'All that glitters is not gold,
And even serpents shine...'
The Only Ones
Rather than greet Chinese New Year with fireworks and music to drive off the demons hanging around from the previous year, I stayed mostly inside where it was quiet and tranquil. This is because I have learned in recent months that the New Moon favours introspection, and the Chinese New Year commences with the first New Moon after January 21st. My strategy worked, in that I had a quiet and creative time, whereas others were reporting chaos on the roads, perhaps the demons having a last fling?
That we have entered the Year of the Snake has given trepidation to some, particularly given recent events in world politics. I haven't sought out any predictions regarding what this means, but did reflect somewhat on my own experiences with snakes, including those born in those years, and checked my hefty Chinese Zodiac tome which has been with me for over thirty years now. At a glance, phrases occur such as: 'jealous, obstinate, does not listen to a word anyone says to them', but also 'reflective, organised, alert and wise', 'adores ornamentation'... I thought of people I've personally known born in the Year of the Snake, and suspect I've been lucky enough that they embodied mostly the better aspects of their character, though also having seductive qualities that could be used to their own ends. It all comes down to how you handle it.
This leads me always to reflect on the kundalini, the 'serpent power' that resides at the base of the spine. The lower 'chakras' in the spine are focused on survival, sex, birth and death; then as the energy rises, with more awareness in the individual, it reaches the higher chakras such as the Third Eye and Crown. It is the same energy - transformed. Denying that we have these 'lower' urges denies us the source of our total energy right at the start. We all have it, it's just a question of what we do with it. At the risk of confusing metaphors, I feel the oft-quoted Native American aphorism to be apt: that we have a mean dog and a good dog inside each one of us - how we become, depends on which dog we choose to feed. One can infer what one wishes from this, viewing how certain world leaders behave, that they may simply be expressing the base energies of serpent power. Which we all have.
In Feng Shui, weather ch'i is seen as the intermediary between earth and sky ch'i. I wrote a couple of blogs ago about the 'dragon's back' spanning the north of Plymouth. Dragons and serpents are interchangeable in geomancy, and so I was very impressed one evening at seeing what looked like a snake sliding across the sky directly in line with the dragon's back. The picture here doesn't do it full justice, but there was a definite sense of awe and power in its appearance. Whereas religions often seek to repress, slay, the dragon, geomancers seek to befriend it, thus bringing the gift of transformation to both parties.
And so we always have a choice with the Snake. We can choose to focus on fear, deception, viciousness, greed, vanity and self-interest. Or we can choose to transform all of those by focusing on beauty and wisdom.
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