2016: Year of the Fire Monkey
In the Chinese sexagenary calendar, 2016 is 丙申 — Yang Fire over the Monkey branch.
The Heavenly Stem: 丙 (Fire)
Yang Fire is the sun overhead — expressive, generous, and impossible to miss; it warms a room just by entering it.
The Earthly Branch: 申 — Year of the Monkey
The Monkey is clever and versatile — quick to find a workaround and genuinely enjoys the puzzle of figuring one out.
What 2016 holds in the sky
Computed from the same ephemeris as the charts: every date below is a position, not a prediction, and can be checked against any astronomical almanac.
Eclipses
- March 9Solar eclipse
- September 1Solar eclipse
Retrogrades
- January 5 – January 25Mercury retrograde
- April 17 – June 29Mars retrograde
- April 28 – May 22Mercury retrograde
- August 30 – September 22Mercury retrograde
- December 19 – January 8, 2017Mercury retrograde
Slow planets changing sign
- September 9Jupiter enters Libra
This is the story every Monkey year shares
The stem and branch of 2016 describe the year itself, so they read the same for everyone born into it and everyone living through it. That is the group-level half. Your own chart also weighs your exact birth date, time, and location, which is what turns this into something specific to you.
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