The lunar Year of the Snake began on January 29. What might we expect to happen to us, to our leaders and to our world during the next 10 lunar months?
Fortunately, we have a diagnostic tool which can help us uncover just how yin and yang will affect our lives during the coming year. It is the ancient Chinese text of the Yijing. The Yi, as it is called, consists of 64 sets of lines, six each, called hexagrams. Lines are either solid as a proxy for yang forces or broken as a proxy for yin forces.
Now, one can correlate each lunar year with a hexagram, so that analysis of that hexagram brings insight into the action probabilities and possibilities inherent in that year. The analysis can help us better place our energies and avoid contrary or unhelpful circumstantial modalities.
Last year, I sent my predictions for 2024 based on my reading of the Yijing hexagram applicable to that lunar year. My predictions were vindicated by events:
I predicted that 2024 “will reward vitality with success. Those with courage, tenacity, confidence and enthusiasm will do well. To me, this bodes well for Donald Trump in the forthcoming American November election, but not for Joe Biden. Trump is all energy and action. Biden is more and more slowing down.”
But I cautioned that 2024 “speaks to stalwartly taking a new direction, after recognizing the need to shift course in order to succeed, a breakthrough ending a long period of tensions. It infers that being decisive and resolute will lead to success. In the American presidential election, again, this environment would seem to favor Trump, the challenger, over Biden, an incumbent. Yet, will Trump provide a “sincere and truthful” message which will align with yang priorities? Or will he pout and focus on himself, which are behaviors and casts of mind more aligned with yin attributes and so be out of sync with the times?”
I correctly predicted the election results of our Senate and House of Representatives: “I do not see either major American political party “riding the dragon” to capture majorities in the Senate or the House of Representatives, each party having a yang deficit in the caliber of its candidates – too much posturing and not enough courage. The two major political parties would do well to heed the insights of hexagram 43 and concentrate on changing their ways of petty factionalism and grifting to speak to the great purposes of the American experiment in ordered liberty and to what Lincoln called “the better angels of our nature.”
In international affairs, I predicted more weakening and fragmentation of the post-World War II order centered on the United Nations and respect for international law. I noted that “The European Union will be challenged to “break” with its current ennui” and that Palestinians should break with their past demand for unilateral authority to rule the territory “from the river to the sea” and reach out to Jews, with the mercy and compassion called for in Quran.”
I noted that “Putin is already in a yang mode of resolute determination, so his position will not weaken” and that “2024 will not be fortuitous for Xi Jinping in China.
I concluded by asking “whether the innovative and creative yang qualities of AI will bring widespread adoption of that technology” and we ended lunar year 2024 with news of DeepSeek in China making AI more affordable for all.
Lunar year 2025 is a year of the wood snake.
One Chinese astrologer asserts that people born in the Year of the Snake have these special characteristics: they are self-respecting and steadfast. Therefore, external voices won’t shake their resolve. They’re goal-oriented and while they don’t often appear outwardly passionate, they’re blessed with a keen intuition and ample inspiration, making them very creative.
But, for consistent weaknesses, they are emotionally detached and can, at times, seem cold or selfish. Others distrust them, as they seem to be calculating and only concerned with their own welfare and snakes distrust others in return.
These predilections, to some extent, will influence everyone during this Year of the Snake. Thus, they augur well for the continued efficacy of Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping – each of whom display snake characteristics – steadfast in seeking their chosen goals, not listening to others, not trusted by those others for their self-centeredness and so ever distrusting all others.
For 2025, the Yijing hexagram is #44:
The lower three lines represent the powers of earth and the upper three lines – all yang – invoke the powers of Heaven. Earth is under Heaven, as it should be. But Heaven and earth complement each other to make a whole. Thus, the advantage during 2025 will go to those who encounter others, meet together, collaborate and couple.
Now, the lowest line is a yin line seeking to rise up, but confronts five yang lines. The implication is that, during 2025, yin energies will fail to overcome yang energies. Yin energy will be efficacious if it is bold and strong, coupling with yang energies. But yang energies too must be bold and strong to give the world good governance. Great and significant things can be accomplished in 2025.
The successful this year will rise about their personal fixations and self-referential desires to take advantage of primal forces. There is a preference for inspiration, for being energized, but with the mind giving leadership to the body. There is a hint of the unexpected that will bring forth opportunities that can be seized and turned to advantage. One should not seek to profit by greedily grasping at opportunity. Take big problems and deal with them piece by piece, one decision at a time. Use what is moving – blowing in the wind – in the present. Stand firm and spread out to the four directions what is functional and fateful. Be correct, in the center, not one-sided, biased or extreme.
So, what to expect?
The fissiparous nature of the world order will frustrate the emergence of leaders with the necessary yang energies to respond to the times with alliances and collaborations. We can expect petty squabbles, petulance, disobliging, stubborn, recalcitrant, beggar-thy-neighbor policies and decisions from all quarters. This will hinder ending the wars in Ukraine and between the Palestinians and the Jews of Israel.
In the U.S., President Trump, personally in line with yang energies, will find himself checked internationally by an unwillingness to see things his way or meet his demands. He would be better served if he backed away from threats and punitive responses which use yin and spread his concern and compassion for others far and wide, being a partner, not a boss. He should think of himself as a kind and gentle wind blowing freely everywhere to bring hope of change through team spirit to everyone. He should think big and wholesomely about moving Heaven and earth for the good of all.
In a very consequential mistake, going against this lunar year’s auspicious energy flows, was Trump’s decision in early February to impose tariffs on American imports from Canada and Mexico. The Canadians and Mexicans immediately retaliated, setting off a trade war that will raise hard feelings, provoke anger and resentment and prevent collaboration. Going against the yin/yang balance of this Year of the Snake will make it harder for Trump to get his way and so confront him with a loss of power and influence.
Domestically, Trump will achieve more, as he has a team in place and he engages with them, allocating responsibilities for results to others. He is taking advantage of their willingness to work together on an agenda. His opponents – symbolized by the first line denoting yin energy – will be unable to obstruct him. The more he reaches out and engages (“couples,” as the hexagram says) with others, the more he will be successful. The more he tries to impose his will on others, the less he will accomplish. It is a year set to reward coalition building and finding the middle ground, giving advantages to all parties.
The Democratic Party, resting in the first line of the hexagram, will not get its act together. They are out of sync with the times. They have lost sight of Heaven and earth and are so prevented from using the great powers of those realms to further their aspirations and their efficacy. As Proverbs 28:19 tells us, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”
The advantage will be to the small, the innovative, the trusting and the trustworthy, in the economy – not the behemoths of the great corporations. AI will assist collaborations, as it makes useful for small businesses and entrepreneurs data multiplied by data. Those who stand aside or refuse to align their efforts will stagnate or fail. The flow of forces should moderate inflation and keep equity markets optimistic. However, there will be no success in reducing debt levels.
I do not see reforms in American education, reversing recent trends of declining competence in reading, writing, mathematics and the ability to think rationally and effectively. Fixations on “my truths” and lack of respect for merit will prevent schools, colleges and universities from engaging with and inspiring their students to benefit from primal energies and soar in their ability and their aspirations. Those institutions too are stuck in the first line of the hexagram – a yin-bounded view towards life, cut off from greater yang possibilities.
Stephen B. Young is Global Executive Director of the Caux Round Table for Moral Capitalism.
It will be a test of the genius built into our Constitution.