Profection
A yearly clock counted in signs: each birthday moves one sign on from the Ascendant, and the ruler of that sign is the lord of the year.
Annual profections advance one whole sign per year of life. The first year belongs to the sign rising at birth, the second to the next sign, and so on, returning to the rising sign at ages 12, 24, 36 and every twelve years after.
The planet that rules the year's sign, by the traditional rulers, is called the lord of the year. The same count runs within the year too: monthly profections move one sign for each twelfth of the year from the birthday.
Profections count whole signs whatever house system the chart uses, and they need a birth time, since the count starts from the Ascendant.