28/01/2025
Happy New Year of the Wood Snake!
January 29 2025 marks the beginning of the Year of the Wood Snake. The Wood element brings growth and vitality. In China, the Snake is regarded as an extremely lucky creature. Here is a story about the wonderful transformational energy of the Snake.
Long ago, the Snake and the Frog were best friends. In those days,
Snake still had four legs, whilst Frog had been created with no legs at all (more like a tadpole really!) Snake and Frog spent all their time together. Snake was rather lazy and, despite having four strong legs, asked Frog to find food for them both. Frog was happy to do this and would industriously catch insects and worms all day long. The humans saw this and became very fond of Frog, because Frog kept pests under control. However, they started to hate Snake for its lazy ways and frightening appearance. As people went about the fields, they would chase Snake away, calling it an ugly good-for-nothing. The sensitive Snake was hurt by their derision. With time, the hurt turned to bitter poison in its fangs. It started to bite humans and cause havoc.
Word of Snake’s troublemaking reached the Jade Emperor. He hurried down to Earth to chastise Snake. Snake was unrepentant. The Jade Emperor therefore waved his magic staff and, in a flash, Snake’s legs were removed and given to Frog! Terrified, Snake crawled off, whilst Frog leapt away, delighted with its new legs.
After some time, Snake saw the error of its ways. Truly repentant, it too started to catch pests. Snake studied magic with Dragon in order to help humans with flood control. Occasionally, Snake would still
start to feel resentment rising in its heart but learned to completely
rid itself of these negative feelings by casting off its skin.
The Jade Emperor was impressed by Snake’s transformation. He suggested taking Frog’s legs and returning them to Snake. Frog refused, and the happy friendship came to an abrupt end. To
compensate, the Jade Emperor offered Snake a place in the race for
Zodiac position. Overjoyed, Snake rose to the challenge, managing to come 6th out of the 12 participants. But that is another story…
Wishing you a wonderful New Year of the Wood Snake!