How to read the almanac’s recommendations and prohibitions: what do clashes, afflictions, auspicious hours, and auspicious deity directions actually mean

The almanac (Tong Sheng) is the most widely circulated date-selection tool in Chinese societies. It organizes each day’s sexagenary pair, solar term, and deities and spirits into two columns of suitability and prohibition. Once you understand the structure, you will not read it as a command.

Each day falls under one of Establish, Remove, Full, Balance, Settle, Hold, Break, Danger, Complete, Receive, Open, and Close, known as the Twelve Day Officers, and together with that day’s auspicious and inauspicious deities and spirits they determine the entries of suitability and prohibition.

For example, a Complete day suits opening a market and marriage; a Break day is mostly prohibitive. This set of judgments addresses the nature of the event, not an individual chart, so it is general advice, not a personalized conclusion.

A clash with the yi-hai pig means the day’s earthly branch clashes with hai, so those born in the year of the pig should be careful in what they do that day; an affliction in the east means the day’s inauspicious direction is east, and traditionally one avoids breaking ground or large-scale moving of things in that direction.

Note that a clash is only one indication among the six-clash relationships. Your personal condition on a given day is still governed mainly by your own BaZi and annual fortune, and there is no need to cancel all arrangements because of a single clash character.

Each hour has its own presiding deity, and auspicious ones are marked as auspicious hours. Important signings, meetings, and departures can be scheduled to fall in auspicious hours first.

Each hour spans two hours, with the zi hour beginning at twenty-three o’clock. Watch for crossing days: the late zi hour belongs to the following day.

These five directions change daily with the day stem, and traditionally they are used to choose directions for seeking wealth, discussing matters, and making visits. For example, if the Wealth Deity is in the due east, for business talks you might choose a seat facing west from the east, or set out toward the east.

Unlike the Three Auspicious Gates of Qi Men: the almanac’s auspicious deity directions take the day as the unit, while Qi Men takes the hour as the unit, so the fineness differs. The two can be consulted together: first use the day’s directions to set the general direction, then use the hour’s auspicious gates to set the specific time slot.

The Twenty-Eight Mansions assign a mansion to each day, paired with animal names (such as the Lou Golden Dog), each with its own mnemonic of suitability and prohibition. The Peng Zu Hundred Prohibitions are two-line reminders based on the day’s heavenly stem and earthly branch, for example, xin does not suit making sauce, and si does not suit traveling far.

These two items are reminders at the level of oral formulas; take them as reference, there is no need to follow them word for word.

The reasonable use of the almanac is as a reference for choosing among several viable options: of two days on which a contract can equally be signed, choose the one marked suitable for opening a business; of two time periods in which one can equally set out, choose the auspicious one.

It should not be used to manufacture fear about matters already decided. What truly affects the outcome is still preparation and judgment.

KarmaSpace automatically generates the daily almanac each day: eight suitable and eight unsuitable items, clashes and sha, auspicious hours, the presiding deity, the twenty-eight mansions, the Peng Zu hundred taboos, and the five directions of the God of Wealth, God of Joy, God of Fortune, Yang Noble and Yin Noble. It can be viewed without logging in, and is also available through a public API.