Happy Chinese New Year to everyone! According to Chinese Astrology, the Gray Water Rabbit Year begins on the 22nd January and will end on the 9th of February 2024. The Year of the Gray Water Rabbit and Feng Shui within our homes: how to harmonize the astral energies of the new solar cycle.
Keywords for the Gray Water Rabbit Year: friendship, diplomacy, adaptability, sensitivity, drive, strength, creativity, peace, longevity and prosperity. Equivalent Zodiac Sign: Pisces.
Symbol: water stream
Under the combination Rabbit + Water element (Gray Rabbit) are those born between February 25, 1963 and February 12, 1964.
Those born in 1975, 1987, 1999 and 2011 also belong to the sign of the Rabbit, but their combination with the Earthly Branches is different and they are subject to other energies of the cycle of the 5 elements or 5 phases.
The corresponding sign of the zodiac is the sign of Pisces (Western astrology).
It must be said that the translation from Chinese of the ideogram 兔 is indifferently hare or rabbit, but originally the reference animal was the hare whose substantial difference with the rabbit, as far as we are concerned, consists in a greater speed; also, the hare s not paralyzed in the face of danger, unlike the rabbit.
The Year of the Rabbit is a time of peace, calm, pleasure and rest after the chaos of the previous Year of the Tiger.
The legend of the moon goddess Chang-o is associated with the Hare. Chang-o was the wife of an archer named Ki, who bravely blew down ten suns risen all together to burn the earth. Ki was not only brave, but also a ruthless man. As a reward for bringing down the suns, Ki was given the brew of immortality. One day when her husband was hunting, Chang-o drank this beer to try to stop his cruelty. When Ki returned and realized what had happened, he tried to kill Chang-o, but she fled to the Moon where she was protected by the Hare. Afraid to return to earth, Chang-o lived happily with the moon Hare and became a goddess of the moon, protectress of children. The connection between the Hare and the Moon is that it takes 28 days, a lunar month, before newborn hares are ready to leave their mothers.
The most favoured signs in 2023 together with the Rabbit are the Sheep (1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015) and the Ox (1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019), which in the Western tradition correspond respectively to Cancer and Scorpio.
The most disadvantaged sign in 2023 is the Phoenix or Rooster (1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017) but the Horse and the Rat can also encounter some difficulties.
HOW TO HARMONIZE THE GRAY WATER RABBIT YEAR WITH FENG SHUI AT HOME?
The Terrestrial Branch corresponding to the Rabbit is the fourth, mǎo (卯), its azimuthal direction is 90° and the corresponding element in Wuxing is Wood. This means that, whatever our sign is, in order to prepare our home well for the energies of the Chinese New Year we must favor the direction (90°) and the reference element (Wood), which, being the combination of the year 2023 with the 12 Earthly Branches corresponding to Water, is found in the role of Son in the cycle of the 5 elements or phases (Wuxing), therefore in a favorable condition.
Going into more detail, the 90° direction should be understood as an angle of 30° between 75° and 105° within the Chinese Compass (Ba Gua); therefore our 2023 direction will be east.
Taking into account that the elements involved are a positive combination of Wood and Water, we will have to take care of the Water-Wood-Fire energy chain with attention to Fire which will be the outlet of Wood if this is too abundant under the pressure of the Gray Rabbit’s Water.
So let’s identify on the Ba Gua which areas of our house fall under the Water (north) and Wood (east and southeast) directions and check if colors, materials and shapes harmoniously follow the sequence of the cycle of the 5 elements, enhancing it where we realize that there are some deficiencies.
In the east, let us not lack rectangular-shaped objects, or vertical-shaped interior design elements, using materials in fabric and soft wood. In the north, on the other hand, we should try to use soft, curvilinear, wave-like shapes, avoiding obvious symmetries, and letting the imagination expand, the same way as water takes the shape of its containers.
For the Chinese New Year 2023 in particular we “charge” the 90° direction with the classic symbol of the Gray Rabbit combined with the energy of Water.
These are indications of a general nature, while as already indicated in other sections of the site, care must be taken for each house suited to the specific characteristics of the environment and its inhabitants.