What it means
Snakes are the quiet thinkers of the zodiac. Snake people tend to observe more than they speak, and they often understand a situation before anyone else does. They are usually calm, elegant and selective about who they let in. Once they decide what they want, they move toward it patiently and with surprising determination.
Strengths
Wisdom, intuition, focus, discretion and a calm, thoughtful manner.
Challenges
Secrecy, suspicion, possessiveness and holding on to grudges longer than they should.
Snake years and dates
A Snake year starts at Lunar New Year, not on January 1. Snake years since 1950: Water Snake, February 14, 1953 to February 2, 1954; Wood Snake, February 2, 1965 to January 20, 1966; Fire Snake, February 18, 1977 to February 6, 1978; Earth Snake, February 6, 1989 to January 26, 1990; Metal Snake, January 24, 2001 to February 11, 2002; Water Snake, February 10, 2013 to January 30, 2014; Wood Snake, January 29, 2025 to February 16, 2026. The next Snake year, a Fire Snake, starts on February 15, 2037. If you were born in January or February, check the start date: a birthday before it belongs to the year before.
Element
Every Snake year also carries one of five elements, which cycle so the same element and animal meet only once every 60 years. A Snake born in 1989 is an Earth Snake. The Snake also has a fixed element of its own, Fire, and is a yin sign.
Best and hardest matches
Traditional Chinese astrology puts the twelve animals in four groups of three, and in six opposite pairs. The Snake gets on most easily with the Ox and the Rooster, the other two in its group. Its opposite is the Pig, six years apart, which is said to bring the most friction.
How Cosmic Array reads it
Cosmic Array reads your animal next to your Western Sun sign. Together they give your Primal Zodiac, one of 144 combinations: a Scorpio Sun born in a Snake year, for example, is a Python. The Architect blueprint shows your animal, its element and your Primal Zodiac, worked out from the exact Lunar New Year date, and reads them against the rest of your chart.