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Lunar New Year:
Yin Wood Snake
We are getting ready to enter the lunar new year of the Yin Wood Snake this week on Wednesday, January 29, 2025.
Winter is the Five Element Water time. It is time for reflection and turning inwards. It is stillness and introspection of the hibernating animals and seeds, gathering themselves for what is to come. Water supports Wood.
You might remember that Five Element Wood (which peaks in spring) is all about starting from the perspective of the seed and envisioning what you might become. It is seeing yourself as a possibility and beginning to see how you might develop and grow. This is closely related to creating new year's resolutions because you are envisioning changes that you can make for yourself in the coming new year.
We are moving into a Wood year in 2025, so this year will push us to move forward, develop ourselves, and create something new.
While in western culture snakes have many negative connotations, in other belief systems and cultures (Peruvian, American, Asian, Shamanism, and many more), they are animals of healing.
When snakes shed their skin, they regenerate themselves, releasing themselves from their old coverings and creating a new exterior--a new way that they are viewed by the world. This shows us the possibility of rebirth, regeneration, and second chances. Because they are associated with rebirth, they are also associated with dying and the underworld.
Snakes are able to slither into deep spaces and explore the dark underlying parts of our consciousness. In this way, they are often associated with gaining access to hidden knowledge, broadening understanding, and deepening wisdom.
The combination of Wood + Snake may mean a year of profound changes for many of us. But Wood Snake change does not have to be a time of dread.
Change, my friend, comes. It's happening all the time outside of you and inside of you. Your cells are turning over and being replaced by new ones. The air you breathe shifts in and out of you, being replaced by new molecules. The food you consume is transformed into your body, only to be sloughed off and turned into dust or waste.
Change is a natural process. Feel it wash over you and empower you. Feel the amazing ability of your body to convert what it is confronted with into something useful or something to be released. Feel how your mind takes in what is helpful and lets go of all those moments in the day that were part of you for a moment but don't need to be added to your long-term memory. Feel the shift and flow of your breath in and out. Stand tall in this time of change. Feel your strength and ability to love yourself into being with each breath.
There is no need to be afraid. You are here. You are strong. You can do this.
PS. If you are interested in learning more about your Ba Zi, I recommend this calculator and other resources by Marylana Los.
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