2023: Year of the Water Rabbit

When does 2023 begin?

• Chinese New Year (the lunar calendar): January 22, 2023.
• BaZi (the solar calendar this page uses): the Start of Spring, February 4, 2023, 10:42 a.m. Beijing time — 9:42 p.m. on February 3 Eastern, 6:42 p.m. on February 3 Pacific.

Anyone born between those two dates falls in different years under the two calendars: already the year of the Rabbit by the lunar calendar, but still the year of the Tiger in BaZi.

The Heavenly Stem: 癸 (Water)

Yin Water is the rain or the mist — gentle, intuitive, and persistent in a way that reshapes things slowly rather than all at once.

The Earthly Branch: 卯 — Year of the Rabbit

The Rabbit is gentle and diplomatic — attentive to detail and to other people's comfort, often the one who keeps a room at ease.

Which years are Rabbit years?

1939 Earth1951 Metal1963 Water1975 Wood1987 Fire1999 Earth2011 Metal2023 Water2035 Wood

Born in January or early February? In BaZi each of these years begins at the Start of Spring, around February 4. Born before it, you belong to the year before.

What 2023 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

• April 20Solar eclipse
• October 14Solar eclipse
• October 28Lunar eclipse

Retrogrades

• October 30, 2022 – January 12Mars retrograde
• December 29, 2022 – January 18Mercury retrograde
• April 21 – May 15Mercury retrograde
• July 23 – September 4Venus retrograde
• August 23 – September 15Mercury retrograde
• December 13 – January 2, 2024Mercury retrograde

Slow planets changing sign

• March 7Saturn enters Pisces
• March 23Pluto enters Aquarius
• May 16Jupiter enters Taurus
• June 11Pluto enters Capricorn