Zodiacs

You are in the desert - maybe Arizona, maybe the Taklamakan. It is hot, but snakes do not perspire. This is promising: you are a fire sign and there is fire in the stem and branch bazi for the year. You have woken up near the cosmic stove and it is going to be a smorgasbord for 12 months. The Tai Sui has been sloughed off and it is time to put on your finest pair of snakeskin boots and loosen those constrictors that were tipping the scales against you last year.

Wood Snake:
03 Feb 2025 – 04 Feb 2026
04 Feb 1965 – 03 Feb 1966
Water Snake:
04 Feb 2013 – 03 Feb 2014
04 Feb 1953 – 03 Feb 1954
Metal Snake:
04 Feb 2001 – 03 Feb 2002
04 Feb 1941 – 03 Feb 1942
Earth Snake:
04 Feb 1989 – 03 Feb 1990
04 Feb 1929 – 03 Feb 1930
Fire Snake:
04 Feb 1977 – 03 Feb 1978
04 Feb 1917 – 03 Feb 1918

Fortune direction:

Northeast

Augmenting your fortune:

Four stems of lucky bamboo

Lucky number:

Lucky colour:

  Green

  Health

Nothing to swallow you whole this year. With your skeleton of hundreds of bones, you will have to admit sometimes you just need to take a break. Wild snakes can live up to 100 years and as you can digest everything except hair, feathers and claws, your areas of concern this year might not be diet related. Some snakes have their heart in their head, and if the heart is settled then the head and the body will follow.

  Wealth

Venom will all the money come? This year should offer enough showers to get those serpentine courses flowing. Whatever floats your boa, there should be chances to take. Beware of snake whisperers and strike only when the tocsin rings. You might have some unexpected expenditure to do with family this year, but you should manage to keep it all in your slide.

  Love

In Plato’s Symposium, Socrates talks about the ladder of love. This year, you get to be your own stepladder. Channel the memory of those 70 million years of having legs and you will climb that ladder quickly. Time for a little head-wiggle, then viper away any tears over the dramas of yesterday; this year should offer opportunities for many a sweet hiss for all those snake charmers.

  Career

This year the Mislaid Imp Star hovers in your professional burrow, the path ahead is unclear. We would suggest you blink to make the picture come into focus, but as you are without eyelids - that is a trick too far. However, you will also have the Fortune and Merit Star tipping the scales back in your favour. For a possible combination of higher position and remuneration, let your colleagues see to what it is that you aspire to.

Guiding hexagram from the Yi-Jing (Book of Changes)

Judgement:
The Marrying Maiden. Undertakings bring misfortune. Nothing that would further.
Image:
Thunder over the lake: the image of the Marrying Maiden. Thus, the superior man understands the transitory in the light of the eternity of the end.
The Forest of Changes:
The numinous turtle if confined to land can lose everything in a single day. On the first two occasions that Yi Yin was asked to assist in overthrowing the disorder of the Xia dynasty, he just returned to working in the fields.
Verdict:
Arthur Koestler once noted that those who openly seek power should be most ruthlessly dissuaded from ever getting it. Yi Yin bided his time and we know his name to this day. Your jaw can be dislocated in order to swallow enormous prey, yet the numinous turtle will refuse digestion. Choose carefully and this will be a fine year.

Feng Shui Index 2026 report

Year of the Fire Horse

Sorcerer: Dr James Greenbaum
Sorcerer's apprentice: Susan Zhang
Wand bearer: Orlando Hong
Director/Editor: Yukti Vidyarthi
Translation editor: Melanie Ng
Design/Art: Lizzie Lau; Anna Lai; Elva Lau; Patrina Leung; Jon Berkeley
Web development: Paul Ngan; Timothy Wang
Video production: Luna Deng
Thanks to: Priscilla Man; Ellen Lo; Qi Qi
Producer: Liz Patterson

Launched in 1992 as a Chinese New Year card, the CLSA Feng Shui Index is a light-hearted outlook for the Hong Kong market and a well-loved firm tradition. Please note that this guide is not a research report.