The Twelve Day Officers and Yellow Path Days: How to Read Those Two Almanac Entries
Besides the favorable and avoid lists, every almanac day usually carries a single word (Establish, Remove, Full, Balance…) and a spirit (Green Dragon, Bright Hall, Heavenly Punishment, Vermilion Bird…). The first is the Twelve Day Officers (jian chu shi er shen 建除十二神); the second, the twelve Yellow and Black Path spirits. Both are old foundations for judging a day, and neither decides on its own whether a day is good.
How the Twelve Day Officers are counted
The officers are counted from the month branch, the "month establishment" (yue jian 月建). Each solar-term month has its own branch (after the Start of Spring it is the Yin month), and the day whose branch matches the month branch is an Establish day. The days that follow are Remove, Full, Balance, Stable, Hold, Destruction, Danger, Success, Receive, Open and Close, and the cycle repeats every twelve days. At each change of solar-term month, one officer repeats for a day to shift into the new month, so the officers are tied to the solar terms.
The traditional rhyme runs: "Establish, Full, Balance and Receive are black; Remove, Danger, Stable and Hold are yellow; Success and Open are both usable; Close and Destruction are unfit."
| Officer | Meaning | Rhyme class | Days favorable for marriage in a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Establish (jian 建) | Things just established, energy rising | Black | 4 days |
| Remove (chu 除) | Clearing out the old, removing obstacles | Yellow | 16 days |
| Full (man 滿) | Fullness, abundance | Black | 12 days |
| Balance (ping 平) | Ordinary, level, steady | Black | 7 days |
| Stable (ding 定) | Settled, decided | Yellow | 16 days |
| Hold (zhi 執) | Holding on, preserving what you have | Yellow | 14 days |
| Destruction (po 破) | Broken, breaking through (clashes the month branch) | Unfit | 0 days |
| Danger (wei 危) | Heights; gains that come with risk | Yellow | 15 days |
| Success (cheng 成) | Achievement, completion | Usable | 8 days |
| Receive (shou 收) | Harvest, gathering in | Black | 8 days |
| Open (kai 開) | Opening, getting through | Usable | 19 days |
| Close (bi 閉) | Closing, storing away | Unfit | 9 days |
The right-hand column is our count of which officer each of the 128 days favorable for marriage falls on, in the year from October 2026. Two things stand out. Not a single one is a Destruction day, in line with "Close and Destruction are unfit." But the "black" officers (Establish, Full, Balance, Receive) and the "unfit" Close still add up to forty days the almanac marks favorable for marriage. The reason is that the almanac's lists weigh dozens of auspicious and inauspicious stars together, and the day officer is only one of them.
The twelve Yellow and Black Path spirits
| The six spirits | |
|---|---|
| Yellow Path (auspicious) | Green Dragon (qing long 青龍), Bright Hall (ming tang 明堂), Golden Coffer (jin kui 金匱), Heavenly Virtue (tian de 天德), Jade Hall (yu tang 玉堂), Life Keeper (si ming 司命) |
| Black Path (inauspicious) | Heavenly Punishment (tian xing 天刑), Vermilion Bird (zhu que 朱雀), White Tiger (bai hu 白虎), Heavenly Prison (tian lao 天牢), Black Tortoise (xuan wu 玄武), Hooked Array (gou chen 勾陳) |
The twelve spirits take turns, one on duty each day, starting from a point that depends on the month, so over a year Yellow and Black Path days are roughly half and half (in our count, 181 Yellow Path days in the year). The everyday phrase "a Yellow Path auspicious day" originally meant just that: a day with a Yellow Path spirit on duty. Each two-hour period also has its own duty spirit, so hours are Yellow or Black Path too, and the "good hours" we list are the Yellow Path hours.
Like the day officers, the Yellow and Black Paths are only one reference among many. Of the days favorable for marriage in a year, Yellow Path days make up about 53.1%; nearly half are Black Path days that the almanac still marks favorable.
How we use these two entries
We go by the almanac's favorable and avoid lists. Yellow Path days and good day officers (Remove, Danger, Stable, Hold, Success, Open) only add points; they are never a requirement, and days that are both are highlighted in the finder's results. The reason is simple: the favorable and avoid lists have already weighed these factors once. Using a single entry to rule days out would count it twice, and would throw away days the almanac considers fine.
Find a good date: pick the occasion, add zodiac signs, see dates and hours
We filter by the almanac's favorable and unfavorable activities, drop days that clash with the people involved, and list each day's Yellow Path hours. Everything is calculated in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
Zodiac signs change at the Start of Spring (around February 4), so if you were born in January or early February your sign may belong to the previous year; check the year pillar with the free chart calculator if unsure. To avoid clashes for more family members, run the search again with their signs.
A straight word: a good date brings peace of mind, not responsibility for the outcome
Date selection is a custom that goes back more than a thousand years, and it can give an important day a sense of occasion and reassurance. But whether a marriage is happy, a move goes smoothly or a business does well comes down to people. Our favorable and unfavorable activities come from almanac calendar data, and different almanac traditions differ slightly. For a truly important occasion, treat our result as a first pass and, if you like, check it with a teacher you trust. Everything on this site is for reference and entertainment.
Want to go straight to good dates?
Pick an occasion and add zodiac signs to list the days favorable for it that clash with no one involved, with Yellow Path days, good day officers and good hours marked.
Day officers and Yellow Path FAQ
What are the Twelve Day Officers?
They are the almanac's daily duty stars, counted from the month branch: Establish, Remove, Full, Balance, Stable, Hold, Destruction, Danger, Success, Receive, Open and Close, cycling every twelve days. The day whose branch matches the month branch is an Establish day, and the rest follow in order.
What does the rhyme about "yellow" and "usable" officers mean?
It is the traditional rule of thumb for the officers: Remove, Danger, Stable and Hold are auspicious; Success and Open are usable too; Establish, Full, Balance and Receive are inauspicious; Close and Destruction are unfit. It is only one reference, though; the almanac's favorable and avoid lists weigh many more factors.
Is a Yellow Path day always better than a Black Path day?
Not necessarily. The Yellow or Black Path is just the spirit on duty that day, and over a year they are about half and half. In our count, about half of the days favorable for marriage are Black Path days that the almanac still marks favorable.
Can I do anything important on a Destruction day?
A Destruction day clashes with the month branch, and tradition holds it unsuited to celebrations. In our count of a year's days favorable for marriage, not one fell on a Destruction day.