Welcome to the Month of the Snake!
The New Moon on May 8th welcomes the 4th lunar month of the Chinese agricultural calendar - the month of the Snake. The old saying “April showers bring May flowers” perfectly captures the symbol of the Snake and this time of the year, which is all about Transformation. If the Dragon month of April sets the stage, during the Snake month of May we get to sit back and watch the dynamic processes set in motion last month continue to play out.
In the Month of the Snake, we witness the transformation that arises from the symbiotic relationships of plants, animals, and environment on the outside, and the inner transformation of taking those pieces of ourselves that have (re-)awakened this spring, observing the old that is left behind and the new that emerges.
The Dragon month was characterized by explosive growth of diversity – sun & rain, plants bursting forth, trees budding, migrating birds returning and laying eggs, hibernating mammals waking etc. – the living web of connection between all things reestablished in the new year.
Now, as we enter the month of the Snake— the first month of summer in the lunar calendar— all the relationships and connections the Spring brought forth begin to bear fruit. This is both literal – as the first Oregon strawberries ripen in May - but also ducklings appear and snakes emerge from hibernation. All of this is thanks to collaborative work – between bee and flower, mother and egg, even sunlight and soil, warming the world enough to bring cold-blooded reptiles out of dormancy. The long work of Spring awakening has finally culminated in a moment when all things are awake and working in a unified dynamic.
Individually, this is a time to nurture this process of renewal and change: to attend to and notice the personal transformations you are undergoing, and also the transformations in relationships around you.
The Snake also represents transformation via the mysterious process of how food, experience and emotion transform into us. The Snake is symbolic of the Spleen organ, which is paired with the Stomach (symbolized by the Dragon). The Dragon-as-stomach takes everything in (food, sensory input, emotions) and breaks it all down, eliminating boundary and distinction, until everything is a single unified whole. The Snake-as-spleen eats its meal in a single bite, taking that unified whole one step further, sublimating what was once external-and-other into the self. In nature, this is a time when all animals have finally woken from hibernation, all plants have broken through the soil. All pieces are in play, and the unfolding of the entire year until next spring is based on the dynamic relationships that exist between what is alive in the world. So too in us: during this month, all of our inspiration, motivation, charge and purpose for the coming year is awakened in us and continues to unfold. This is the time to nurture and witness that burgeoning process, which will reach its apex in the height of summer, but as of now may still seem unclear and not accessible to the conscious mind. Just be with yourself: thoughts, actions and emotions this month, and allow them to develop naturally. This will lead to clarity of purpose and its actualization this year.
Wishing you well in your very own unfolding,