The Twelve Yellow and Black Path Spirits: What Is an Auspicious Day?
Azure Dragon, Bright Hall, Golden Casket, Precious Light, Jade Hall and Arbiter of Fate are the Yellow Path; the other six are the Black Path. How the day spirit is worked out in the Imperial Almanac, and whether a Yellow Path day is always a good day.
Twelve day spirits
Traditional almanacs note one "day spirit" for each day, taking turns among twelve. Six of them are the Yellow Path and six the Black Path, which is why a good day is popularly called a "Yellow Path auspicious day" (黄道吉日). Chapter 7 of the Imperial Almanac (Xieji Bianfang Shu) says there are six of each, twelve in all, matched to the twelve earthly branches:
黄黒二道者黄道六黑道六共十有二以配十有二辰
— Imperial Almanac (Xieji Bianfang Shu), 卷七
- Yellow Path: Azure Dragon (青龙), Bright Hall (明堂), Golden Casket (金匮), Precious Light (宝光), Jade Hall (玉堂), Arbiter of Fate (司命)
- Black Path: Heavenly Punishment (天刑), Vermilion Bird (朱雀), White Tiger (白虎), Heavenly Prison (天牢), Black Tortoise (元武), Gou Chen (勾陈)
元武 is the Black Tortoise, usually written 玄武; Qing texts replaced 玄 with 元 to avoid the personal name of the Kangxi Emperor, Xuanye. The book names one spirit Precious Light expressly to tell it apart from another spirit called Heavenly Virtue (天德):
天對名不雅馴故取名寳光以别於天德云
— Imperial Almanac (Xieji Bianfang Shu), 卷七
How the day spirit is worked out
The twelve spirits are matched to the twelve branches in the order Arbiter of Fate, Gou Chen, Azure Dragon, Bright Hall, Heavenly Punishment, Vermilion Bird, Golden Casket, Precious Light (Heavenly Virtue), White Tiger, Jade Hall, Heavenly Prison, Black Tortoise. Each month the sequence starts from a different day and then runs day by day. The book puts it this way:
今按司命即是子勾陳即是丑青龍即是寅明堂即是卯天刑即是辰朱雀即是巳金匱即是午天德即是未白虎即是申玉堂即是酉天牢即是戌元武即是亥其法以天罡加於建上
— Imperial Almanac (Xieji Bianfang Shu), 卷七
"Jian" (建) is the month's branch; months change at the solar terms, so the Yin month (the first month) begins at the Start of Spring. This site's "day spirit" is worked out by this method. For example, 28 October 2026 (Yi Hai day in the Xu month) has Jade Hall, a Yellow Path day; 4 November 2026 (Ren Wu day in the Xu month) has Heavenly Punishment, a Black Path day.
Is a Yellow Path day always a good day?
No. Chapter 10 says the Yellow Path spirits must be read together with the day's other spirits:
青龍明堂金匱寶光玉堂司命與吉神併則從所宜與凶神併則從所忌
— Imperial Almanac (Xieji Bianfang Shu), 卷十
That is, when a Yellow Path spirit falls on the same day as good spirits, follow what those good spirits favour; when it falls with bad spirits, follow what the bad spirits forbid. So the day's listed favourable and unfavourable activities decide, and the Yellow or Black Path is only one element. For example, 8 November 2026 has Golden Casket, a Yellow Path day, yet nothing is favourable that day.
In everyday speech a "Yellow Path day" simply means a good day. To find a good day for a wedding, moving house or opening a business, see this site's auspicious-day pages: they list only the days on which that activity is actually favourable and not overruled by a bad spirit, with each day's Yellow or Black Path shown.
All quotations in this guide are from the Imperial Almanac (Xieji Bianfang Shu) and have been checked against the book; other explanations are compiled by this site.