Water Rabbit (癸卯): personality and meaning in the Chinese zodiac

Character

癸卯 sets 癸, yin water, the rain, over the Rabbit's wood. Water nourishes wood, so the tradition reads this as a pair in which the stem feeds its branch: spring rain on a young garden, quiet care that makes everything grow.

The tradition reads those born in a Water Rabbit year as gentle, perceptive and deeply empathetic, with a rich inner life and an imagination that flows easily into art. They sense moods before they are named. The tradition's shadow for the Water Rabbit is absorbing so much of others' feeling that it loses track of its own, and a shyness that can keep its gifts out of sight.

In love and at work

In love the Water Rabbit is read as devoted, intuitive and tender, a partner who understands without being told. At work it suits counselling, the arts, writing, healing and any work requiring sensitivity. The tradition suggests the Water Rabbit set aside time that belongs only to itself.

A question to take with you

How do you tell your own feelings apart from the ones you pick up from others?