Auspicious Dates and Places for the month of the Earth Tiger 2025, in the Year of the Wood Snake
the (1st) month of the Earth Tiger 2025.
(22:27pm 3rd February to 16:11 5th March inclusive)
in the Year of the Wood Snake.
Public edition
A 2 month is about gain, aggregation and relationship.
A Tiger Month features expansion of one sort or another.
Where not to be this month: North, North East
Where to be this month: South East, East (with caution)
Favoured Animals: Tiger, Horse, Dog, Pig
Especially challenged: Monkey, Snake, Dragon.
The Hexagram: 55 Feng Abundance, Thunder over Fire, action.
The Lo Shu or Magic Square for the Earth Tiger Month 2025
1 6 8
9 2 4
5 7 3
The North is also the focus of the Monthly San Sha aka Three Killings. These two locations will tend to be at least less helpful this month. They may be actively disruptive. So avoid or mitigate. The helpful and communicative 1 Water is in the South East and likely to be more supportive though the impact of the 9 in the East is harder to call: 9 magnifies whatever is there already which may in your space be good, bad or ugly. You are likely however to find the Yin Earth of the 8 Star in the South West benign and supportive. All this depends so much on your individual environment as you will find in greater detail below, pp but to summarise: South East and South West better, North and North East worse. Hope that’s clear.
Make way for the Tiger.
Everyone knows that the Chinese New Year begins on February 4th. Except the Chinese who insist on celebrating the Lunar New Year which will keep dotting about inconveniently. This year it was on the 29th January that I wished the lady at the local takeaway “Gung hei fat choi” to which she responded with an unearned compliment on my Mandarin. I’m never going to get that tonality down, not in this incarnation.
Treating February 4th (actually the 3rd by a whisker this year) that is Lap Chun the Spring Festival, as opening the New Year has a long tradition. For farmers it makes sense because the ground may be softer and the mornings lighter. But it was not until the Emperor Qian Long (1733-1793) that Lap Chun was instituted as the 1st Day of the year for the purpose of divination. Probably to keep Feng Shui, Ba Zi and Zu Wei Masters from squabbling among themselves. Not sure that worked 100%.
Tiger people (Births 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998; between roughly February 3rd and March 4th; between 3 & 5 in the morning and on days you’d need a Chinese calendar for) need space and they are hard to resist. Like Tiger Months they bring change, sometimes uncomfortable and sudden. Sometimes that space belongs to someone else. Think 1914, actually a Wood Tiger, so in some senses a double Tiger; also 1938. And it was, I’m sure, no coincidence that Ukraine was invaded during the Tiger Hour on a Tiger Day in the Tiger Month of February 2022. There is no question that there are more brilliant Ze Ri (that is Date Selection) Masters in Russia than anywhere outside the Chinese diaspora. 4am is quite an hour to pick.
We’d all best watch for rapid change during this Tiger Month. It is the change of the restless Yang Wood, ever in search of fertile ground to seed. Even during the winter, tree roots are pushing past obstacles of which we may never be aware. Expect a month of surprises, a month of advances and encroachment. This may show up as invasions and offensives but also more subtle competition in your office, kitchen, high street or bedroom.
And this is an Earth Tiger, inherently at war with itself. The Yang Wood feeds upon the Earth just as a tree feeds on the earth itself. This is the nature of life: Wood feeds upon Earth, receives the Water of rainfall and the Fire of the Sun and is ended by the sharp edge of Metal. Don’t blame the Tiger for being a Tiger.
As ever my monthly Yi Jing (that is Book of Changes) class (next one: Wednesday February 9th) examines the ramifications of the Hexagram of the Month: this time Feng, Hexagram 55, Abundance (above) which concerns the great British tradition of getting on with it. The basic instruction is to roll up your sleeves and results will follow. Its shape is Zhen (Thunder) over Lei (Fire). Any Hexagram featuring Zhen will be dynamic..
Highlights of these sessions appear on my YouTube Channel later in each month. You may not have the stamina for all sixty four Hexagrams but you can join us live via Zoom for a year via Sheilaashworthfengshui@gmail.com
The Tiger Month is no time to hang about.
In this month’s Podcast which should be out about the same time as this bulletin, I discuss with the brilliant Zoe Vita James the changing qi of the Month, its likely implications for each Animal and what we may each do about it. In this month’s Bonus Podcast we take a close look at the brand new Year of the Wood Snake.
From March the bonus podcasts will concentrate upon hints, tips and principles of Classical Feng Shui. And finally the one we’ve been promising for ages on how to recognise the helpful and less helpful aspects of the interior of a house and what you might be able to do about it. You’ll find both at https://open.spotify.com/show/2BvGN1qGP5HdF56HCl9y64.
The Earth Tiger Month – Winners and losers.
A Tiger Month is unlikely to be comfortable for Monkeys or Snakes but will tend to favour Tigers themselves, Horses and Dogs. Pigs – whether by Hour, Day Month or Year are a special case this year. There’s more of curse.
Though the interpretations are mine, the above is drawn from the thousand-year old rules of Ba Zi. Monkey and Snake are both “secret friends” – the Monkey is the suggested lucky amulet of the year – as well as what is termed a “break-up”. A Monkey/Snake couple is a fragile thing and this month both are confronted by the Tiger: the Monkey is directly opposed, so expect friction. The Snake is “harmed”, that is party to a proxy fight. Snakes and Tigers may find themselves at odds over the interests of a third party. And remember the Snake, totem of the Year is more powerful than usual.
And of course it will not have escaped you that at least at the level of international politics, this is the year if not the age of the proxy fight. Whether we are talking about Gaza, Sudan or Ukraine, the combatants are not, if this makes sense, the combatants. Think of that perhaps in relation to US and Chinese foreign policy.
Horses are mostly luckier this month. With the Tiger and the Dog they form a Sam He or “Three Harmony” combination. These are a natural team. Together they form Fire which may mean they shed light, attention and celebrity upon a variety of situations. During February this may be how they co-operate and profit.
It may be that for this reason this is a year of revelation, although the Snake’s light is weaker and more diffuse than next year’s Horse. What is for sure is that in the South and the East unwelcome light may land, this month and subsequently.
The Year Snake frustrates the Pig all Year although this month, as “secret friend” of the Tiger, Pigs will generally progress. Ox equally supported all year by Snake in a sam he cooperation that includes the Rooster, needs to unblinker to make good use of their time. Something similar is true of the Sheep – both having been Tin Yute or Agony Aunt throughout the Dragon Year. And the Rooster who is typically all about bling and shiny things needs to maximise her attention span. Rabbits need to remember that their strength is domestic and diplomatic; they are not Tigers.
Finally, for many authorities Rat is the most fortunate Animal this year. This month may be quite creative while Rat’s Water fuels the creativity of Wood but not yet the peak.
Remember that there are at least four Animals (one each relating to Hour, Day and Month of birth as well as Year) to consider in your own Ba Zi chart and that it is as unlikely that they’re all suffering during the Ox Month as that all are making hay. Each Animal illuminates a particular aspect of life. To know this about yourself may be timely. My Annual Animal Fortunes are now on the website. More detail in the Podcast.
I am teaching and practising Ba Zi all the time My next book I Talk to the Animals cover (detail above) by the wonderful Ellie Spinellu, due out mid-2025, is a comprehensive guide to the drafting, interpretation and practice of Ba Zi. Pester your book shop for it now (preferably a real live book shop and absolutely please not Amazon).
As I say I’m teaching this stuff one-to-one via Zoom all the time. Meanwhile we’re
planning an advanced Ba Zi workshop soon: Ba Zi Discoveries.
Edited highlights of my Wood Snake Forecast Day available soon. Contact Sheila at sheilaashworthfengshui@gmail.com
Times & Places
A Helpful Day –probably the most helpful this month.
Thursday 6th February, Fire Horse, Horn, Stable (7) ***** extremely helpful.
A day to get on with it, even if what you do seems to make little immediate difference. Today is for attention to big projects which by their nature call for time and patience. You are not a real artist (of whatever sort) until all your socks are paired.
Fine to place Water.
Activity: at the Dog in the North West (NW1/WNW around 295º for patience.
Favours: all especially Tiger, Dog & Sheep, Rooster. Horse: beware haste.
Not so much,
Thursday 13th February, Water Ox, Dipper, Closed (5) ***** unstable.
Full Moon: 18:19pm, Peak Moon power. A day to receive what Heaven offers: vision or even visions. Pace yourself to receive, then employ perceptions rapidly. Seize the moment. Hygiene is important today.
Activity: at Snake SE3/SSE around 154º for both movement and attention.
Favours: the vigilant and open Rat.
Also not so Much
Thursday 20th February, Metal Monkey, Astride, Destruction (3) ***** Mischief
The Metal of Monkey is boosted all year by the Snake, countered all month by the Tiger. Stay out of dispute which may linger. And off the roads. Poor for patriarchs.
Favours: precision, preparation, specialist knowledge.
Activity: at the Rat due North for healing words.
Location, Location, Location
A Helpful Location
West, Intervention: Year Star: 4 Month Star: 4.
The 4 brings Girl Power. That makes the West a place of creativity and industry for most this month. If you have Water Stars present even more so; conversely if there’s a 5 or 7, proceed with caution as both will interfere. Suits Dragon and Snake.
To encourage: add Water, just a tumbler, change daily.
To moderate 7 or 5: exactly the same.
Not so much
North East, Beginnings & Endings: 5 Month Star: 5 Fortune Virtue (Tiger) Year Wu huang
5 visits 5. Perilous and busy with contrary forces. Avoid. All those 5’s will be hard to work with whatever the underlying energies. There are peaks and troughs and some buildings worse than others but most NE sectors deteriorate this month and indeed all year. If you’re usually located NE, best to move. But do face this way briefly and regularly to tap into the power of the wu huang.
Pacify with t’ang lung.
Richard Ashworth©
www.imperialfengshui.info
www.imperialfengshui.info © 2025
art by @elliespinelli ©
Richard Ashworth is one of the most respected Western Feng Shui Masters. A good taster of his approach may be found on Audible . You can also see him at work on tv’s Housebusters Most Thursdays and Fridays he is to be found teaching both feng shui and ba zi one-to-one online (times by mutual arrangement) with students from Seattle to Belgium.
Richard has worked from Lebanon to Bermuda, in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore and with stars such as Naomie Harris, Kelly Hoppen and Gillian Anderson. Unusually for a Western Master, he has addressed the Grand Masters at the International Feng Shui Conference in Singapore.
Every month we send (at a modest fee) retainer clients a more comprehensive monthly bulletin than this one, covering in detail right places to be (and when) as well as the most helpful days Animal by Animal and much more from the Chinese calendar.
Subscriptions (and further info): Sheilaashworthfengshui@gmail.com
Richard Ashworth©
www.imperialfengshui.info
www.imperialfengshui.info © 2025
art by @elliespinelli ©