February 4, 2025 Part 2: Chinese New Year - Yin Wood Snake

 

February 4, 2025, is the first day of the Yin Wood Snake Year, which is rooted in Chinese philosophy and based on a lunar calendar. The Chinese zodiac comprises 12 animal signs, yin or yang, and the five elements, forming a 60-year cycle. 

2024 was the Yang Wood Dragon year. It ends on February 3, 2025. Following Yang Wood is Yin Wood. Dragon signifies the Yang aspect of the Earth element. Snake follows Dragon in the sequence of the twelve animals and signifies Yin Fire. Each animal is associated with one of the five elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water). 2025 the Snake, therefore, is a Yin Wood Snake Year. The previous Yin Wood Snake Years were 1965, and 1905. The next Yin Wood Snake Year will be 2085. If your birthday was in 1965, 2025 is your Golden Birthday!

Each year is linked to an associative hexagram from the I-Ching. The Yin Wood Snake corresponds to the 37th hexagram "Family".  The image is Wind, the upper trigram, over Fire, the lower trigram. This is a highly energetic hexagram and illustrates "fire stirring wind". Elevated energy states in TCM can cause deficiency, weakness, and stagnation in other regions, organs, cells, and structures.

Each year, month, and day of the year corresponds to specific patterns of disharmony that affect health. Wind is one of two trigrams linked to the Wood element. When Wind is the upper trigram in a hexagram there is weakness, deficiency, and stagnation in the Shaoyang meridians. The Wind trigram generally represents inflammatory hyperactivity in the yang meridians and organs. At the same time, there is an erratic movement of inflammatory energy. 

The Shaoyang meridians are related to the western gallbladder, lymphatic, and endocrine systems. The inflammation begins in the intestines, bladder, and kidneys during the Yin Wood Snake year. 

The Fire trigram is linked to the Fire element. When it is the lower trigram in a hexagram, blood stagnation leads to poor circulation within the blood vessels. Blood stasis here is from inflammation. Fire represents inflammation affecting the heart and its linked organs, tissues, and cells. During the Yin Wood Snake, this indicates inflammation in the intestines and hormone imbalances.

The overarching theme of the Yin Wood Snake year involves internal heat triggering internal wind. This wind is produced by heat or inflammation, which adversely affects the liver, lungs, gallbladder, and pericardium.