We welcome the Year of the Rabbit from January 22, 2023 to February 9, 2024. If Year of the Ox was about building anew and grounding ourselves in a new reality, with hard work and clear intuition; and Year of the Tiger was about big changes, and risk taking; Year of the Rabbit will be a gentler year, full of hope. The rabbit represents peace, longevity, and prosperity in Chinese culture, and people born in a Rabbit year are thought to be vigilant, witty, quick-minded, and innovative, as well as skillful, kind, and patient. Their refinement further attracts others and makes them want to emulate the rabbit’s grace. In this way, Rabbit can make friends in both high and low places and their positive influence for all who meet them belies its meek appearance.
We have been through exceedingly tumultuous times in recent years and been asked to trust and take risks, as well as to start looking out for more than just ourselves. Now, in Year of the Rabbit, we learn what seeds we have planted will grow. A rabbit year will favor efforts in diplomacy and peace over conflict and will encourage others to join in the peace-making. Peace, after all, must start in each of our own hearts. Rabbit can lead the way. In a Water year, the Rabbit’s empathic powers are extra potent, yielding intuitive insight and stamina to navigate through most any obstacle or conflict without losing its serene composure.
Where Tiger was the ultimate yang energy, Rabbit is the ultimate yin. Supremely intuitive and a natural-born mediator, Rabbit offers us the gift of intuition and persuasive powers, as well, to meet both the opportunities and the trials the year will bring. Guard against the weak side of the Rabbit, which can hesitate or cling to conservative ideas to the point of self-sabotage, leading to missed opportunities; or become cynical, authoritarian, and self-pitying over past perceived wrongs. The best of the Rabbit knows better than that.
My first paintings to kick off Year of the Rabbit are the ones above; Galloping Hare, Cotton Tail, Loping Hare, and Bunny in the Vegetables. Visit Year of the Rabbit in the Chinese Zodiac shop for these and more options.