The Chinese horoscope · the twelve animals·4th of twelve
The Rabbit
兔tù
- Branch 卯 · mǎo
- Fixed element: Wood
- yin
- Hour: 5:00 to 7:00
- Direction: E
In a word
Gentle, subtle, attached to peace.
What tradition attributes to it
- A diplomat: they feel the tension and defuse it.
- Taste, for things, for places, for people.
- Discreet, they watch more than they talk.
- Cautious, they avoid conflict and pointless risk.
- A good friend, loyal, there without making any noise.
The other side
- Avoidance: rather than face things, they slip away.
- Too sensitive, they take personally what was never aimed at them.
- They can take shelter in comfort and never come out again.
In love
Tender and attentive, they look for softness and stability. They need to feel safe before they open up; raised voices make them back away.
At work
At ease in what calls for tact and taste: advising, caring, creating, everything that plays out in fine detail. Raw pressure freezes them more than it spurs them on.
What helps
Pick out a conversation you have been avoiding for a while. Open it today, gently, your own way: you are better at this than you think.
By the element of the year
- Wood Rabbit: the most generous, accommodating, sometimes too much so.
- Fire Rabbit: more expressive and warmer, and they dare more.
- Earth Rabbit: more realistic, diligent, attached to what is safe.
- Metal Rabbit: more ambitious, firmer, hiding real tenacity.
- Water Rabbit: the most sensitive and the most intuitive, to be kept away from heavy atmospheres.
The Year of the Fire Horse
This year for the Rabbit
Between the animal of the year and its own, tradition names nothing in particular: no triangle, no opposition, no secret friendship. An ordinary year, where the element counts for more.
Its own element is the one feeding the year's: it gives, the year receives. A generous, tiring year.
Chinese tradition reads the year by comparing this animal with the year's animal, then their two elements. It describes a mood, not events.
The years of the Rabbit
- February 2, 1927 → January 22, 1928Fire Rabbit丁卯
- February 19, 1939 → February 7, 1940Earth Rabbit己卯
- February 6, 1951 → January 26, 1952Metal Rabbit辛卯
- January 25, 1963 → February 12, 1964Water Rabbit癸卯
- February 11, 1975 → January 30, 1976Wood Rabbit乙卯
- January 29, 1987 → February 16, 1988Fire Rabbit丁卯
- February 16, 1999 → February 4, 2000Earth Rabbit己卯
- February 3, 2011 → January 22, 2012Metal Rabbit辛卯
- January 22, 2023 → February 9, 2024Water Rabbit癸卯
- February 8, 2035 → January 27, 2036Wood Rabbit乙卯
From Chinese New Year to the last day of the Chinese year. If your birthday falls in January or early February, your animal is often the one from the year before: check your birth date in the list.
With the others
- Its affinity triangle: the Goat and the Pig. Three animals four years apart, who understand one another without effort, says tradition.
- Its secret friend: the Dog. The quiet pair, the one that gets along without showing it.
- Its opposite: the Rooster, six years apart, directly across on the wheel of the twelve animals. Not a ban: a difference in pace, one you can learn to work with.
Traditional affinities, not verdicts. Two people are two whole charts, not two birth years.
And you?
Your sign is based on the actual date of Chinese New Year, and your birth time gives your animal of the hour.
See my sign