Hour of the Snake

The secret self

Those born in this double-hour carry the Snake as their hidden hour-self, the private creature only the closest people meet. The clock remembers it like this:

• Born in the Snake hour, your secret self watches longer than people are comfortable with, then moves once, precisely. Under whatever face you wear, there is no wasted motion in the deep part of you.
• The late-morning animal in you holds a love or a grudge in the body without showing it, and knows things about people they have not told themselves yet. The gift is depth; the shadow is the secret kept too long.
• Your hidden hour is the hour of the warm stone, the long patient sunning. You will sit with a question for years. Trust that patience, but watch that it does not become a way of never saying the thing.
• Inside you is an old quality, a stillness that reads as wisdom. Make sure it is not just waiting out a decision you owe someone. The Snake ends things internally for months before it speaks; let the speaking come sooner.
• The Snake at late morning is sensual in a low warm register, in fabric and food and the long bath. Your secret self is private about its pleasures and its loyalties both, and keeps the few it loves like its own skin.

More on the Snake

Cool to the touch, warm at the core, this is the long body that has learned to be still. The Snake watches longer than most people are comfortable with, which is one of its quiet powers. There is no wasted movement here. A whole afternoon of stillness, then a single strike that is precise to the millimeter. You will hear about mystery, about charm, about a sensuality that does not advertise itself. The truer story is patience. The Snake will sit with a question for years, will hold a love or a grudge in the body without showing it, will know things about people they have not told themselves yet. There is an old quality to even the young Snakes, an old soul cliché that for once is doing some work.