 step the target age falls in
- 02Record that 大運's stem and branch
- 03Write the 流年 and the 大運 side by side
03Read the 流年 against the 大運
Compare the two stems first (generating or controlling), then the two branches (combination, clash, punishment, harm).
Two situations have their own names: when the 流年 and 大運 are **identical**, 歲運並臨; when the stems control each other while the branches clash, 天剋地沖. Traditionally the second is read as a more turbulent year.
These are **descriptions of a relation**, not verdicts. The same relation landing on a different natal chart can produce the opposite outcome.
- 01Compare the 流年 stem with the 大運 stem
- 02Compare the 流年 branch with the 大運 branch
- 03Flag it separately if they are identical or form 天剋地沖
04Then read the 流年 against the natal chart
Compare the 流年 branch with each of the four natal branches. A clash on the **day branch** usually draws the most attention — it is where the day master sits; a clash on the **month branch** comes next, since the month command is the chart's outline.
The ten-god relation between the 流年 stem and your day master gives the year its theme.
- 01Compare the 流年 branch against all four natal branches and mark combinations and clashes
- 02Note specifically whether the day branch or month branch is clashed
- 03Write down the ten-god relation of the 流年 stem to your day master
05Combine the layers in order, instead of reading the year alone
The order is: can the natal chart carry it → what environment does the 大運 provide → what does the year trigger. Skip the first two and the conclusion becomes far too definite.
A 流年 describes a **theme and a point of friction**, not a list of events. It says where effort or resistance is likely during the year — not that a specific thing will happen.
- 01Write down the natal chart's baseline first (does it support this)
- 02Then write whether the 大運 supplies help or resistance
- 03Finally write what the year triggers, and mark it as a tendency rather than a claim
Common mistakes
- Turning the year at New Year's Day or Lunar New Year
- The 流年 turns at **立春**. Turning it at 1 January gets the whole stem and branch wrong between 1 January and 立春; turning it at Lunar New Year is wrong too, since Lunar New Year drifts around 立春 and is not the same day.
- Reading the year without its 大運
- A 流年 always sits inside a 大運, and the same annual pillar means different things under different ones. Reading the year in isolation erases the ten-year backdrop and leaves only the year.
- Treating 犯太歲 as a verdict
- 犯太歲 describes the relation between your zodiac branch and that year's branch: 值, 沖, 刑, 害, 破. It is a set of **relational descriptions** carrying no inherent good or bad. Reading it directly as 'a bad year' is the usual over-interpretation.
- Assuming 歲運並臨 must be unlucky
- 歲運並臨 means the 流年 and 大運 are identical. Traditional sources weight it heavily, but it only stacks the same stem and branch — the outcome depends on whether the natal chart can carry it, and sometimes it can.
- Expecting a list of events
- A 流年 gives a theme and a point of friction, not 'what will happen in which month'. The method does not have that resolution; anything claiming it is usually fitted after the fact.
Read these concepts first
These are concept explanations with full entries in the knowledge base; this guide does not repeat their text.
Questions
When does a 流年 begin?
At 立春 — not 1 January and not Lunar New Year. The year pillar changes at that instant, so anything before 立春 still belongs to the previous year.
What is the 流年 for 2026?
丙午, beginning at 立春 on 2026-02-04 04:02:08. The moment is precise to the second; before it, the year is still 乙巳.
What does 犯太歲 actually mean?
It refers to the relation between your zodiac branch and the year's branch — 值太歲, 沖太歲, 刑太歲, 害太歲, 破太歲. It describes a relation rather than a verdict, and the same relation lands differently on different charts.
What is 歲運並臨, and is it always bad?
It means the 流年 and the 大運 share the same stem and branch. Traditional readings weight it heavily, but it merely stacks one set of energies; whether it helps depends on whether the natal chart can carry it.
Can you read a year on its own?
No. A 流年 has to be read inside the natal chart and the 大運: first whether the chart supports it, then what environment the 大運 provides, and only then what the year triggers. Reading it alone yields far more certainty than the method supports.
All guides
See your own 大運
See your 流年 →Updated 2026-09-25