When people go about choosing a date for an event such as a wedding or the incorporation of a company, they often think about conducting those activities on the best days.
But that is just half the story in date selection.
The other half is about avoiding the worst days. Avoiding bad days to do important things is just as important, if not more important, than selecting good days.
For example, due to the demands of the real world, we often find ourselves unable to conduct significant activities like conducting a class for 200 students on the most auspicious dates available. In such cases, we would have to be absolutely critical in avoiding inauspicious dates.
In fact, people frequently put off holding important events on seemingly auspicious days because those particular dates clashes with them personally. Instead choosing to do it on neutral days as long as the bad stars are avoided altogether.
Yes. It is totally possible for a date which is deemed as auspicious by a reference source (such as the Tong Shu) for moving into a new house to be in conflict with the homeowner. It actually occurs more often than you think.
Here are some generally bad days to avoid when planning for important activities.
1) Sui Po (歲破)
The Sui Po, or year breaker, basically refers to the conflicting earthly branch against the annual grand duke.
Because of the powerful energy that accompanies the grand duke, confronting it is as good as a guaranteed loss.
Like a hyena facing up against an adult male lion, the chances of victory is slim to none no matter how powerful the former is in it’s own right.
Identify the earthly branch of the year, and the year breaker is the branch directly opposite it on the compass.
For simple reference, each earthly branch and the associated breaker branch is listed in a sui po table here.
2) Yue Po (月破)
In the realm of feng shui in the 5 arts, the concept of sui po is more prominently applied as the time frame masters work on is broader.
However in date selection and bazi, the yue po (month breaker) tends to hold more credence and influence.
This is because of the narrow time frame in question and the month pillar being closer to the self-element in a set of bazi.
Conceptually, the month breaker works the same way as the year breaker. Just that in this instance, the yearly branch is replaced by the monthly branch for reference.
For example, a day in the middle to late April would be governed by the month branch of Dragon. The conflicting branch would then be Dog. So a day of the dog in the middle to late April would be a bad day to undertake any activities meant to achieve long term success.
Such activities include moving into a new home, commencing construction of a property, groundbreaking, signing important contracts, seeing a doctor for surgery, etc.
A yue po table can be found here.
3) Ri Po (日破)
The Ri Po, or day breaker, is of primary interest when selecting a time to take part in an activity.
So it plays a lesser role in date selection, but a larger role in time selection.
The theory is the same as sui po and yue po. Except this time, the character of reference would be the earthly branch of the day. When this is identified, then the hour of the afflicted branch should be avoided.
A chart of the conflicts is described here.
4) Da Hao (大耗)
The Da Hao is commonly known as the personal breaker or personal grand duke.
The point of reference here would be the earthly branch on an individual’s bazi year pillar. Which essentially is the personal zodiac sign.
For example, a person born in a year of the Monkey would have a clash relationship with the Tiger zodiac. This means that selecting a day to do something important like going for a driving test on a Tiger day is a bad choice.
5) San Sha (三煞)
San sha, or more commonly known as 3 killings, is basically a group of negative energy that moves together along cardinal sectors upon cosmic shifts.
The group of 3 consist of the robbery sha (劫煞), disaster sha (災煞), and setbacks sha (歲煞).
Where they are located depends on the zodiacs for the year, which is illustrated in the 3 killings table here.
To put it into practice, the dates when san sha is active is generally bad for construction, moving house, digging, and basically activities related to breaking things.
Marriage or weddings are not as afflicted. But a prudent feng shui practitioner might still want to avoid it nevertheless.
People who are extra meticulous might sometimes take the monthly earthly branch as a reference point and avoid days of 3 killings based on it too. This mean that one might attempt to avoid 2 sets of 3 killings instead of 1. One for the yearly, and the other for the monthly.
Whether this is deemed as excessive depends on the approach that the practitioner takes.
6) 4 Separating Days (四離日)
The 4 separating days describe 4 days during the transition of periods during the year. They are the Spring equinox (春分), Summer solstice (夏至), Autumn equinox (秋分) and Winter solstice (冬至).
These dates are essentially depleted of Chi as the following period takes over from the previous one.
The exact dates are listed here.
While these days are inauspicious, they are not categorized this way because of their unluckiness. But because of their emptiness.
Only events that mark the end of something is appropriate for these dates.
7) 4 Extinct Days (四絕日)
Related to the separating days, the 4 extinct days describe 4 days during the transition of seasons during the year. They are the Coming of spring (立春), Coming of summer solstice (立夏), Coming of autumn equinox (立秋) and Coming of winter solstice (立冬).
They also have specific dates as listed here.
Avoid any types of events of activities where a positive long term outcome is desired.
In addition to these generally bad days to avoid listed above, there are some types of stars that are undesirable only for specific events.
For example, gu chen (孤辰) and gua su (寡宿) specifically affects men and women in terms of marriage.
One needs to provide more specific personal information in order to determine what types of stars need to be avoided for what types of activities.
The above list of undesirable dates already mentioned generally apply to almost all types of activities that people often undertake. But take note that there are always exceptions.
For example, a day when the 3 killings is dominant can occasionally be favorable for an individual as the earthly branch implicated by the affliction might be the useful god. In this case, what might appear to be bad on the surface can turn out to be beneficial in the end. Just like some tough love can greatly benefit people at times.
But as long as your avoid the bad dates, you are generally safe even if you don’t land on the auspicious ones.
