The Rabbit in the Year of the Wood Snake 2025
Rabbit Pic by @elliespinelli
Who is a Rabbit?
Years: 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999.
Month*: March
Hour: 05.00 am – 07.00am
Day: you’ll need a Chinese Calendar.
* Caution: the start of the Chinese month can be as early as the 4th & as late as the 9th, depending on the year.
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 Zodiac Rooster 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. This story may also serve to illustrate the mistrust that can exist between Rabbit and the yin Metal Rooster.
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.
Although giving an impression of reluctance to be in the spotlight, Rabbits are often performers but equally often are more at home behind the scenes. Writer-composer Tim Minchin fits this bill. Devoted Dad David Beckham perhaps also and strangely introvert ex-Prime Minister Gordon Brown. All clearly pretty good at making connections also.
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 blatantly glamorous colleagues.
Rabbit tends to be conservative with a small “c”. Early rising is typical but the yang of early alertness may be balanced by the yin of sleeping in. Lazybones or insomniac, sleeping is an issue. This is yin and yang.
In Vietnam this Zodiac Animal is called the Cat. Intuitively this does not sit right, the ideogram so clearly has ears. Furthermore yin Wood relates to the late Spring, leaves and flowers and grass, none of which are obviously feline attributes. Btw the song “Year of the Cat” written by 1945 Rooster Al Stewart in the Rabbit (not Cat) Year of 1975 illustrates again the misunderstanding that often occurs between Rabbit & Rooster. How will the Rabbit fare in a Rooster year? Typical are disappointments and letdown; lower sights.
In some ways the Rabbit epitomises yin. Yang Wood may be characterised as an upwards movement like the growth of a tree. Yin Wood is more of an outward expansion like the spread 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: “gentle and thorough but ultimately adamant” as the Book of Changes has it.
Hexagram 53 of the Book of Changes, “Gradual Progress” relates also: the tree on the mountain 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 Rabbit is said to cause the Dragon (next in sequence) to lose money. Perhaps the Dragon is distracted by a neighbour so apparently different in nature. These two are 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 Progress#. The Rabbit offers carrot while the Tiger wields a stick. More may be achieved perhaps with a kind word and a gun than with a kind word alone.
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 again, is yin and yang.
Finally it’s worth appreciating that the wooden table you’re probably seated by is wood but not Wood. Wood is always growing which is not true of anything else; not animals, people, cutting edges or stones. Usable Wood in feng shui terms, is alive. Many Masters consider dead Wood to be Earth, motionless and ashen.
# These terms are the brain children of the man who first introduced me to the Chinese Zodiac Derek Walters, still the only Western authority respected to any degree in Asia. I sometimes tell my students that of the many thousands of books written on Chinese Astrology in the West, 99% are either nonsense or derived from Derek’s The Complete Guide to Chinese Astrology. Or both.
2025, Breezes, Hurricanes, Twisters,
The outlook for the Year of the Wood Snake.
Note: There are four (or five) Pillars in your ba zi, each with a different nuance. It is as unlikely that they are all ill-starred as it is that they are all
blessed by any given year. Examine the portents for each and perhaps use that as an indication of how to respond.
Rabbit
T’sai Sha Jeung Sing Bay Gin Hung Mo
Calamity Curse Star of Envy Connection Dead & Empty
Affinity
High winds
Sept !
One of the reasons that the Rabbit is such a dynamite networker, is that she has affinity both with the Dog and the Snake. In 2025 the Snake’s subtle fire draws you out of yourself. Often this means art of one sort or another; you’re likely to be especially creative in the Snake Month of May. Best open up, channel, imagine, summon words, ideas, music, schemata with urgency as June’s Yang Fire Horse leads towards burn out at the solstice. Your reach may by then exceed your grasp.
Hung Mo (above) however is the Void Star. What that means is that you have to invest a lot of energy in this year. You may or may not feel like it but success depends very much on how much you put in. To trust the process which is the only intelligent relationship with it, means to be out in the world with a smile on your face. I know you know this but I know that you know also that knowledge and action are not the same thing.
Because you are of Yin Wood you are in touch with the Day Stem which is also Yin Wood. Your fortunes will tend to fluctuate with the year itself: the first quarter prepares you, the second empowers, the third demands, the fourth puts things in order.
The Jeung Sing Star suggests that there may be jealousy about this year. The green-eyed monster expresses a feeling of inadequacy that all of us feel at one time or another. As with all such feelings the trick is to feel it, choose it and make it your friend. You might also express it to your partner if they are the focus. It often doesn’t feel like this but jealousy honestly owned does not make us any more vulnerable than we were already. It simply exposes it to the light. A worthwhile relationship can stand such honesty. One that can’t may be calling for reassessment.
Another meaning of Jeung Sing is that it may be time you branched out on your own. If you are 2nd-in-command it may be time to move on; if you are a cog in a corporate machine it may be time for your own thing.
Your home in the East however is compromised this year by the Calamity Star which is the focus of the San Sha or “Three Killings” and the 9 Star that has landed there magnifies the effect. What that means to each of us depends largely on what the energy is like in the Eastern part of our space (as indicated by the Fei Sin or Flying Stars in each location). Suffice it to say that poor energy there (e.g. Stars 5 & 7) will be more hazardous for you than most. Approach with caution. Expect the Eldest Son (ie Yang Wood) to need more attention than usual. You can cater to him right there if you know how.
Rabbits born towards the end of the year (or indeed the end of a Rabbit Month or Rabbit Day) may themselves inspire envy this year. You may appear to have been extraordinarily fortunate although you and I know you have paid highly for this since the nightmares of 2017.
The restless Wood of the Rabbit makes it almost certain that you will travel more and further than the last few years. There is a change about you that you haven’t yet fully caught up with. You may need some time out for that.
Although the Fire Penalty by passes you – so no problems particularly with mobility, travel or interference – the Rabbit is always vulnerable to the Ingratitude Penalty. Your own children will express this precisely to the extent that you have. We are all karmic time bombs.
As your Hexagram suggests, your intentions are always good. Sometimes however you are not strong. As Chuck Spezzano says “To be 100& open is quite safe, 99% is suicidal.” Trust that and yourself. The Snake will look after you. Put another way, remember that life itself is safe.
A final inkling: be ready for high winds in September. May not be entirely literal.
Lesson: Sound intuition.
Best Months: February, March, May.
Worst Months: January, April, June.
Theme: Setting things right.
Hexagram: 61 Zhong Fu Inner sincerity.
Health: = Wealth: = Relationship: =
Where to find help: Pigs, Sheep, other Rabbits, Dogs.
Who should I be careful with: Roosters, Dragons
This forecast is prepared by comparing your own Chinese year Animal with the Wood Snake of 2025. Your Year Animal is just one of the four that make up your Ba Zi or Four Pillars of Destiny. A fully-drafted ba zi can indicate possible futures and probable pasts as well as moments of decision. Knowing these moments can heal and prevent heartbreak as well make success and happiness more easily achievable. What is a ba zi?
© Richard Ashworth 2025