The Caretaker
What the Sheep has going for them in 2025 is much like any other year – the Sheep creates a hospitable beauty out of whatever is available. Having a party but you can’t afford any flowers? Just get creative. The Sheep will go and gather wild flowers from the neighborhood and before you know it you’ve got a bouquet on the table. The Sheep seems to always have a talent for making less look and feel like more because of their ideas about hospitality and beauty. Sheep are often counselors in their work and caring is a big part of what they do.
The main element of the Sheep is yin Earth, fertile and capable of producing 10,000 things. The Sheep month comes at the end of summer, a time of ripening that comes before autumn’s harvest. This is when Earth becomes strong enough to give birth. In the year of the Wood Snake, the Sheep’s already creative nature is about to be enhanced.
Sheep, you might have realized by now that I am conjuring these images because I want you to remember what you are good at. The special talents that you have are what will carry you through 2025.
For Sheep involved with the arts in any way, lean into that this year. If you’re not involved with the arts, get involved! By arts I mean those of all kinds: writing, gardening, sewing, cooking, knitting, crochet, painting, sculpting…the list goes on. Spend time around art or visit museums and craft fairs at the very least. Arts and crafts time isn’t only for children or those who are raising them. Creativity might be your cure for 2025. Incorporate art into your work wherever you can.
To make 2025 more satisfying, you could also lean into this metaphor and apply it to your work which is making people feel warm and welcomed with the so called “little things”. Little things are what life is made of; expressions of affection and joy. The Sheep is meant to call others to join the parade of life, not lead a death march. Realistic optimism is welcome! It’s time to move on from grimness. This advice may be specific to 1955 Wood Sheep Kris Jenner, Kelsey Grammer and Bill Gates.
Being alone is never a happy place for a Sheep, and I mention this because in 2025 you might feel that way. Is it that your work (family?) gets in the way of other relationships that you enjoy more? Remember that you are not alone, you do have a choice about these things, and you can’t be everything for anyone all the time. You are allowed to have needs too. The way to work with this unsettling energy of the Wood Snake year is to be a part of a support network. You may need the support, or you may be called to support others depending on your Ba Zi. Either way, there’s strength in numbers. Don’t neglect your kinships. Not all of them depend on blood.
I know some Sheep who took my 2024 recommendation to work with Snake energy last year and I have to say, they had some good results, especially with job hunting. If you started cultivating your relationship in 2024 with a person you want to be your new boss in 2025, I think you might reap rewards from that. People who began working with AI last year may also find that helpful for finding employment in 2025. I’m not a huge fan of AI – I’m just calling it like I see it.
The Wood Snake year is going to be challenging for the Sheep. The same yin Wood that is on the top of the year pillar has the potential to crack the Sheep open so to speak. When it comes to your own power and agency, you may need to guard against self harm, conscious or unconscious. Before you get too worried, remember that all of these outcomes are potential, which means they are susceptible to being changed by your choices. What did you learn or not learn in 2015? If this is a similar opportunity for you to learn how and when to say no, take it. That will make it easier for all the next times. These patterns keep repeating you know. I know you know how to say no.
The process that Sheep are beginning in 2025 has a completion in 2027. You may not understand 2025 that way until you’re looking back from the perspective of 2028. Since I’m talking to you Sheep, I want to emphasize that I’m not saying this is the beginning of a hell ride. I’m saying this year is the start of many major changes in your life.
It might help to remember that we all have a destiny and what happens is what was meant to be all along. Connect and reconnect to people and places that are important to you. Do the small things. Remind people that you love them. In short, do what you always do – intentionally. If this sounds negative to you, I hope you know that of course life is always a mix of what we want and what we don’t want. It’s our preferences that shape our perspective, therefore if you can let go of them or be more flexible, you will find an easier path. This is how we can work with timing.
For Sheep who are feeling distracted, forgetful or foggy in 2025, you’re in good company. Let’s remove the stigma from that and get practical. Many of us now have different abilities than we had prior to 2020, but we can also take measures ahead of time to help ourselves find misplaced or lost items. You might put an airtag in your wallet or purse, or note where you parked before you leave your car. Establish a place where you keep important items and try to always return them there. Label things. Set reminders for yourself. No solution is one hundred percent effective but try to find one that works most of the time for you if brain fog is a problem.
For those who were born in a Sheep year, it may be one of your elders who needs help with memory and guarding valuables. Make a point to check in with older generations of family and help to support their well being. Visit them when they need help, but also when there is no emergency so that you can simply enjoy each other. Be careful of your health and theirs – avoid opportunistic infections and take precautions.
Check your environment and theirs for trip hazards or things that might fall from a high place. If there are heavy things hanging over the bed, or the head of the bed you might want to change that. Sleeping with your headboard on a wall under a window is another Feng Shui no no. In the case of someone who is spending lots of time in bed due to illness, they may benefit from putting the bed in a different position. Sometimes you might even consider relocating them to a different bedroom temporarily. If you’d like to know more about that, get in touch. I can help.
To make the year go more smoothly, respond rather than react when you can. Your responses (or lack of reaction?) in 2025 can calm difficult situations. In case of conflict, let the energy be spent, rather than trying to block it or counter it. Let the truth settle things. This will put you in a stronger position and you will be able to bring matters to a more satisfying conclusion. This is one of the best assets you have this year so use it unsparingly!
It’s likely the Sheep will be called to travel this year, and it might feel unavoidable. If you don’t want to travel, there are ways to dissipate that energy. In this year especially, I want Sheep to remember that so much of our luck can be changed by our focus.
As for money and investments, the Sheep will do well to avoid financial risks this year. Again, this may apply to other people in your family as well as you. You probably already know who might need your loving supervision with organizing, paperwork and other mundane yet important things. Helping them will make a big difference in their perception of any possible outcome. It will for you too. Remember that time will change everything. I mean, you’re riding the wheel up. This Year of the Wood Snake is part of the ride.