Starpath · Time
A single year
Each year puts one palace in focus and lights up four stars.
Every year has its own stem and branch; 2026, for example, is 丙午. The palace on the cell of that year’s branch becomes the year’s Life palace: the area the year turns toward.
The year’s stem transforms four stars, just as your birth year did. Where those four stars sit in your chart shows which areas the year opens up, strengthens, brings into view, or asks you to tend.
Read the year inside its chapter: the chapter is the season, the year is the weather.
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There is also an older “minor limit” (小限) that moves one palace each year. Astravia does not use it, to keep one clear reading per year.
Monthly and daily cycles exist too. They are too fine to be useful for most people and are not shown.