This week we welcomed the arrival of the Year of the WOOD SNAKE. The Lunar New Year zodiac rotates on a 60-year cycle, bringing unique interpretations each year of what characteristics may be energetically emphasized in our world, and in our personal lives.

I like to ponder the lessons of each zodiac animal and the element that accompanies it as I enter a new seasonal cycle. This is what I see for our year ahead:
While snakes often get a bad rap as cunning and deceptive, dangerous and ruthless, snakes are also traditionally seen as charming and wise, often placed in folklore as guardians of sacred spaces carrying divine messages (or temptations) to test our resolve.
The most fascinating and revered thing about snakes is their ability to shed their skin. Thus, our year ahead provides an incredible opportunity for renewal and transformation.
Adding the element of wood to the year, we gain flexibility, creativity and perseverance. Imagine, if you will, a snake as she ascends the long trunk of a tree. She moves methodically, purposefully, and intuitively. She reaches the high branches and gains a broad perspective that informs her actions.
A snake does not strike rashly or impulsively. No! She takes her time to pace herself, stays alert, and uses her senses to assess the wisest action. She does not falter when she needs to protect her boundaries, striking when the timing is perfect. But she also knows when to simply let go of the fight and maneuver away.
This is the year to move thoughtfully, strategically, methodically. This is the year to be patient and aware. Remain slow and calm. Play the long game. This is the year to create, build foundations, and trust in our personal and collective strengths, like forest groves.
In the spirit of the Snake, we can relinquish that which no longer serves us: including old habits, limiting beliefs, grudges and criticism, shame and blame. This is the year of our transformation. Allow it to be paced and rhythmic. Trust in your own intelligence and the kindness and support of those surrounding you.
I bought a wooden snake puzzle for students to play with in my meditation room at school. Kids ask to come in and work on it during lunch and passing periods. No one has figured out how to twist it into a cube yet, but already they are learning patience and perseverance. I told them we will take all year, if we must, to work out the solution. The power in collaborating toward our goal is also proving to lend clues as we move block by block, consolidating our knowledge and skill.
Let us all take a lesson from the wood snake this year and embrace these characteristics that I am sure will lend us clues to making the world a better place, block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood, nation by nation.
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