Xiao Ke asked, confused, "Lord Zhou, what is a Yin Month?"
He was a proper scholar who had earned his official position through the imperial examinations. Having studied the teachings of the Saints, he naturally had no knowledge of what a Yin Month was.
Zhou Lin patiently explained:
"The Astronomical Bureau establishes the calendar by arranging the Ten Heavenly Stems and the Twelve Earthly Branches. A full cycle is sixty years. Odd is Yang, and even is Yin. When the characters representing a time are all Yin, it becomes a Yin Year, Yin Month, or Yin Hour."
"Xinchou, Guihai, and Dingwei... these are all clearly Yin Months."
Xiao Ke suddenly understood.
Zhou Lin continued, "Women naturally possess more Yin energy than men. Those born in a Yin Month have even heavier Yin energy and are known in the mystic arts as Yin Women. A woman born in a Yin Year, Yin Month, Yin Day, and at a Yin Hour is said to have a 'Five-Yin Heavenly Curse' fate."
