2025: The Year of the Yin Wood Snake

In Chinese astrology, the zodiac year begins at 立春 (Lichun, the start of spring) — typically around February 4th of the Gregorian year. People born between January 1 and Lichun 2025 actually belong to the previous animal year. Lunar New Year (mid-Jan to mid-Feb) is the cultural new year, but Bazi practitioners use Lichun for chart calculations.

It depends on your zodiac and your full Bazi chart. Some animals find Snake energy supportive (三合 / 六合 — harmonious combinations), some find it confronting (六冲 / 三刑 — clash and friction), and most are somewhere between. The 12-animal table above gives the broad outlook; for a personalized read, your Bazi chart is the deeper layer.

The zodiac year names the animal of the earthly branch (巳 = Snake). The Bazi year-pillar names the full stem-branch (乙巳 = Yi Si), which adds the heavenly stem's element. The zodiac is one slice; the Bazi year-pillar is the full picture.

Clash years (本命年 for the same animal, 冲太岁 for the opposite animal) are traditionally seen as years of friction — change, movement, accelerated lessons. They are not "bad" years; they are years that ask you to grow on a tighter timeline. Move slowly, sign nothing impulsively, take care of your health, and lean on grounding people.

Each animal has favorable months based on the year-month branch dynamics (combine, support, clash, or deplete). The 12-month strip above links to each month's detailed horoscope where the timing for each animal is unpacked.

2025 is the year of the Snake — more precisely the Yin Wood Snake (Yi Si, 乙巳). The animal returns every 12 years, but the full stem-branch pairing returns only every 60: the last Yin Wood Snake year was 1965.

Chinese New Year 2025 falls on January 29, 2025, and the Snake year runs until February 16, 2026. In Bazi the year pillar turns a little earlier, at 立春 (Lichun) on February 3, 2025.