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> The 12 Day Officers sequence in the Shen method is a popular way to pick auspicious dates for important activities
THIS week, I shall give some insight into choosing the right day for certain activities, based upon one of the more popular date selection methods.
This method is traditionally known as the Establish Divest 12 Gods method, or the much easier to pronounce Shen method.
It also features strongly as a date selection method in the Tung Shu or Chinese Almanac.
In this method, each day is governed by a particular type of qi. There are 12 types in all.
These types of qi are respectively known as Establish, Divest, Full, Balance, Stable, Initiate, Destruction, Danger, Success, Receive, Open and Close.
This sequence is repeated every 12 days. Each day is influenced or ‘officiated’ by a type of qi – hence, we call this sequence of days, the 12 Day Officers.
Establish is the leader of group, and it falls on the day where the Earthly branch of the day (also known as Zhi) is the same as the Earthly branch of the month.
For example, the first Chinese solar month of 2016 is Geng Yin, which starts on Feb 4 and ends on March 4. The month branch here is Yin.
Hence, during this period, days with the branch of Yin are known as Establish days.
Each of the 12 types of days is suitable for certain types of activities.
However, the quality of a day can be negated by the presence of inauspicious energies, such as the Year and Month Breaker days which I have covered previously.
Therefore, even an otherwise highly-auspicious day – such as the Success day – can be made unlucky, if it happens to also fall on a Year and/or Month Breaker day.
There are, of course, exceptions to the rule, and each school of date selection has its own version.
For example, some practitioners believe that the Month Breaker day is much more serious than the Year Breaker day.
And in some circumstances, you can still conduct activities on a Year Breaker day.
Others believe that Grandmaster Dong days are so ‘superior’ that one can still conduct activities upon that day, even if it falls on your Personal Clash Day, that is to say, a day that clashes with your Chinese birth year zodiac.
Now, who is to say who is right or wrong?
One of my sifus (masters) did say that we should have mercy on our customers, and give them only safe days.
Therefore, as a rule, I eliminate most types of inauspicious days from my date selection readings, unless I do not have a choice.
The 12 Day Officers have both positive and negative attributes for different kinds of activities. We need to match the days to the right activities for optimum good fortune.
Let’s start with the Establish day. As the name suggest, this day is suitable for establishing something, or starting an activity, such as starting a new job, or opening a new business.
It is also suitable for proposing marriage (but not the marriage itself), starting school, commencing a trip, kicking off a business plan, signing up for a study course, and also for starting construction work (but not the actual groundbreaking).
While it is also good for seeking treatment or knowledge, it is not good for a funeral or burial.
The second, Divest day, is suitable for cleansing and cleaning, as well as carrying out repairs or demolishing a building.
It is also suitable for seeking treatment and conducting religious worship. However, it is not suitable for the initiation of religion images.
It is also not suitable for the intake of livestock though it is a good day to get rid of old stocks.
It is also a good day to end a relationship or file for a divorce!
The third is Full day, a good day if you want to have good returns. It is suitable for engagements, marriage and house warming. It is also suitable for signing agreements, travelling, moving house, opening office or starting a job.
You can also carry out other activities such as cleaning, repairs, installing machinery as well as religious worship.
The most positive of the 12 days is Success day which is imbue with positive energy and is suitable for most activities including burial!
However, avoid breaking up and divorces as you do not want too much successes in these areas.
The last in the list is the Close Day. It is generally speaking not a good day and you should not use it for any significant activity.
As you can deduce, the name given to these 12 Day Officers is an indication of what activity you should undertake or not do on that particular day.
So depending on what your activity is, you should look carefully into choosing the right day for you.
Henry Fong is an electronic engineer by qualification and he approaches feng shui with the same analytical and investigative approach he uses in his training. Readers can write to him at lifestyle.henryfong@ thesundaily.com.