2025 Year of the Yin Green Wood Fire Snake – ⼄⺒

Tarot The Wood Snake Fire #9

With all the craziness going on in this year of the Yin Green Wood Snake, I decided to look at the tarot cards for the year and am amazed at how closely  their symbols align with those of the Chinese Snake Year. This year, in western numerology, 2025 is a 9 year (2+2+5 = 9) and the corresponding cards in Tarot  are the Hermit #9 and the Moon #18 (1+8=9).

All snakes in Chinese astrology are yin fire animals. This year, the Snake is called the Green Wood Snake because his element is wood, so he is actually  the Yin Green Wood Fire Snake (it all becomes a bit complex!) Yin fire is out  pictured as a lantern, a candle or the moon. It is soft, illuminating, and warm,  but it can also be subtle and unpredictable. When not in balance, it may  become overly sensitive, prone to burnout, or reliant on external validation. We can see the yin fire symbols in the tarot cards above with the lantern in the one hand of the Hermit and a Green Snake in the other! The Hermit is the inner guiding Light within all of us. He represents spiritual wisdom as does the Snake with her inner Light. We only see one side of his face (like the snake) while the other is facing God. The Snake has been a sacred animal and called a sage in hundreds of cultures for many thousands of years.

The Moon card is also all about the mysteries of yin fire. In tarot, the card represents mystery, intuition, or the subconscious when it is right side up and confusion, fear or uncertainty when it is upside down. Similarly, the yin fire Snake embodies dual meanings. She can represent both wisdom and temptation, healing and danger, life and death, medicine and poison. Snakes embody the contradictions of existence. The Snake and Moon are also about renewal and change and the activity of snakes is positively correlated with the Moon phases as snakes are significantly more active during full Moon nights. Like the Moon with its constant changing cycles, the Snake is a symbol of eternal life since she can shed her skin to renew herself, form her body to the shape necessary for survival, or match her body to her surroundings. The Moon and Snake are both sources of a Light in darkness and advise one to follow their intuition and to dig deep into their subconscious mind to uncover the hidden truth (Light) beneath the surface. There is a long winding, meandering path on the Moon card resembling a snake that symbolizes the twists and turns on the path before one reaches the Light of spiritual wisdom. Both the Tarot and Chinese cosmology point to a year of refection and looking deep within for the Truth.

The yin fire Snake is governed by the element yin wood this year. Yin wood is grass, vine or flower. When yin wood is the vine or flower, it cannot grow tall, however, it can climb on the tall tree (yang wood) or tall wall (Yang Earth.) It is more flexible than yang wood and its strength comes from its roots. It draws strength from what cannot be seen. Having broken through the soil, it is small,  tender and vulnerable.  However, as opposed to its yang counterpart, this form of wood is flexible. Its strength comes from what keeps it in the soil — its roots. It draws strength from what cannot be seen, hidden below the soil’s surface. This yin wood, unlike the other 4 elements when combined with the Snake brings out the darker hidden qi of the Snake this year. It attracts behind-the- scenes talks, secret negotiations, clandestine activities, lack of commitment and a powerful desire to make things happen, whatever the cost. As each new revelation this year brings more confusion and uncertainty into our lives, it is important to remember that many cosmic and earthly cycles play a fundamental role in our lives. They are involved not only in our daily affairs, but in our physical, psychological and spiritual growth. From the motions of planets, to the ups and downs of the stock market, to personal biorhythms, to wars, to weather, to elections, to the seasons, we unwittingly out picture their many influences. We need to draw on our deep hidden Light and bring forth our inner truth and not get caught up in the biased politics of the day! As an interesting end note of all the yearly synchronicities, Mars (ruled by fire) is the planet associated with the number 9 and the number 9 “ li “ is the element fire in Chinese cosmology. One other thing, the correspondences could go on and on but the Orthodox Catholic church’s rosary has 108 beads (9) and the Buddhist mala has 108 beads (9) because they both are related to the moon whose metal is silver which has an the atomic weight of 108 (9.)

All this yin fire energy doesn’t end in 2026, it just becomes stronger more visible yang fire when the red fire horse arrives!

Wishing you a meaningful equinox!