The Chinese calendar, commonly known as the Farmers’ Calendar, or the Hsia Calendar, is a fascinatingly accurate system, which not only records the passage of time, but is also a tool for fortune-telling. The famous traditional fortune-telling system – The Four Pillars of Destiny – is exactly referring to reading a person’s destiny from his birth data as presented in the Hsia calendar format. The unique feature of such calendar is that all information about time – year, month, day and hour are presented in terms of the five basic elements – metal, water, wood, fire and earth, which are believed to be the basic components of everything in the Universe. The relationship between the five elements accurately helps one predict what is to come by way of one’s fortunes and thus, one can by using this knowledge, multiply the good luck or minimize the bad luck in one’s life.

The Year of the Snake, 2025, in the Hsia calendar, is symbolized by two Chinese characters – with Yin Wood sitting on top of Snake which is Fire element. So it is a wood year on Heavenly Stem supporting Fire in Earthly branch According to the cycle of birth and destruction, which governs the inter-relationship between the elements, if the two elements are in the productive cycle and have supporting relationship, then the year will have more harmony and easier to negotiate for peace. However, despite such supportive relation ship between wood and fire, we cannot be too optimistic about peace and harmony, as there are strong metal hidden inside the Snake. It is like a metal knife buried underground threatening to cut the root of the flower. Hence there will be hidden turbulence such as assassination, murder, coup d’etat, anti-government activities….etc.  

  The 2025 Yin Wood element represents a flower which is beautiful on the outside, and has the character of being moderate and flexible and easy to adjust to changing environment. A yin wood person is often described as artistic and flexible and easy to compromise. Yin Wood also symbolizes the branch of a tree and looks like our fingers. Hence it also associates with handy craft and skill. This is most suitable for skillful art such as tailoring and choreography. There are many yin wood people in entertainment and fashion business. Typical examples of talented performers are Madonna, John Travolta, Nicole Kidman….There are also famous fashion designers who are born on Yin wood day, such as Coco Chanel, YSL, Kenzo….

However, being a flower, yin wood cannot stand upright by itself, but like vine climbing up and supported by a tall tree, it can climb up high and make amazing achievements. There are many yin wood people called “Vine climbing up a tree” meaning such ladies always backed up by a strong man and become very successful. Yin wood ladies such as Nichole Kidman is backed by Tom Cruise, Lady Diana backed by Prince Charles, Empress Dowager Cixi backed up by her Emperor son, also Coco Chanel supported by rich man for her success in business.  

In the 5 elements system, Yin Wood is related to back bone and neck, hence Yin wood people often have health problems related to the bones…Famous yin wood celebrities such as Nicole Kidman and Madonna both are known to have bone problem such as osteoporosis and Madonna had accident fallen from horse back breaking her rib cage.

 Related to internal organs, yin wood represents the liver organ and angry mood. Hence there is strong tendency to fight. The Israel Palestine war broke out in October 2023 is reflecting such stubborn character and anger. Fortunately, the Yin Wood over Snake configuration is more moderate and flexible compared against Yang wood over Dragon in 2024. Yang Wood is known to be stubborn but Yin Wood is much more flexible, hence there are still some chance for negotiation and making concessions to resolve conflicts after hard fight. The current on-going conflict between Russian and Ukraine and between USA and China, between Israel and Palestine…. will still see chance of making a peace plan at the end of the day. 

The Snake is fire element with earth, metal and fire hidden inside. It possesses the character of deception, ambush, and able to launch a speedy, lightning surprise attack. Hence Snake year can be turbulent with plots, conspiracy and assassinations. The Chinese calendar goes in 60 year cycle. This means 60 years ago in 1965, we experienced the same year of Yin wood on the Snake. Looking back at 1965, there are plenty of conflicts and demonstrations. It was the peak of Vietnam war with President Johnson sending more and more American troops to Vietnam, there is also war between India and Pakistan, there are more civil right massive demonstrations led by Martin Luther King Jr. resulted in “Bloody Sunday” clash between state trooper and demonstrators in March, the activist Malcom X was assassinated when giving speech at Harlem….There was also coup in Dominican Republic resulted in civil war, also there was coup in Algeria and large students demonstration in Morocco in March 1965. A bloody coup d’etat happened in Nigeria on 15/1/1966….In 2024 there is massive University students protests in USA against the Israel invasion of Gaza, such wave of demonstration and protest will last into 2025. 

The Snake, in Chinese astrology, is also a “Travelling star”. This means the year 2025 will trigger more people to move around and travel. As the Snake is fire element, and it clashes against the Pig – water element, so there will be more movement activities by sea and by air. As such, there are also chance of traffic accidents in the air and at sea. There had been serious air crashes and sea disasters… On 25/6/1965, a U.S. air force crashed in California killing all 85 passengers, On 7/10, 7 Japanese fishing boats are sunk off Guam by typhoon Carmen and 209 are killed. In November 1965, a trolleybus plunged into the Nile at Carro, killing 74 passengers. Also 43 passenger of a UA Flight 227 died in a crash at Salt Lake City in November, month of Pig. Again on 13/11/1965, the SS Yarmouth Castle sank off Bahamas and 90 people died. And on 24/1/1966 an Air India Flight 101 crashed into Mont Blanc killed 117 people… 

The Snake is compared to the shape of a train, so besides air and sea traffic disasters, there will also be more train accidents and problem related to subway. Back in 1965, on 4/10, at least 150 people were killed when a train derailed near Durban in South Africa. 

The Snake is a fire element and when it joins up with Tiger and Monkey, it is called “Fire penalty” and will bring fire or explosion disasters. As such, there are also good chance of such fire disasters in the year of Snake. Looking back at 1965 snake year, there had been serious coal mine explosion in Fukuoka, Japan, killed 237 people, also another mining accident happened in India on 29/5 killed 274 people, on 7/6, 128 people died in a mining accident in Kakanj, Bosnia Yin Wood snake is wood sitting on top of fire element. Within the Snake there are Earth, Fire and Metal, so water and wood are totally absent. As such, there is no water to nourish the yin wood on top, it is like a flower in a dry dessert lacking water support. So yin wood is like a dying plant – reflecting hostile environment and lacking growth. Hence there will be more environmental issues and unfavorable weather conditions during 2025. Back in the previous yin wood snake year in 1965, there were also turbulent weather such as typhoon Carman on 7/10 sank 7 Japanese fishing boat off Guam, killed 209 people. 

With the flying star 2 goes into center in 2025, and 2 is star of sickness, it will not be surprising that there will also be pandemic issue particularly associate with areas in the “Middle” – take for example- China, Middle East, Central Africa, or Central America are likely affected areas. 

As Wood conquers Earth, so Earth represents Money to Wood people. Out of the 12 animals, each elements Water, Metal, Wood, Fire occupies 2 animals, but there are 4 Earth animals – Dragon, Dog, Ox and Goat. This means a Wood person will have double the chance of encountering Money than persons of other elements. As such, there are more successful wood businessmen. Typical examples are the Hong Kong Tycoon Mr. Li Ka-shing, Boss of Teslar - Elon Musk, Boss of Louis Vuitton – Bernard Arnault who become the richest man in the world in 2023. There are also plenty of successful yin wood entrepreneur. Typical examples of yin wood celebrities are CoCo Chanel, Empress Dowager Cixi, Prince Williams, Modi Narendra of India, Rishi Sunak of UK, Lei Jun – boss of Xiaomi, Masayoshi Son – boss of Softbank, Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Julia Roberts, Kurt Cobain, Maria Cordero…these are all successful yin wood people.

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 2025 year of Wood over Snake is the beginning of fire cycle. There had not been a fire year since the year of Earth Dog in 2018, the Dog is Grave of Fire, and in 2019 the fire is totally terminated in the Pig. Then the massive water cycle began in 2020 Metal Rat year bringing the pandemic of COVID 19. As Fire element is associate with happiness, energy and economic activities, the absence of fire between 2018 to 2024 also resulted in setback in stock market and in world economy. Now in 2025, the fire element eventually returned with the Snake and sure it will bring strong drive in confidence and economic activities bringing up the stock market and global growth and investment. As such, stepping into spring of 2025 we can expect upsurge of economic activities, travelling, tourism, bringing up the stock market. As Fire element belongs to the south and Snake is located in SE, this prosperous energy is particularly beneficial to SE Asia and we can expect a boom in Asian market, including China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and other SE Asian countries. This phenomenon is similar to the previous fire cycle started in 2013 year of Snake. It was a year bringing prosperity to many Chinese business such as Ali baba, Ten Trent, Huawei…until the economic set back brought by COVID 19 in 2020 – year of Metal Rat.

The fire element is happiness, it is also related to finance, stock market, entertainment and beauty, and flying objects… With the return of fire, people are more optimistic and have confidence to purchase, to spend money and to invest. This will bring optimism to the financial market, including shares and stocks, tourism industry, crypto currency, airline and transport business, property, banking and gold business. There is always the believe that “Fire makes gold into useful tools”. So gold price will often go up in a strong fire year. As banking business is also symbolized by metal element, fire year will also bring prosperity to banking related business.   

Fire element is associate with space and flying objects. Fire year will trigger more space exploration.

60 years ago in 1965, it is the same Yin Wood over the Snake year. There were also plenty of progress in space exploration. On 23/3 NASA launched Gemini 3 project with 2 person crew into Earth orbit. In April 1965, the US also placed the world’s first space nuclear power reactor into Earth orbit. In July, the US spacecraft Marina 4 reached planet Mars. And in August, NASA’s Gemini 5 was launched with 2 persons into space. In September and October, with Gemini 6 and 7 sent to orbit in December. A comet Ikeya-Seki was found passing 450,000 kilometers from the Sun…In November, 1965, the Soviet Union also launched space probe Venera 3 towards planet Venus, also their spacecraft Luna 9 landed on the moon on 3/2/1966…. So the same yin wood snake year in 2025 will see significant advancement towards space exploration, and more countries will participate in the race..

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In the system of Four Pillars of Destiny, the Snake is in clash against the Pig and in penalty relationship with the Monkey and Tiger. The clash is between fire and water elements so it will activate fire disasters and explosion. It will also bring more accidents in the air and at sea. Fire in the human body is related to heart and blood circulation and inflammation.. As such, for people who are having Monkey and Tiger in their Four Pillars, it is easier to suffer from heart disease, blood pressure and inflammation problem. As fire supports earth which represents our muscle and cells, fire year will make it easier to gain weight and will also bring obesity and diabetes ..  

As fire attacks metal and there is total absence of water element this year, there is also weakness in the kidney and immune system area which will trigger flu or pandemic related to breathing organ. Yin wood is the neck and the spine, it also relates to growth, activities and the small bones in our limbs . When yin wood is weak, if it is your important element, it may cause back pain and neck problem or motion sickness such as Parkinson. Yin Wood is related to liver which in turn affects our eye sight, hair and moles.  

weak Yin wood born in summer is dry grass and will easily lose hair and get bald headed, on the other hand, Yin wood born in winter is “cold wood needs the warmth of the sun”, without the warmth of fire element, their hair will turn white color. As such, to keep hair healthy, summer wood people needs to take water supplements such as Omega 3 oil, and winter born wood people needs to take fire supplements such as COQ10. A typical example is Prince William – he is weak yin wood born in June and he is bald headed at the young age of mid thirties.

So in 2025, people who have Snake in their birth year will offend the Tai Shui. For people who have Pig in their Four Pillars will be in clash against the Tai Sui. Such clash will bring changes and movement and sometimes accidents. All these people need to carry pendant of the Monkey to reduce the negative influence of the Snake. As the Monkey will combine with the Snake and will help to attract away the hostile Snake so as to reduce the intensity of clash or penalty. Famous Pig people born in the Snake year are J.K. Rowling, Medvedev, and Zelensky… Celebrities born in year of Pig and so in clash against the Snake are Arnold Schwarzenegger, Stephen King, Kim Jong Un, Li Qiang, Lai Ching Te, Zhang Yiming of Bytedance….There are people who are not born in Pig year but born on a Pig day, hence they are also under clash. And the clash against Day Pillar will also affect relationship area particularly at home with spouse. Examples are Zelensky of Ukraine, Celine Dion, Jet Li, Stacey Long, George Clooney and Prince William… Zelensky is born in year of Snake and day of Pig, so he is offending as well as under clash with Tai Sui, this may mean he will be into turbulent year in 2025 indicating there will be drastic end to the war between Russia and Ukraine… and the clash in the day pillar of Prince William could indicate some trouble in respect of Kate Middleton who was reported to be sick in 2024

Lai Ching Te, the leader of Taiwan, was born in year of Pig and under clash with the Snake in 2025. Such clash may mean tension in the Taiwan Strait and conflict in the relationship between China and Taiwan. This problem is also reflected in the location of Taiwan in the East in relation to China, and the East happened to be “Three Shars” position in the year of Snake, which usually means a troublesome spot.   

 Another world leader showing negative influence from the Snake is the president of Philippines – Bongbong Marcos who is born on 13/9/1957 and is extremely weak earth person, as such fire element is unfavorable and the strong fire bring along by the year of the Snake may mean challenges and obstacles. All these points to tension and troubles in the East and South China sea area. 

In the five elements system, fire is happiness and optimism which prevailed in the previous years of fire from 2013 to 2017. However when the year of Dog 2018 arrived, the fire enters the grave hence it brings pessimism and caused setback in the economic atmosphere. The Pig year 2019 represents the termination of fire element and the return of water element which symbolizes fear. Hence the world economy is very much affected by the Trade war talks between USA and China which generated a lot of uncertainty for investors. Coming to the year of the Rat 2020, it is the most powerful water element and fire is totally absent. Such fearful water element brought the global disaster of COVID-19 which cast the dark shadow of fear all over the world. These water effect continues and lasting into 2024 as the Dragon is storage of water and is the final water influence before fire returns in Snake year in 2025. So it is the end of the water cycle. The Wood Snake will bring upsurge in optimism stepping into the spring and summer season with wood and fire effect and the active fire element will continue into 2026, the year of fire Horse. So there will be longer and sustaining recovery to the world economy bringing a boom to the stock and property market. .. . Hence positive optimism returned immediately from Spring months of 2025 and the powerful wood and fire will generate confidence to the economy with international travelling and entertainment and prosperity resumed in many sectors. 

   

As yin wood is often compared to a flower, it is closely associated with art and cultural development. 60 years ago in 1965, it is the golden age of pop culture with tremendous success of pop music and entertainment such as The Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Also it is the age of Hippies who called themselves “Flower Children” promoting love and peace. 

The wood snake element of 2025 is expected to bring prosperity to metal industries and water industries; this is because metal conquers wood, so the wood element is a symbol of money to the metal industry, which includes banking, high tech, car, machinery, engineering, beauty and skin care….. The second best industries could be water, as water conquers fire, so the Snake fire means money to the water industry. Water industries are communication, transport, shipping, logistics…. Wood industry sees fire as productivity, so wood industries will also benefited from the Snake. Wood industries are media, fashion and environment. Fire industry – such as restaurant, entertainment, finance, energy, power generating, are also active but they will see serious competitions. Earth element sees water as money, without water element, they are not seeing financial gains, but the fire still will generate optimism which will often supportive of property business. 

In summary, the industries that will perform better in the year of the Snake will be industries related to Metal element and Water element. Metal industries are banking, machinery, engineering, car , beauty and skin care….. Water industries are transport, shipping, logistic, drinking, spa…

With the arrival of “Age of 9” in 2024, there are more attention on the development of metaverse business which includes cryptocurrency and NFT…such activities are of speculative nature and the market behavior is similar to the stock market. As such, its price level also fluctuates with confidence like the stock market. Therefore, fire element is essential for its prosperity. As fire is returning in 2025, the enthusiasm to invest in metaverse business and cryptocurrency may also be picking up towards first half of 2025 like the stock market. 

In general, the Yin Wood Snake year, with yin wood on top and fire Snake below, is symbol of creativity and growth and it brings back optimism after the past years of fear brought about by water cycle from 2018 to 2024. And the atmosphere will be positive and the yin wood will offer more flexibility to compromise and negotiate. However, as the Snake is not supportive of the yin wood above, there will still be unrest, conflict and turbulence before a compromised settlement.  

The animal sign which is most unfavorable is the Pig which is in direct clash against the Snake. Such clashes will usually bring about turbulence, movements, accident or changes... People born in the year of the Pig will anticipate more travelling, or movement sch as changing job or moving house. As Snake is a fire travelling star and will make fire penalty with the Tiger and Monkey, the clash will also trigger air and sea and fire disasters . So for people having such Pig and Snake clash in their Four Pillars, it is good to refrain from travelling direct towards the SE direction of Tai Sui. It is also good to beware of traffic accidents. It is necessary to carry the pendant of a Monkey as protection to attract the Snake away. For people who are under clash with the year, it is ok to travel more, making changes such as moving house, or change job. 

The animals combining with the Snake year is the Monkey. the Rooster and the Ox.. These animals are into a year of harmony. However, such animal astrology is not totally reliable as the system is not recognized as a formal type of fortune-telling. For more reliable assessment of one’s fortune in the year of the Snake, it is recommended that one checks the full Four Pillars of Destiny, which requires full birth data information of the Year, Month, Day and Hour of birth. As the animal signs can appear in all four pillars in a person’s birth data, the clash and penalty relationship with the Snake will not only cause impact on people born in the year of Snake and Pig. Such clash and penalties can also impact anyone who has such animals in the birth month, or day or hour.

Some examples of famous people born in the year of the Snake and offending the Grand Duke are Zelensky, J.K. Rowling, Medvedev, ……. There are people born in the year of Pig so they are in clash against the Snake year, these people include Kim Yung Un, Li Chiang, Lai Ching Te, Arnold Schwarzenegger…. .There are people not born in year of Pig but they are born in a day of Pig, they will also face a challenging year especially in relationship aspect. Some examples of these people are Prince William,….. The clash or penalty against the Day Pillar will usually cause movement or conflict in the family or human relationship area, especially in the relationship with the spouse or opposite sex.  

People who have yin metal in their birth year or day will be under clash against the yin wood in 2025. These may cause problem with limbs, skin or neck or backbone. 

Feng Shui energies also change from year to year. Therefore, it is necessary to watch out for the re-allocation of good and bad energies at the beginning of each year, so that we can take necessary precautions if some bad energy happens to arrive at important locations of our residence or offices. In the year of the Snake, the bad energy called “Five Yellow” – symbolizing obstacles and misfortune, arrives at the North-east. It is recommended that one hangs a metal wind chime in the North east of the house, to dissolve this bad energy. The worst months will be in April, July and January 2025. Another bad star number 2, symbolizing sickness, will arrive in the Center in 2025. The traditional method to dissolve this 2 is to hang a string of six metal coins in the affected area in the Center of the house. The Grand Duke this year is in the Southeast, hence it is not favorable to “move earth” or make substantial construction work in this direction. It is also not recommended for one to sit with back against East as you will be sitting against the unfavorable energy called “Three Shars” or “Three Killings”. The Northwest is the “Crash position” against the Grand Duke which is also not good to sit. The bad star 3 is a star of conflict and robbery. This is present in the Northwest. It is necessary to put a piece of red paper in this position to minimize such bad influence. Also the bad star 7, representing scandals is in the North, the traditional solution for this bad star 7 is to place 3 piece of bamboo plant grown in clear glass vase of water in the North location.

The year 2025 could be significant year in China’s foreign relationships with neighboring countries and areas as there the bad star “5 yellow “ is present in North-east, which include Beijing, North and South Korea and Japan. Also the four Pillars of Taiwan and Philippine leaders indicated there could be challenges, these may mean tension in Taiwan Strait and the South China sea. The double clashes in Zelensky’s Four Pillars also reflect some drastic development in the Russian Ukranian war. Also regarding the Israel Palestine war, the fire element is not favorable to President Netanyahu of Israel so the year of Snake may affect his future political position. The clash between Snake and Pig in Prince William’s day pillar could also affect his wife Kate Middleton…