So what does a year of the Snake look like through the eyes of the tarot?

Snakes are found in five cards of the Rider Waite deck by Pamela Colman Smith (which is the one I have always used).

We see the snake in:

The Magician

The Wheel of Fortune

The Lovers 

The Two of Cups

The Seven of Cups.

There are a few opinions about snakes being monsters or curses in the tarot, mostly in the Seven of Cups where it is one of the offerings in the mystical array before the figure. But mostly they are seen as representing concepts like hope, renewal, transformation, wisdom, and resourcefulness. This is also my interpretation. To dismiss the snake as a bad omen out of fear and ignorance is missing out on the opportunities it brings.

The Magician who is all resourcefulness, and being in his own power, wears the snake as a belt. He is wearing the snake in it form as Ouroboros, the ancient symbol of the snake forming an eternal circle by eating its own tail. Rebirth, life cycles, transformation, as the Magician acknowledges his power is rooted in natural elements and life cycles, this mystical belt is both a stamen of power and a tool to wield it.

In the Wheel of Fortune, the snake falling down the left side of the wheel. In this form the snake is the Egyptian god Seth or Typhon. He is the god of evil and represents the negative life force we can experience. He is descending into the material or temporal world. This is not a bad omen, but a warning. Through wisdom and experience, the snake here is showing the downward path that awaits those who only exist for material things and care not for the worlds balance. 

The God Seth wielded great power, but also offered great protection. He was skilled in transformation and would gather power where he could. IN the fluid and flexible form of the snake, the is powerful indeed. The lessons of power and abuse of power are real.

The Lovers shows us the archetypal serpent in the Garden of Eden, wrapped around the tree. Its ancient symbolisms for resisting temptation, resisting the pleasures and drtationt that may take us off the path toward the divine. 

But the snake also offered knowledge and sometimes we have to pay for that. And we may not like what we hear. 

Knowledge always comes at price. Odin gave an eye. Eve was tempted and strayed from a connection to the Divine. But she also acted on her own desires, made a choice. She was maybe the first person to be given a choice like that? Be careful but still be brave I say.

The Two of Cups, echoes the Lovers card, two figures close together, indeed closer than the lovers card, and fully engaged with each other.

The snake here is the caduceus; this is the staff with two coiled snakes around it ,the staff of the Greek god Hermes which symbolises diligence and prudence. Transformation through communication! Maybe they will become lovers, maybe they will gain greater understanding through communication and remain friends. They stand as equals and the balance between them is perfectly matched, a tribute to the communicate gifts of the winged god.

And finally the Seven of Cups, a card which has so much going on! And that is exactly the point. A fever dream of fantastical choice, your wishes, your dreams, your deep desires are before you in a mystical buffet. What do you choose? 

The snake is traditionally associated with transformation and major personal change. This change the snake delivers is so dramatic and intense, it feels like the old you is dying and a new you is emerging, shedding your skin! A rebirth of body, mind and spirit.

But, what if you don’t have to choose one, what if you can have them all? 

May the year of the Snake bring you the transformations you desire and the wisdoms to choose them well!

Don't forget that all readings are half price for the month between Chinese New Year and Tibetan New year! Email me to book.