Good and bad hours: Yellow Path and Black Path
For every day, the almanac rates all twelve double-hours. The rule behind it: each double-hour gets one of twelve spirits, six of them Yellow Path and six Black Path, and the Yellow Path hours are what people mean by "lucky hours."
The twelve spirits
| Spirit | Path | Traditional meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Green Dragon 青龍 | Yellow Path (auspicious) | the most auspicious of the Yellow Path spirits, a general sign of success |
| Bright Hall 明堂 | Yellow Path (auspicious) | favors meeting important people and getting things approved |
| Heavenly Punishment 天刑 | Black Path (inauspicious) | a Black Path spirit; traditionally avoided for lawsuits and new ventures |
| Vermilion Bird 朱雀 | Black Path (inauspicious) | a Black Path spirit associated with quarrels and gossip |
| Golden Coffer 金匱 | Yellow Path (auspicious) | favors money, marriage and bringing things in |
| Heavenly Virtue 天德 | Yellow Path (auspicious) | a day or hour of heavenly help, good for most undertakings |
| White Tiger 白虎 | Black Path (inauspicious) | a Black Path spirit associated with accidents and conflict |
| Jade Hall 玉堂 | Yellow Path (auspicious) | favors study, meetings and moving into a new home |
| Heavenly Prison 天牢 | Black Path (inauspicious) | a Black Path spirit associated with being held back |
| Black Tortoise 玄武 | Black Path (inauspicious) | a Black Path spirit associated with theft and loss |
| Life Keeper 司命 | Yellow Path (auspicious) | good in the daytime, less so at night by tradition |
| Hooked Array 勾陳 | Black Path (inauspicious) | a Black Path spirit associated with delays and entanglements |
The same twelve spirits are also assigned to whole days, which gives Yellow Path days and Black Path days; see the Twelve Day Officers and Yellow Path days.
The twelve double-hours on the clock
| Double-hour | Clock time |
|---|---|
| Zi 子 | 23:00–00:59 |
| Chou 丑 | 01:00–02:59 |
| Yin 寅 | 03:00–04:59 |
| Mao 卯 | 05:00–06:59 |
| Chen 辰 | 07:00–08:59 |
| Si 巳 | 09:00–10:59 |
| Wu 午 | 11:00–12:59 |
| Wei 未 | 13:00–14:59 |
| Shen 申 | 15:00–16:59 |
| You 酉 | 17:00–18:59 |
| Xu 戌 | 19:00–20:59 |
| Hai 亥 | 21:00–22:59 |
We change the day at 11 p.m., so 23:00–23:59 belongs to the next day's Zi hour. Times are local clock time as printed in Taiwanese almanacs.
How to pick a good hour
- Start with the Yellow Path hours.
- Drop any hour that clashes with your own zodiac sign (or that of the person the event is for): every double-hour clashes one sign.
- Fit what is left to your actual schedule. Our date selection finder removes clashing hours for you.
Look up the almanac for any day
It opens on today (Taiwan time). Change the date to see any day's favorable and avoid lists, each with a plain-English note, plus the day's clash, fetus god, Pengzu taboos, lucky directions and the good and bad hours. Everything is calculated in your browser.
A common misconception
You can't do anything in a Black Path hour.
Black Path hours are simply not chosen for celebrations such as weddings. Everyday life carries on as normal.
A straight word: the almanac is a traditional calculation
The favorable and avoid lists, the spirits and the good hours in a Chinese almanac come from the calculation rules of traditional almanac books, and different publishers sometimes disagree. We compute them with the open-source calendar library lunar.js, using exactly the same rules as our date selection finder. It is a piece of cultural heritage, not a scientific forecast: for anything that matters, go by the real circumstances and your own judgment. Everything on this site is for reference and entertainment.
Beyond the almanac: your own BaZi chart
Enter your birth date for a free Four Pillars chart: your Day Master, Five Elements and Ten Gods.
Good and bad hours: common questions
Which spirits make a Yellow Path hour?
Green Dragon, Bright Hall, Golden Coffer, Heavenly Virtue, Jade Hall and Life Keeper.
What are today's lucky hours?
Pick a date in the tool on this page; it lists the spirit of all twelve double-hours and marks the Yellow Path ones.