Rabbit 2017
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.
Skip to: Rabbit in Fire Rooster Year.
What is a Rabbit?
The Rabbit is yin wood, which makes him 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. Accordingly the Rabbit rules the Spring – think of March Hares and Easter Bunnies – and the Rooster the autumn.
The Rabbit is subtle, in keeping with his yin nature. He 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. As a business person however, you open deals much better than you close them. There is no hardness about you. Do not confuse hard with tough; the Rabbit is the most resilient of all Animals.
You are accordingly well able to wait your turn; vigilance and patience are typical. Natural allies are the Pig and the Sheep. This is a house-proud team and the Rabbit is a team player. Your unexpected friend is the Dog who values your 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 more obviously glamorous colleagues. Be aware that these extroverts and schemers need you in order to function properly.
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. This is better cured by adjusting your timing than by pharmaceuticals.
Because of the unflattering connotations of the local word for Rabbit, in Vietnam this Animal 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 outward 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. I often use Water Rabbit Michelle Obama as a good example of such irresistibility. Remember her on the stump for Hillary? A month of that and Trump would have been consigned to history.
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 the ability of the little tree to grow on the hilltop despite the wind, either by throwing itself absolutely upon the mercy of the tao or following a detailed plan that it follows meticulously. Or some combination.
The Dragon is said to lose money when the Rabbit arrives. This may be because the Dragon is distracted by a neighbour so apparently different in nature. The Rabbit is a borrower as well as a burrower and the Dragon thinks little of tomorrow. So this is not generally 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.
Other prominent Rabbits include Russell Brand, who despite his wild exterior, is that most romantic of Animals, the 1975 Wood Rabbit. 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 Fire Rooster Year.
Stars include: none.
Bunny hopes
You are essential to the functioning of Horse, Rat and Rooster. You are the facilitator, the empowerer, the networker of the Chinese Zodiac. The Dog depends upon you as do Pig and Sheep and your fellow Rabbits. The Dragon – though he’s unlikely to let it slip – leans upon you. And you hold an abundance of lessons for the Tiger. That makes you pretty pivotal. You are the one that makes everything work. That’s quite a selection of burdens and this year you are likely to be bearing most simultaneously.
You are the one to make sure every guest has the right drink in his hand and the ear of an amenable listener. This is a gift; everybody needs you at (or in) their party. Nonetheless you may have felt neglected or excluded recently. And the Rooster year is unlikely to be any easier. You are directly opposed both on the compass and the clock. You are in the sui po or “year breaker” position.
This opposition usually translates to conflict over questions of good and bad faith. In a Rooster year set the controls for disloyalty. The best solution is to notice that it belongs to you. Of all the Animals the typical Rabbit may be the most disposed to self-deceit. We live in halls of mirrors; as Chuck Spezzano used to say: “It only takes one to tango but it has to be you.” At such times, seek the guidance of the Dragon who is in pole position this year. And put your attention out upon the Rat and Horse who are going to be particularly clueless.
Like your friend the Dog – the next most self-deluded, typically – you’re probably either ahead of or behind the beat right now. So there will be temptation to tell white lies that will without self-awareness, turn grey and then black. Unlike the trusty Dog however you can expect the Rooster’s constant direct opposition in the form of various varieties of untruth. That’s how yin Wood and yin Metal sometimes interact. And how you choose to interpret and respond to this opposition is your key question this year. You crumble or you tack. Here’s a clue: orthodox feng shui advice is to pre-empt bad fortune by inviting it. If wounding can be expected, give blood, have your teeth professionally cleaned or deliberately cut a nick out of a finger.
This is a crude way of choosing the inevitable because Chinese practitioners tend to emphasise the consequences of not learning a lesson rather than the lesson itself. Often they don’t actually see it in those terms. Which makes a certain common kind of ba zi analysis pretty sterile. But the same can be said of much new age consultation. In other words, this opposition, this clash or kun is not of itself good or bad. It is lesson, a very dynamic one; a purging perhaps, the level of purge being your choice. And remember that the Dog and Pig always hold a safe place for you. Among other things this suggests that order is restored by October. In 2017 and 2018, freed of a great deal of luggage, you fly.
The idea is to learn rather than hurt; The Chinese term for an Elemental clash, kun, means conflict, discipline and influence. It doesn’t mean winning particularly. You have tended to put too much of your energy into either winning or appearing to be the winner, which may often amount to the same thing for you. Which of these you experience is your choice. But it’s so much smarter to use esoteric information to learn and grow rather than to be lulled to sleep by it. Hearing what we want to hear teaches us little. The Dragon is often the Rabbit’s guru and here is what Water Dragon David Byrne had to say about it: “Sympathy, luxury, somebody will take you there”.
So you are pretty certain to be conflicted this year. Hardest in April and September. Know this, learn from it. You may be attacked verbally, you may be let down. This will be on one level or another family stuff. Roosters will break your heart if you let them. As Carole King wrote, “Don’t you let them.” Mother is for most Rabbits usually in the frame, and family. They will more than likely let you down this year. When we have the family handled we probably have life handled. Don’t hold your breath. , Seek Dogs, Pigs and Sheep. And other Rabbits. These are your team.
And don’t compromise your values. But learn. And when I say learn, I don’t mean dismiss the lesson never to be examined again. Define what you mean by being “let down”. What did you expect? What were you looking for? And most to the point, where and what is your own part in this? How did you wish this on yourself? And frankly if you just let go, how difficult is it really?
Too often we say “I’ve learned from it” meaning we’ve made a solid unchangeable judgement which has left the world and especially ourselves a little colder. That’s not learning, it’s putting things and people into boxes and there’s only one reason to put a human being into a box.
Since this is your life, who is it that needs to choose, do you think? You know that most people are doing just the best they can but that’s far from the point. How is this challenge, this enforced discipline, this influence actually bringing about your heart’s desire? Whatever unexpected shape destiny may appear to be taking, know that this is going where it should. It may look like a tempest but you are the eye not the storm. That will be clear by year’s end when the Dog, followed by the Pig, brings you pole position. This too shall pass.
This experience of betrayal will probably be most acute in March/April – when it’ll be easy to see your own red hands and September when they’ll appear to belong to someone else. Which makes no difference. The issue here by the way is forgiveness. And forgiveness involves knowing that whatever happened, the smoking gun has your prints all over it.
As Water Rabbit Michelle Obama said: “When they go low, we go high.”
Readers’ Digest Version: challenging with a real prospect of transformation.
What’s to be done about it: forgive, put your attention out, know who your friends are.
Amulet: Dog.
Feng shui advice: Wood.
Helpful places: East.
Helpful times: March, July, October, November.
Health: treat feet, knees and shoulders with respect.
Money: your fair share.
Relationship: out of your hands for now.
Feng Shui: claim your own space at the East. Home is where the heart is.