Dimitry Referee, Margarita Referee - Tibetan Horoscope 2025: Year of the Wood Snake

Tibetan astrology consists of two large interrelated sections – "black" and "white". This duality is due to the geographical location of Tibet, its borders with China and India. "Black astrology", or astrology of the elements, developed in close connection with China. "White astrology", or astrology of the stars, developed under the influence of Indian teachings.

The Tibetan horoscope for 2025, presented in this book, is based on the astrology of the elements. To get the most out of the horoscope, you need to know three concepts of Tibetan astrology, briefly discussed in this Chapter:

– the 5 Elements,

– the 12 Animals,

– the 5 personal forces.

The Tibetan calendar is based on a sixty-year cycle. It appeared along with a translation into Tibetan of the Kalachakra Tantra in 1027, the year of the Fire Hare.

The year 2025 of the Wood Snake is part of a cycle that began in 1987. Each year of the cycle is associated with one of the twelve Animals and one of the Five Elements. (If you multiply 12 by 5, you will get a 60-year cycle.)

To find your Animal and your Element go to the Chapter "How to identify your Animal and your Element".

The Tibetan 12-year cycle is "ruled" by twelve Animals: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Hare, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Bird, Dog, and Pig. In various Eastern astrological traditions, the list of animals may vary, but in Tibetan astrology, it is defined in accordance with the legend. Buddha wanted to see and to bless all animals before attaining the final liberation of parinirvana, but only 12 animals came and they came in the order in which they now alternate in a 12-year cycle starting with Rat.

Animals are universal multivalued symbols. In particular, they determine the personal characteristics that a person receives. The general psychological portrait of the 12 Animals can be found in the corresponding chapters of this book.

Tibetan astrological tanka, XIX century

The Five Elements are potencies, dynamic principles, qualities of cosmic energy or matter: Wood – Fire – Earth – Metal – Water. One should not understand these symbols literally. For example, Woodis not a tree, it is the potency of growth and development. Elements have the following characteristics:

– Wood is vitality, growth, creation,

– Fire is an upward movement, heat, passion, joy,

– Earth is stability, fertility, heaviness, concreteness,

– Metal is hardness, coldness, purity, sharpness,

– Water is the moisture, flowability, penetration, cold, night.

All Elements interact with each other. It can be represented as a diagram:

External arrows show the productive cycle: Fire produces Earth, Earth – Metal, Metal – Water, Water – Wood, Wood – Fire.

Internal dashed arrows show the controlling cycle: Fire controls (suppresses) Metal, Metal – Wood, Wood – Earth, Earth – Water, Water – Fire.

Each year has its own set of qualities and Elements. Each person has a set of characteristics corresponding to the year of birth. Knowing the basic principles of interaction of Elements (production and suppression) you can compare the quality of the coming year with the quality of the year of birth of a person and predict how favorable the coming year will be.

Each individual has five powers, the nature of which is determined according to the year of his birth. These five forces are as follows:

Vitality, life force (Sok). It’s the power of life that makes a person alive. It is the inner life energy of a person that resides in his heart. Weak Sokis a danger to life.

Body, health (Lü). It is the strength and energy of body health, it’s physique, physical strength, and bodily well-being. It is, figuratively speaking, a vessel for life. Our vital energy (Sok)depends on the integrity of this vessel, depends on the health of the body, because our life force can flow out of the body due to diseases and injuries.

Strength, power (Wang thang). This is the potential of personal power, with which a person can achieve goals, shape his financial situation and manage life circumstances. A strong wang thanggives us the ability to effectively use our talents and opportunities, skillfully manage our time, avoid injury, achieve wealth and prosperity.

Fortune (Lung ta). Literally, Lung tais translated as "wind horse". It is the energy of luck that attracts favorable situations, circumstances, and money. It brings us success and a good reputation, it is also a spiritual path.Lung tais the movement of energy through the human body, it is the harmonization and strengthening of the three above-mentioned forces: vitality, health, and strength. When our internal energies are in harmony with the external energies, then fortune becomes our natural companion.

Life-soul (La). It is the spirit orthe soul, but it is not the soul in the Christian sense, it’s the soul that binds together all the components of a person, giving integrity and interest in life. It is the immunity. Laproduces Sok(life force). This means that the Element of La-soulis always in the mother's relationship with Sok-vitalitythat resides in the heart. For example, if the Element of life-soul is Fire, then the Element of vitality will be Earth because Fire produces Earth. Lais very mobile and moves through an individual’s energy channels during the lunar cycle.