The Chinese Zodiac

February 9, 2014 Henry Leave a comment

There is no correlation between the twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac and the twelve signs of the Western Zodiac.

Western astrology is based upon a system which uses the path of the sun (and the moon and planets) through the heavens and look to the constellations (e.g. Aries, Taurus, Gemini etc) which lie along this path.

The Chinese system, on the other hand, focuses on Zi Wei or the Pole Star and the constellations which relate to it.

The Chinese system of time keeping is based on the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches forming a 60 year cycle. There are 10 sets of Heavenly Stems and 12 sets of Earthly Branches. The 10 Heavenly Stems have to be repeated 6 six times in order to match the 12 Earthly Branches which are repeated 5 times to give you sixty pairs of stems and branches.

The names of the year are taken from the pairs of Stems and Branch in the sixty year cycle. For example 1924 marks the start of the sixty year cycle and has the name of Jia Zi (Jia is the Stem and Zi the Branch). This cycle is repeated every sixty year.

Most of you are familiar with the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac. They are the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.

The link between the animal signs and the sixty year cycle is made through the earthly branches. Each of the 12 Earthly Branches is linked to one of the twelve animals as shown below.

Branches	Chinese Character	Animal
Zi	子	Rat
Chou	丑	Ox
Yin	寅	Tiger
Mao	卯	Rabbit
Chen	晨	Dragon
Si	巳	Snake
Wu	午	Horse
Wei	未	Goat
Shen	神	Monkey
You	酉	Rooster
Xu	戌	Dog
Hai	亥	Pig

Each of the Heavenly Stems is associated with an element. Jia (甲) and Yi (乙) are associated with wood while Bing (丙) and Ding (丁) with fire. Wu (戊) and Ji (己) are associated with Earth while Geng (庚) and Xin (辛) with Metal. Lastly Ren (任) and Gui (癸) are associated with water.

Hence 1924 which carry the name Jia Zi is also known as a Wood Rat year since Jia is associated with wood while Zi is associated with the Rat. The following year Yi Chou and is a Wood Ox year since Yi is wood while Chou is link to the Ox. This Stem Branch pairing goes on to form a 60-year cycle.

The Chinese Lunar calendar year does not begin on the same day every year. It can fall somewhere between late January and late February of the Western or Gregorian calendar.

Click here to find out your Chinese zodiac using your date of birth.

People born under each of the animal sign will display characteristics related to the animal sign for example the tiger is fierce, the snake cunning while the dog is loyal.

These characteristics are further modified by the Stem. Take the Rat for example. You can be a Wood Rat (1924, 1984), Fire Rat (1936, 1996), Earth Rat (1948, 2008), Metal Rat (1960, 2020) or Water Rat (1972, 2032).

According to the Chinese zodiac, Rat people are highly adaptable. They are sociable, intelligent, polite and humorous. They make friends easily but do not form deep friendships. They have strong imagination, good judgment and can translate ideas into reality but underneath a carefree and happy exterior they can be calculating and miserly.

However not all Rats are equal. You are luckier if you are a Metal Rat (1960, 2020). You will be recognized, have support from friends and be prosperous and successful in your career. On the other hand if you are a Wood Rat (1924, 1984) you are likely to be plagued by illness and accidents and will not get support from relatives and friends.

The pairing of Stem and Branch is also extended to the month. For example the first lunar month is linked to the Branch Yin (tiger) and a corresponding Stem. This is extended to the day and time. For example the hour between 11 PM and 1 AM is link to the Branch Zi (Rat) and a corresponding stem.

These additional Stem and Branch pairs in the month, day and time of birth further modifies your luck. For example a person born in the first lunar month in a Wood Rat year (1924, 1984) is likely to be straightforward and can be independent and calm even under duress. If this person is also born during the between the hours 11 PM and 1 AM, then he or she may also be thrifty or even stingy.

For most people the Chinese zodiac is the animal sign of the year of birth. At a deeper level it can include the Stem of the year as well as the Stem and Branch pair of the month, day and hour of birth. They further influence the destiny and luck of the person.

Feng Shui Buy House Guide — Click here to Download

Date Selection

The Chinese Pregnancy Calendar

February 9, 2014 Henry Leave a comment

There exist a Chinese Pregnancy Calendar that can predict the sex of a baby.

It is believed to be unearthed from an ancient tomb approx 700 years ago. During the Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1911 AD) it was kept by castrated servants in the palace and shown only to members of the noble household.

By the late Qing dynasty, China was in turmoil. The joint forces of nations conquered and siege the capital. Many precious items including this Chinese Pregnancy Calendar were taken away. It apparently fell into the hands of the English nobles who translated and used it. After that the whereabouts was unknown until it showed up again later.

Origin of the Chinese Pregnancy Calendar

This Chinese Pregnancy Calendar whose origin is unknown is reputed to be based on the Yin Yang, Five elements and the Bagua or Eight Trigram and its prediction is believe to be quite accurate.

In order to predict the sex of the baby, you need the month of conception and your age based on the Chinese Lunar Calendar.

If you are born before the Chinese Lunar Calendar, you Lunar Calendar age is simply your current age plus one. Why plus one? The ancient Chinese takes the 9 months that you spent in your month’s womb into consideration. For example if you are born June 1980. According to the western calendar you are 26 years old in the year 2006. But according to the Chinese Lunar Calendar you are 27 years old (include the 9 months in your mother’s womb).

The Lunar month is much harder to figure out. You can use this Calendar converter to compute. Just enter the date of conception and you can get the lunar equivalent month.

For example the lunar month of the western date 22 September 2006 is the Eight Month.

Then check with the Chinese Pregnancy Calendar Chart.

Date Selection

How to Select Auspicious Wedding Dates?

February 9, 2014 Henry 7 Comments

n this article I will share with you a technique for selecting auspicious wedding dates – Chinese style. There are many ways to skin a cat. Like that, there are also many ways to calculate auspicious Chinese wedding dates. And even within a certain way or method, the steps or scope can differ. For example some practitioners only take the birth data of the groom and bride. Others factor the birth data of the in-laws into the computation.

To understand Chinese wedding date selection better, you need to know the basis of Chinese time-keeping using the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches. So please jump over there for a good read before you proceed.

I must caution that whatever I share with you below is not THE ONE AND ONLY method for selecting auspicious wedding dates. So you should not be surprise if you come across another way.

Let’s start. Do you know the Chinese Zodiac animal sign of your year of birth? If you do not know, you can easily find out using the tools that are available on the net. There is a clash relation between the animals of the Chinese zodiac. For example the Rat clash with the Horse, while the Rabbit clash with the Rooster etc. You can read about it my article on Chinese Astrology Compatibility.

Now let’s say you are a Rat. Since the Rat has a clash relationship with the Horse, then you should not get married in the year of the Horse. That is it. Let’s take another example. If you are a Rabbit, then you should not get married in the year of the Rooster as the Rabbit clash with the Rooster.

Some practitioners eliminate the clash months as well. For example if you are a Rat, you should not marry in a Horse year as well as a Horse month (typically around June). Similarly if you are a Rabbit, you should not get married in a Rooster year and Rooster month (typically around November).

Next you would want to narrow down the range. Let’s say the first quarter of the following year. The first step is to eliminate all inauspicious dates within this period. Highly Inauspicious dates include Year Breaker days (where the branch of the year clash with branch of the day), Month Breaker days (where the branch of the month clash with the branch of the day) and the Personal Clash Day (where the branch of your year of birth clash with the day). For example if you are born in the year of the Rat, then you should not get married on any Horse day.

There are other inauspicious days such as the Four Extinct and Four Departure Days, the Impoverish or No Wealth Days etc. This is where things differ again. Some practitioners eliminate all of these days. Some others eliminate some of them. It all depends on their lineage.

Now you have a set of calendar days from Jan 1st to Mar 31st with the inauspicious and personal clash days crossed out. The remaining days are either auspicious or at worse neutral. So how do you select a good date from the bunch?

For me, I will filter them using the Establish Divest 12 Gods method (also known as the 12 Day Officers with Shen Sha method). In this method every 12 days or so forms a cycle. Each day of the cycle is given a name, has a characteristic and is suitable for certain purpose. For example the first day of the cycle is “Establish” and it is suitable for activities that involve a beginning such as engagement, starting a job, beginning construction or seeking knowledge. Others like “Divest” is suitable for cleaning, demolition and repairs which others like “Succeed” days are suitable for most endeavours.

12 Day Officer	Suitable for Marriage
Establish	Depends
Divest	No
Full	Yes
Balance	Yes
Set	No
Hold	Yes
Break	No
Danger	No
Succeed	Yes
Receive	Depends
Open	Yes
Close	No

Please refer to the table for the names of the day officer. I have also indicated which days are suitable for marriage.

You can find out the Officer of the day by referring to the Chinese Almanac of the year or some reference text. Cross out those days that are not suitable for marriage. By now you should have a much reduce calendar set of days. In practice you may want to wed say only on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday. If so, you cross the others days and end up with an even further reduced set of days.

Are the remaining days suitable for marriage? The answer is technically yes but. But what? Professional practitioners will go one step further to figure out the stars (or energy) that influences the day. Some days are influence by positive energies, some of which are highly auspicious for marriage. Some days are not. So you see, the days are not equal and some are better than the rest.

I will not be able share with you how to figure out the energies that influence each day. It will take another article (more likely a chapter). Maybe I will do it someday. Meanwhile I hope the above is enough for you to get you going.

Date Selection

You gave me the Wrong Date!

February 9, 2014 Henry Leave a comment

I remembered an incident from a few years back. I received a call from a client. He said that the date which I selected for him to move (house) was, according to his mother-in-law, an inauspicious date. It made me very nervous. I was very concerned. Did I make a mistake? Well I could, as I am human after all.

The moment I got back to my office, I switched on my computer, picked up a date reference and check the date again, not once but many times. To my relieve it was an auspicious date. Why then did his mother in law say it was an inauspicious date?

So I ask him for an explanation. He said the date that I have painstakingly selected for him using the Chinese calendar happen to be the 4th in the Gregorian or Western calendar. The 4th in Chinese sounds like “die” and is hence inauspicious!

I had to then explain to him that Feng Shui date selection uses the Chinese calendar and an auspicious date can fall on the 4th on the Gregorian calendar. He said that he understands but it is his mother-in-law and it is better not to go against her. Well mother-in-law wins some of the time!

The same thing happened on another occasion. This time my client said that his mother-in-law referred to the Chinese Almanac (Tong Sing or Tung Shu) and said that the date selected is not suitable for moving.

The first thing that came to my mind is maybe he should ask his mother-in-law to set the date for him. But that would be very immature of me. And so I explained to him.

There are many date selection techniques. In fact so many that Emperor Qian Long (1711 – 1799) commissioned his officials to write a text that combines astronomy and astrology using Chinese and western astronomical data that were available at that time. This book called Xie Ji Bian Fang Shu became a cornerstone classic for the study of date selection and the basis of the Chinese Almanac. The Chinese Almanac is popularly used for selecting dates for marriage, business opening, contract signing, travel, prayers etc

The methods listed in this book are by no means the be all and end all of date selection. Other method continues to flourish e.g. the Grandmaster Dong Superior Days, the Purple White method etc.

Then for Feng Shui, the popular methods include the Xuan Kong Da Gua Date Selection and the Seven Direct and Four Extras Heavenly Star Method.

The results are not always the same.

So how do I approach date selection. I use Xuan Kong Da Gua Date Selection as the basis. Or in other words the dates selected must be a good date using the Xuan Kong Da Gua method. Then among the selected dates, I look out for those who are also auspicious using the Establish Divest 12 Gods method (used in the Chinese Almanac) and the Grandmaster Dong method. With the 12 Gods methods I watch out for those with good stars. So a date that is normally not slated for moving can be used if there are auspicious and suitable stars on that day.

Finally for the superstitious, I eliminate those whose Gregorian date is 4th (sounds like die) or 14th (sounds like surely die) or 24th (sounds like easy to die)!

So the next time a practitioner gives you a date that is not auspicious on the Chinese Almanac, it may not necessarily be a bad one. There are other factors to consider.

Date Selection

What is an Auspicious Date?

February 9, 2014 Henry Leave a comment

Selecting an auspicious date or a good date for important functions is deeply ingrained in Chinese culture. The Chinese believe that if you select an auspicious date, the good ‘qi’ of the day will support your activity and increase the chances of success.

In the old days special auspicious dates (and time) are selected for a variety of activities that include travelling, seeking medical treatment, cleaning, installing machinery, purchasing livestock and even execution!

Nowadays, date selection is used mostly for engagement and marriage, opening business, burials, renovations, moving and house warming.

There are a number of date selection techniques but most if not all of them start by eliminating inauspicious dates. Then auspicious dates are selected from the remaining dates using a variety of methods.

Most date selection techniques factor in highly inauspicious days such as “Month Breaker”, “Year Breaker” and “Personal Clash Days” into the calculation. In addition to these high inauspicious days, other inauspicious days such as the “Four Extinct and Departure days”, the “No Wealth or Impoverish Days”, “Master Killing Days” etc may also be considered depending on the activity.

As an example, “Master Killing Days” are eliminated for renovation and moving but are acceptable for other activities. And “No Wealth or Impoverish days” are not selected for any wealth or business activities.

The techniques for selecting auspicious days differ. For example Grandmaster Dong has a methodology for calculating what is known as Grandmaster Dong’s Superior Days. Then there is the 12 Day Officer Method which is usually used in conjunction with the daily positive and negative “Shens” or “Energies”.

The Great Sun Formula makes use of the directional relationship of the 24 Knots and Qi (24 sub-seasons).

The Xuan Kong Da Gua Date Selection method on the other hand searches for dates where the Da Gua element number of the four pillars of the year, month, date and time are in harmony based on either the He Tu Combination, Combination of 10 or Five Element combinations.

Selecting a good day is not an easy task. For example the Xuan Kong Da Gua Date Selection course is quite complex and classes normally takes 3 to 4 full days.

That brings me to this classic question. Does selecting an auspicious day for engagement and marriage guarantees a happy and lasting marriage?

The answer is a flat no. It depends a lot more on the couple’s destiny and luck cycle. Plus how strong is the love! There is a Chinese saying, “Have love, water is enough to keep your from hunger!”

Date Selection

Using the 10000 years Calendar

February 9, 2014 Henry Leave a comment

Are you trying to find the equivalent Chinese dates for any Gregorian dates? If so, you are at the right place. But before I show you how, you may be interested to know that there are two Chinese dates for each Gregorian date.

Why? It is because there are two popular Chinese calendar systems in use today. The first is known as the Chinese Yang or Solar Calendar. As the name suggest this calendar is based on the earth’s rotation around the sun. It is also known as the Xia Calendar (name after the period that it was developed) or the Farmer’s Calendar (initially developed as an aid in farming). This calendar is also the basis for most Feng Shui systems. It is quite similar to the Gregorian calendar which is also a sun-based system.

The other Chinese calendar is known as the Yin or Chinese Lunar Calendar. This calendar is based on the moon’s rotation around the earth. However unlike other lunar based calendar system, the Chinese felt the need to sync it with the solar calendar. Hence leap months are added here and there to fill the gaps and the most significant thing about this calendar is that the 1st day of the Chinese Lunar year fluctuates between late January and late February. This calendar is used to mark many Chinese festivals and the calendar system for some Chinese astrology system such as the Emperor Astrology system.

Chinese Solar dates are normally expressed as four pillars namely the year, month, day and hour pillar. Each pillar comprise of a heavenly stem and an earthly branch as shown in the diagram on the left. For dates only (without time) the hour pillar is omitted.

Chinese Lunar dates are usually expressed in month, day and year format, for example, “Lunar Month 7 Big (or Small) Year of the Fire Horse (1960)”. The Big or Small suffix after the month denotes whether that month has 29 or 30 days. The Gregorian year is normally added because Chinese years are repeated every 60 days. For example 1924 and 1984 are both year of the Wood Rat and it would be confusing without the Gregorian Year suffix!

So how does one find the equivalent Chinese dates? The answer lies in a reference book called the “Ten Thousand Year Calendar”. Until recently this book is published in Chinese only. However nowadays it is not difficult to find English language versions.

The book is published in such as way that you can find the Chinese Solar and Lunar dates at the same time. I will illustrate using the example below. Let’s say you want to find the Chinese dates for 3rd May 1969 (Ji You – Year of the Earth Rooster). You would flip the Ten Thousand Year calendar reference until you come to the year 1969 (marked in green). A portion of the reference book for 1969 is reproduced below.

Gregorian 3rd May is marked in pink. To the right is the Chinese Lunar day of the 17th marked in yellow. If you look straight up, the 3rd of May falls under the column March S (Third Month Small) marked in blue. Hence the Chinese Lunar date is “Lunar Month Three (March) Small Day 17 Year of the Earth Rooster (1969)”.

The Chinese Solar Calendar is trickier. We already know the year pillar. It is “Ji You”, Year of the Earth Rooster. The Day pillar is “Wu Yin” (marked in orange) which is next to the Gregorian 3rd May. But what about the month pillar?

This requires some knowledge of the 24 Knots & Qi or 24 Sub-Seasons. The first solar month include the sub-seasons “Spring Arrives” and “Rain Water” while the second solar month includes “Insects Awaken” and “Spring Equinox”. The third solar month includes “Clear Brightness” and “Grain Rice” while the fourth solar month includes “Summer Arrives” and “Small Harvest”. If you look up the month column you will see that “Summer Arrives” or the fourth solar month starts on the 20th lunar day or Gregorian 6th of May. Thus the 3rd of May falls within the third solar month which is “Wu Chen” (marked in Gray).

The Chinese Solar equivalent of the Gregorian 3rd May 1969 is hence “Wu Yin” day, “Wu Chen” month and “Ji You” Year!

Is there is simpler way? Yes. Please visit my on-line Ten Thousand Year calendar!

Date Selection

Chinese Calendar Converter

February 9, 2014 Henry Leave a comment

The Chinese have both a Lunar and a Solar Calendar which when combined together is also known as the Chinese Luni-Solar Calendar system.

The Lunar Calendar is based on the moon’s rotation around the earth while the Solar Calendar is based on the earth’s rotation around the sun.

You can get more information on the Chinese Calendars here.

Today most parts of the world use the western or Gregorian calendar system. The date of birth of most of us are also expressed the western calendar dates. This creates a lot of problems for Chinese astrology practitioners (and many others) as all systems of Chinese astrology are based on either the Chinese Lunar or Solar dates.

For example, Zi Wei Dou Shu, a system of Chinese astrology requires your date and time of birth according to the Chinese Lunar Calendar while BaZi or more popularly known as the Four Pillars of Destiny require the date and time according to the Chinese Solar or Hsia Calendar system!

On-line Chinese Calendar Converter

The answer comes in the form of a Chinese Calendar converter book known as the Ten Thousand Year Calendar. These books are available from most Chinese bookshop and it allows you to find the Chinese Lunar and Chinese Solar equivalent of any western date. Ten Thousand is an over statement as the books usually contain no more than 150 years of data. The phrase “Ten Thousand Years Calendar” is a direct translation from the Chinese name. The phrase “Chinese Calendar Converter” is just as appropriate.

Until recently these books are only available in Chinese. Today you can find English language versions of these Chinese Calendar Converter in many bookshops.

I am also please to offer you an alternative. If you are unable to get your hands on one of them in your area, you can try my on-line Chinese Calendar Converter.

Date Selection

Four Departure & Four Extinct Days and Impoverish or No Wealth Days

February 9, 2014 Henry 8 Comments

The basic principle of date selection is to first avoid the bad days and then selecting the good ones from the remaining days.

In earlier articles I have touch on Year and Month breaker days. These days are highly inauspicious and must be avoided at all cost.

I have also touch on Personal Clash days. These are days where the earthly branch of the day clash with the earthly branch of the birth year of the person. These days should also be avoided.

In this article, I would like to touch on two other bad or inauspicious days. They are the Four Departure and Four Extinct Days and the Impoverish or No Wealth Days.

There are four seasons in a year namely spring, summer, autumn and winter. Every season has a start day which you can read off a Ten Thousand Year Calendar. Pay attention to the day before the start of spring, summer, autumn and winter. They are collectively known as the Four Extinct Days as the ‘qi’ on these days is believed to be exhausted or stale. They are highly inauspicious and you should avoid using them for any activities.

The mid points of each season are called the Spring Equinox, Winter Solstice, Autumn Equinox and the Winter Solstice. The day before each of these mid points are called the Four Departure Days. The ‘qi’ of the day before each of these mid points are also believed to be exhausted or stale. They are again highly inauspicious and should be avoided.

This brings me to the Impoverish or No Wealth Days. I am not going to explain the ration behind or the derivation of the above days. It will take an entire article to so. Instead I will simple tell you that during the period from 2004 to 2013, any days with the stem branch combination of ‘Ding Hai’ and ‘Ji Chou’ are Impoverish or No Wealth Days.

These days are highly inauspicious for wealth pursuit activities such as opening or commencing business, finalizing business deals, signing contracts etc.

I remember a friend asking (jokingly) if such a day is good for lending money! In my opinion, probably not but it would be a good idea to check with finance companies whether there is a higher incidents of delinquent cases when a loan is dispensed on such days!

Date Selection

The 12 Day Officers Pt 2

February 9, 2014 Henry Leave a comment

The fourth in the list is the Balance Day. The Balance Day is suitable for activities that have a win-win outcome. It includes marriage, starting construction or commencing on a trip. It is also good for business negotiation and especially good if you do not have the upper hand. The day will help you to improve your position and achieve a balance outcome. However do not sue anyone on a balance day unless you think a balanced outcome acceptable!

The Stable Day, also known as the Set Day is day for activities where you want a set or long lasting outcome like marriage. It is also good for official openings, hiring key staff and seeking medical treatment that will result (or at least you hope) in a permanent cure. It is not suitable for funerals, burial and travelling for obvious reasons.

The next is Initiate Day. It is suitable for starting a new project, accepting assignments, opening business or starting renovation works. It is not suitable for travelling or moving as ‘initiate’ implies that the activity starts and never ends!

Destruction Day is next. This day is suitable for demolishing a building or structure. It is not suitable for most other activities.

The next day is the Danger Day. It is not suitable for most activities that have an element of danger e.g. commencing a journey, base jumping, bungee jumping, white water rafting on a grade 5 river etc. It is however suitable for religious activities and ground breaking.

The most positive of the 12 days is the Success Day. This day is imbue with positive energy and is suitable for most activities including burial! Success Day can be used for marriage, seeking medical treatment, construction and moving. However avoid breaking up and divorces as you do not want too much successes in these areas.

Next come Receive Day which is a day that you use to receive something. It is a good day to try to close a sale, ask for a raise (or inheritance!), request a big favour, learn something or propose marriage. It is also a good day to commence a course or start a job. It is not however suitable for burials or medical treatment.

The second last on the list is the Open Day. It is good for official openings, house warming, marriage and business functions. It is also a good day for commencing a course or to assume a new position but not suitable for burial or ground breaking.

The last in the list is the Close Day. It is generally speaking not a good day and you should not use it for any significant activity.

In practice a day is not selected based solely on the above 12 day cycle. Inauspicious days such as year and month breaker days and personal clash days are first marked out. Other inauspicious days such as the four diverse and extinct days and no wealth days are sometimes marked out too. Then days with positive ‘qi’ such as Yearly Virtuous and Wealth Days are given greater consideration. Finally the short-listed suitable days may be checked against Grandmaster Dong Superior Days and the 28 Constellations to arrive at a finer set of good days.

Different practitioners may place different emphasis on the selection criteria. It is thus not uncommon for two Feng Shui practitioners to arrive at different days for the same activity (although both are likely to be auspicious days).

Date Selection

The 12 Day Officers Pt 1

February 9, 2014 Henry Leave a comment

There are many systems of date selection. There is the Xuan Kong Da Gua Date Selection method, the Grandmaster Dong System, the Great Sun Formula, Qi Men Dun Jia etc. These methods require an in-depth knowledge of Chinese Metaphysics.

In this two part article, you will learn a simple but highly popular date selection technique. It is the foundation of date selection found in the Chinese Almanac and is known as the 12 Day Officers method and also as the Establish Divest 12 Gods (Shen) method.

The 12 Day Officers method is a simple system that is based on the concept that each day is governed or influenced by a certain type of ‘qi’. There are altogether 12 types of ‘qi’ that is repeated every 12 days, hence the 12 Day Officers.

The 12 types of ‘qi’ have names and are order in a fixed sequence. They are Establish, Divest, Full, Balance, Stable, Initiate, Destruction, Danger, Success, Receive, Open and Close. Establish is the leader of group and it falls on the day where the earthly branch is the same as the earthly branch of the month.

For example, the first Chinese solar month of 2008 is Jia Yin and includes the days from the 4th Feb to the 4th Mar. The stem and branch of the 8th Feb is Wu Yin while the stem and branch of the 20th Feb is Geng Yin. The branches of both the days are similar to the branch of the month and hence they are Establish Days. The next days i.e. the 9th Feb and the 21st Feb are Divest Days. Next comes Full and the cycle is repeated every 12 days (there are exceptions which I will not cover in this article).

Each of the 12 Day Officers (or types of ‘qi’) has a function and is suitable for certain type of activities. Of the 12 days, only Success Day and Destruction Day have clear cut positive and negative aspects respectively. The others have both positive and negative aspect and the trick is to match the correct day to the right activities.

The first of the lot is the Establish Day. As the name suggest, this day is suitable for establishing or starting an activity. For example, starting a new job or negotiating to start a new business. It is also suitable for proposing marriage (not the marriage itself), starting school, commencing a trip, kicking off a business plan, signing up for a study course and also for starting construction work (but not ground breaking). It is however not a good day for funeral or burial.

The second in the list is Remove Day. Remove Day can be used to start demolition work on a building. It is also a good day for a business to conduct a sale to get rid of old stock. It can be used for cleansing activities or getting rid of something (including the unseen). Sadly by correctly it is also a good day end a relationship or file for a divorce!

Full Day is the third on the list. It is the day to use if you want to have good returns. It is a good day for signing contracts and conduct official openings. It is also a good day for holding a house warming party and for marriage. Some even say that it is good for collection (collecting in full)! It is not however suitable for demolition or burial.

You will learn about the remaining days in part 2 of this article.

Absolutely Feng Shui

The Chinese Zodiac

The Chinese Pregnancy Calendar

How to Select Auspicious Wedding Dates?

You gave me the Wrong Date!

What is an Auspicious Date?

Using the 10000 years Calendar

Chinese Calendar Converter

Four Departure & Four Extinct Days and Impoverish or No Wealth Days

The 12 Day Officers Pt 2

The 12 Day Officers Pt 1

Feng Shui and More