TL;DR: The four terms Yin Male, Yang Male, Yin Female and Yang Female are how Tử Vi (Vietnamese astrology) classifies a chart by the Yin Yang quality of the birth year combined with gender. Yang Male and Yin Female run their Đại Hạn (major decade) clockwise, while Yin Male and Yang Female run counter-clockwise. This convention only sets the direction in which the Đại Hạn cycle moves, it does not decide fortune or misfortune. The Yin Yang of a year is taken from its Heavenly Stem: Giáp, Bính, Mậu, Canh, Nhâm are Yang; Ất, Đinh, Kỷ, Tân, Quý are Yin.
What Are Âm Nam, Dương Nam, Âm Nữ, and Dương Nữ in Tử Vi?
The four labels Âm Nam, Dương Nam, Âm Nữ, and Dương Nữ are familiar shorthand in Tử Vi studies for the yin or yang nature attached to the gender of the chart owner. They appear at the chart-building stage, before any star is placed. They are not stars and not palaces, but an attribute covering the whole chart. The widely used reading today: a man born in a yang year is Dương Nam, a man born in a yin year is Âm Nam; a woman born in a yin year is Âm Nữ, a woman born in a yang year is Dương Nữ.
These four labels are not meant to read character or destiny directly. In the Tử Vi placement method, they determine whether the Đại Hạn cycle runs clockwise or counterclockwise; the same direction is used when placing the Tràng Sinh cycle and the Bác Sĩ cycle that starts from Lộc Tồn.
How Is the Direction of the Đại Hạn Determined?
Đại Hạn is a ten-year period. In the placement method common in Vietnamese Tử Vi, the first Đại Hạn sits in the Mệnh palace and begins at the lunar age equal to the Cục number: age 2 for Thủy nhị cục, 3 for Mộc tam cục, 4 for Kim tứ cục, 5 for Thổ ngũ cục, 6 for Hỏa lục cục. For example, a woman born in a Giáp Thìn year: the stem Giáp is yang, so she is Dương Nữ and her Đại Hạn runs counterclockwise; if the chart is Thổ ngũ cục, the first Đại Hạn is in the Mệnh palace from age 5 to 14, the second moves back to the Huynh Đệ palace from age 15 to 24, and the following palaces continue in that direction. Tử Vi đẩu số toàn thư differs on the starting point: Dương Nam and Âm Nữ start from the Phụ Mẫu palace and run clockwise, Âm Nam and Dương Nữ start from the Huynh Đệ palace and run counterclockwise[1].
The convention widely used in both Vietnamese and Chinese Tử Vi can be summarized in the following table:
| Type | Gender | Đại Hạn direction |
|---|---|---|
| Dương Nam | Male, yang birth year | Clockwise |
| Âm Nam | Male, yin birth year | Counterclockwise |
| Âm Nữ | Female, yin birth year | Clockwise |
| Dương Nữ | Female, yang birth year | Counterclockwise |
This table shows a school's convention, serving to orient the Đại Hạn cycle, not a claim about destiny. It should be said clearly: clockwise or counterclockwise implies neither good nor bad. It simply tells which palace the next Đại Hạn occupies.
Which Birth Years Are Yang and Which Are Yin?
The basis is the Heavenly Stem (Can) of the birth year. The ten stems divide into two groups: Giáp, Bính, Mậu, Canh, Nhâm are yang; Ất, Đinh, Kỷ, Tân, Quý are yin.
Reading by the Earthly Branch (Chi) of the year gives the same result, because in the sixty-year cycle a yang stem pairs only with a yang branch (Tý, Dần, Thìn, Ngọ, Thân, Tuất) and a yin stem only with a yin branch (Sửu, Mão, Tỵ, Mùi, Dậu, Hợi). For example, Giáp Dần: Giáp is a yang stem and Dần a yang branch; Ất Mão: Ất is a yin stem and Mão a yin branch. No year pairs a yang stem with a yin branch or the reverse.
What are common misunderstandings about the Yin or Yang of the year?
The first misunderstanding is thinking Dương Nam is stronger than Âm Nam, or Âm Nữ gentler than Dương Nữ. The label only reflects the yin or yang of the birth year, saying nothing about the person.
The second misunderstanding is thinking a clockwise Đại Hạn is good and a counterclockwise one bad. The placement method assigns no good or bad meaning to direction; direction is only a consequence of the classification convention.
What is Nhật Nguyệt's suggestion when reading a chart labeled Âm Nam, Dương Nam, Âm Nữ, or Dương Nữ?
When you read a chart marked Âm Nam, Dương Nam, Âm Nữ, or Dương Nữ, understand it as a technical label for the direction of the Đại Hạn cycle. To know how a specific period goes, look at which stars rule, the chart's Ngũ Hành Cục, and the interaction between the original Mệnh and the Đại Hạn and Lưu Niên. Do not use this label to guess character or compare two people of different genders.
