May 2025 – Month of the Golden Metal Snake – Xin Si ⾦蛇
Snakes and “the Earthquake Plant”
Xin Si (Yin Metal Snake) starts May 6th, 2025 and ends June 5th 2025. Sitting on top of the snake this month is the yin metal element. This creates a metal snake which traditionally symbolizes power, authority, intelligence, charm, intuition, and strategic thinking but the image of this golden metal snake can be a beautiful jewel shining in the summer sun or a shiny dagger! Although the snake is also known for its beauty and elegance, it has a dark side that attracts secret agreements, secret actions, shady schemes, and a powerful desire to make things happen whatever the cost. All snake cycles (yearly, monthly and daily) are known for reveling in behind-the-scenes talks, secret negotiations, clandestine activities, and a powerful desire to make things happen. They seem to possess certain qualities that dispose people surrounding them to reveal their secrets. Also, there is strong metal buried deep within the snake that combines with the metal element of the month. Many interpret this combination as indicating conspiracies, assassinations, coups, terrorists, war and more. The metal snake qi is extremely powerful this month as this is also a snake year – meaning we will be experiencing double snake energy in May 2025!
Current leaders who are. deeply embroiled in world politics, President Xi Jinping of the peoples Republic of China, Volodymyr Zelensky, president of Ukraine and Emmanuel Macron, president of France were all born in Snake years. JFK was also born in a snake year.
Recently a Feng Shui colleague told me about a popular flowering plant in Japan which is commonly known as the “earthquake plant.” Its actual name is Mimosa Pudica. I was intrigued with the concept of a plant reportedly able to warn of an impending earthquake a few days before the seismic event, so I began some research on it. I found from social media, Deep Seek (China’s AI system) and a few science publications who had studied the plant closely that the plant’s leaves leaves which normally stayed open during the day and then closed up at night completely reversed its response if it registered local seismic activity. The plant’s leaves would tremble and then close during the day and open at night. Researchers are not sure what causes this phenomena and speculate it might be electromagnetic changes, gas release from with in the earth or … the devas!
A surgeon named Cain Ji who became fascinated with the plant has done the most research, tracing and recording the relationship between various quakes and the mimosa’s response in a diary format. He has compiled a lot of evidence over the years and seems to be the only one recording phenomena. In his ebook called “Mimosa Earthquake Prevention” and he says about his research “Its significance lies in shattering the assertion that earthquakes are entirely unpredictable and presenting a viable method for earthquake prediction. Due to limitations in experimental conditions and funding, I was unable to conduct comparative experiments in multiple locations simultaneously or observe multiple pots of Mimosa Pudica concurrently. As such, the purpose of this book is to offer a starting point, allowing future researchers to delve deeper into this subject. It is my hope that they will build upon this foundation to further advance the ability to predict earthquakes earlier and with greater accuracy in terms of location.”
Mimosa Earthquake Prediction
During this research I was able to find one mimosa plant that had 15 seedlings growing in the pot at the local Japanese nursery.! I have transplanted them, given some away and am waiting to see how how they react!
As an aside, I also found something else fascinating about the mimosa. In the publication Sci News they reported that some biologists trained Mimosa‘s short and long-term memories under both high and low-light environments by repeatedly dropping water on it using a custom-designed apparatus. The scientists then showed how Mimosa plants stopped closing their leaves when they learnt that the repeated disturbance had no real damaging consequence. The plants were able to acquire the learnt behavior in a matter of seconds and as in animals, learning was faster in less favorable environment.
The biologists wrote in a paper published online in the journal Oecologia. “Plants may lack brains and neural tissues but they do possess a sophisticated calcium-based signaling network in their cells similar to animals’ memory processes,” they explained.
They conceded that they do not yet understand the biological basis for this learning mechanism, nevertheless their set of experiments has major implications as it radically changes the way we perceive plants and the boundaries between plants and animals, including our definition of learning as a property special to organisms with a nervous system.”
This plant is starting to sound like mistletoe or one of the other plants that act as intermediates between the plant/animal kingdoms. And on top of all of that – the mimosa plant has been used traditionally for hundreds, if not thousands of years, for its pharmacological properties. For example, it’s been found to have antibacterial, anti parasite, antidepressant, antivenom, wound healing and even antiasthmatic properties in treating numerous disorders and ailments. In Chinese medicine it is known as the ‘collective happiness plant’, indicating its traditional use for lifting the mood and calming the body. This is the reason we drink those mimosas with brunch!
Other countries like China have what they call “earthquake grass” that wilts or changes color before an earthquake. India has the “Trembling tree” which shakes without wind, and ancient Greek and Roman texts speak of vines withering before a quake. But the conclusion on Deep Seek is that no country has a reliable, operational system using plants, animals, weather, clouds or insects to predict earthquakes. China’s Haicheng case remains the most cited success, but even there, animal behavior was secondary to foreshocks. Ongoing research, like Italy’s farm studies or Germany’s ant monitoring, shows promise but is far from practical application. Cultural beliefs and anecdotal evidence drive interest, especially in China, Japan, and parts of Europe, but skepticism prevails in the scientific community, particularly in the United States.
From everything I’ve learned about the mimosa plant, I think the plant would be a good inexpensive investment if you live anywhere that is prone to earthquakes and the tea would be good to sip during this double snake month!
