Understanding Major and Annual Fortune Cycles
Your natal chart is the blueprint. Major Fortune (大運, Daeun) and Annual Fortune (歲運, Seun) are the weather patterns moving across it. Two people with identical charts can live radically different lives depending on which fortune cycles they ride.
Major Fortune (大運) — The Decade-Long Current
Every 10 years, your Major Fortune shifts. It's calculated from your Month Pillar, moving forward or backward through the cycle based on birth specifics.
How It Works
- Each 10-year cycle splits: first 5 years under Heavenly Stem influence, next 5 under Earthly Branch
- Fortune Transition (交運期) is when cycles shift—life's major turning points cluster here
- Your starting age depends on birth date and gender
What Makes It Good or Bad?
Good Major Fortune delivers what your chart craves—Yongsin, favorable spirits, missing elements. Bad Major Fortune brings unfavorable spirits that clash with your structure. Same you, vastly different decade.
Annual Fortune (歲運) — The Yearly Pulse
Annual Fortune resets every year with that year's stem-branch combination (like 2025's Wood Snake).
How It Layers In
- Each year's energy interacts uniquely with your natal chart
- Creates micro-fluctuations within the larger 10-year Major Fortune trend
- Good year in bad decade? Brief relief. Bad year in good decade? Temporary setback.
The Dance Between Them
Think of Major Fortune as ocean current, Annual Fortune as waves riding that current.
- Good Major + Good Annual: Perfect alignment—doors open everywhere
- Good Major + Bad Annual: Strong foundation, temporary headwinds
- Bad Major + Good Annual: Brief window in a tough stretch
- Bad Major + Bad Annual: Hunker down, build resilience, wait for shift
Fortune Transition (交運期) — When Everything Moves
Major Fortune shifts trigger external changes. Career pivots, relocations, marriages, divorces, business launches—they concentrate around transition periods. The chart's fundamentals stay the same, but the environment reshapes everything.
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Want to see your Major Fortune timeline and know which cycle you're riding now? Explore it at [Saju Analysis](/saju)—past patterns and upcoming shifts laid out clearly.