Aloha Cheville,
"Bottom line is that the other websites are wrong then?"
There you go, trying to get me in trouble with other systems :)WE did have the Year element listed in the chart along with their animal and fortune element, but since she really doesn't work with it, it was more confusing to have it in there.
The calculation that Marie uses for the fortune element is the one in which she's found to make the biggest difference with herself and her clients. The others aren't wrong, just different.
The Landscape piece with the dragon, tiger, turtle, and phoenix, is from the Landscape feng shui perspective, meaning that when looking out your front door, in front of your house is always considered south, the left East, the right west, and the back north - whether or not it is so via your compass. everything else with Marie's system is compass-based, but that landscape section. So to make it less confusing, just pull out the directions references, and think that you need the dragon to your left, a phoenix in front of you, tiger to the right, etc. as you look out your front door.
Much Love, Shawn
