China's Lunar Calendar 2015 07-07

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs"  

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
7/15..................................................................................................................7/7

This is one in a never-ending series—following the movements of the calendar—in Round and Square perpetuity. It is today's date in the Chinese lunar calendar, along with basic translation and minimal interpretation. Unless you have been studying lunar calendars (and Chinese culture) for many years, you will likely find yourself asking "what does that mean?" I would caution that "it" doesn't "mean" any one thing. There are clusters of meaning, and they require patience, reflection, careful reading, and, well, a little bit of ethnographic fieldwork. The best place to start is the introduction to "Calendars and Almanacs" on this blog. I teach a semester-long course on this topic and, trust me, it takes a little bit of time to get used to the lunar calendar. Some of the material is readily accessible; some of it is impenetrable, even after many years.

As time goes on, I will link all of the sections to lengthy background essays. This will take a while. In the meantime, take a look, read the introduction, and think about all of the questions that emerge from even a quick look at the calendar.

Section One

Solar Calendar Date
七
日

二期星

Seventh Month, Seventh Day

Astral Period Two
Tuesday, July 7

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不除福
將神德
Fortunate Virtue
Expelling Spirits
Not General

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Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰子
吉吉凶
酉己丑

吉吉凶

戌午寅
中凶凶
亥未卯
中吉中

23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
01:00-03:00 Inauspicious
03:00-05:00 Inauspicious
05:00-07:00 In-Between

07:00-09:00 Auspicious
9:00-11:00 Auspicious
11:00-13:00 Inauspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 In-Between
21:00-23:00 In-Between

The hours above are for Hong Kong. It is up to you if you want to recalibrate or to assume that the cyclicality of the calendar "covers" the rest of the world. This is a greater interpretive challenge than you might think.
                             —————————————————

Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

忌
安出開
牀財倉
Opening Granaries
Capital Outflow
Positioning Beds

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Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

廿
二
甲
申
水
翌
滿

Twenty-Second Day (Fifth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: jiashen (21/60)

Phase (element): Water

Constellation: Wings (27/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Fullness (3/12)

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Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information
(top-to-bottom; right to left)

暑小
十十酉
二八正
分時    
————
宜

動移出
土徙行
安開嫁
葬市娶
————
至風溫
————
五孤小
 虛辰亡空

————
Slight Heat
at the you hour; 18:12 o'clock
(the eleventh of twenty-four fifteen day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)

Appropriate Activities
 Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Moving Households
Opening Markets
Moving Soil
Positioning Graves

Hot Winds Arrive
(the thirty-first of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Astral Influences

Small Loss-Void
Orphan Dawn
Five Voids

Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
人 地
Person, Earth

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Section Eight

占
爐 門

Divination
Furnace, Gate