This work reports on accurate, high-resolution measurements of the 25Mg(n, gamma )26Mg and 25Mg(n, tot) cross sections in the neutron energy range from thermal to about 300 keV, leading to a significantly improved 25Mg(n, gamma )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(alpha, n)25Mg and 22Ne(alpha, gamma )26Mg were established, potentially leading to a significantly higher (alpha, n)/(alfa, gamma ) ratio than previously evaluated. The impact of these results has been studied for stellar models in the mass range 2 to 25 MSolar.