Thread by @edwardW2

1. I will now translate a short text of Chinese electional astrology, the Pengzu Bai ji = 彭祖百忌, "Ancestor Peng's hundred prohibitions" This is possibly the simplest text of Chinese Electional astrology there is, but AFAIK has never been translated into English.

2/ this text shows the inauspicious activities for each of the ten heavenly stems and twelve earthly branches; 'tis no more complex than electing using the day of the week. The present version was derived from baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%BD%AD… , but agrees with most printed sources.

3/
Jia: Yang Wood
甲不開倉，財物耗亡；
Do not open a storeroom on Jia; Wealth and objects will be lost

4/ Yi: Yin Wood
乙不栽植，千株不長；
Do not plant on Yi; No plants will grow

5/ Bing: Yang Fire
丙不修灶，必見灾殃；
Do not build a stove on Bing; It would invite disaster

6/ Ding: Yin Fire
丁不剃頭，頭主生瘡；
Do not shave the head on Ding; It would cause boils on the head

7/ Xu: Yang Earth
戊不受田，田主不祥；
Do not receive land on Xu. It is inauspicious for the owner.

8/ Ji: Yin Earth
己不破券，二比并亡；
Do not make agreements on Ji , Neither side would benefit.
Note: Some sources such as wenku.baidu.com/view/7733b1c48… interpret this to mean all trading is unsuitable.

9a/Geng: Yang Metal
庚不經絡，織機虛張
Do not meddle with the meredians on Geng; The body will be harmed.
Note: In simple terms, moxibustion, & other traditional Chinese medical treatments that interfere with the body’s meridians (energy channels) should not be done on Geng...

9b/ ... for fear of damaging the organs. The literal translation of this line is “Do not Warp and weft on Geng; the loom will be void”; as the term for meridians 經絡 literally refers to the the horizontal & vertical threads in a loom.

10a /Xin: Yin metal
辛不合酱，主人不嘗；
Do not brew on Xin; it would not taste good.

10b/
Xin cont'd
辛不求醫，主人不當
Do not seek a doctor on Xin, It will not bode well for the patent
(this is an Alternate version from a major date-selection compendium "The aspects of Auspiciousness almanac" xiangji tongshu 象吉通書:)

11a/
Ren: Yang Water
1.壬不汲水，更難提防；
(alternate) 2.壬不决水，更難提防；
1. Do not Draw water on Xin, It would be hard to control.
2. Do not Release water on Xin, it would be hard to control.

11b/ Note: The two websites have different interpretations of the phrase. This website d1xz.net/rili/jiri/art1… interprets drawing water from a well (the meaning of 汲)as bringing unexpected disasters on yourself...

11c/ ... whereas ifreesite.com/calendar/pengz… interprets it as meaning the water would be contaminated.
An alternate version that is sometimes found is (2). This version has 决 instead of 汲. 决 means “release” or breach; this I interpret as breaching dykes and dams for irrigation.

12/ Gui: Yin Water
癸不詞訟，理弱敌强；
Do not sue on Gui; Your cause will be weak, the opponent’s cause strong.

13/ Zi= Rat
子不問卜，自惹祸殃；
Do not divine on Zi. You will get mistaken

14/ Chou: Ox
丑不冠带，主不還鄉；
Do not perform the capping ceremony on chou; the person will not return to the village.
Note: Modern sources say this expands to putting on new clothes of any sort wenku.baidu.com/view/7733b1c48…

15/ Yin: Tiger
寅不祭祀，神鬼不嘗；
Do not pray on yin. The spirts will not get [the offerings].

16/ Mao: Rabbit
卯不穿井，水泉不香；
Do no dig wells on Mao. The water will not be fragrant.

Chen: Dragon
辰不哭泣，必主重喪；
Do not weep on Chen; You will surely weep again.

18/ Si: Snake
巳不遠行，財物伏藏；
Do not travel far on Si; Wealth and objects will elude your grasp.

19/ Wu: Horse
午不苫蓋，屋主更張
Do not cover [a house] with straw on wu. The houseowner will change.
Nb: d1xz.net/rili/jiri/art1… interprets it as a prohibition on all forms of building; if this is ignored, the owner will be forced to sell the dwelling

20/ Wei: Goat
未不服藥，毒氣入肠；
Do not make medicines on Wei; Poisonous Qi will enter the guts.

21/ Shen: Ape
申不安床，鬼祟入房；
Do not position the bed on Shen. Ghosts will haunt the room.

22a/ You: Chicken.
酉不宴客，醉坐颠狂；
Do not banquet on You; Drunkenness and madness will result.

22b/ Alternate, from Aspects of Auspiciousness almanac 象吉通書。
【象吉，鰲頭】 酉不出雞，今其耗亡
Do not Let out chickens on You, bad news and death will be received at once.

Note: This is because You's animal representation is the Chicken.

23/ Xu: Dog
戌不吃犬，作怪上床；
Do not eat dogs on Xu. Ghosts and weird things will ascend to your bed.

Note: This is because Xu has the zodiac sign of the Dog. All the almanacs retain this oddly specific prohibition

24/ Hai: Pig.
亥不嫁娶，不利新郎；
【象吉，鰲頭】亥不出豬，再養難償
Do not marry on Hai; This is bad for the groom.
Alternate, from Aspects of auspiciousness almanac: Do not send out pigs on Hai, it will be hard to rear them onwards.

25/ Background: The Chinese measure time using two cycles, one of ten terms (which represents the 5 “Chinese elements” in their Yin and Yang forms), called the Heavenly stems, and one of 12 terms, which is the familiar chinese zodiac animals.

26/ The 2 cycles run concurrently, so the end result is the combinations of heavenly stems and earthly branches repeat every 60 terms. (for more see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexagenar… )

27/ Now, years, months, days and two-hour periods are all assigned such terms. For the purposes of this text we are looking at the terms associated with the day. If you know the stem and branch associated with each day,
The text shows what you should not do for on that day.

28/ For example, as I type this, today is the day of the Yang Water Dog 壬戌,, the 59th term of the cycle. Looking at the text above, as today has the Heavenly stem of Yang Water, I should not attempt to brew...

29/ In turn, as today has the earthly branch of the Dog, I should also not attempt to eat dogs. [I guess BrewDog beer is doubly forbidden...]

30/ Similarly, As tomorrow is the day of the Yin Water Pig 癸亥, I should also not attempt to sue anyone, or get married

31. As the sexagenary cycle is also used to number hours, some sources say that the prohibitions apply to the hours of the day as well.

3./ If you want to know what is the stem/branch combination for today, there are some twitter handles that give them out. The best is @SeriousFengShui.

33/ But if you look at the stem/branch combination, posted on her feed daily, she does not mention whether the element is yin or yang! Not to worry, there is a way of figuring it out...

34/ If you looked at the sexagenary cycle in full, you will notice something unusual. The odd-numbered Earthly branches (Rat,Tiger,Dragon,Horse,Ape, Dog) will always pair up with the Yang elements...

35/... and the even numbered ones (ox,Rabbit,Snake,goat,Chicken,Pig) will always pair up with Yin elements.

36/ So there is the Yang Wood rat 甲子, Yang fire rat丙子, Yang earth rat戊子, Yang metal rat庚子, and Yang Water rat壬子, but no Yin wood rat 乙子 etc.. Similarly, there is the Yin wood pig 乙亥, and Yin water pigs癸亥, but no Yang wood pig 甲亥, or yang water pig 壬亥.

37 As such, you could deduce the polarity of the element from the “Animal” alone. It follows, specifying that today is the day of the “Yang Wood Rat” is superfluous, as the combination Yin Wood Rat does not exist.

38/ Now, this is the simplest form of Chinese electional astrology. There is, however a more complex form of elections, which involves comparing the day with the month it is in.

39/ The simplest example of which is what is known in the west as the twelve day officers, or the “Establish-rid” cycle in China 建除, after the first 2 terms in the cycle. Ancestor Peng also has things to say about this cycle, but this is another topic for another thread...