Auspicious Dates and Places for the month of the Water Horse 2025

 

A 7 month                                     is about interruption and intervention
A Horse Month                            concerns visibility.
Where not to be this month: tai chi, East, North
Where to be this month:             West
Favoured Animals:                       Tiger, Dog, Sheep
Especially challenged:                 Horse, Rat, Ox
The Hexagram:                            57 Soen The Gentle, Wind over Wind.

 For the last couple of months we have tacked a chapter from my book after next Love Made Visible, onto this bulletin. Further chapters will be coming to you separately – the most recent Off to see the Wizard was sent to you halfway through May and the next will follow mid-June. I hope you find them entertaining. We don’t yet have a publisher and self-publishing is such a pain, so do feel free to share these pieces with any movers and/or shakers you might know.

 

We do however have a publisher (O Books) for my next book I Talk to the Animals cover (detail above) by the wonderful Ellie Spinelli, due out October 2025, a comprehensive guide to the drafting, interpretation and practice of Ba Zi, that is Four Pillars. You can pester your book shop for it now (preferably a real live book shop, not Amazon). It’s not beach fiction but I modestly suggest that anyone serious about ba zi needs a copy.

Bi Polar: this Water Horse Month.

  The Yang Fire of the Horse complements the year-long Yin Fire of the Snake: now revelation replaces deception as the second half of the Snake year invites us to shed yet another skin. For many this has not been a time of gentle or gradual change: whether you’re a US government employee, a Palestinian child cowering among the rubble or Joe Average trying to keep his head down, change this year has been constant and drastic. Many of us have sloughed off skin after skin. That shedding may have taken the form of self-reinvention, an open mind or simply intelligent cooperation. The Horse month brings that change to the light. There’s more upheaval coming yet.

The month also sports the 7 kua (see the lo shu below) of intervention, intercession and interruption. Expect unsolicited advice, crowding and a long to-do list. Some of these terms probably sound negative but the 7 Star like all such forces has as far as I can tell no moral sense; one man’s interruption is another man’s intervention. The 7 (at the tai chi or geometric centre of your space) is for instance the Star to activate if you’re owed money. I remember one afternoon advising a client who ran an online eco-shop whose cash flow was being stretched by slow-paying clients, about the power of the 7. He took it on and was paid within forty eight hours. Perhaps this is the month of overdue payments finally being received. To express the 7 just place a little Water at the tai chi.

Any Water Horse is a time of contradictions: the Horse is fast moving and spontaneous. Horses are the impulse buyers of the Chinese Zodiac. But a Water Horse is restrained. Water stands for discussion and counsel; Water moderates the rush of the Horse with consideration. In a Water Horse month the hurly burly may recede a little. But revelations will probably not. There may be surprises in store for all of us: locally and globally. A Snake year shifts viewpoint, earth and goalposts. A Horse month can bring it to the light. Don’t think of that as something distant.
Richard Ashworth ©2025

Horses are all about passion…
Horses may find this month overwhelming. Rampant Fire does not always suit the inflamed. Your inherent hurry may become haste and your passion turn to unhealthy attachment. Mistakes could be costly. Slow down. Big opportunity right away to pace yourself and stay paced from the 5^th.
Sheep may notice that at least for the time being they are no longer lost. You belong of course on the Horse’s team; the Horse is a guiding light you may feel unable to hang back from. This can be quite dominating, so try to retain agency and discretion. Recognise your own independent value and avoid the compromise of peer pressure. The 4^th July may bring opportunities for longer term positive change. Be ready.

The Yang Metal of the Monkey can melt during Horse months. You may lose perspective and spill the beans. Worse – your rebellious streak could become misplaced.  Maintain quality control and don’t tilt at windmills. Rise early on the 16^th for a clean break.
Roosters: frustration is likely in the face of rivalry. Metal doesn’t understand Fire. You may feel displaced, perhaps dazzled. Aim to keep your eye on the ball even when it’s out of play. The 16^th may prove especially helpful. Be there for lost Dragons meanwhile.
Dogs are unusually motivated, the way is clear and you are powered up. The 9^th and 21^st may prove testing but on the 10^th and 26^th June you can pretty much have things your own way.
Pig: may be most comfortable lying low while the Fire is high; there’s danger of embarrassment or worse, this is not a month for risk taking but the 14^th brings a boost as does the 26^th June.

Rat: opposed. But that could be inspiring. Challenge may lead to growth and the 8^th is helpful in that regard but don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Things are murkiest on the 12^th and 24^th when it may all be a bit personal. Don’t be fooled by the apparent flow into thinking it may be otherwise. Your strength is communication, the deeper and more releasing the better.
Ox meets peripheral opposition, that is proxy conflict, to the North East and South on the 6^th, 18^th and 30^th. Keep talking. Beware pointless consistency.
The Tiger is empowered. Others will stand back. Don’t apologise for your self. This is your moment. Stretch out, expand. Major support on the 10^th and 26^th.
Rabbits the heat may be too much but there are a couple of magic days (5^th and 10^th June also 4^th July when things go right enough to reverse trends going back months years or longer. Use wisely, Fill your boots. Remember who’s doing it.

I’m teaching and practising Ba Zi and Classical Feng Shui one-to-one via Zoom all the time. Ba Zi is a snapshot of the prevailing Elements at a moment in time. If that is a moment of birth, we may learn all sorts of things from it about the past, the future, about potential and opportunities that may otherwise be missed. I can tell you what yours promises and I can teach you how to do just that.

Dragon: a bit lost in the glare: more Dopey then Bashful this month. Resistance is less useful than acceptance but remember this is a dynamic not a flaccid thing.
Snake: It’s your year but you’re probably second fiddle for now. – 10^th and 22nd – especially. Don’t be daunted by the (possibly consequent) opposition arising around the 11^th (12^th & 13^th) and 23^rd(& 24^th)

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 as well as chatting about recent feng shui and ba zi cases. This month: spooky subterranean Water, the student who set her car on Fire and why Kelly Hoppen painted her office pillar box red.

As ever my monthly Yi Jing (that is Book of Changes) class (next one: Wednesday July 9^th*) examines the ramifications of the Hexagram of the Month: this time Soen, Hexagram 57, Wind over Wind: The Gentle: as the Book of Changes has it “gentle and thorough but ultimately adamant.” It speaks what is often termed “soft” power, the most subtle and most lasting of power because it is chosen and consented to. Think of the mutual empowerment and interdependence of a long term relationship that really works.
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. Soen focuses on the gentleness of true strength by examining the extremes from flaccid to untouchable.
*Hexagram 47 Kun Exhaustion

Days:
 
A Helpful Day
Sunday 8^th June, Earth Monkey, Void, Full (3) ***** bright.
Hexagram 36 – Brightness Obscured – kicks in for the next few days. Now is the time to seek attention. “Not suitable for groundbreaking” of any sort.
Activity: at Rat due N for discussion.
Favours: all especially Monkey, Rat, Dragon, Snake.
Especially visible (mostly in a good way): Wood Snake (1965), Metal Pig (1971), Wood Tiger (1974) Metal Monkey (1980), Wood Dog (1994) whether it is your Year, Month, Day or Hour Animal – in different ways.
Earth Monkey pic: ©2024 @EllieSpinelli

Not so Much
Wednesday 11^th June, Metal Pig, Wall, Initiate (6) *** vigilance helps
Full Moon: 21:20pm. Metal Pig is the sui po, the focus of opposition to the year energy. Wall protects against the negative while Initiate opens up fresh directions which are unlikely to be easy to follow much before the 14^th. Not for (physical or other) travel.
Activity: place Water at SW1 ( at Sheep around 205º SSW) just for today.
Favours: the Water Sheep (1943/2003) whether it is your Year, Month, Day or Hour Animal – in different ways.

Another Helpful Day
Monday 16^th June, Fire Dragon, Net, Open *** (2) mercurial.
A day to advance progress towards clearly defined goals. If they’re not clearly defined, now might be the time – as well as to take such steps as commit you to continuing and indeed completing. Conception of noble offspring.
Activity: at Monkey SW3 WSW around 240º for consistency and perpetuation.
Favours: all but especially Monkey, Rat & Rooster.
Exceptional opportunity: Metal Dog (1970) Wood Rooster (1945), Water Tiger (1962). whether it is your Year, Month, Day or Hour Animal – in different ways.

Also Not so Much
Saturday 21^st June, Metal Rooster, Willow, Balance (7) *** fair play
Ha Gee/Summer Solstice: 11:11, the peak and flash point of the year. Balance suggests some sort of redress or restoration; Willow is often about healing, indeed the salicylic acid under willow bark is the active ingredient of aspirin. A disruptive – and possibly unhealthy – ripple probably, not the wholesale energetic switcheroo of the next few days.
Favourites: Balance favours the underdog.
Activity: at Monkey SW3/WSW around 240º for precision.

Locations:
Note:
Every house is different but certain forces affect us all wherever we are. That some areas are better this month & some worse applies to all enclosed spaces. What to do about it depends very much on the individual house where the energies will be individual and may qualify or contradict my suggestions. But…. wherever a wu huang 5 Star is located place a t’ang lung. And wherever there is a 7, caution. Ask if in doubt.

A Helpful Location
West, Intervention: Year Star: 4 Month Star: 9.
9 is the favoured star for the next twenty years or so. 4 fuels this favoured status. A place to dream and create this month. The Wood of activity attracts the Fire of attention. Great for office or hot desk, career woman and those who are shattering glass ceilings. Dragons may find this area especially comforting right now.
For additional power: add Water (unless the wu huang, that is the Five Yellow, is here.)

Not So Helpful
North East, Beginnings & Endings: 5 Month Star: 1 Fortune Virtue (Tiger) Year Wu huang
Again! The 5 has no stake, it’s anarchic and careless. The 1 makes for connection – which may be risky: forked tongue, blurting; perhaps both. Steer clear. Try not to let a North Eastern room get all busy.
T’ang lung may mitigate but it’s usually better to leave things alone than to trust cures.

Richard Ashworth©
www.imperialfengshui.info
art by @elliespinelli ©