Every year the nine flying stars rotate through the nine palaces of your home, and every year a different one sits in the centre. In 2026 that centre star is One White, which pushes Five Yellow — the star traditional practice treats with the most caution — into the south. This page gives you the full nine-direction chart, the arithmetic behind it so you can check it yourself, and a short list of changes that are actually worth making.
The flying star system overlays a fixed nine-square grid — the Lo Shu square — onto a floor plan, with each square aligned to a compass direction. Nine numbered stars travel through those squares on a fixed route. There are several overlapping cycles: a monthly one, a yearly one, and the twenty-year period that most serious practice is built on.
This page covers only the annual chart, which is the one people mean when they search for a year's feng shui. It is the simplest of the three and the least personal: it describes the character of each direction for the year, not what any individual should do.
Everything follows from one number — which star occupies the centre. The rule is short:
centre star = (11 - (year mod 9)) mod 9 // a result of 0 is read as 9
The year switches at Lichun, the Start of Spring solar term, not on 1 January — the same boundary the BaZi year pillar uses. For 2024: 2024 mod 9 = 8, and 11 − 8 = 3, so Star 3 sits in the centre. For 2026: 2026 mod 9 = 1, and 11 − 1 = 10, which counts as 1. Star 1 occupies the centre in 2026.
The remaining eight palaces are then filled along the fixed Lo Shu flight route: centre, then Northwest (Qian), West (Dui), Northeast (Gen), South (Li), North (Kan), Southwest (Kun), East (Zhen), Southeast (Xun). The stars advance by one at each step, wrapping from 9 back to 1.
With Star 1 in the centre, the nine directions fall like this:
| Direction | Star | Traditional reading | Practical emphasis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Centre | 1 White | Favourable — social, connective | Keep open and shared |
| Northwest | 2 Black | Caution — health, low energy | Keep quiet, well-ventilated |
| West | 3 Jade | Mixed — friction, argument | Avoid confrontations here |
| Northeast | 4 Green | Favourable — study, creativity | Good spot for a desk |
| South | 5 Yellow | Most caution — disturbance | Keep quiet, no renovation |
| North | 6 White | Favourable — authority, support | Good for a home office |
| Southwest | 7 Red | Mixed — loss, sharp edges | Secure valuables, check locks |
| East | 8 White | Most favourable — wealth | Keep active and tidy |
| Southeast | 9 Purple | Favourable — celebration, events | Good for gatherings |
You can ignore most of that table. Two directions carry nearly all of the practical weight.
The south, and Five Yellow. Traditional practice treats Five Yellow as the star to disturb least. The usual advice is boring and cheap: no renovation, no drilling, no major demolition in that part of the home during the year, keep the area quiet, and avoid using it as a primary workspace if you have an alternative. If the south of your home is a bedroom or a main living area, this is not a reason to move out — it is a reason to postpone the building work.
The east, and Eight White. Eight White is the star most associated with prosperity in the current period, and in 2026 it sits east. The traditional advice is the mirror image: keep this area active, lit, tidy and in use. A neglected, cluttered corner in the east is the most common wasted opportunity in an annual chart.
Stand in the middle of your home with a compass — a phone compass is accurate enough for this. Note which room or corner falls in each direction, then make three decisions: what not to disturb, what to activate, and what to leave alone.
That is usually the whole practical output. The annual chart is one input among several; it does not override a floor plan that works, and it is not a reason to repaint a room. If your home has a serious layout problem — a front door directly facing a staircase, a bed with no solid wall behind it — fix that first. Those matter every year, not just in 2026.
It does not describe your personal situation. The annual chart is the same for everyone: two neighbours with different floor plans and different birth charts get the same nine stars. Personal readings use the period chart and your own BaZi on top of this layer, which is why an annual chart should never be the basis for a major decision on its own.
It also does not start on 1 January. If you are reading this in January or early February 2027, the chart has not turned over yet — the new year begins at Lichun, around early February.
Use a compass for directions. The "facing" of a house — which way the main door points — is a different measurement used for the period chart, and mixing the two up is the most commonDIY error.
No. The traditional guidance is about avoiding disturbance, not about evacuating a direction. Do not renovate there this year, keep it reasonably calm, and get on with it.
Almost no home is. Overlay the nine-square grid on the usable floor area as best you can; missing corners are a separate topic in their own right, and an approximate alignment is far better than none.
At Lichun, around early February 2027. For 2027, the centre star works out as Star 9, which moves Five Yellow to the north.