Lunar Zodiac · The Moon's Cycle
Snake
“Crossed hidden in a hoof, and stepped out ahead.”
Polarity: yin · Direction: south · Element: fire
The Snake is intuition, patience and strategy held entirely in private. It watches longer than anyone realises, reaches a conclusion without discussing it, and acts once rather than repeatedly. Elegant, self-contained and difficult to read, it is the sign least interested in explaining itself and most likely to have been right. Its crossing was pure method. Unable to outswim the field, the Snake coiled itself around the Horse's hoof and rode the whole distance concealed, expending almost nothing. At the far bank, just as the Horse was about to step onto dry land in sixth place, the Snake slid out in front of it. The Horse shied at the sudden movement, and by the time it recovered the Snake had taken the position and the Horse had lost it. Sixth and seventh in the calendar were settled by an animal that was never once seen during the race. Snake people are perceptive, composed and quietly ambitious. They keep confidences absolutely, form few but deep attachments, and rarely reveal their reasoning even to people who would have agreed with it. The cost is the concealment: a decision arrived at alone and revealed only once it is final, which can leave the people closest to them realising that a long process was underway and nobody thought to tell them.
Years of the Snake
A Snake year opens at Chinese New Year, which falls between late January and the middle of February, so it does not line up with the calendar year. Anyone born in the weeks before it belongs to the animal before.
- 1917January 23, 1917 to February 10, 1918
- 1929February 10, 1929 to January 29, 1930
- 1941January 27, 1941 to February 14, 1942
- 1953February 14, 1953 to February 3, 1954
- 1965February 2, 1965 to January 20, 1966
- 1977February 18, 1977 to February 6, 1978
- 1989February 6, 1989 to January 26, 1990
- 2001January 24, 2001 to February 11, 2002
- 2013February 10, 2013 to January 30, 2014
- 2025January 29, 2025 to February 16, 2026
- 2037February 15, 2037 to February 3, 2038
Snake Ancient Zodiacs
Every sign someone born in the Year of the Snake can be, one for each Western sun sign.
- Salamander: Aries Snake, “Walks out of the fire and grows the missing part back.”
- Silkworm: Taurus Snake, “Turns patience into something everybody wants to touch.”
- Hydra: Gemini Snake, “Cut off the argument and two more grow back.”
- Anglerfish: Cancer Snake, “Carries a small light into deep water and waits.”
- Gecko: Leo Snake, “Holds on to anything, and talks back while doing it.”
- Octopus: Virgo Snake, “Solves it privately, with eight opinions and no witnesses.”
- Cobra: Libra Snake, “Always warns first, and means every word of it.”
- Basilisk: Scorpio Snake, “Looks straight at you, and something in you gives way.”
- Firefly: Sagittarius Snake, “Makes its own light, and knows exactly who is watching.”
- Kingfisher: Capricorn Snake, “Motionless as stone, then exact as a needle.”
- Swan: Aquarius Snake, “Serene on the surface, formidable underneath, and not to be crowded.”
- Eel: Pisces Snake, “Nobody has ever seen where it goes at the end.”