The Tibetan Year of the Wood-Snake began February 28. The Wood Snake in the Tibetan zodiac is believed to bring a mix of wisdom, transformation, and steady progress. The Snake symbolizes intelligence, intuition, and a calm but calculating nature. When combined with the Wood element, which represents growth, flexibility, and compassion, the year will carry themes of transformation, renewal, and strategic planning.

On the other hand, the Year of the Wood Snake can also carry challenging influences. . The Snake’s affinity for discretion and secrecy can foster hidden agendas and covert behavior. The cunning and strategic nature of the Snake can manifest as manipulative behavior or the use of deception to gain an advantage. While intelligent and intuitive, the Snake can be cold or detached. While the Snake is careful with resources, its opportunistic nature can also lead to risky ventures if decisions are based on hidden motives rather than clear analysis. The Wood element encourages growth, but it may also foster stubbornness or a competitive spirit. In environments where ambition is high, this can lead to power struggles and rivalries.

However possilbe, this year we must do our best to promote the positive qualities of the Wood Snake while boycotting its negative influences.

Vertical Prayer Flags

for Poles

Horizontal Prayer Flags on Rope

5 Print Prayer Flags for Poles

The last Wood Snake year was sixty years ago -1965. I was 19 years old then, and for me, it's interesting to look back at that year and compare it to the events unfolding now. The year 1965 was a pivotal period marked by significant social, political, and cultural events around the globe. The major stories in the US that year were the Civil Rights Movement, the Escalation of the Vietnam War, the Space Race, Cold War Tensions and major advancements in the capacity of microchips. 

Increasing frustration with systemic racism created racial tensions and urban unrest, leading to Watts riots uprisings like the Watts Riots in Los Angeles resulting in 34 deaths, thousands of arrests, and widespread property damage. The three Selma to Montgomery protest marches, seeking to secure African American voting rights, took place in 1965. These marches were pivotal in the civil rights movement and played a major role in the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. These led to the Voting Rights Act outlawing discriminatory voting practices.

 In October 1965 The Immigration and Nationality Act act abolished the restrictive national origins quota system, paving the way for a more diverse and multicultural America.

 US combat troops were introduced in Vietnam on March 8, 1965, escalating US involvement in the conflict. By the end of 1965, there were over 180,000 American soldiers stationed in Vietnam. As military involvement grew, opposition to the war intensified, with student-led demonstrations and public criticism of U.S. foreign policy emerging across the country.

  The Cold War rivalry played out through proxy conflicts, nuclear arms races, and ideological competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The U.S. and the Soviet Union continued competing for dominance in space. In March 1965, Alexei Leonov became the first human to perform a spacewalk.

  In July 1965 President Lyndon B. Johnson signed legislation establishing Medicare and Medicaid. These two major public health programs helped provide healthcare for the elderly and low-income Americans for the next sixty years. Ironically, in 2025, the present Wood Snake year these programs, as well as our entire Federal public health system, is threatened with extinction.

  Sixty years ago,1965, was important year for the tech and communications industries. Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, predicted that the doubling of transistors on integrated circuits every two years, would lead to a corresponding increase in computing power and a decrease in cost. Advances in satellite technology, including the launch of the Early Bird Satellite, officially known as Intelsat. Launched April 1965, it was the first commercial communications satellite to be placed into geosynchronous orbit which vastly improved global telecommunications.

You may draw your own conclusions but a cycle seems apparent to me. Some of the problems (plus a few more) are not only still here, but most of the legislative solutions made back then are being dismantled now, sixty years later.

A Prayer to Avert

Nuclear War

The Dzogchen Master,

H.H. Chatral Sangay Dorje (1913-2015), a most accomplished Tibetan Buddhist Yogi, wrote this special prayer to avert nuclear war. Chatral Rinpoche's spiritual consort, Sangyum Kamala, asked us to make these flags available. She said that they need to be flown in great numbers all around the world.

Each Flag is 14"x18"

Set of 5 (6' long): $14.40

Set of 10 (14' long): $21.60

Set of 25(30' long): $37.60

This 11 in x 13 in woodblock print on rice paper depicts the Tantric Master Padmasambhava. Guru Rinpoche brought the teachings or Vajrayana Buddhism from India to Tibet in the 8th century. Often referred to as the 2nd Buddha, he is a fully enlightened being who dwells in the spiritual realm called Copper-Colored Mountain.

If you'd like a chance to win this print, email me your name and address to prayerflags2@gmail.com.

Please don't forget to include your mailing address.

Congratulations to Bob Currie of Smyrna, GA Winner of February's Drawing for the Protection Yantra woodblock print.

During the 1st month of the Tibetan Year, Nagas listen to Dharma teachings. If we make offerings to the Nagas on their offering days, there will be three benefits: increased longevity, success in spiritual practice, and increased prosperity.

  If you make offerings on dok (bad) days during this month, the Nagas will perceive your offering as wild animals attacking them. This will cause them to react by attack you back. Always avoid making offerings on a dok day during the first lunar month.

Almost every day is a bad day to make offerings during this month. The ONLY day you can make offerings is on Dakini day, March 24. It is an excellent day to do Naga Pujas and to make offering to them.

Naga offerings are a practice in Buddhism that involves giving gifts to water-elemental beings called Nagas. Nagas are associated with water and are believed to live in springs, ponds, oceans, trees, rocks, mountains, and under the ground. They are believed to have the ability to control the weather, bring good fortune and wealth, and enhance fertility and positivity. Naga offering pujas (ceremonies) create balance in the environment, cure diseases, and increase health and prosperity

Naga offerings are made on days when the Nagas are awake, which are calculated using the Tibetan calendar. The days are posted in this newsletter every month and in a calendar on our website

Offerings include milk, butter, curds, sweets, silk, jewels, grains, and medicine. The offerings can be set up on an altar in ones home or near a body of water (a spring, stream, lake, etc). A Naga Puja text called “Ocean of Nectar” from Dudjom Lingpa’s “Treasury of the Vast Expanse of the Dharmata,” may be purchased from Saraswati Publications for $3. The Riwo Sangcho (Mountain of Burnt Offerings) is also a good prayer to use with the Naga Offerings.

When making the offering and recitine the prayers, practitioners should imagine that the Nagas are happy and satisfied with the offerings. 

Please send us photos of your prayer flags so we can share them.

Any size, shape and format is okay.

Email prayerflags2@gmail.com

My wife, Tsering, and I used to sell our prayer flags at arts and crafts festivals on Northern California. This photo of our booth was taken at the Southern Humboldt Summer Arts Festival at Benbow Lake in 2004.

~ Timothy

A 5 color set of 5-print (7.5 ft. tall) - Bhutanse style prayer flags

Mingyur Dorje Healing Stupa at KPC Buddhist Temple in Poolesville, MD

Links to all the previous Newsletters can be found in the Newsletters Archives.

If you have any questions, comments, or ideas for my newsletter, please write.

I will try to answer your emails.

Email me at: prayerflags2@gmail.com

Thank you for taking the time to read my newsletter.

Timothy Clark

Owner of Radiant Heart Studios