Animal Forecast 2015: 6. Serpent Uncertainty, outlook for the Snake in 2015
Who is a Snake?
Years: 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001.
Month*: May
Hour: 09:00 am – 11.00am
Day: ask us
* Caution: the start of the Chinese month can be as early as the 4th & as late as the 9th, depending on the year. I can let you know this too.
What is a Snake?
The balanced or mature Snake has absolute integrity; this is the goal to strive for.
Snake is yin fire and sits flanked by Horse and the Dragon, possibly the most powerful pair of animals in the Zodiac and certainly among the most difficult stools to fall between. So a typical weakness of the Snake is indecision. Next to that is lack of commitment and finally a propensity for sudden and uncharacteristic dishonesty. The Snake is the prisoner who breaks at the threat of torture; a reasonable decision if you know you’re going to give in anyway. Snakes being of Candle Flame fire, are easily discouraged and sometimes they should be. A Snake may even stick long term with an inappropriate choice so as to put off making any choice at all.
The most written about Snake in 2014 was probably Xi Jinping, born in Snake in the Grass year 1953 and appointed at a time when the internal tensions in China – between efficiency and self-expression, between industrial wealth and rural poverty and between cohesion and corruption – have never been so stark. Repetitive tasks for cheap labour have been travelling East from Europe since the 18th century. Once the last few hundred million Chinese have been urbanised, there’s nowhere else for manufacture to go because growth can’t go on forever. This is the conundrum that faces Xi. The smartest and bravest Snakes confront it head on, the typical Snake pretends there’s no issue and proceeds to “reform”. Do not deceive yourself that the Chinese authorities are no longer imprisoning the innocent without trial or protecting those of the corrupt who can be discreet.
Nonetheless the Snake remains the seeker after truth. This can mean that an immature or unbalanced one is a purveyor of pork pies. The balanced or mature Snake, as I said, has absolute integrity. But meanwhile what you see may not be what you get. Taking into account the Umbrella sit-ins in Hong Kong and a push-me-pull-you approach to liberal reforms, you might well say that about Mr Xi. Compare perhaps with triple 1953 Snake (year, month, day) Tony Blair.
So the choice for the Snake is between opposites: the extroversion of the Horse and the subtlety of the Dragon, instinct and logic, process and end product, long and short term, relationship and freedom, employment or entrepreneurship. In the face of this dilemma, a balanced Snake will often develop sufficient charm to get through without having to make the hard decisions. Typically in a relationship, the Snake of either gender is not the decision maker and the decisions she has not made may include that of being committed to the relationship. The partner of the Snake (best choice probably Ox or Rooster though Monkey lady and Snake man works well) would be well-advised to drag at least this minimum communication from the Snake early on. Interestingly the water Snake of 1953 is one of the best makers and keepers of relationship of all 60 pillars.
One of the advantages of being between the autocratic Dragon and the unruly Horse is that the Snake has her ego in check. Many would consider her wise because what she has to say is well-considered and she never says too much. The Snake can be a brilliant collaborator, especially with the Ox and the Rooster who are in a sense similar to her two neighbours: the Rooster is blatant and the Ox determined while the Snake anchors them to each other. There may be moments of doubt when the Snake’s loyalty wavers. At such times, the Snake asks searching questions which should have been settled long ago and then usually re-commits. The high minded Brutus was probably a Snake. Not Judas though. To know this, grants the Snake both power and integrity. Snakes who know themselves earn undying trust.
The Snake can also work with the Dragon in what is called the House of Magic. Only the Snake can subordinate ego to the extent that the Dragon demands, while also keeping up. One ideal vocation for a Snake is high-level p.a. Usually (and wisely) the Snake opts for the role of No 2 rather than Big Chief.
Being substantially of yin fire, the Snake often has intellectual and visual gifts. She makes a good critic as her judgement is good and she is not out to destroy egos. She will generally have natural and effortless style.
The Snake’s relationship with the Monkey is of the love-hate variety. Both have hands-on and logical ability and both attract the occasional tussle but where the Monkey welcomes the opportunity for mischief, the Snake treats dispute as a necessary and regrettable evil. When a Tiger appears either in the form of a Tiger-born person or a Tiger year like 2010, this misunderstanding can turn nasty. In a Sheep year, however, the issues are very different.
The Snake is opposed to the Pig and as both of these are members of the informal group sometimes called the Four Terminals, they can impede each other’s movement. Snakes may develop mobility issues in a Pig year (or month) and vice versa.
The Snake prefers a short menu and yes/no questions. In a Rat year the Snake may be overwhelmed; there is just too much choice, The Snake’s dreams may come true only for her to run in the opposite direction. Often communication has to be wrenched from the Snake and in the water years of Rat and Pig there is little support for the tight-lipped. In a typical Ox year there is just enough water but not too much. This makes scope for just the restricted level of communication the Snake prefers.
Snakes have a complex relationship with fire. They are not usually sun-worshippers but often their skin needs just a little regular sun and without it they may fall prey to easily avoided ailments such as vitamin D deficiency. A Wood Sheep year offers less fire than the Horse. You’ll have to seek it out. Now read on.
Snake in Wood Sheep Year.
Stars include: yik ma, yeung yan.
You’re restless.
Traditionally the Sheep year is a stretch for the Snake; in fashion the Snake struggles to keep up to date, in politics, old mistakes return to incriminate. Domestically the Snake learns that (s)he has a great deal to learn. This year the Snake has to step up in order to hang onto what (s)he values most highly. A good deal of change may be called for. You may be called upon to actually make that move you’ve been resisting; that’s what the yik ma star signifies.
2014 will have been helter-skelter; you simply had to tack into wind or sink. But 2015 is the year of gathering; what you will gather yourself will principally be the reward or fallout from 2014. There is something very simple about this. It’s kind of black-and-white. The Snake however is multi-coloured. To you there may well be something suspect about simplicity. When Tony Blair claimed to be “a pretty straight kind of guy,” he simply (and perhaps even honestly) did not know what he was talking about. His was the Snake’s eye view. Having mutually contradictory explanations for diametrically opposed views held simultaneously is no one else’s idea of straight. You’re a Snake too.
It’s a 3 year which favours a man’s aspirations unlike last year which honoured those of the female. The qualities called for are robust and unsubtle; not so much the Snake’s cup of tea. This year the simple truth rules. But your view that there’s generally something underneath whatever is presented is not a foolish one. 2015 promises to be the year in which major concerns about freedoms and fairness are swept back under the carpet and your enquiring, nay suspicious nature is an important counterpoint. Keep asking questions. Be dissatisfied with the answers just as long as you are dissatisfied with the answers. The Sheep year is a vintage year for the suspicious.
And the Snake is above all the seeker after truth. In 2015 the powers-that-be are shameless and they need robust questioning. Whether it’s about desecrating the Earth – 2015 is the year of fracking and shale-exploitation – or setting us upon each other to shift focus from their own shenanigans, this year authority needs questioning. Truth needs to be told to power like never before. And the Snake is the one to do it.
The Horse year of 2014 may have found you spoilt for choice. Among other things the Horse is your Peach Blossom and may have brought you romance. Now you have to turn that into something more lasting but you may have to move – in a variety of senses, including the geographical. This may be the first time you have been called to risk everything. And amid all this you may find yourself not only moving house but job and possibly country too. So much earlier than you planned.
Health: possible weight gain. Thyroid. Accidents are possible; the conventional prophylaxis is to have your teeth professionally cleaned and/or donate blood.
Money: not the main issue.
Relationship: steady if you are.
Feng Shui: seek and activate or occupy the Dragon at SE1 (ESE).
Readers’ Digest Version: simultaneously disorienting, grounding and full of promise
Richard Ashworth©, early in the month of the Tiger, 2015.