Dates
When should I do it?
Pick the thing — a wedding, an engagement, a move, a first day, a last day, a project, a business, a car, a trip — and get five dates, ranked. Every one is read out of the Chinese almanac: its 宜 and 忌 lists, its Day Officer, whether it falls on a 黄道 or 黑道 day, and whether it clashes your zodiac animal.
The five layers this reads
Date selection — 擇日 — is one of the oldest continuously practised parts of Chinese metaphysics, and it is still normal for a family to check the almanac before setting a wedding date. None of it is invented here; it is read.
- 宜 and 忌
- Every day in the Chinese almanac carries a list of what it is suitable for and what to avoid. 嫁娶 is marriage, 開市 opening a business, 入宅 moving in. These are the actual terms, not paraphrases.
- 建除十二神
- The Day Officers, on a twelve-day cycle. 成 (accomplish), 開 (open) and 定 (settle) are read as constructive; 破, 危 and 閉 are not. Quitting is the exception — that is what 除 and 破 days are for.
- 黃道 and 黑道
- Each day is governed by one of twelve 天神, six on the yellow path and six on the black. It is the broadest auspicious flag the tradition carries.
- 二十八宿
- The lunar mansion the Moon occupies, each read as 吉 or 凶.
- 沖 — the clash
- Every day clashes one zodiac animal. If it clashes yours, the tradition treats it as out — not a lower score, out. That is the part of this reading that is about you.
What this will not do
It will not tell you a date is dangerous, and it will not tell you a marriage will fail because you picked the wrong Tuesday. Choose the date that works for the people involved — the venue, the notice period, the flights — and use this to choose between the dates that already work. That is how the tradition is used by the people who actually use it.