On January 29, 2025 The Mythical Dragon passes the torch to the Snake and together we welcome the YEAR OF THE WOOD SNAKE
In the Chinese zodiac, the snake is associated with wisdom, charm, elegance, and transformation. People born in the Year of the Snake are believed to be intuitive, strategic, and intelligent. In Chinese culture the snake symbolizes wisdom and agility, flexibility and tolerance, vitality and change.
Throughout history snake years have brought on dynamic change. Pivotal and momentous passages not just within the individual but on the collective plane. Expansion met with violent backlash. Uprisings for peace on the behalf of the dismantling of oppression. The collapse of systems and increase of military involvement.
This Lunar New Year we are in line with a more favorable energy known as “double spring” The first occurrence on February 3, 2025 and the second on February 4, 2026 with the year of the snake ending on February 16, 2026. Spring represents new life and fresh starts. When there are two springs in a year it is believed to amplify blessings.
Around the globe, the serpent carries potent symbolism
Snakes are often connected with cycles of birth, death, and rebirth, and are also related to fertility, creation, destruction, and sacred knowledge. They are sometimes regarded as protective deities and related to health and medicine. Symbolic of creation and fertility.
Among the most prominent deities in Mesoamerican cultures, Quetzalcoatl, or “Feathered Serpent,” was a mix of bird and rattlesnake. The Aztec god of wind and rain, as well as learning, agriculture and science, Quetzalcoatl was said to have played a key role in the world’s creation.
To the Hopi people of North America, the snake symbolizes the umbilical cord, joining all people to Mother Earth. For thousands of years, members of the Hopi tribe have performed the ritual known as the Snake Dance. During the multi-day ritual, which is aimed at encouraging rainfall and fertility for the land, male dancers from the Snake Clan put live snakes ranging from small garter snakes to rattlesnakes in their mouths and around their necks. The snakes are gathered carefully and bathed before the ceremony, much of the lengthy ceremony takes place in ceremonial kivas, allowing its most sacred aspects to remain mysterious.
Powerful, Yet Misunderstood
It has forever been in human nature to exaggerate the lethality of animals, regardless of whether or not the animal is actually deadly or even poisonous. Few non-human animals provoke strong feelings the way that snakes do. For millennia, world cultures and religions have developed elaborate symbolism, myths, and stories revolving around the snake. While it is true that snakes generally do not prey on humans, many people remain fearful and seek to actively avoid serpents.
Snakes are a sign of transformation in your spiritual growth. Prepare to awaken all of your senses, and allow your spiritual knowing to expand. It’s a time to shed old beliefs, habits, and possessions that are getting in the way of your progress. Snake comes to us at a time of great change, however it is up to us to decipher its personal message to us. It is change both on the horizon and change that is already present. This is a time of expansion of the mind and spirit. This is a year of transformation and awakening. A reminder to stay grounded and in touch with the magic of the natural world, in doing so we always offer respect for the gifts of nature and its role in our spiritual awakening.
Snakes have poor eyesight and hearing and rely on their other senses for survival and information. This is a good year to get in touch with your instincts and to learn to trust them, to have discernment about who and what to stay away from, to have better boundaries. It’s time to make better judgments about your life and make healthier decisions. Listen to your heart and never ignore your intuitive nudges. To truly know snake it requires fear, reverence and respect.
THE METAMORPHOSIS OF A SNAKE
Unlike many amphibians snakes do not undergo dramatic bodily transformations from one stage of life to the next. Instead their process is a slow and gradual maturation. The outgrowing of their skin allows them to accommodate their new size and remove the old and unwanted. This process continues throughout their lives and is dependent on their environment and what it provides for them.
Snakes remind us to go slowly and feel out our environments and then to make the necessary changes we need to in order to improve and expand. A symbol for potential personal growth, change, and transformation.
Instead of resisting change, the snake can gently remind you that change is inevitable and a natural part of life. When you release anything that no longer serves you, you embrace new beginnings and opportunities in your life, both physically and spiritually
The snake strikes at opportunities with precision. When we choose a path to follow, it’s important to choose the precise path that is right for each of us. When we have an opportunity to open our awareness or expand our path, we should do so with clear and focused intention. Our beliefs are powerful, and it’s important to understand that everything has a positive and negative side. Therefore, we should always focus on the path while being aware of the negative—giving both positive and negative each a healthy respect. Overall a great year with potential for personal and collective growth, change, and transformation.
Wisdom, elegance, transformation, adaptability, intuition, keen observation
In many cultures, the snake is revered as a symbol of wisdom, ancient knowledge, and intuition. They are a powerful example of the interconnectedness of all things.
“ A skin is like an identity we have created in our mind, and clinging to it after it’s served its purpose prevents us from growing in a new direction. Every time we detach from something in this life, we are in a position to resurrect ourselves and make our life something new” -Don Jose Ruiz
A shout out to my teacher.
I couldn’t write about snakes with out a shout out to Tom Wyant, who has made it his life mission to protect the rattlesnakes of New Mexico. This summer I completed Tom’s course and became certified as a safe capture and release volunteer for Northern New Mexico.
“Snakes aren’t the problem; people are,” he said, adding that his interest in protecting snakes was first piqued when he moved out West and witnessed the reptiles being mistreated. “You wouldn’t believe the things that people do to these animals,”… Just unimaginable things.”
People who love snakes appreciate Wyant. I am one of these people, and learning from Tom was an experience I will never forget.
Quote from an article about Tom in The Santa Fe New Mexican 2018
