Shìwaì Taóyuán 世外桃源 the Peach Spring Beyond this World - Qì in the Year of the Yīn Water Rabbit Year, Gŭi Măo 癸卯 – Year 2023/4721

The Peach Spring Beyond this World - Meditations on the Year of the Yin Water Rabbit 
​by Gregory David Done

千巖萬轉路不定，迷花倚石忽已暝。
熊咆龍吟殷巖泉，慄深林兮驚層巔。
……
列缺霹靂，丘巒崩摧。
洞天石扉，訇然中開。
青冥浩蕩不見底，日月照耀金銀臺。
霓爲衣兮風爲馬，雲之君兮紛紛而來下。
虎鼓瑟兮鸞迴車，仙之人兮列如麻.[1]
 
A thousand peaks and ten thousand turns, my path was uncertain;
I was lost among flowers and rested on a rock, when suddenly all grew black.
Bears roared and dragons groaned, making the cliff-streams quake,
The deep forests were shivering, tiered ridges shook,
Thunder-rumbling in Lightning Cracks, hill ridges split and fell;
Then the stone doors of grotto-heaven swung open with a crash.
A billowing vast blue blackness whose bottom could not be seen,
where sun and moon were gleaming on terraces silver and gold.
Their coats were of rainbow, winds were their steeds,
The lords of the clouds came down in their hosts.
Tigers struck harps, phoenixes drew coaches in circles,
those who are the Undying stood in ranks like hemp.
 
武陵川路狹，前櫂入花林。
莫測幽源裏，仙家信幾深。
水回青嶂合，雲度綠溪陰。
坐聽閑猿嘯，彌清塵外心。[2]
 
Wuling’s waterway is narrow.
My boat glides on into peach-blossom forests.
Nobody can fathom, inside the shady source of spring,
How deep is the immortal residence?
River winding, converging the emerald cliffs.
Clouds passing, shading the green stream.
I sit in leisure and listen to the howling of apes,
And profusely purify my heart longing to go beyond the dust.
 

[1] Li Bo in Stephen Owen’s The Great Age of Chinese Poetry: the High T’ang (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981), pp.175-177.
[2] Xu Peng 徐鵬 ed., Meng Haoran ji jiaozhu 孟浩然集校註 (Beijing: Renmin wenxue, 1998), p. 152.

道 – Dào/View

Follow the White Rabbit. 
 
In the soft light of early morning you are between worlds - asleep, awake - boundaries blur.  This is the crepuscular hour, the Rabbit Hour (5-7am).  Here the body is mist or mud.  You follow rabbits to places between the light, beneath the brush - the in-between places.  This is the Rabbit Burrow - the dreamworld, the underworld, the subterranean – beneath the surface where the roots grow, seeking hidden waters.
 
Here you encounter visions; are they memories, premonitions?  In dream houses, in narrow corners, you find hidden doors and know the way down.  You find treasure long forgotten - feeling and object unite, and power is found in the safety of secret fortresses.  You meet companions, old friends - they resemble someone familiar, but you cannot say who…  
 
Fairies, spirits, sprites, gnomes - the little folk, the dream folk find you, revealed only to the gentle, to children alone in innocence.  You have met them; as a child you knew how to find them; you knew the in-between places and found solace in playful scapes.  Your spirit danced with your ancestors, and imagination lit the world with fairy fire.  Everything was magic beyond horizons, full of both angels and demons.  In dreams, you found portals and rode lighting to an infinity of stars, to vast interconnected realms of immortal friends.  You have been dreaming here since before you were born.
 
As a child, you knew and dreamed of these places, but you have forgotten.  You grew up.  Neverland forgotten.  Somewhere along the way, the world became a dead place, a “real place” full of consequences.  You found out that death was the end and that sickness and old age are coming for you.  Maybe your childhood spirit was crushed early and at home.  But you are still dreaming.  And sometimes your dreams speak from shadows, and sometimes, even the dead world talks.  The trees talk.  Perhaps at dawn you gaze beyond the sunrise, or at dusk peer into forests where the nameless wild disappears into mystery.     
 
Forever there will be magic behind there, suggestions of little avenues disappearing, like a mountain path winding up among the trees - where does it go?  Everybody has in the back of their mind an image of the place they want to go to, always indefinite, and although uncertain, there’s the certain feeling – that somewhere there ought to be the thing I’ve always wanted.  Hints of the paradise world - of a return, a remembering.  And that somewhere, these little steps, that path in the hills…they lead up to that place.  And you’ve seen these steps.  Out there is that thing.  The wonderful lonely place at the end of the road…

Buddhist, Tantric, and Daoist tradition speak of "pure lands," “immortal realms;” in East Asian Buddhism they are called 淨土 Jìngtu; in Tantra they are called buddhakshetra, Buddha-fields, or Siddhaloka, and in Daoism, they are called Dòngtian 洞天, Heavenly Grottoes.  Mythologized, fabled, lauded, mostly dismissed by academics and materialists as fantasy - but are they?  What if they were “real?”  What if you already lived there, lol?  
 
Cultures across the world, across time have idealized the paradise garden, utopia, heaven, Nirvana.  Surely those born in the Year of the Rabbit created these myths, for the Rabbit seeks safety, to hide from the light of day,  to seek refuge and hide from the harshness of a dangerous world - to transcend Samsara and Suffering.    
 
Fengshui/Geomancy, 風水, talks of places of ascension, heavenly grottoes.  Places in the “physical world,” often associated with sea and mountain, where boundaries between the human realm and pure realms merge, places that enable a grotto visitor to transcend the demarcation line between the interiority and externality of the cosmos.  Hermits who live on sacred mountains seek these spots, and with the right timing and preparation, disappear off the map. 
 
The Water Rabbit is such a place, a symbol of 蓬萊仙島 Penglai, the Immortal Island, the Vision of the Intangible, home of Sacred Mountains in unknown seas, where immortals reside.  Sacred Mountains, 天山 Tianshan, are World Trees, connecting Heaven and Earth, and at their zenith lives 西王母 Xiwángmu, the Queen Mother, who tends to the Peach Blossom Spring Beyond this World, Shìwaì Taóyuán 世外桃源, whose branches extend to the Moon, where the Jade-White Rabbit lives, grinding peaches to make the elixir of immortality with a mortar and pestle.
 
The Year of the Yin Water Rabbit is a deep dark portal, a threshold to a great liminal space, what “happens” between things, the limbo, the bardo between death and rebirth, and Yin Water cannot be conceptualized or remembered, for we have all forgotten being dead in the trauma of birth.  
 
This Year, life will go on as it does, but energetically, this is as weird as it gets folks - a year of secrets and mystery.  To get to the heavens, we must head into the underworld, the world of the dead that is paradoxically full of life - down the rabbit hole to wonderland, through the treasury of worms, so far in and down you arrive on the Moon.  In this place, the dream and wake world blur. 
 
The path of this year, the ultimate realization of the Rabbit, is the union of Samsara and Nirvana.  For all the dharmas of the phenomenal world of Samsara and Nirvana, Heaven and Hell, are only reflections of the mind, mental projections from the Heart-Essence Bindu, and emptiness is the unsurpassable protection.  Ordinary perception is transformed into ‘sacred outlook,’ where everything is seen and experienced purely in its True Nature.  One must go through the Hells to find Heaven, and upon arrival, you realize that you have always been there and have, in fact, never left.  This body is Buddha and all places a Pure Realm.  

Gŭi Măo 癸卯 Year of the Yīn Water Rabbit​

Welcome back to Gui Mao, 癸卯, Year of the Yin Water Rabbit, the “Forest Rabbit,” a “Peach Blossom” Year, which begins officially on Sunday, January 22nd!  Of course, as always, I must begin this conversation with the declaration that astrology is not fortunetelling.  The following is offered as a playful mirror, a forest of symbols for you to reflect upon, to play in. 
 
We have crossed the Sea of Suffering to reach Horaisan, 蓬萊仙島 Penglai, the Immortal Island.  The storms of the Water Tiger subside and turn inward; your ship has washed ashore.  Whatever vicissitudes the year has brought, through the eye of storms, filled with calm clarity, through thunderous squalls, where your life raft came apart beneath you.  Dramatic and unpredictable, the Water Tiger came to rock the boat.  But you made it.  A different kind of adventure awaits on the Island - a house of mirrors, a deep reflecting pool filled with imagination and spirit. 
 
These two years are a potent Yinyáng pair - Water in the form of Tiger and Rabbit, predator and prey - a journey through the bardoes of dying and death, energetically speaking, and we have been in the throes of Yáng Water, the tempest of dying, of losing absolutely everything to be submerged in the naked vulnerability of the natural state, without pretense.  We are now dead.
 
The transition from Water Tiger to Rabbit is a dramatic downturn, as though shipwrecked on an unknown island after a great storm... you wander into a cave and come upon a deep hidden pool in a secret grotto.  You peer down into the deep water and see a soft light glowing mysteriously in the deep.  You hold your breath and prepare to dive… 
 
Since the past few Years have been so disruptive and chaotic, I’m afraid to announce that this Year is incredibly boring and peaceful by comparison.  The overall Qi of the Year is stable, quiet, and deeply introspective.  I struggle to make any real negativity out of the Year, despite all the negativity we have been through, at least according to the media, lol.  So take advantage and dive deep into this underground spring.       
 
Water Tiger Reflections
 
But, before diving into the Water Rabbit, we should take a moment to reflect on the Year of the Water Tiger, which we are now exiting.  As always, I encourage you to re-read my blog on last year and reflect…how’d it go?  We are each pre-disposed by our Character and Fate to digest the Year differently, so experience will vary widely, but I am deeply curious about your experience of this powerful symbol and how it unfolded for you…so please share!
 
As a year of extremes, this could have been one of the best and/or worst of your life.  Personally, this has been one of the most challenging years of my life.  In some ways, it has been my most successful year - I have established myself as a licensed acupuncturist and Doctor of Chinese Medicine, the culmination of many years of dedicated hard work.  And I’m pretty good at it.  In some ways, I have finally “arrived” at some sort of something.  I have spent my whole life working towards goals - 4 college degrees, now licensing, getting the job…and now that I have achieved that, I find myself in a predictable routine, getting up and doing the same job for the next 30+ years.  So, life must be re-valued, re-envisioned – all my deepest aspirations and ambitions must be integrated into the reality of the situation and culture I find myself in.  But what’s new?
 
I am a Fire Tiger, and just as I predicted for Tigers, the auspice of the Year depended on how well you have squared with your Tigerness.  And while I thought I had…opps!  Lol, I never cease to be amazed by the ways I am my own worst enemy.  Perhaps you can relate?  This past year highlighted and made obvious all of my Tiger characteristics to an almost absurd caricature.  Inwardly, this year has been the most isolating, lonely, frustrating, and depressing of my life - a huge mirror/spotlight shining on all my biggest challenges.   
 
Last year, I opened the discussion with a meditation on death and possession.  Tiger Year offered a powerful exorcistic quality because of the force of possession by our deepest and most primal fear and hunger.  I also offered a lot of social commentary.  This year, I am sort of at a loss in that regard, so I won’t be doing much of that.  Perhaps it is because the year was so psychically draining on me that I simply cannot compute it.  The past few years have aligned very nicely with the symbols of the Chinese Zodiac.  The Metal Rat and Ox (at least to me) embodied the “zeitgeist” of the pandemic, but the Tiger has been so intense that it is difficult to put into words.
 
There is a lot to say…I said this would be a year to go to war and we did - the war in Ukraine is still underway and likely to go on for a long time.  I said it would be a year of extremes - with the wildly fluctuating economy and inflation, with the dramatic demonstrations of climate with record rainfall/flood/snow paired with record heat and drought, with Hawaii's Mauna Loa, the world's largest active volcano, erupting for the first time since 1984.  We saw a massive decline of democracy all over the world with a rise in authoritarian regimes and controversial reversals of policy like Roe V. Wade being overturned.  We saw the resignation of political figures like Boris Johnson, and the death of Shinzo Abe and Queen Elizabeth.  It was a year of big risk and loss, like Elon buying Twitter and losing billions.  It was a year of rebellion and defiance, like the Iranian protests against the compulsory hijab and the aftermath of the death of Mahsa Amini.  It was a year of compulsive and dramatic public outbursts - like Will Smith slapping Chris Rock. 
 
And those are just a few highlights.  I’ll leave it at that. I’m not interested in analyzing events but rather putting forward these symbols for us to contemplate together.  In short, the essence of the Tiger is big, dramatic, compulsive action, leaving a wake of consequences to deal with.  Remember, the Tiger is all about the stripes in contrast - intense and powerful action contrasting with immense and suffocating stillness.  And rough from end to end.  I heard of many relationships coming to an end.  I heard of so many sudden and unexpected deaths and accidents.  I witnessed so many people, including myself, make big life decisions like moving, quitting their jobs, and starting over again.  So...how’d it go for you?
 
The disruptiveness of the last year may have left you disheveled and traumatized by the ruthlessness of nature, both human and otherwise.  Or, you rode the wave and were wildly successful because that was available too.  Either way, you may have felt/been at war.  Impermanence, destruction, illness, and death are as natural as breathing.  Our lives fall apart; so how are we to cope/adapt when our vulnerability is revealed? 
 
The Tiger calls for courage, for teeth and claws, but what of our soft underbelly?  What of compassion and care for the casualties of war?  The consequences of our actions in the Tiger year, both personally and collectively, are immense.  This was the kind of year to drive us into big, compulsive, emotional decisions - the kind you make because you could see no other options - you lurch forward or run and hide and are left dealing with the consequences.  Or, you may have felt attacked, run over by a freight train that you didn’t see coming.  My sense is that we all feel a bit traumatized by the last year…it was a lot, even if it was positive. 
 
The positive side of the Tiger was the potential for change - sometimes revolution, rebellion, and rebirth are a vital necessity.  Creativity, creation, and risk make life worth living.  But these things cannot be sustained forever - and so we come to the Rabbit.  What happens when the dust settles?  What is on the other side of revolution?  To truly understand the Water Rabbit, we must examine its symbolism and Elemental Qi dynamics. 

---

 象 Symbolism and 氣 Qì Dynamics, 水生木 – Water (Death) Generates Wood (Birth)

The Rabbit symbol opens us into a dimension unique among the 12 Animals called “intuition.”
 
When studying the cycle of 12, we must remember that each Animal transforms into the next in a meaningful, although non-linear, way.  The cycle is a whirlwind, centripetal and centrifugal, a tornado of energy, which flows in a kind of lopsided pattern.
 
If the Ox represents strength, tolerance, and continuity, and the Tiger represents an escape from continuity through rebellion, creativity, and change, then the Rabbit represents the result of the Tiger’s impulsive revolutionary bluster, which is a kind of raw, open, and vulnerable sensitivity, represented by the Rabbit’s native element—Yin Wood, now expressing within Yin Water.  This combination gives us a profound and imaginative renewal that must be stabilized and made safe to explode into the rainbow that is the Wood Dragon.
 
Yin Wood is innocence, spontaneity, flexibility, renewal, humility, gentleness, sensitivity, subordination, and potentiality.  But Yin Water represents the most mysterious and complete resolution.  It is the dark that is darker than darkness.  It is the complete unknown, beyond death - beyond the event horizon from where no light escapes. 
 
Do you remember being dead?  No.  But what else could you have been before you were born?  If you need a reference - just ask:  what does your head look like to your eyes?  Your vision is a 180 degree sphere, but what of the blank space behind you?  Is it black?  No.  Is it dark?  No.  Is it even accessible to your eyes?  No.  This is Yin Water - the intangible/inaccessible mystery behind everything.  And within that we have Yin Wood.
 
While Yang Wood represents a naïve impulsive force to come into being, Yin Wood demonstrates the outcome of that force, which is exposed, raw, and tender, but with great creative potential, like a sprout emerging from the earth, ready to grow into a mighty oak.  The Tiger represents the brave and daring impulse of the sprout to rise at all into the danger of the world, and the Rabbit is the tender shoot needing protection and nurturing to thrive.  And here this pure, soft innocence is in the middle of an ocean of darkness - the Water Rabbit is therefore the most paradoxical portal to the world of the dead through the eyes of innocence - both ultimate maturity and magical youth, the realm of fairy tales and myth which lie at the heart of all culture.    
 
And just like last year, we have Water as the “mother” of Wood in the Five Element cycle, meaning the energetic direction is generative, supportive, and nurturing, as watering the soil gives birth to new sprouts.  And like the Water Tiger, there is no conflict or control in this dynamic, so there is a naturalness and ease to the Water Rabbit display.  The power of Water enhances and exaggerates the Wood element, making the Water Rabbit an expansive, universal, and oceanic version of the Wood Rabbit with all of its emotional qualities dramatized to the nth degree.
 
The Tiger represents a necessary rebellion against stagnation, and the insight of the Rabbit understands that rules (Ox) must have intuition if they are to be free of stagnation.  Revolution cannot be sustained (hence the Tiger’s struggle) and should end with a refreshed look at things, and we call this the Rabbit.
 
The Rabbit sees into and understands the Tiger’s rebellion with a kind of empathy that is beyond the Tiger’s grasp, which is why it is the natural outcome of Tiger Qi.  The mystical state (Tiger) needs heart (Rabbit).  When this succeeds, the outcome is the Dragon, which has unlimited potential.  Next Year this potential will manifest with an unfathomable expansiveness in the form of the Wood Dragon - but first we have to go through this portal to the underworld - peak beneath the surface and see that all the six realms - hell, ghost, animal, human, demigod, and god are projections/fantasies of our infinite creative potential and desire.
 
In the Chinese View, the qualities of the Rabbit are best described by the term “Lunar,” and the history of the Rabbit as a symbol comes from the Moon.  The Chinese call the Moon Tai Yin, which just means Great Yin, so Rabbits are obviously very Yin, and Water Rabbits are very, very Yin.  When the Chinese look at the Moon, they see a Rabbit, Yuètù, 月兔.  Americans see cheese, or something, but the Chinese see a Rabbit.  In other words, Rabbits are lunar creatures; they come from the moon and are seen as manifestations of moonlight.

Rabbits were, therefore, revered, and it was considered very bad luck to harm or eat them.  It is surprising how rarely they were eaten, since the ancient Chinese ate nearly everything else.  This says something very important about the Rabbit—that they should be protected and revered for what they offer. 
 
Daoist alchemists saw the Rabbit as producing an elixir of immortality,  a nectar from the bardo of night turning to day, from mist and moonlight.  The Rabbit, therefore, became a symbol of the inner world, 内 Nèi, associated with Nei Dan or Nei Gong, and the practices of Internal Alchemy.
 
The Rabbit rules the dawn, from 5 am to 7 am, and these Lunar creatures are most active during this crepuscular hour.  To understand Rabbit Qi, simply take a walk in the woods at 6 am.  The energy is gentle, vibrant, soft, and transparent.  For the dawn is a time of transition; light emerges, and we wake, emerging from the subconscious, and dreams cross into our waking reality. Dusk and dawn are often used by writers as a literary device to denote shifts or changes in our perception of reality. 
 
The lunar image of the Rabbit represents their strong need to escape the light of day, their fear of confrontation, a symbol of the delicate, sensitive, and vulnerable nature of Rabbit Qi.  And while this may sound “weak” to some, the Chinese Tradition insists that weakness is very important.  Some Characters are strong, and some are weak, but each contributes something very important to society.
 
Traditional Chinese Medicine diverged from Roman Medicine based on this very principle.  Around the turn of the Common Era, the main form of medicine around the world was bleeding, which was a very strong treatment that often killed the weak.  Romans responded by saying, “good; the weak are unworthy Roman citizens.”  The Chinese, on the other hand, said, “wait; perhaps weak people are sensitive and have something to offer society that strong people overlook.”  So the bleeding needles became smaller; the treatments became weaker, and according to some, acupuncture developed as a natural outcome of earlier more forceful bleeding treatments.  The instinct to preserve, protect, and listen to sensitive people is a Rabbit instinct, and Chinese Medicine is “sensitive” or weak medicine and proud of it. 
 
Energetically, the Rabbit burrows and is submerged in the “subconscious” stream flowing beneath everything, a mumbling dialogue our energy has with itself, a constant flow of imagination, and a smooth flow of emotional response going on all the time.  Yin Wood represents the roots below the surface, and the Water Rabbit is like those roots tapping into a deep underground lake - so it is the “deepest” of the Rabbits in terms of its intuition.
 
Rabbits are like an exposed wire, picking up on signals invisible to the rest of us.  This raw exposed quality has many interesting manifestations in terms of Character, but before we discuss these in key terms, we must look deeper into the symbol of the actual animal itself—think bunnies.
 
The Rabbit or Hare is very small and soft, and they’re not predators capable of defending themselves, so they hide, a symbol of their fragility and justified paranoia.  They are the prey, and everything wants to eat them.  They often live in burrows or bushes, a symbol of being beneath, hidden, submerged in the subconscious stream, protected from the light.  The burrow also represents the Rabbit’s “nesting instinct,” which manifests in their need for safety and security.  Water is associated with fear, so the fear for survival and the instinct to burrow in search of  safety is the most intense in the Water Rabbit.  
 
They have big sensitive ears, like satellites picking up on frequencies all around them.  They live in communal families, a symbol of their social nature and of the importance of relationships to Rabbit Qi.  Finally, despite their delicate appearance, they have powerful hind legs and are capable of being absolutely vicious if backed into a corner.  All of these symbols will become clear as we go through the key terms.
 
That being said, in order to understand the Rabbit, we must understand its social instinct, which we call “dependent,” and “domestic” in a trine with the Pig and Goat.  Above all, Rabbit Qi is vulnerable yet profound in its intuitive capacity, so Rabbits seek safety, protection, alliance, and stability in the form of “home.”  When the Rabbit feels safe, secure, and has a tribe/circle of close friends, or a strong protector/partner, or they own their own home, then they shine; they become the Dragon—powerful and dynamic leaders with insight and heart, capable and successful.  If Rabbits have a strong sibling or parental guardians, they can learn their power early in life.  If they are hurt or alone they close off, put up armor, and their intuitive gifts are often repressed and come out as defensive and vicious. 
 
Not only do Rabbits need good protection as children, but they need an environment that nurtures their intuition.  For the Rabbit Character is at odds in modern culture, which enjoys exploiting Rabbit characteristics but does not generally nurture them.  In a culture jockeying for resources and status, sensitive empathic people often struggle.  
 

形 – Manifestation/Character

Before I delve into my specific “predictions,” let’s explore how the Water Rabbit Character manifests in people—what about babies born in this or any Year of the Rabbit?  This year, these characteristics are more available to everyone!  Try to imagine what these qualities would be like applied to the whole world.   What if we’re all a little more “Rabbity?”
 
The first key term is gentle.  The gentle quality of Rabbit people is not always apparent, especially with Fire Rabbits, and this has a lot to do with their childhoods, family circumstances, and current relationships.  In their nature though, Rabbits are sweet, kind, nice, and peace loving.  Most Rabbits I meet, and also people born in Rabbit Hour, have a good natured sweetness to them that I find immediately apparent, but sometimes this sweetness is lying under the surface and comes out only after they trust you.
 
Conversely, at their worst, Rabbits turn vicious.  Energetically, they are like bunnies, so people think they can do anything they want to them or in front of them.  They are more often than not the victims of trauma and abuse.  Because of their sweet and sometimes timid nature, Rabbits can remain frozen, scared, and take abuse for a long time until it becomes intolerable, in which case they often lash out and end their abuse/suffering in vicious and violent ways.  Hell hath no fury like a Rabbit scorned.  Ming used to say, “Watch out for those hind legs!”  When they’re hurt, Rabbits have a potential for darkness far beyond the other signs.
 
Rabbits are usually quiet by nature, for they are always listening and can’t help it, which is symbolized by the big ears.  Rabbits feel at home being hidden, quiet, listening to the ethers.  Ming was once interpreting for a Tibetan Lama when a student came back from retreat, and the Lama asked, “How was your meditation?”  The student replied, “It was amazing; by the second month, my mind was so quiet, I could hear the thinking of the people in the town below me!”  This is a very Rabbit response…now I can hear everyone!  
 
On the flipside, being quiet and humble by nature can turn to being a gossipy chatterbox.  Rabbits can have a profound capacity for talking shit, which comes from being slightly nervous all the time.  Relaxed and in their power, Rabbits feel no need to speak and are natural listeners, but when out of their element and vulnerable, they may speak uncontrollably, trying to get a handle on the situation. Furthermore, since Rabbits are socially dependent in nature, they can use speech and gossip as a tool for manipulation, talking people up and down in order to gain advantage.  Rabbits hate confrontation of all kinds, but when backed into a corner, they can retaliate with nasty, hurtful vitriol.
 
The positive flipside of this, then, is that Rabbits can be incredibly sweet, supportive, and loving.  Rabbits, by nature, are supportive and caring friends, partners, lovers, and parents.  The Rabbit is perhaps the most “domestic” of the 12 Animals.  Rabbit Qi seeks to nest, to nurture, and to create a loving and supportive environment in which they and others can thrive. 
 
From birth, Rabbits possess a strong social drive to create family and friendship, to bond with others and create tribe/clan, and to belong to and feel part of a small close knit group or community.  In their hearts, they are not loners, although when in pain they can hide from the world so as not to be seen or hurt again.  When Rabbits find their home, their tribe, they thrive and become great leaders or successful entrepreneurs.  Empowered, Rabbits are among the most authoritative and confident of the 12 Animals, which is how Rabbit turns to Dragon.
 
Early in life Rabbits often seek a stable base to get “security” taken care of.  They can often appear very independent to others, but as soon as they have a protector, a guardian, a home base, something to rely on, they lose their independent nature and become dependent, so they can let their other gifts, which need support, come forward.  To others, the Rabbit can appear deceptive and lazy, but this is a very lopsided “American” understanding—that everyone needs to be a rugged independent individual.  Rabbits yearn to let go of their independence to merge with family, friends, lovers, and so on, in order to offer their big squishy hearts.  Others often become dependent on them for nurturing and emotional support, which is part of the Rabbit gift.  
 
Rabbits have a powerful, even mystical connection to objects, especially those related to the home—furniture, clothing, cookware, and so on.  They love to “feather their nests” and often collect material possessions.  They derive nourishment from things/stuff.  A Rabbit will make home wherever they go. 
 
This connection with objects is related to the Rabbit’s heightened sense of aesthetics.  Rabbits are creative designers with a natural sense of Feng Shui, the auspice of placement.  This aesthetic sensibility lends to a deep appreciation of the nature of beauty, which offers artistic depth to the Rabbit sweetness.   
 
Rabbits are naturally intuitive and empathetic.  We can also call this subliminal or subconscious.  Rabbits are like a radar dish; internally they are open receivers.  Rabbits can walk into a room and immediately feel everything going on, and for the Water Rabbit, this capacity is oceanic, like Guanyin who hears the cries of the whole world.  Rabbits can sense everyone’s mood, their body language; they intuitively perceive all the unconscious signals people put out through their “energy.”  A Rabbit might actually see your Aura.
 
Obviously, this has positive and negative consequences.  Positively speaking, Rabbits have an unusual capacity to feel, to empathize, and their intuition, when properly trained, gives them tremendous emotional intelligence and insight into others and the world.
 
On the other hand, it is very easy to mistake intuition for wisdom—they are not the same thing.  There is a lot of “static” in the universe, most of which is just psychic garbage floating around. The subconscious ethers, the invisible world of ghosts and spirits, the hum of negative habitual emotional facilitation that people emit all the time without knowing it—Rabbits feel all of this more than the other signs.  If their vulnerability is exposed to too many influences, their intuition can go haywire from too much “noise.”
 
Rabbits cannot shut down their intuition.  They could struggle to live in cities, places where there is too much activity, data, noise, pollution, people, and so on.  If the apartment building they live in has too much collective thinking, they can feel crazy and not know why.  This sensitivity is often embodied, which can lead to all kinds of allergies.  They can be affected by minute changes in the weather.  In general, they should live somewhere dull, and “nature” in general should be selective, for that too is full of all kinds of noise.
 
It may seem unusual to channel a nature spirit, but actually it isn’t.  A Rabbit may easily go into a trance and channel a nature spirit, and others may think this is profound, and Rabbits may think so too.  But anyone who has seen into the spirit world can tell you that it is absolutely full of useless, dumb, confused, greedy, and hungry spirits milling around all over the place that will appear as anything in order to feed on your Kidney Qi.  It may seem “special” to be a trance medium, but actually, you might just be lunch.  It is, of course, possible to be a wise medium, but this takes a lot of training, which is the purpose of Daoism.  Daoism is basically ritual training to manage the spirit world (which is everywhere, lol).  Rabbits are natural Daoists, and should receive this training early on, so they don’t become lunch.
 
Practically speaking, Rabbits are often lunch for other people.  Just like most disembodied spirits are looking to feed on others, so are most people who are not self-possessed.  Rabbits are easy prey to aggressive people looking to dominate and feed on others.  Because Rabbits want to merge and depend, they can easily attach to the wrong people.  Relationships of all kinds are crucial for the Rabbit.  They need training to be self-possessed, and they need to be very careful about who they choose to let in.  If a healthy Rabbit lets you into their world, you should feel blessed, because they are the greatest support.  
 
The receptivity of the Rabbit makes them the most susceptible to paranoia, schizophrenia, anxiety, nervous disorders, and so on.  Rabbits can be scattered, twitchy, and they can constantly feel threatened.  Rabbits need training in their emotional intelligence from an early age, otherwise they can become “weird,” even crazy.  In traditional terms, they are among the most susceptible to possession, for they hear the voices of the Ancestors, and can perceive ghosts/demons more than other signs, especially as children.  If they have good training, they make amazing counselors, teachers, guides, social workers, and they love serving and supporting others.
 
The Rabbit’s health and well being has everything to do with how they handle their emotional facilitation.  An uneven flow of emotion is the ground of all their illness and compromises their immune system.  If they undergo surgery, for example, and the nurse says something terrible before they go under, there will be complications in the surgery.  If they feel that the surgeon “understands them,” the recovery from surgery will go well.  It is important to understand that Rabbits do not “think” this way; it is the nature of their Qi.  They’re vulnerable.
 
Rabbits possess an amazing social charm; they can be incredibly seductive and sexy, mesmerizing and alluring, and they can appear as a kind of “prize” to others wanting to “catch” them (men and women of course; Brad Pitt is a Water Rabbit).  This skill comes from their social instinct, and at their best, Rabbits bring out the best in others, bringing people together and inspiring them.  At their worst, this social skill is opportunistic, and they use their charm to gain advantage over others socially.
 
They can manipulate and control others, especially with their sexuality.  Rabbits (and Roosters) are by nature one of the most sexual signs (Rabbits can reproduce like crazy in the wild), and they can use their sexual power as a tool of leverage over others as another way to gain security.  The need to be safe, if driven unconsciously by fear, can turn Rabbits into superficial snobs who will do anything just to secure a partner or good social status, like marry for money.
 
Rabbits are by nature full of love; they are diverse and accepting of everyone.  They are unique in their emotional intelligence and empathy.  And their intuition is a beautiful gift.  Anyone born during Rabbit Hour as well has some of this capacity.
 
Rabbits also teach us a lot about the central relationship between Character and Fate in Chinese Astrology.  Rabbits have amazing potential, and yet they’re delicate and have no built in “muscle,” so their blooming in life is very dependent upon the circumstances of Fate.  If a Rabbit has good fated relationships with partners, family, and Feng Shui, then they bloom.  If their relationships are haunted, then they tend to be held back and can become very self destructive.  If Rabbits are hurt or feel unsafe, they will do anything including take their own life.  Rabbits have the potential to go darker than any other sign, which most people do not want to talk about, but I will say it again: hell hath no fury like a Rabbit scorned.  So Fate for Rabbits is very important.  Rabbits also bloom when they have modest or gentle fate.  A Rabbit born with big Fate to be a leader in the spotlight is most certainly an affliction.
 
Free of Fate, Rabbits can definitely go into the category of mystic, for they have a tremendous capacity for self-cultivation.  
 
In terms of the Five Rabbits, Wood Rabbits are the most natural, vulnerable, and potentially the sweetest and most sensitive of all 60 signs.  Fire Rabbits are the most independent, stubborn, and angsty—the teenage Rabbit.  Earth/Metal Rabbits are the most mature, secure, and stable, the least Wabbity Wabbits.  And finally, the Water Rabbits coming this Year (or turning 60) are beyond profound, mystical, yet they are perhaps the most troubled and paranoid due to the darkness of Water.
 
Hopefully, this gives you a window into the depth of Rabbit Qi, the stream beneath appearances. 

器 – Synthesis, Application, and “Predictions”

Okay, so, now for the fun part…what’s going to happen this year!?  You tell me.  As always, I hope that by presenting these symbols, I have given you enough vocabulary to think about this for yourself – imagine into your life, the world as you perceive it, and let the symbols speak.  Hold everything with a light touch - this isn't fortune telling.  Form is emptiness, emptiness is form.  Nothing is established in the way that it appears.
 
As Tiger turns to Rabbit, fearlessness breaks open into fear, into exposed vulnerability.  Our cultures are in great need of Compassion, 慈, Cí - better translated as the protection that comes from Mother-Love.  Mother-Love comes from the image of a brooding hen.  This kind of mother-love is not idealistic or iconic.  The brooding hen knows no distinction between its own life and its unhatched young.  No distinction means that the natural instinct is the continuity of life, not a product of it.  The mother-love here is non-conceptual and represents an immediate, consistent, and intimate loving attention to those most vulnerable, and this year we are all a little more vulnerable and squishy.  Rabbits need fierce protectors to be fierce protectors.  
 
So first, we must acknowledge that this is a massive shift energetically - we are moving from the unstoppable force of the Tiger to the vulnerable bunny, from a tidal wave to the hidden pool in a deep underground grotto.  The softness of the Rabbit Year is the natural outcome of the Tiger’s force - the more intense the yang, the more yielding the yin.  And this is the year of YIN POWER, which we’ll get to in a bit.  The theme of DRAMA continues in the form of Water, but this is Yin drama (I’ll leave you to contemplate what that means ;).
 
All the outer intensity is dialed way down, but the inner intensity is dialed up.  Water Tiger Year was turned up to 11, and the Rabbit is a quiet murmur, like listening to a heated but muffled conversation in the next room.  The intensity transforms into a murky emotional pool of gossip.  The undertow beneath the wave pulls you down and in.  Remember, the Qi of this year goes DOWN AND IN.  So, there should be a huge feeling of relief coming into the year.  Many people imagine Water to be soothing, relaxing, gentle, and so on, but not during a hurricane like last year, lol. 
 
The Water Rabbit, however, provides that feeling of Water that I think a lot of people were looking for from last year.  By comparison, this year is boringly peaceful.  The energy of this year is soft, soothing, cool, gentle, cuddly, and safe.  But this comes with a bit of a warning.  The tendency here is to swing from the danger/war zone of the Tiger to building a huge fortress of safety and solitude, to put up barricades with gun turrets on all sides.  To some degree this is natural and could even be an imperative.   
 
So the first imperative is to STOP and FEEL  - how are you actually feeling?  Self-honesty is huge right now.  The Wood Tiger 1st moon should allow for some internal clarity in the transition.  So make clear how you feel now in the beginning of the year because your feelings throughout the year may go absolutely haywire.
 
Put up some boundaries.  NEST.  Nest is my key word for the year.  Think Rabbit burrow.  Rabbits are overlords of the domestic trine.  Make yourself, your home, and your relationships a fortress.  Rabbits find their power when their home base is secure.  Moving, changing jobs, anything that creates uncertainty or instability disrupts the flow of the year and will heighten your anxiety.  If you didn’t make or initiate the change in Tiger Year, it may be too late - wait for Wood Dragon.  The danger is of course sloth, laziness, and indolence - this could drive you to avoid and evade.  
 
There is a lot of obsession with self-care in our culture right now, and this year, self-care straddles an interesting line.  Boundaries were big in Metal Ox Year; cutting, clear, regimented - great for discipline.  In Water Rabbit Year, the line between feeling/intuition and thinking/reasoning blurs into total mush.  Feelings - conscious or not, bubble to the surface, and boundaries, self-care, and rest become an imperative to manage all the feels.  Anything repressed, suppressed, or unacknowledged can manifest in the body, and the mind could struggle to be orderly, disciplined, etc, for there is simply too much static to discern the real from the unreal.
​
The quality of Qi this Year is “spaced in,” and it expands the magnitude of the present moment, slowing it down, making us more aware of time and potentially more uneasy at the slowness of its passing, like hearing the second hand of a clock ticking loudly.  The capacity to then hyper focus and obsess over minutia is heightened, and with the added self-conscious social awareness, this puts us at much bigger risk to be exploited by the dark side of the internet and social media.  This may very well be THE Year of social media, and probably not a in a good way.  Not to be a bummer, but social media this year more than any other, not coincidentally coinciding with the meteoric rise of TikTok as the most successful app in history, may see the most dramatic internet negativity we have ever seen, with consequences I can’t even imagine.  The possibility of smart phone and app addiction, doom scrolling, self-obsession, self-criticism, self-harm, body image issues, doing stupid shit on camera, disproportionately comparing yourself to others, following trends, bickering, arguing, nasty comments, and so on, is off the charts.  We are now learning that smart phone addiction, “TikTok Brain,” is associated with the shrinkage of the brain’s gray matter, causing “digital dementia,” the deterioration of memory, attention span, self-esteem, and impulse control, all of which increase anxiety and depression.  My heartfelt advice for this year is delete the Apps and turn that spaced in attention to real conversation and presence.  Break the addiction.  
 
Health this year, then, is largely unscientific.  "Alternative" medicine, shamans, therapists, and so on will do well - anything that coaxes the imagination and intuition - singing to your tumor may shrink it.  “Magic Pill” pharmaceuticals and placebos are stronger if you believe.  We are all a bit more sensitive, and the relationship between health and our innermost thoughts is heightened.  Illness will be exacerbated by worry and poor self-esteem.     
 
Empathy this year is unavoidable.  Resonance with others, whether standing in line or with those most intimate to you just happens.  You may find yourself agitated in line at the coffee shop because the person 3 people behind you is getting a divorce.  Of all the 60 years, Water Rabbit makes it the most difficult to distinguish between yourself and others.  The positive side of this is an increased capacity for love, compassion, spiritual union, and understanding.  But you at big risk for taking on other people's stuff. 
 
Those who naturally lack empathy (which is a lot in a culture which celebrates psychopaths), will find themselves just a bit more sensitive.  On the negative side, self identified empaths are likely some of the worst people you ever met, lol.  They are empowered in their abilities, and the possibility of rumors, interpersonal drama, back-bitting, passive aggression, and so on are off the charts.  These qualities are adaptive - humans are social creatures who evolved in small groups, so status is everything to us.  And the Rabbits will be gossiping.
 
Remember, Rabbits are domestic and close friendships are key.  Think brain-trust.  Big gatherings, parties, networking, festivals, and so on, are too much for the shy Water Rabbit.  Close bonds - one on one, intimate dinner dates, heart to hearts, honest vulnerability - this is the way.  Don’t spread yourself thin.  Deepen the relationships you already have, or nurture the new ones you really want to keep and value.  Really check on people.  And don't run around making all kinds of new commitments you can't keep.  Marriages can be strengthened, friendships made life-long, and family ties reinforced.  And of course, interpersonal drama can make these all explode, so keep that clarity close - self-honesty, boundaries, and care go a long way.
 
The Rabbit is considered a “Peach Blossom Star,” which means romantic relationships and sex are very powerful this year.  We all know that Rabbits are associated with reproduction.  Rabbits are pregnant for only 4-5 weeks and can have up to 15 babies at a time!  Lots of sex gonna happen.  Or more sex than usual, hopefully, as people are reporting record low sexual activity and declining birth rates right now, and a lot of people are discussing what could be a “mating crisis” in our culture with the potential for huge population collapse.  Social media, dating apps, and the pandemic have certainly wreaked havoc on dating, and people seem to be struggling a lot to find meaningful relationships; I know I am.  Loneliness, lack of friendship, lack of community, being single, etc., is particularly hard this year, and a lot of people will be driven to close connections.  This year we want depth.  Casual sexual encounters will be up too, so people will likely crave more, but watch out for clinginess and attachment.
 
This brings me to YIN POWER.  I think we all know what Yang power is - might and muscle, force and vigor.  But Yin Power is not often understood, and it is even looked down upon.  Liu Ming used to talk a lot about Yin Power.  In short, it is “wiles,” deception, seduction, cunning, manipulating, persuading, luring, enticing, leveraging  - the Rabbit as a symbol is often the trickster - tricks, ruses, flimflams, ploys, schemes; it is dodging and evading; it is guile and sly.  In a Yang culture, these traits are looked down on, but they are power.  The power of the small.  Metal Rat Year was about the Virtue of the Small.  This year is about the Power of the Small.  Again, “watch out for those hind legs.” 
 
So small groups, disempowered groups, etc, will make huge sway, but you won’t know it until long after. In Metal Rat Year we marched and protested - a million Rats trying to take down the establishment.  This Year is so sneaky you won't see anything coming, and it will be over before you know what is happening.  Things come out of nowhere - a silent knife in the dark.
 
Politically, we have the possibility of both treaty and treason, and the possibility of scandals, investigations, endless speculation/bickering in the news, and so on is off the charts.  Wars could end with mutual understanding, but empires could also topple in the night without a sound.  Coup, assassination, and the like are very Water Rabbit.  In the last Water Rabbit Year (1963), we saw the assassination of JFK - a conspiracy so unbelievably sneaky we are still making documentaries about it, debating about magic bullets.  The assassination of JFK was probably the most Water Rabbit thing that ever happened.  If you want to know about this Year, just watch the Oliver Stone movie and documentary, lol…everything you need to know and the Water Rabbit!   
 
Financially, this year will likely stabilize because stability is imperative for the Rabbit.  Water Tiger was about the gamble - speculation and risk taking.  We saw record inflation and a wildly fluctuating economy.  Fear of loss and scarcity mindsets will cause people to scramble to save and horde - it’s all about safety and security.  When you have a lot to lose you don’t take as many risks.  This year is very conservative in every sense of the word.  So invest in real estate and property; open a savings account/IRA, plan for the future, and be smart/responsible with money - but watch out for that scarcity mindset - generosity is also huge, but not in big gestures; buy your friends presents for no reason.  This is a good year for all of us to re-value value - a raise the minimum wage kind of thing, etc.  The constant threat of capitalism will be under great scrutiny but also felt to a much deeper extent.
 
Professionally, this Year is all about being second in command - subordination is power in Rabbit year.  The position of assistant and all service professions are exalted; this is actually where the power lies.  If you want to get things done, talk to the secretary, the assistant, the nurses, and so on.  Forget the boss.  Work gets done “behind the scenes,” you know - all those names in the credits that make the movie possible.  We love the shiny movie stars and pay them ungodly amounts of money for being pretty and talented, but they would not exist without all those behind the scenes.  
 
Like last year, creativity is at a high (next year too), but now it gets even weirder.  Of all the 60 animals, this may be as weird as it gets (rivaled and maybe topped only by the Water Monkey).  Water Rabbit represents the dark depths of the unconscious, the Treasury of Worms beneath the conscious mind.  Culture, music, and art can explore the most abstract, challenging, and beautiful places - remember this is the dark side of the Moon, the bardos of death.
 
Day to day, this Year could be full of strange wonkiness.  You may go places you never imagined.  This is a year of ghosts, a year of vision, a year of fantasy, secrets, mystery, and projection.  It could turn into a house of mirrors.  Intuition is at an all time high.  Gut feelings, instinct, signs, premonitions, and divination abound.  So be warned.  Probably best to not trust your gut too much, lol, because it will be telling you something different every five minutes.  Get some feedback and listen to others.  God-realm, “New Age,” “Woo Woo”  blabbity blah will be very appealing and plausible this year, lol.  Play with it and have fun, but don’t take it too seriously.     
 
Intuition can be an amazing tool, but it is not inherently spiritual or special.  This year the signals from the deep all rise and fill our radar.  We may be getting signs and messages from all over the place, but it could literally be junk mail.  Our minds become the spam inbox.  Emotions are high but emotional intelligence is at risk.  With training, it could be a supreme Yin Power, but without clarity, the risk of confusing emotions overpowering us is very strong.  Anxiety and fear will be higher than last year but not as urgent or overpowering - more subtle, social, and cumulative.
 
That makes this a great year for therapy, self-cultivation, and deep inner work.  We have greater access to the subterranean - the unconscious, both collective, ancestral, and personal.  This is a year to mine out the depths with gentleness and love.  Dig up all our demons and give them a big hug.  You can tap into the darkest, most foul underground and see that we all have this inside - the Treasury of Worms is infinite, full of the darkest things you can imagine that are part of human nature, but this darkness is compost.  It is the fuel of all our compassion and highest virtues because it is all of Nature - all the sex and death of evolution over billions of years manifesting now in you, in your human body. Remember that by virtue of being born, life came to you in an unbroken lineage since the primordial ooze, since stardust, and you have all that memory in your cells, and it is bigger than you could possibly imagine.  There are portals (the old meaning of cakra) in you to beyond the stars.  The Daoist/Tantric vision of the body as an immortal realm is very potent this year - so Yoga, Neigong/Qigong, Inner Alchemy, Tantric Sadhana - all very powerful.    
 
Last Year, the spiritual power of the Tiger was almost too much, cutting and ruthless - it was the Qi of Mahasiddhas and solitary Yogis in caves in the snow.  Tiger year was about the great solitary journey we all make eventually - the journey into death. The Water Rabbit is much less intense but much more strange, for we now have spiritual access to the Bardo between birth and death.  And as a matter of fact, this is a great year to die!  You should be honored to go out in Water Rabbit Winter.
 
As I said before, we are now dead - this is YIN WATER.  And it turns out perception is immortal.  The body and mind die, but awareness/perception was not born and cannot perish.  But if the body and mind perish, what gets re-born?  We aren’t quite sure, but Buddhism calls it the Substrate or Storehouse Consciousness, the Alaya-vijñana (which they vehemently deny is a soul, for it is still compound and impermanent). This consciousness is said to store the impressions of previous experiences, which form the seeds of future karma in this life and in the next after rebirth.
 
After the heart and lungs stop, the five elements come apart, the spirits depart…then what?  This is the great mystery.  Our cultures project all kinds of hells and heavens into this in-between space.  This is the realm of the Water Rabbit.  By definition, Yin Water cannot be remembered - in the continuity of life, there has to be a blank, a beyond.  Traditions say that all kinds of weird stuff happens here.  Visions of ancestors and deities, hells and persecution, heavens and angels – all these are a reflection of your mind, your deepest personal and ancestral karmas coming to you as pure symbols.  Whatever/wherever they are, you forgot them when you came hurtling through the birth canal, but you seek them all throughout life, as we are all drawn in some way to the sacred. 
 
But you can remember being dead this year - what does this look like?  I have no idea, but the spiritual potential for vision represents a blurring of being dead and alive, awake and asleep.  So pay attention to your dreams because a lot will be coming through the static. Dream Yoga is perhaps even more powerful this year than last because the energy is much more conducive to sleep/rest.  Water Tiger was a bit too restless, but the Rabbit is the ultimate Dream Yogi!  
 
I opened with a discussion of the pure realm, of the heavenly grotto, for the Water Rabbit represents what the Chinese call the Peach Spring Beyond this World, 世外桃源 - a secret in-between place, a hidden wellspring found in secret.

Dharma traditions say that those who discover their immortality can live in this in-between place and co-create it with heaven, like the Rabbit mixing the elixir of Immortality.  But the true vision is that the world you already live in is a pure realm - the only difference lies in your perception.  If perception is pure, everything is a pure realm.  If perception is samsaric, then everything is Samsara. 
 
So my heart advice is to cultivate pure perception and sacred outlook - everything you experience, everything you think about the world, yourself, and others, is a projection of mind.  If our perception is pure, then so is everything else.  But how to do this?  You don’t, lol.  Trying to purify the Treasury of Worms is an endless task, a bottomless bucket.  The secret is that perception is primordially pure.  When we recognize that all of Samsara and Nirvana arise out of this perception and disappear back into it, we have the possibility of releasing attachment and seeing that all phenomena are of the same nature - emptiness and luminosity - all of our confusing emotions are a rainbow in space happening to no one.
 
As far as I see it, the best path for this year is wonderfully summarized by Lǎozi Chapter 67,[1]
 
我有三寶. 持而保之.  一曰慈.  二曰儉.  三曰不敢為天下先.  慈故能勇.  儉故能廣.  不敢為天下先 故能成器長.  今舍慈且勇 舍儉且廣 舍後且先 死矣.  夫慈以戰則勝.  天將救之以慈衛之.
 
Listen to my three treasures!  Hold and Cherish them! The first (and foremost) is mother-love.  The second is simplicity.  The third is unpretentiousness.  Mother-love enables fearlessness.  Simplicity supports spaciousness.  Lacking pretense brings fulfillment.  Discarding these three treasures and hoping to become fearless, open, and successful, will only lead to premature death.  Mother-love brings triumph and safety.  When Heaven wants something to endure, it protects it by instilling it with Mother-love.
 
Mother-love, simplicity, and unpretentiousness are the virtues of the year and the antidotes to any negativity that could arise.  Take this to heart and the Year will be a wellspring of inner depth and discovery; you will not get lost in the underworld but discover that it is a path to heaven.  In Chan there are three stages of awakening - the first stage is to blow open the doors of perception and see the Nature of Mind in a flash that often fades and becomes a memory.  The second stage is to struggle with that memory and endlessly find your way back to that vision again and again through disciplined practice.  The third stage is to discover that you never left.

[1] Translation by Liu Ming.  This a loose rather than “scholarly translation” and not meant to be definitive ​

12 Animal Forecast

Now, let’s go through the 12 Animals and offer a map - how does each of us find our way to the Peach Spring Beyond this World?      
 
Outer Elements:
 
Water Signs (+++):  your outer element matches the year; you flow and adapt more easily
 
Wood Signs (++) child of Water: generative/supportive relationship; you are empowered and bolstered
 
Metal Signs (–/+) mother of Water: you support and uphold the dynamic, but this could be draining
 
Fire Signs (–/+) water controls/extinguishes fire: you may feel stifled, but this could be good b/c you should probably calm down anyway, lol
 
Earth (+/–) earth controls/contains water: contrasting energetically, but you are in control and able to stay grounded and equanimous
 
Please take these lightly, and remember that we all contain each of the 12 animals within our experience!  Your Year and Hour are the most prominent, but the following applies to everyone!  
 
Rat: 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020 –  Auspicious (+) As the smallest most vulnerable of the 12 Animals, Rats and Rabbit are incredibly similar but distinctly different in a few key ways.  In short, Rats think their feelings, and Rabbits feel their thoughts; rats compartmentalize and categorize while Rabbits merge and universalize.  So while you may be discombobulated by the amorphous squishy feelings going around, you benefit both personally and socially from the peacefulness of the Year...although you may be hesitant to trust it.  Both Rats and Rabbits are very concerned with survival and resources and work to secure them socially, but the Rat often does it with larger groups.  Personally, this is a great year for you to get in touch with your feelings, improve your communication skills, and the potential for peaceful stillness allows you to relax and go deep, unlocking your closed symbols.  So dig some deep tunnels.  Socially, you have a heightened capacity to use your skills to enlarge your circle of friends, family, and influence.  Your frugality and financial awareness allows you to succeed in business and take advantage of the heightened paranoia and feelings of scarcity.  Focus on heart opening and connection - focus in on the small things and relax/bust open your boundaries, borders, and definitions.  Watch out for fear of failure and repeating past mistakes.  
 
Ox: 1949, 1961, 1973,1985, 1997, 2009, 2021 – (Neutral/Inauspicious) (-) Like the Rat, Ox will also feel discombobulated by the strange feeling quality of the Year.  It will mostly appear as nonsense, and while you may not notice it at all, the subconscious sinking quality could bog  you down.  The powerful direction of Qi going in and down will likely make this a sluggish year for Oxes.  The heavy Yin nature of the Ox being driven down and in could make you stagnate, and your lives, projects, and work could feel stuck, slow, or unproductive.  This a great Year for you to rest, relax, and rejuvenate, but as the Ox is averse to not working, not plowing forward, you could get agitated, impatient, and resentful of rest.  Logic, clarity, and responsibility are out the window, so everyone will look even more like an idiot than usual, and you may feel like the last sane person on earth.  Embrace the peace, embrace the Woo Woo, work on yourself - health can improve, skills can be mastered, and everything can flow smoothly with less personal conflicts if you can accept that business as usual is unlikely to proceed.  
 
Tiger: 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010, 2022 – (Auspicious) (+) If you survived your own Year without self destructing, quitting your job, ending your marriage/partnership, or moving to a cave on the other side the planet, then this Year offers a welcome respite from the storms.  Tiger naturally changes into the Rabbit, so you are kin.  Rabbit represents all of Tiger's best inner qualities and vulnerabilities brought out, so embrace your soft bellied purring side - Tiger's have increased social skill and opportunity.  Tigers crave deep personal connection but struggle to find it because you are so unreliable and inconsistent with what you want, and last year those stripes were really oscillating - you were probably all over the place.  This year you can focus and follow your heart without as much doubt or indecision.  Rabbit Year also offers a chance for the intimacy and connection that you have probably been wanting but unconsciously avoiding.  The Year is not good for starting over, taking big risks, or compulsive anything, but it is likely you did all that last year, so focus and dig deep where you are - this may actually be a year of successful hard work in place.  Wood Dragon Year will be an explosive rainbow, so think of Rabbit Year as hiding in the tall grass, waiting to pounce again.  Recharge and gather your resources, but watch out for depression and moodiness.  Tiger’s are also apt to go deep spiritually, so dig up that treasury of worms and feast.
 
Rabbit: 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023 – (Very Auspicious) (++) - Rabbits are the most likely of all the 12 Animals to thrive in their own Year.  This year arrives with a “oh thank god” sigh of relief.  Rabbits are among the most anxious and uncomfortable in our culture of psychopathy (but tend to thrive on our narcissism and machiavellianism, lol).  Rabbits can now peak out of the burrow a bit and welcome others inside.  The Qi goes down and in, so embrace the peace and tranquility but watch out for heightened laziness, gossip, and social manipulation.  The Yin Power is strong with you, and while this power is not inherently negative, it can get you into trouble if it is opportunistic - but this year, everyone’s doing it a bit more, and you can step up and use your powers for good or evil.  This is a Year to flourish in your home, finances, partnerships, friendships, and for overall stability, so take advantage of the calm/stillness and stock up on provisions across the board.  This also a good year to work through your deepest fears.  This is your "Grand Duke/Leadership" Year, so spiritually, we will look to you for guidance, because most of us are a bit lost when it comes to our “feelings.”  Teach us how to “be in our bodies,” lol, a notion that has become so popular it has lost all meaning.  The Water Rabbit has the potential to be the darkest of Rabbits, so watch out for fear, gloom, and being overwhelmed by all the feels.  My key word for Rabbits this year is – STRUT     
 
Dragon: 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, 2024 – (Neutral/Auspicious) (-/+)  Dragons may just be too big and expansive for the Rabbit, but this may not be a bad thing.  Dragons will be Dragons no matter the Year.  The Dragon represents a kind of unlimited potential - as they are a symbol of Heaven and the only one of the 12 that can fly.  By nature, then, Dragons are aloof, distant, and hard to connect with and understand, for you are on a mission to rule the world and will fly over anything in your path.  You are likely not to bother with little Rabbits nesting in their burrow, but the peacefulness makes a good platform for your ambitions.  You will likely find that your mission, projects, and goals go well, but you may be bored as there is little daring or adventure available.  So calm down, lol; save the big adventures for next year, your Year, and indulge, go native, nest, keep it small and local.  This is a great year for Dragons to indulge your luxurious, amorous, hedonic side and you could even go overboard with it.  Watch out for others; they have feelings, and you could break a lot of hearts if you aren't careful.  People will be wanting to connect and bond, and your majesty will attract a lot of interest.  Flirtatious aloofness is a recipe for disaster, so keep that in mind.  Be like the Sun.  Focus on Love (with a capital L) and self-reflection; humility,  generosity, and service go a long way for you this year.  

Snake: 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013, 2025 – (Neutral/Inauspicious) (-) While they are not astrological opposites, as symbols, Rabbit and Snake are quite opposite.  In Buddhism, this is called Emptiness (Snake) and Compassion (Rabbit), and while these are inseparable, it is not so easy to see why.  Rabbits represent intuition and feeling, and Snakes represent the wisdom of relativity/emptiness - that nothing has inherent meaning outside of relationship.  Snakes see through feelings and at your best represent equanimous clarity that is not pushed or pulled by craving or aversion.  Snakes seek solitude, to withdraw into serenity; you are in the world but not of it.  So, in a Year with this much touchy, feely, blurry emotional mush, you are likely to be repulsed by all the attachment.  You share the love of quiet stillness and will benefit from the nesting instinct to pull away from outward expansiveness.  So in that regard, the Year is neutral, and you should focus on the Year as an opportunity for spiritual growth, self-healing, and vision and try to take advantage of the Qi to build your reluctant relationships, because even Snakes need people.  Watch out for going too far into the darkness - Snakes are at risk for depression that could border on suicidal, so stay positive - self affirmation goes along way.  People should check in on their Snake friends, and you should make it a point to reach out for help if you need it.  
 
Horse: 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2026 – (Neutral/Inauspicious) (-) Of all the Yang characters, the Horse might be the most out of style this year.  The Horse is a symbol of the Heart in Chinese Medicine, and while the Horse feels big, you wear your hearts on your sleeves.  There is no hidden deception in the Horse image.  What you see is what you get, and you live boldly on the surface - straight forward, honest, and practical.  By comparison, Water Rabbit is like a secret message in a foreign language whispered  over a fence a hundred years ago to a dead person coming through in a child’s dreams.  Pretty hard to interpret.  You may feel dazed and confused, like you are shouting and no one is listening.  The Horse is all muscle - physical and active, needs to be busy, productive and working on all the to-do lists.  So, like the Ox, the quiet, sinking, restful quality of the Year could bog you down and frustrate you.  Progress, productivity, and work may be at a slow trot, and you may feel antsy.  No galloping and running free in a Rabbit Burrow, so watch out for claustrophobia and self-destructing when things don't go your way.  If you can relax the doing and embrace the being, then this can be a great year for friendships and fun.  Horses are naturally sunny, optimistic, and gregarious, so focus on connection and be the life of the party.  Comedic play is powerful medicine this year - humor is the fastest way to connect.  Slow down, forget about plans and enjoy friends and family.  Make new friends.  If you need projects, make them creative - learn an instrument, do a stand up act, make bad art, etc. 
 
Goat: 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015, 2027 – (Auspicious) (++) Goats will be greatly empowered to apply all of the Rabbit’s heart teachings to the whole world.  Goats are part of the “domestic” trine with Rabbits and Pigs, so you naturally thrive this Year.  While Rabbit represents close connection, Goat represents the tribe, the herd.  You care deeply about people but can sometimes struggle with the person (i.e. the individual), so this is a good Year for you to reconnect with the Heart of your ideals by connecting deeply with individuals.  Work on those interpersonal skills, problem solving skills, and self-development.  A hard look in the mirror will be deeply fruitful.  Water Rabbit Year bridges the universal and the individual.  Whatever your tribe - deepen and strengthen ties within - reconnect and make time for people - become the pillar of support in your community.  Think dream team.  Focus all your goals, dreams, and ideals and find people to help you build your platform, message, or organization.  Goat sees/feels the interconnectedness of all things and wants to communicate this to the world, but often this falls short, and you get flustered and butt heads with people because they just don’t get it.  This year people get it - big universal ideals like compassion and equality/equity find an audience.  You have the ability to make these ideals practical.  Work, partnership, friendship, family, finances, and passions can all go well as long as you communicate them with Heart.  
 
Monkey: 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016, 2028 – (Neutral/Inauspicious) (-)  While Water Monkeys could thrive in the weirdness of the Year, overall, you will be a bit out of place.  Monkey Qi is a bit too skeptical and cynical to go with Rabbit Intuition.  Monkeys have their own intuition, which is based on sensing danger and threat, so you can escape disaster.  Monkey intuition is actually imagination (Yang Metal) confused with intuition; they are not the same.  Monkeys often imagine they can sense people’s feelings like the Rabbit, but more often than not, it leads to disaster, lol.  This can make it hard for you to connect and maintain friendships or partnerships because you are so quick to swing to the next branch.  Last Year was your opposite, so it could have been rough (I’m curious how this went for you Monkeys, so speak up Monkey friends - I want to hear about it!), so in many ways this Year is much more relaxed - the danger and threat of the Tiger is gone.  No need to be on high alert.  Rest, relax, don’t run away.  Making friends, going on dates, and especially reconnecting and repairing friendships and relationships is an imperative this year if you want next Year (Wood Dragon) to go well, and next Year will be your best in a while.  Like all Yang characters prone to impulsive action, this Year the Qi goes down and in and the sinking, hidden, sleepy quality could feel claustrophobic, but at least it doesn't have the same sense of danger as in the Tiger Year.  The emotionally murky house of mirrors that is the Rabbit burrow could cause you to go haywire if you are not careful - so self honesty is important.  Like the Horse - focus on fun - at their best, Monkeys are jokesters and comics.  Make this year about playful fun with close friends and let yourself take emotional and personal risks.         
 
Rooster: 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017, 2029 – (Inauspicious) (--) Rabbit and Rooster are diametric opposites, which I maintain is spiritually beneficial due to its mirror like quality.  You are the most likely to struggle, both outwardly and inwardly, in your opposite Year, which makes it the most powerful for spiritual growth.  If you can look in the mirror without pecking at everything you see, this Year will be fruitful but challenging.  Like all opposites, Rabbit and Rooster are extremely similar but different because they are the reverse of each other.  As I mentioned, Snakes are also very different, but the Snake sees through the Roosters trappings too, which is the hard edge of logic and reason.  Roosters are precise and calculating; you embrace and love confrontation and argument, to use that beak to bust open hard shells.  Rabbits hate this kind of hard pecking directness because they are squishy and hate confrontation and division.  The Rooster loves to fight, play devil’s advocate, and stir the pot.  This does not go well this Year and will have a lot of negative consequences.  You like to dominate others with your intellect and ability, and while Rabbit Qi is naturally submissive - and the Dom/Sub pair can be hawt in the right context, it can also turn very dark.  If you try to dominate others, expect disaster.  Expect your projects and plans, which are meticulously planned out and well organized to fall apart.  Water Roosters can sort of jive with all the feels, but it could exacerbate their core confusion, which is a tension between thinking and feeling.  Overall, think restraint - hold back the beak; don’t puff out your chest, and keep the crowing at a minimum.  Accept that you have mushy feelings and a quaking mess underneath like the rest of us, lol.    
 
Dog: 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018, 2030 – (Auspicious) (+)  Overall, there is a lot of great potential in this year for Dogs, but there’s a lurking danger in the form of betrayal.  The Dog represents the Pericardium, which is the gateway to the Heart.  Dogs are of course loyal and have the greatest capacity for unconditional love and joy.  You seek to bond and serve, so in a Year that is all about close connection, friendship, and family, you can thrive and bring out all your best qualities and imbue all aspects of your lives with heart.  Everything can go well if you focus on love and service.  This is a year to focus on your mission/purpose; bring out your deepest aspirations and dedicate yourself.  It is a generalization, but the danger is that Rabbits are capable of nasty betrayal if they are scared for their survival.  The worst nightmare for a Dog is abandonment and betrayal by someone close, and that is available this year, so be careful.  Think service dog - everyone struggles; we really don’t know what others are dealing with, but the service Dog loves everyone no matter their story.  Every Dog also has a touch of the lone wolf - you seek connection but are happy with a small wolf pack and can even go off on you own if you can’t find your people/person.  Solitude could be good this year.  Dogs can go very individualistic weird - Freddy Mercury, Prince, David Bowie - all Dogs.  This Year is pretty weird and your weird may start showing - art, music, poetry, whatever it is, bring it out and share/strut.              
 
Pig: 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019, 2031 – (Auspicious) (++)  Think Pig Pile.  Pigs are the Royalty of the Year, which is both good and bad.  Pig and Rabbit represent the ultimate Confucian marriage, and are part of the Domestic Trine with the Goat - Pigs are empowered for better or worse.  You are the most complementary pair of the 12.  Pigs squeal with delight at the sensual connection the Rabbit offers, and the you are more than happy to nest in a warm cuddly rabbit burrow.  Friendship comes very easily to Pigs, as you are friends with everyone you meet, even to the point of being gullible.  So, enjoy, but slow down!  Make all the friends and bring people together - friendship is challenging for many these days, so please halp!  You will also be called to a strong protector role this Year, as you sense the vulnerability of the Rabbit and will do anything to protect them - Pig is Mother-Love Mama Bear Qi.  The danger for Pigs is too much rest, too much indulgence, too much of all the things, which could lead to scandal.  Pigs are Yin Water by nature, so while the match is generally good, the deep, dark, sinking quality could put you into a dank pit.  You may wake up in a stranger's bed with no memory of how you got there.  Watch out for downward spirals and hangovers.  Don't look too long into the abyss because it will start looking back.  If you can exercise moderation, the Year should be splendid, perhaps the best in a long time.  Perfect to invest and create, to marry and procreate.  The key to the Year is presence - there is so much depth available through introspection; if you can stave off the hedonic treadmill, then the fullness will be enlivening.       

I wish you all the best in this New Year! 

This life passes as quickly as autumn clouds;
Family and friends are like passers-by in a market;
The demon of death approaches like twilight’s shadows;
What the future holds is like a translucent fish in cloudy waters;
Life’s experiences are like last night’s dreams;
The pleasures of the senses, like an imaginary party.
Meaningless activities are like waves
lapping on the surface of the water.
​
Every harmful action I have done
With my body, speech, and mind
Overwhelmed by attachment, anger and confusion,
All these I openly lay bare before you.
While circling through all states of existence,
May I become an endless treasure of good qualities--
Gathering limitless pristine wisdom and positive potential.
May all beings have happiness and the cause of happiness.
May they be free of suffering and the cause of suffering.

May all beings remain in boundless equanimity, free from attachment and aversion!
 
Sarva Mangalam!!!

List of Illustrations in Order

1. https://www.esplanade.com/offstage/arts/tales-of-shadows-on-the-moon - artist unknown
2. Moon Rabbit by Lauren Bracewell - https://fineartamerica.com/featured/moon-rabbit-lauren-bracewell.html
​3. Painting by Kang Hai Men - https://www.inkdancechinesepaintings.com/rabbit/painting-4618001.html
​4. by Maria Ovcharenko - https://www.peakpx.com/en/hd-wallpaper-desktop-aelyx
5. Tiger and Rabbit  https://i.pinimg.com/originals/fc/84/db/fc84db04c19c2c485a35489b7b11372a.jpg 
6. Bunny burrow by: Marjolaine Roller - https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/marjolaineroller/bunny-burrow/
7.  Millicent Sowerby (English, 1878-1967) Alice in Wonderland rabbit hole. - https://www.slaphappylarry.com/rabbits/
8. “Brer Rabbit Conversing with Brer Fox, Brer Wolf, Brer Coon, and Brer Bear,” by A.B. Frost (source: Britannica)
9. https://kungfupanda.fandom.com/wiki/Oogway?file=KFP3-Po-Oogway.png
10. White Rabbit and Full Moon - https://opiumofthepoets.com/products/white-rabbit-full-moon-wave-japanese-art-print-ex387​
11. Shakyamuni Buddha, Previous Life Stories - https://www.himalayanart.org/items/50196