Animal Forecast 2015: 4.Rabbiting On, outlook for the Rabbit in 2015

Who is a Rabbit?

Years: 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011.
Month*: March
Hour: 05:00 am – 07:00 am
Day: ask us

* Caution:the start of the Chinese month can be as early as the 4th & as late as the 9th, depending on the year. I can let you know this too.

What is a Rabbit?
The Rabbit is yin wood, essentially gentle and domestic. Her time is early morning; the legend has it that she and the Rooster swapped places which is why the cock of the Chinese Zodiac crows not at dawn but at dusk. The Rabbit rules the Spring therefore – think of March Hares and Easter Bunnies – and the Rooster the autumn.

The Rabbit is subtle, in keeping with her yin nature. She provides service readily and is often suited to catering and caring. But her preparedness to roll up her sleeves makes her the unexpected queen of networking. If you want to be introduced to the person in charge, ask a Rabbit.

The Rabbit can wait her turn; vigilance and patience are typical. Her natural allies are the Pig and the Sheep. This is a house-proud team and the Rabbit is a team player. Her unexpected friend is the Dog who values her ability to charm without threat.

The Rabbit also belongs to the gathering known as the Flowers of Love (or Plumflowers) along with the Horse, the Rooster and Rat. She may often find herself clearing up behind these three extroverts and quite often the cuddle-bunny will obtain a life partner from the leavings of her more obviously glamorous colleagues.

The Rabbit tends to be conservative with a small “c”. Early rising is typical but this tendency to the yang of early alertness may be demonstrated by the yin of sleeping in. Lazybones or insomniac, sleeping is an issue.

Because of the unflattering connotations of the local word for Rabbit, in Vietnam this branch is called the Cat. Intuitively this does not sit right. The ideogram so clearly has ears. Yin wood relates to the eyes and to the Spring, leaves and flowers and grass, none of which are feline attributes.

In some ways the Rabbit epitomises yin. Yang wood may be best characterised as an outwards and upwards movement like the growth of a tree. Yin wood is more of a pure outwards expansion like the spreading of grass. What these two expressions of wood have in common is irresistibility. But they are very different types of irresistibility. To counter yang wood we need yang metal: an axe will cut down the biggest tree. But you could attack a lawn with that same axe and not remove all the grass in a lifetime. This is the power of yin wood.
Wood is both stubborn and flexible. Yin wood (as characterised by soen, the wind of the South East) is thorough as well as organised. Hexagram 53 of the Book of Changes, Gradual Progress describes this: the tree grows against all the odds either because it throws itself absolutely upon the mercy of the tao or because it has a detailed plan that it follows meticulously. Or both.

The Dragon is said to lose money when the Rabbit arrives. This may be because the Dragon is distracted by his neighbour who is so apparently different in nature. This is not a great pairing but the fact is that the Rabbit sitting between the Tiger and the Dragon shares qualities with both. Partnership with the Tiger is sometimes formalised as the House of Diplomacy. The Rabbit offers carrot while the Tiger wields a stick. This arrangement exemplifies the truism that more is achieved with a kind word and a gun than with a kind word alone.

Prominent Rabbits this year include Russell Brand, who despite his wild exterior, is that most romantic of Animals, the 1975 Wood Rabbit. The Dragon is the focus of the year because the Bullying Punishment – see elsewhere – is the underlying theme and the Rabbit will tend to distract from this conundrum. This might imply Brand expressing particularly direct opposition to UKIP around March. We’ll see.

Wood represents bone, spine and hair as well as eyes: the light is fire but the receiving organ is wood. The Rabbit is often not strong in these regards, unlike the Tiger. This is yin and yang.

Rabbit in Wood Sheep Year.

Stars include: jeung sing, bay gin, toe far, xie ren.

You are the facilitator, the empowerer, the networker of the Chinese Zodiac. You make sure every guest has the right drink in his hand and the ear of the person most amenable. This is a gift; everybody needs you at (or in) their party. Nonetheless you may have felt neglected or excluded recently. The truth is that the Wood Horse brought you a certain unwonted power but you are as notoriously poor at exploiting the high ground as you are notably expert at doing it for others.

Why might this be?

Here’s an answer: you are also the spinner of facts and the softener of blows. Naturally you bring comfort. Comfort however can get in the way. It can delay the inevitable. And your motives can be suspect? How much of your mitigation of the bald truth is to spare you and how much to spare the recipient? If I’ve got this right, you need to talk straight.

If you get it right, this year is going to be chaotic. If you play it safe it won’t be but nothing much will change. The fault lines in some important relationships may be held together by fancy footwork. You can’t do it forever; it’s just too tiring.

It’s just as well then that in 2015 the Rabbit itself – yourself – is empowered. About time, you might say. One reason is that once again you are Toe Far or Flower of Romance – to Horse, Dog and Tiger. You bring the lurve to these Animals but there will be plenty for you. The floppy old Rabbit (especially the Wood Rabbit of 1975) is actually the most romantic of Animals but in the last couple of years there may have seemed little scope to express it. Here is an area where frankness rather than diplomacy may cause short-term upset and long-term bliss. That’s actually much less dangerous than just muddling through which in time would claim your life. So many Rabbits have got used to mitigating themselves to save the feelings of others.

This year helpfully, you have the jeung sing star which will not be second best; in any context, work, play, relationship, whatever. You are not generally that competitive probably, but this year you certainly are. You know what belongs to you. You may even believe you have rights. Any student of political philosophy knows that rights are literally subject to contract however; what are the terms of yours? The force is with you in the sense that you are, uncharacteristically and at last, out to the fore. What do you want to use the limelight for and how honest are you prepared to be to obtain it?

Traditionally by the way the xie ren is considered an angry star, the ideograph includes a blade. It implies that this year the Rabbit may be so frustrated that he or she hurts themselves. This is very much in keeping with the nature of the Wood Sheep whose own implications include self-harm. On the global level this includes shale retrieval and the random Earth-acupuncture-with-poisons which is fracking. For the individual it connotes frustration so severe you cut yourself; the traditional preventative is to give blood, have your teeth professionally cleaned or deliberately nick one of your fingers. The untraditional solution (mine) is to speak up.* Self-disclosure and retailing the awkward truth are likely to be your role this year.

Nonetheless bay gin means you make many friends; take this as reassurance. There is so much Wood about. You’ll find yourself regularly the flavour of the month. Especially in July. You will also incite competition. This could for the insecure Rabbit be a year of envy. This is bay gin but it’s all healthy; truth is being told. This shifts everything and everyone down the appropriate path.

So this year you are the spanner in the works. The central drama – the Bullying Punishment, the friction between Sheep, Ox and Dog – calls for the Dragon to do magic. You, in the nicest possible way, are likely to get in the Dragon’s way. Watch for Dragons; those you know will be recoiling already. And your truth, though unsettling will be enormously valuable to them. Not necessarily welcome but valuable. Speak up.

There are situations from which you have been holding back – family, work, relationship, other – it’s time to risk engagement. It’ll be safe by March but necessary before then.

Bay gin also means that what suits the yin Wood of the year suits you. There will be multiple opportunities because your tastes and needs reflect the times. The Sheep and Pig are your natural team mates so you can assume that it is safe to take a few risks. Few but big. And you might fail. But the thing is that unless you try, unless you open up, unless you risk yourself you’re still going be stalled when the Fire Monkey of 2016 comes around. That rebellious Monkey by the way may not turn out so helpful to you; you need to be sorted beforehand. This will take courage. But it’s likely to be worth it. This year you could come out of your shell forever, reinvented, expressed and actualised.

*This spiritual/emotional/psychological approach by the way, is more traditional than is generally understood. Consult the research into mediaeval ba zi of Manfed Kubny, for instance.

Health: watch joints. Glucosamine perhaps.

Money: your fair share.

Relationship: top priority.

Feng Shui: occupy and/or activate (intermittent Water and/or four Water bamboo stems) the Pig at NW3.

Readers’ Digest Version: challenging with a real prospect of transformation.

Richard Ashworth © 2015