This work reports on accurate, high-resolution measurements of the 25Mg(n, γ)26Mg and 25Mg(n, tot) cross sections in the neutron energy range from thermal to about 300keV, leading to a significantly improved 25Mg(n, γ)26Mg parametrization. The relevant resonances for n+25Mg were characterized from a combined R-matrix analysis of the experimental data. This resulted in an unambiguous spin/parity assignment of the corresponding excited states in 26Mg. With this information experimental upper limits of the reaction rates for 22Ne(α, n)25Mg and 22Ne(α, γ)26Mg were established, potentially leading to a significantly higher (α, n)/(α, γ)ratio than previously evaluated. The impact of these results hasbeen studied for stellar models in the mass range 2 to 25 M.