Calendars, whether written or represented by solstice markers and stone circles, are probably as old as humanity. Although today we think of calendars as ways of remembering holidays and other important dates as well as organizing or allocating time, they also have many other important uses. Calendars mark times for planting, harvesting, sailing (tides), healing, and blessing. The original time keepers are the sun, moon and stars, and calendrical systems are determined by their movements.
The traditional Chinese calendar is based on the moon and is thus called the “Lunar Calendar”. The Lunar New Year is the second new moon after the winter solstice. In 2025, Chinese New Year’s Day is the new moon on January 29. The celebration lasts two weeks and ends with the full moon, called the Festival of Heaven or Lantern Festival on February 12. The year of the snake ends on Feb 16, 2026.
Qualities of the Snake & Snake Year
In the Chinese Shaolin martial arts tradition, animals represent various aspects of mind, body, and spirit. The dragon is shen (spirit), tiger: gu (bones), leopard: li (strength), crane: jin (sinew), and the snake: qi (life energy). Among the animals, the snake is the primary symbol and teacher of qi because it is flexible, adaptable, water-like, close to the earth, and capable of moving or attacking with great speed and power. The snake sheds it skin and thus also reminds us to shed the old in order to transform and renew.
The snake year emphasizes adaptability, sensitivity, discernment, intelligence, wisdom, energy, and transformation.
“Elements” of the Year
Let’s talk about the elements of the year in Chinese Five Elements (Wu Xing) Theory. Although I will use the popular term “five elements” you should know that “Five Phases” is a more accurate translation. The word Xing, translated “Element”, really means to move. The five phases are moving forces. But Xing is also a picture of a cross-roads, nodes of intersection where for example a north-south road crosses an east-west road. In ancient Chinese cosmology, the Five “Elements” are categories of intersecting, mutually interdependent, and corresponding phenomena. Wood for example represents springtime, green, the east, the liver, and so on.
Now back to the characteristics of the year. Each year is represented by an animal and an element. In other words, if you were born in the year of the snake, it would be interesting to know if you are a water snake, a fire snake, a metal snake, an earth snake, or a wood snake.
2025 is a Wood Snake Year. However, each animal in itself also relates to an element. The Snake belongs to the Fire category. Hence, this is a Wood Fire Year. The first element “wood” is called the “heavenly stem” 天干and represents spirituality. The second element, fire, is called the “earthly branch” 地支and symbolizes the physical/earthly realm, especially the environment and economy.
Elements may be either in harmony or conflict. In this Wood Snake year, the elements are in harmony because wood creates fire. However, precisely because wood creates fire, there is a greater danger of fire, heat, volcanoes and other climate change or extreme weather events.
Among the internal organs, wood (the liver) feeds fire (the heart). It is a year to take special care of the heart and circulatory system and make lifestyle adjustments—including balanced diet and exercise—to guard against inflammation.
Gua (Hexagram) of the Year
The great Song Dynasty Yi Jing Master, Shao Yong in his book 皇極經世 relates 2025 to Hexagram (Gua) 49, Ge 革, Revolution. Revolution may be political, social, cultural, or personal and often means getting rid of the old and making way for the new. This sounds positive, but please remember that revolutions are not always good, as when a despot comes to power or a revolution, such as the Industrial Revolution, has unintended consequences.
The Chinese character 革 originally pictured an animal skin, possibly stretched out and drying in the sun, which corresponds very interestingly to the symbolism of the snake shedding its skin. But the character may also represent a shaman covered by an animal skin. To survive or thrive during any revolutionary change, we may need to practice the shaman’s “shape-shifting” power of adapting to, connecting with, and becoming truly part of nature. One final note about the Ge Revolution hexagram. Ge is comprised of two symbols: lake (dui) above fire (li), a non-harmonious relationship in which fire scorches or evaporates the lake, again warning about climate change and possibilities of floods and fires.
And I would like to add a technical note to the usual interpretations of this Hexagram. Although we can say that the symbol of Revolution has two component parts, lake and fire as I explained above, the inner "nuclear trigrams" consist of (counting from the bottom) lines 2, 3 4 for the bottom trigram and lines 3, 4, and 5 for the upper trigram. This creates a new symbol, an "inner hexagram" (Hexagram/Chapter 44) which consists of five yang lines resting on one yin line. This symbol corresponds to approximately age 24 in the cycle of one’s life, when creative energy has peaked and the first signs of aging creep in. It thus emphasizes the importance of maintaining youthful energy this year, not falling into a rut of despair or hopelessness. Furthermore, the heavy weight of five yang resting on one yin means that we need to guard against patriarchy, protect the feminine, and encourage women’s voices in decision making.
Lucky and Unlucky Forces
大利南北 South and North are lucky this year in terms of health, wealth, and opportunity— good directions to face, to travel, and for home renovation.
三煞在東 San Sha "Three Killing Forces" in the East. For every year, there is a direction of bad luck (called the San Sha), including disasters, financial loss, loss of reputation, worry, misunderstanding, and conflicts. This year the killing forces are in the east. That means it is best not to travel east, or do home renovation in the east side of your home or office, or disturb the ground by digging holes in the east side of your property. The latter would disturb the Lords of the Soil (Tu Di Gong and his wife, Tu Di Po), who influence prosperity and the well-being of ancestral spirits. It is best not to sit with your back to the east, thus facing west, but fine to sit facing east. If you have a choice, don’t spend much time in the eastern portion of a home or office. Do not buy or move into a house this year with an east facing main door. If you already have an east facing door, be sure to close it gently with minimal noise this year, in order not to disturb or awaken negative forces. You can prevent adverse influences from the san sha by keeping the east portion of your home especially clean, orderly, and quiet. The san sha may be neutralized and the qi in your home stabilized by placing feng shui brass gourds 葫蘆 in the san sha area (east). Some people prefer to place statues or images of three mythical beasts in the san sha region. These are the pi xiu (also called pi yao) which looks like a winged lion, fu dog (guardian lion), and chi lin (also called long ma “dragon horse” or Chinese unicorn) which has the body of a horse, head of a dragon, and scales like a carp.
五黃在東北 Wu Huang "The Five Yellow Sick Forces" This year illness is associated with the northeast direction. It is best not to travel to the northeastern part of your country or state/province or disturb the ground, dig or do home renovation in the northeast area of your home or business. For example, this is not the year to create a garden on the northeast side of your property. If possible, avoid spending much time in the northeast section of your home. The Five Yellow may be neutralized by placing six Chinese coins (sometimes called Yi Jing coins) tied with a red ribbon or a metal six-tube wind chime in your home, particularly in the northeastern section. Six is considered a lucky number because in Chinese it is pronounced almost the same as the word “flow.” In other words life flows (liu 流) more smoothly through the influence of the number six (liu 六).
太歲在東南 Tai Sui the Great Year Star, also called Grand Duke of Jupiter, is a spirit that is different each year, appointed to oversee the energies of the year and the world’s affairs. The Tai Sui spirit this year is Song Dynasty General Wu Sui 吳遂將軍, believed to have the power to prevent famine, drought, and chaos
This year the energy of Tai Sui is in the Southeast. Tai Sui likes cleanliness, light, dryness rather than humidity, peace and quiet: thus, keep that part of your space especially clean, well lit (curtains and windows open). Remove flowers plants or water containers from that area, and it is best to not have noisy appliances or devices such as a computer, TV, speakers, or air conditioner in the southeast area. It is considered auspicious to place a plaque or image of General Wu Sui in the southeast section of your home or work space.
In this Snake Year, Tai Sui is predicted to clash with those born in years of the Snake, Pig, Monkey, and Tiger. If you were born in any of those years, then starting on Chinese New Years Day, take extra safety precautions, avoid arguments and risky behavior, and avert misfortune by engaging in virtuous and charitable activities. Chinese markets, feng shui shops, and some Chinese bookstores sell special Tai Sui ritual paper that may be burned as an offering to Tai Sui. Taoist temples offer more elaborate An Tai Sui 安太歲 (Pacifying Tai Sui) or Bai Tai Sui 拜太歲(Worshipping Tai Sui) rituals. If you were born in a year that puts you at risk of Tai Sui affliction, it is advisable to do the An Tai Sui Ritual on Chinese New Year’s Day and, for extra protection, on the new and full moon throughout the year. When Tai Sui conflicts with your birth year, many people like to keep a Tai Sui talisman card (the size of a credit card) in their wallet. These are available in shops and online.
Directly opposite Tai Sui, in the northwest is another inauspicious influence, the Year Breaker Star (Sui Po) 歲破. The usual rules apply: keep that area clean and avoid loud noises, construction or renovation in the associated direction.
Preparing for the New Year
January 22 Worship the Kitchen God (Zao Jun). On this day, a week before the New Year, the spirit of the kitchen and stove reports to the Jade Emperor the good and bad deeds of the members of your household. Incense offerings may be made to his image, and Zao Jun is enticed to report sweet words by making a meal that includes sweet desserts in his honor.
Now, get ready for a new beginning and the renewal of energy that occurs with the new year. Clean your home, clean and clear your mind of worries and negativity. Remember to send Chinese New Year cards!
January 28 New Year’s Eve. Families symbolically seal their doors with blessing charms and vertical scrolls of Chinese characters embossed on red paper. Examples include: “May Gold and Jade Fill Your Home,” and “Live Long as the Pine and Crane”.
January 29 元旦 New Year’s Day. At dawn open the front door to welcome the energy of the New Year. Some families set off firecrackers as a way of celebrating and to scare away any lingering negative forces. In the morning, I like to light incense and candles on my altar and drink the best tea while savoring the uplifting taste and aroma. It is traditional to have a festive family meal and to wish a happy near year (bai nian) to friends, teachers, and family, especially older relatives who may have been unable to attend the family celebration.
Particular foods are believed to enhance good fortune if eaten on New Year’s Day, including chicken (for good fortune), fish (for abundance), noodles (for longevity), and dumplings because they look like ancient gold ingots. Avoid duck, because the word duck (ya), sounds like the word that means to oppress. Also, don’t say the number four in Chinese (si), because it sounds like the word for death. On the other hand, some numbers are especially auspicious: three (san) because it sounds like life (sheng), six (liu) because it sounds like “flowing” (also pronounced liu), and eight (ba) because it sounds like wealth (fa). After the meal, the younger generation are happy to receive the traditional gift of red envelopes (hong bao) with money inside. My Taoist teacher, Dr. Huang, always gave me a red envelope on New Year’s Day and encouraged me to offer the same to my students. We also burned incense and performed special rituals at his Taoist altar.
And how wonderful to visit a Chinese restaurant or cultural center during the new year period to enjoy the acrobatic Lion Dance, representing wisdom, prosperity, good luck, and the power to scare away misfortune. (See the photo at the top of this blog.) Be sure to bring your red envelopes with monetary gifts inside to feed the lions!
Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It
As you think about predictions and characteristics of the New Year, please remember that a core principle of Taoism is change and adaptability. The astrological influences are just that: influences, and not “written in stone”. Consider predictions as an encouragement to make better choices and meet challenges with responsibility and intelligence. If there are negative tendencies, you are called to leadership to help turn things around.
As your mind becomes free of limited views and conditioning and when your life is guided by virtue (De 德), you are less subject to the decrees or forces of fate. “Is there free will or predestination?” I once asked my friend, noted author and Buddhist scholar, Alan Watts. He replied, “You are free to the extent that you know who you are and not otherwise.” I am reminded of a saying of the great Howard Thurman, mentor to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself. It is the only true guide you will ever have. And if you cannot hear it, you will all of your life spend your days on the ends of strings that somebody else pulls.” May you be blessed with inner freedom, wisdom, and good fortune in this new year!
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