The Year Of The Snake: Embracing Change & Shedding Old Layers w/ Christopher Renstrom
Listen here:
In this episode of the Astrology Hub podcast
In this episode, Christopher shares a profound parable about a man in a pit, offering timeless lessons on empathy, transformation, and authentic connection. Through the lens of the Year of the Snake, the conversation dives into the importance of meeting others where they are and how to embrace personal growth during times of change. Discover how astrological symbolism ties into real-life challenges and how to cultivate deeper self-awareness and compassion. This episode will leave you inspired to show up for others—and yourself—in meaningful ways.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
💎The powerful lesson behind Christopher’s parable about a man in a pit and its connection to empathy.
🐍How the symbolism of the snake relates to transformation, renewal, and personal growth.
🔥Why authentic support goes beyond offering solutions and instead involves meaningful connection.
📜The role of astrological insights in navigating challenges during the Year of the Snake.
👂Practical ways to apply empathy and self-awareness in your daily life.
📖How storytelling can unlock deeper spiritual and emotional understanding.
Transcript:
00:00:00:06 – 00:00:20:10
Christopher
Hello, my name is Christopher Renstrom and I'm the weekly horoscope columnist here on Astrology Hub. And this time, I wanted to talk to you about the Chinese Lunar New Year, taking place on January 29th.
00:00:20:12 – 00:00:59:17
Christopher
Now, the Chinese zodiac is very different than the Western zodiac that we are all familiar with. For instance, our signs are Aries, Taurus, Gemini, cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces. These are the constellations that form the ecliptic, or in which the planets that move across the sky move in front of these signs. So in other words, the ecliptic is a path that the sun and the moon follow across the sky from their rising to their setting.
00:00:59:19 – 00:01:25:13
Christopher
The other planets that follow with them are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. So in astrology, the way that we work out a year is that the sun moves from sign to sign. It moves through every one of the 12 signs which are associated to the 12 months of the year. And so it's the sun moving in and out of a sign that we use to tell time.
00:01:25:13 – 00:01:56:09
Christopher
And we also use in Western astrology. In Chinese astrology, the architecture is altogether different. The ecliptic is not used. In fact, in Chinese astrology. What's used is the North Star, the Big Dipper, which is located in the constellation of Ursa major. And so it's the constellation nations that move around the North Pole that are used in Chinese astrology.
00:01:56:11 – 00:02:24:03
Christopher
But astrology is not the same thing as a zodiac. Astrology is going to be talking about the movement of the sun and moon and planets through the sky. And the aspects that these planets make with one another. But the zodiac, the zodiac describes the band of animals that are being referenced. And as I said before, in Western astrology we have Aries, Taurus, Gemini, etc. these are our zodiac signs.
00:02:24:05 – 00:02:52:12
Christopher
But in Chinese astrology, or rather really to be more specific, Chinese zodiac, the animals are quite different. But before we get into the animals that comprise the Chinese zodiac, let's also point out another difference. Unlike most calendars, the Chinese calendar does not count years in infinite sequence. In other words, it's not like this is year one, two, three, four, or five, six.
00:02:52:14 – 00:03:26:02
Christopher
You know, all the way through 2025. That's not the way that the Chinese calendar is set up. Instead, years in the Chinese calendar have names that are repeated every 60 years. These correspond to the five repeats of the Chinese zodiac cycle of 12 animals. So these 12 animals will repeat every five years. And basically the way that, it's remembered that these, animals repeat is according to the element.
00:03:26:04 – 00:03:50:22
Christopher
So the 12, zodiac signs or the zodiac animals that are used in Chinese, in the Chinese zodiac will repeat five times, and each time that they repeat will correspond to one of the Chinese elements. And in, for for the Chinese zodiac, the elements are wood, fire, earth, metal and water. So that's a different way of thinking of things.
00:03:50:22 – 00:04:10:09
Christopher
All right. So in the West, where we're just sort of like, okay, we're like in 2021 and it's followed by 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, etc. with the Chinese zodiac, it's, oh, we're in the year of the rat, which is followed by the year of the ox, the year of the Tiger, the year of the Hare, the rabbit, etc..
00:04:10:11 – 00:04:31:08
Christopher
Okay. So each year is a zodiac sign. One could almost say that the energy of the zodiac sign rules for that year. So this has nothing to do with constellations. This has nothing to do with stars that you can find in the sky and say, oh, that's the star of the rat. Has nothing to do with that at all.
00:04:31:14 – 00:05:00:10
Christopher
Indeed, the Chinese zodiac consists of 12 animals that first appeared in the Zhan period, which was fifth century BCE. The Chinese zodiac became a popular way to determine a person's birth year. Each of the animals stands for a year in a 12 year cycle. Now this also extended itself so that each of the animals stood for a day in a 12 day cycle.
00:05:00:12 – 00:05:23:21
Christopher
And each of the animals stood for every two hours in a 24 hour cycle. So you could be born in the year of the ox, and you could be born on the day of the rooster, and you could be born in the hour of the rat. Okay, that sort of sounds like it's approximating Western astrology, but it's not with the Chinese zodiac.
00:05:23:22 – 00:05:45:23
Christopher
What's going on here is counting. It's the counting, the hours, the counting, the days, the counting of the year. And what helped people keep count was the association with as a Diogo animal. Now, the names of the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac, as arranged in clockwise sequence. And remember, this has nothing to do with the time of year.
00:05:46:00 – 00:06:20:00
Christopher
All right. So these, characters are the rat ox, tiger hair, dragon snake. That's the year that we're entering into right now. Followed by the horse, Ram. Monkey, rooster, dog and boar. In Chinese cosmology, these symbols correspond to the 12 divisions of the celestial equator known as the Earthly Branches. And each of which also corresponds to a direction right is associated to the north.
00:06:20:02 – 00:06:54:00
Christopher
Ox is north northeast. Tiger is east northeast. This is how they're dividing the equator. The Hare is the east. The Dragon is the east southeast. Snake is south southeast. Horse is south. Ram is south southwest. Monkey is west. Southwest. Rooster. West. Dog. West. Northwest. And the boar. The boar is West northwest. And then you repeat. Now, why the number 12?
00:06:54:06 – 00:07:16:02
Christopher
All right. We're used to think of the number 12 in terms of the 12 months of the year. And the sun passes through every one of the 12 zodiac signs. But what's going on here is that each zodiac sign in the Chinese zodiac is associated to an entire year. We're used to it being associated to a month with the Chinese zodiac.
00:07:16:03 – 00:07:51:15
Christopher
It's an entire year. So again, I ask you why the number 12? The number 12 is associated to Jupiter, the planet. That is associated to good luck and good fortune and higher purpose. So that's why when, for instance, we say we're entering into the year of the snake, everyone who was born in the year that was ruled by the Chinese zodiac sign, the snake is going to experience good fortune and higher purpose and all of those things that are associated to the planet Jupiter.
00:07:51:17 – 00:08:22:07
Christopher
This isn't based on the planet Jupiter, because the Jupiter, for instance, can change signs, you know, at any point in the year. I mean, this year, I think, for instance, it changes signs in the month of June. And that's not going to correspond with the Chinese New Year, that begins in late January. And February. All right. But when you're counting 12, 12 years, we know in Western astrology that it takes Jupiter 12 years to go around all 12 signs as we know it.
00:08:22:09 – 00:08:46:06
Christopher
The Chinese understanding is that it takes Jupiter 12 years to come back to where it began its orbit. Back to the time when you began clocking Jupiter. But again, Jupiter is the model for counting the years. But it has nothing to do with the movement of Jupiter through the night time sky. So, as you may recall, 2024 was the year of the Dragon.
00:08:46:08 – 00:09:09:07
Christopher
And 2025, 2025 is going to be the year of the snake. Because the snake follows the dragon, and indeed, the snake was often referred to in, Chinese folklore as being the small dragon or the mini dragon. And of course, what that means is that people born in the year of the snake are going to be favored this year.
00:09:09:09 – 00:09:43:20
Christopher
Now, the snake is a yin sign, meaning a feminine sign. It's of the earth. All right. Now, the characteristics of people born under the zodiac sign of the snake is that they are enigmatic and hard to read. There is a sort of emotional reserve about them that makes them a little bit mysterious and hard to figure out. They're endowed with an inborn wisdom and a natural intuition, and even a psychic or a mystical capability.
00:09:43:22 – 00:10:08:17
Christopher
People born under the snake are graceful and soft spoken, and they enjoy the finer things in life. They enjoy their food. They enjoy their wine. They enjoy lovely and beautiful things. And they always, always want to look good. People born in the year of the snake are also very careful about what they say. One might almost say calculated.
00:10:08:19 – 00:10:34:02
Christopher
The way that they treat words is with great respect and great reverence. And so they will choose their words carefully. And the expectation is that other people are going to choose their words carefully as well. So people born in the year of the snake are literally going to take you at your word. People born in the year of the snake are also what I call scary ambitious.
00:10:34:04 – 00:10:56:23
Christopher
Now, what I mean by that isn't that they're like crazy ambitious and they're just coveting positions of power, and they have to rule the world and rule the universe or anything like that. No. What it is, is like the snake they target, specifically what it is that they are after. And they are relentless in their pursuit, but they're not going to charge ahead or show their hand.
00:10:57:00 – 00:11:24:12
Christopher
They're going to slither. They're going to climb. They're going to wrap around. They're going to camouflage and they're going to disguise. So if they have to wait in order to get something that they want, no problem, they will wait. They will wait until their prey has become complacent, tired, or perhaps even gone to sleep. So there is an observing quality to people born in the year of the snake.
00:11:24:14 – 00:11:54:16
Christopher
And there's also a very pinpointed, targeted quality to people born in the year of the snake. But people born in the year of the snake also experience extremes in their life. Wild pendulum swings between the sacred and profane or between piety and hedonism. And that's because, like the Chinese zodiac sign of the dragon, people born in the year of the snake have a very powerful karmic purpose.
00:11:54:18 – 00:12:16:02
Christopher
It's almost as if they're trying to live all of their lives in one life. This feeling that time is running out. But it can also be this feeling like I'm on the last round of my past life circuit here, and instead of coming back as this or that or another thing, I want to cram it all into this life.
00:12:16:02 – 00:12:48:19
Christopher
Whatever my life lessons are, whatever my realizations are, whatever my past patterns that I need to get over are. I want to get through it all in one life. And so this is why people born in the year of the snake will have such extremes. You know, in extreme where they, you know, get rid of anything that's tempting or negative in their life or extremes where they're living this completely wild and crazy life where they're out of control for a period of time.
00:12:48:19 – 00:13:11:20
Christopher
It's it's more than experiential. It's more like, I want to live all of these past lives at once. So I don't have to come back again. This is what gives people born in the year of the snake both an urgency and a purpose. The urgency they know about, you know, they know that they have to get everything done and right this time around.
00:13:11:22 – 00:13:34:19
Christopher
The purpose. The purpose they don't always know about. They they're it's not preplanned in that way. Snake thinking is much more strategic and it's more cerebral, but it is purposeful. So there is this very deep inner sense that the things that I'm living in my life right now are meant to be lived in order to live out my karma.
00:13:34:22 – 00:13:57:12
Christopher
And as I said before, not have to incarnate again. So this is why snake people, for lack of a better word. Their lives will end either on an up note, a note of victory and triumph, or it will be a wipe out. It will be a down note. So their lives are really the sum of all of the actions that are taking place.
00:13:57:18 – 00:14:30:18
Christopher
Simply put, snake people are destined to pay their dues all in this one life. So? So this is what gives them this kind of concentrated energy or other attributes. Is that snake people have a hard time forgiving someone who has done them wrong. And they do have a vengeful side. They won't strike right? Right away. As I said, they will lay in wait, and they will, very cleverly calculate the downfall and the demise of their nemesis.
00:14:30:20 – 00:14:51:04
Christopher
But there are two more ideas that I want to connect with. The character of people born in the year of the snake. Or really, what the snake symbolizes. The first is the sloughing off of the old skin. This is something that has been observed since ancient times about snakes. It's it's what made them so sacred in so many different societies.
00:14:51:10 – 00:15:21:07
Christopher
And this is why the snake was always associated with renewal and with transformation. The second thing, which may not be as well known, is the snake's association with healing. Okay. We actually know the snake from the medical symbol of the cane or the caduceus. Actually, it's the Asclepius. It's a staff with the snake that is wrapped around it.
00:15:21:09 – 00:15:49:06
Christopher
This is connected to the Hippocratic Oath. And so the snake is associated to the idea of medicine and healing. And what that comes from is the old Asclepius axiom. The wound or heals. So here we have the snake symbolizing renewal and transformation, as well as the snake symbolizing healing physically and psychology, and also through love and sacrifice.
00:15:49:08 – 00:15:59:03
Christopher
And when we're talking about love and sacrifice, one can't help but be put in mind of the Chinese legend of the white snake.
00:15:59:05 – 00:16:37:09
Amanda
Hey there, astrology lover. If you're enjoying this episode, you're not going to want to miss Christopher's newly released masterclass called Quincunx Yards aka The Finger of God interpreting Fated Friction. Join Christopher as he helps you pull back the curtain on these challenging aspects, helping you identify them, interpret them, and integrate them into your life. You'll also get Christopher's Buy sign breakdown for how to interpret all possible quincunx relationships, as well as every zodiac sign at the apex of a yod or finger of God.
00:16:37:11 – 00:17:02:11
Amanda
Your registration includes lifetime access to the class, along with Christopher's teaching materials and video, audio, and transcript formats. This class was a popular Inner Circle exclusive, and we're releasing it to our podcast community for the first time ever. In celebration of this, you can lock in a 20% discount if you register for the class by January 31st, 2025.
00:17:02:16 – 00:17:12:17
Amanda
Catch all the details at Astrology hub.com/yod. We'll also drop that link in the show notes. And now back to the episode.
00:17:12:19 – 00:17:40:22
Christopher
Now the legend of the White Snake, which is also known as Madame White Snake, is an old Chinese folktale that dates back to the Tang dynasty, which is 618 to 907 centuries ago on Omaha mountain. There once lived a white snake and a green snake. Now o May mountain is a very special mountain because it is the largest of the four sacred Buddhist mountains in China.
00:17:40:24 – 00:18:15:02
Christopher
And these two snakes, these two snakes were immortal and possessed supernatural powers as a result of years and years of religious practice. But before they could reach enlightenment, the mother goddess Numa told the white snake that she had an unfulfilled destiny in the human world. Noble, the mender of heaven and the mother of the entire human race, had the most exquisite, the most serene, the most beautiful face and the body of a serpent.
00:18:15:04 – 00:18:53:21
Christopher
Nua is the goddess of nature, order, fertility, and marriage. And so the snakes took on human form and entered our world on the shore of West Lake and Hangzhou. Now the white snake. The white snake called herself bison, which means white, pure, loyal, and the green snake. The green snake called herself Christian, which means little green. Now, one day, these two sisters were walking on the broken bridge that spanned the lake and were admiring the scenery, when suddenly there was a rainstorm.
00:18:53:23 – 00:19:33:13
Christopher
The ladies took shelter under a willow tree, where they met a very handsome man with an umbrella under his arm. His name was Shin, and he was an herbalist, and he was on his way home after piously sweeping his ancestors graves by, immediately fell in love with Susan, and Susan, looking into her beautiful eyes. Immediately fell in love with by Susan, lent the sisters his umbrella and quickly sent for a boat to take the sisters home, and BAE told him to come to their house the next day to retrieve his umbrella.
00:19:33:15 – 00:19:55:23
Christopher
And he did. Now what Susan didn't know was that a thousand years before, bi was a tiny little white snake that lived in the grasses of the West Lake. One day, one day, a group of boys captured her and put her in a basket with a lid, and they tormented her, and they were threatening to kill her. And then they thought, why not?
00:19:56:03 – 00:20:21:22
Christopher
That's a great idea. Let's kill her and slit her in two for sport. And they were on the verge of doing this when another boy called out to them. He called out to them and distracted the boys, and in their distraction he grabbed the basket with its lid and he ran. He ran much faster than the group of boys did until he reached a place where he felt that it was far enough away and safe and secure.
00:20:21:24 – 00:20:52:10
Christopher
And then. Then he opened up the lid, and he let the little white snake he let buy out where she went back down into the grasses of the West Lake by vowed that one day she would find that boy again, and that she would thank him. And as fate would have it, she recognized in the eyes of Shen that he was the reincarnation of that boy who had saved her so many years ago.
00:20:52:13 – 00:21:23:02
Christopher
So it made perfect sense when Susan showed up at the sister's house the following day to retrieve his umbrella. That they would have conversation over tea and that bi would propose marriage. Now, Susan was a little bit shocked by this. That really shocked. He was more surprised by this. But bi was so alluring. She was so gorgeous. She she shimmered with an unearthly glamor that Susan she shouldn't, couldn't help but say yes and Susan.
00:21:23:04 – 00:21:54:04
Christopher
Susan was also moved by this deep and abiding feeling that that he knew her from some place, that he had seen her someplace before. Well, in any case, it made perfect sense. Institution immediately agreed to become Bi's husband, and under the direction of buy, sister Siossian, they agreed to worship heaven and earth and were joined in marriage. They soon opened their own herbal medicine shop called the Blessed and Peace Medical Hall.
00:21:54:06 – 00:22:24:18
Christopher
Now here. Here, I'd like to make a quick little interruption in the story. If I could, tell you a little bit about the Greek god Asclepius. Asclepius was the son of Apollo, the god of healing. And Asclepius, when he was an infant child, was given to Kyron, the wounded healer, for instruction in the healing arts. So Asclepius was a very famous healer in ancient Greece.
00:22:24:20 – 00:22:54:10
Christopher
And his totem was the snake. It was Asclepius who walked with the staff and circled around. That staff was a snake since antiquity, the snake has been regarded as a totem of rebirth, dating back to Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine, who carried a snake entwined staff with him, which was called the Asclepius. The snake has been symbolic of both medicine and toxicology.
00:22:54:12 – 00:23:31:12
Christopher
The court of Asclepius was one of the most enduring of classical antiquity. Hundreds of shrines dotted Italy, Greece, the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa. The origin of the cult was thought to be at Epidaurus, from which it spread to new sites by the transport of the sacred serpents. Indeed, the Asclepius snake was described as watchful, gentle and endowed with perennial youth through the shedding of its skin, hence its association with renewal and healing.
00:23:31:14 – 00:24:04:12
Christopher
At times, Asclepius himself assumed the form of the snake. Now, in the years 295 and 293 BC, there was a terrible plague in Rome, where the smell of burning corpses filled the air. Messengers were sent to the oracle Delphi, who instructed the Romans to call upon Apollo's son Asclepius. Now they had never heard of Asclepius before, but the oracle Adelphi insisted, Asclepius is the god you want to call upon.
00:24:04:14 – 00:24:24:00
Christopher
Now there was divided opinion about this among the Romans. Part of them were like, well, Asclepius sounds like he's good. That's what the oracle Delphi is saying to summon. And other Romans were like, who's this Asclepius? I've never heard of him before. We have a major plague that's going on in Rome. We can't have some some some wannabe Apollo.
00:24:24:00 – 00:24:54:11
Christopher
We need the real thing. We need the real God. So opinion was divided until Asclepius appeared to the Roman politician Quintus. Oh, godliness in a dream. And Asclepius told him that he would send a sacred snake to his plague ridden city, and that the city would be cured. So everyone at the docks where the ship was waiting to sail back to Rome, was awaiting the appearance of this snake, the sacred snake.
00:24:54:13 – 00:25:22:19
Christopher
And as you might imagine, they were expecting a snake to be brought in a basket and to be loaded on the boat. What they weren't prepared for was an enormous snake. An enormous snake slithered down to the dock, and it was so majestic, and it was so intimidating and awesome in its appearance, the way that it flickered its tongue and that it hissed, that everyone sort of stepped away.
00:25:22:19 – 00:25:51:10
Christopher
They were absolutely frightened, but the snake went up the plank and down into the hold of the ship, and this snake was so enormous that it filled the entire hold of the ship. No one argued. They got on board the ship really quickly, and they set sail for Rome. The journey, thank heavens, was uneventful, and nobody really went downstairs to sort of check out how the snake was doing.
00:25:51:12 – 00:26:19:11
Christopher
But when they got to Rome, the snake looked up and peered around, and then it set its sights on the, island of Tiber and indicated that that's where it wanted to go. And again, no one was going to argue with the God, with the enormity, with the glory of this God. And so they went to the island of Tiber, where the snake departed, and went down into the foliage of the island itself.
00:26:19:13 – 00:26:46:05
Christopher
Immediately people were brought to this island, which was outside, but not too far away from Rome. And immediately they were cured. And so this is how the cult of Asclepius came to Rome, like Asclepius by was a highly skilled physician, and many people were cured. Many people came to her pharmacy, to be cured of their different illnesses.
00:26:46:11 – 00:27:19:23
Christopher
And even patients, patients who were unable to pay were given free treatment and medicine. The business flourished and all was well, until one day a man by the name of Mihai stopped Shushan on the street. On his way to work, he told Shushan, the herbalist, that he could see through his wife's disguise, and did he know that he was married to a thousand year old evil demon snake, and that she would do him harm?
00:27:20:04 – 00:27:46:09
Christopher
Now? Shushan didn't believe the Buddhist monk. He said, how could my wife be an evil demon snake? The idea is ridiculous, but for he said that he could prove it. And she said, you can prove it. And he said, yes. What I'm going to do is meet you here at the same time tomorrow. And what I want you to do is I want you to give her this bottle of wine I'm going to bring with me.
00:27:46:11 – 00:28:12:12
Christopher
It's a bottle of wine that's mixed with a special elixir that will dilute her evil, supernatural powers. What I want you to do is I want you to get her drunk on the day of the dragon Boat festival. Get her drunk and you will see for yourself that she is an evil demon snake. And so Shu Shen did exactly what the Buddhist monk said to do.
00:28:12:14 – 00:28:31:02
Christopher
He was visiting with with, bi. They were enjoying the Dragon Festival that was going on. He was pouring her wine. She said, oh, I don't need any more wine. He's like, oh, here, have some more wine. And so she drank more and more wine and she got completely inebriated. And she said, you have to excuse me.
00:28:31:02 – 00:28:51:13
Christopher
You have to excuse me for a moment. And she went into their bedroom to lie down and fell into a very deep sleep. So Shen Shen gave her some time to sleep and said, okay, well, I'm going to prove to myself that that Buddhist monk is crazy and that I'm going to come in and see, by sleeping peacefully.
00:28:51:19 – 00:29:19:17
Christopher
And so Shushan went into the bedroom and what he saw, what he saw on the bed, draped over the bed and around the room was an enormous snake, an enormous white snake, larger than a person could be larger than five people could possibly be. And he was so in shock and so frightened that he died right there on the spot.
00:29:19:19 – 00:30:06:10
Christopher
The following day, by now having regained her human form, woke up and discovered the corpse of her husband. She shouted out in horror and despairing, she turned to her sister Cassian, who agreed to accompany her on a dangerous journey to the Koon Loom. Mountains. Now the Kowloon Mountains in China are very sacred, and you may even know of them, because if you're familiar with the term Shangri-La, which is from a novel called The Lost Horizon, Shangri-La was a place tucked in the Kowloon Mountains where there was a Valley of the Immortals, where people could live for hundreds and hundreds of years.
00:30:06:12 – 00:30:33:16
Christopher
So these are the mountains that by an ocean are heading to. And they're running there to retrieve an herb that would bring Shushan back to life. There they engage in a ferocious battle of martial arts with the supernatural guardians of this very special herb. And things are very close, you know, the sisters almost lose, but they prevail, because they're on a mission and they're committed.
00:30:33:18 – 00:30:59:04
Christopher
And, maybe, maybe they might just have had better martial arts training than the, guardian spirits in. But anyway, they, bring back this herb, and they revive Shushan. He comes back from the dead. However, bi had also violated a sacred rule, a sacred rule that no spirit snake must ever violate. And that is to bring back to life someone who had died.
00:30:59:06 – 00:31:28:22
Christopher
But that wasn't uppermost done by his mind. All she was thinking about was her happy reunion with her husband, who was now alive and well. Now, unfortunately for Hai continued to plague their lives. This time he kidnaped Shen and imprisoned him in a monastery. He told Shushan that his marriage to the White Snake was a perversion, that it was an abomination, and that he should divorce her immediately.
00:31:28:24 – 00:31:59:15
Christopher
Shu Shen, wavering in his love for bi, agrees to become a monk. He agrees to repent and to become a monk. Meanwhile, outside the monastery where Shen is being imprisoned by now pregnant with child and her sister Siossian appear at the monastery gates. They plead with the high to let you go, but he refuses. He says no, he will not allow this abomination, this, this love between the species to continue.
00:31:59:17 – 00:32:23:13
Christopher
And so when he wouldn't release, Shen, bi pulls a hairpin out of her hair, which transforms into an enormous red flag that waves in the wind, and that summons an army of shrimp and crab soldiers who threatened to flood the monastery by and for high engage and terrific battle, because, for he himself is also a magician, a sorcerer.
00:32:23:18 – 00:32:52:17
Christopher
He has magic. He takes off his cloak and he sets up a wall, a barrier that that the shrimp and crab soldiers have a hard time, breaking through. And so this enormous battle takes place between BI and FA Hai. But because bi is pregnant, she is not up to the task. She is weak. And also she feels a pain in her belly and becomes immediately worried that she's imperiling her child.
00:32:52:19 – 00:33:21:23
Christopher
And so she then commands Sebastian to withdraw the army. Siossian doesn't want to withdraw the army. She wants to take take the monastery, but by by commands her to do that. And Sebastian has to obey. Defeated and exhausted, the sisters return to the broken bridge beside the very willow tree where they had first met Shen, and are completely surprised to find Shu Shen there waiting for them.
00:33:22:00 – 00:33:46:19
Christopher
Shu Shun tells them that during the chaos, he had escaped the monastery through a back door and fled to the Willow Tree in hopes of seeing by again, and so once again, the two, lovers, the man and wife, are reunited, and it's a happy moment. Shushan begs bi for her forgiveness, that he had wavered, that that he had felt like he had to repent and to become a monk.
00:33:46:21 – 00:34:07:04
Christopher
And that's when she takes out her sword. Sebastian takes out her sword. She's having nothing of it. Sebastian calls Shen a wimp, a nuisance that all he's been is a drag on them. Ever since that they have met and he doesn't deserve BAe's love, and she's going to put him to death right there on the spot, because he's just such a pain in the derriere.
00:34:07:06 – 00:34:42:17
Christopher
By, of course stops. Shu shot and tells her to lower her sword and Shushan shoots in the bars. BI also confesses to Shushan that she lied to him, that she deceived him about being a snake spirit, and that she was a snake spirit in human form, and that that's on her. You know, she's the one who had deceived him, so she's also asking him forgiveness as well, and she's also asking Shushan if he loves her and Shushan.
00:34:42:17 – 00:35:02:05
Christopher
Well, he has to sort of wrap his move things around. That drunken snake that he saw in the bedroom that caused him so much fright that he died right there at the spot. He sort of has to get through his PTSD, you know, moment there, but his heart is open and his soul is full, and he can't help but love by.
00:35:02:07 – 00:35:24:20
Christopher
And he agrees. He agrees to be with her. He reassures her that he wants her as his wife, that he is her husband, and they they, and that he is looking forward to raising their child together. All of this while silken is rolling her eyes and like, I can't believe you're taking back this loser off in the corner.
00:35:24:22 – 00:35:54:20
Christopher
BAE soon gives birth to a baby boy whose name is Shu Mongol, which means boy who dreams of water dragons. However, the couple's happy life is interrupted yet again by that Buddhist monk FA Hai, who tracks them down to their new home. He manages to capture by using a magical golden ball he imprisons by beneath a lifelong pagoda, which means Thunder Peak Tower.
00:35:54:22 – 00:36:27:08
Christopher
Sebastian escapes and vows to free her sister. While heartbroken by the loss of his wife, Shushan vows to raise his son by himself. Salesian spends the next few years improving her magical skills and proving her martial arts combat techniques before she decides to rescue BAE, and when she does, when she also does, she defeats high. She burns down the pagoda, breaks the Golden Bowl, and frees her sister.
00:36:27:10 – 00:36:53:14
Christopher
With this, the two sisters have fulfilled their destiny on Earth and they become immortals. Well, that's one ending of the story. Another ending of the story is that Chu Shun becomes a monk and dies of heartbreak. He goes to the pagoda every day and sweeps the grounds in front of it, waiting for BAE to reemerge. She never does, and he dies of heartbreak.
00:36:53:16 – 00:37:21:17
Christopher
Still another ending. Still another ending has Shen spending decades, decades trying to free by but dying of old age because he's mortal and she's immortal. While still another ending of the story has their son Sumang Zhao, becoming a top scholar and rescuing his mother, enabling the family to finally reunite. Now, like I said before, there are different versions of this story.
00:37:21:17 – 00:37:50:13
Christopher
There are different endings to this story, almost as many as there are regions in China itself. It is such a beloved folktale. What I find fascinating, though, is a parallel to, the myth of Asclepius. As I was saying before, the totem animal of Asclepius is a snake. He's a healer. He's a very successful healer. He he, cures this plague in Rome.
00:37:50:15 – 00:38:14:22
Christopher
And he's famous. He's famous throughout the, Mediterranean world. People come from all over to seek the cures and the remedies of Asclepius. Asclepius is such a powerful healer that at one point he starts raising the dead. All right? That that people who have died, he he comes and he administers that to them, and he brings them back to life.
00:38:14:24 – 00:38:41:13
Christopher
And this outrages Pluto, who is the God of the dead and, named after Hades in Greek mythology. But his name is Pluto. In Roman mythology, he is the god of the dead. That's that's his realm. You don't mess around with the dead. And so Asclepius has, trespassed. He's he's transgressed. He's crossed over from the boundary of the living to the dead.
00:38:41:15 – 00:39:12:18
Christopher
And he is now bringing dead people back to life. And Pluto is anxious that he'll lose his population, that the world will be thrown into chaos. And he sends word to, Jupiter, his brother, via Hermes, the messenger, to do something about this kid. Because this has got to come to an end. Likewise. Bye has also trespassed she by bringing back the sacred herb that raises Shushan from the dead.
00:39:12:18 – 00:39:39:02
Christopher
That that brings him back to life. She has she has transgressed. And this is probably why, the monk has this power over her to imprison her. And of course, he imprisons her beneath his tower. He imprisons her in the underworld. What happens to Asclepius is that Pluto says, you know, listen, Jupiter, you've got to do something about, Apollo's kid.
00:39:39:04 – 00:40:08:01
Christopher
Because this is this is screwing up the rules of nature. This is screwing up the rules of the cosmos. And Jupiter being Jupiter, the god of thunder and lightning, immediately hurls up, Thunderbolt and takes out Asclepius. He he kills him instantly on the spot. And Asclepius, the soul descends down into the underworld. So it's fascinating. We have these two descents, you know, by being, imprisoned underneath the pagoda.
00:40:08:03 – 00:40:33:16
Christopher
In in in in an underworld place, you know, and Asclepius being killed because he's too successful a healer. That's not a good thing. He would throw the balance of nature off balance, and so he must die. And Asclepius himself, journeys to the underworld and must genuflect like all, to the, supremacy of Pluto, Lord of the dead.
00:40:33:18 – 00:41:05:13
Christopher
So how is this going to impact a year that we're all living? We're all living in the year of the snake? I think what we may experience are some of those characteristics that I was talking about earlier. These wild swings between the sacred and profane, between the pious life and the hedonistic one. We may experience them in our own lives, or we may experience them in the world around us.
00:41:05:15 – 00:41:32:00
Christopher
There is an absolute piety to the two snake sisters at the beginning of the story, when they're told by the mother goddess, when the white snake, when by is told by the mother goddess, you have a destiny that's yet to be fulfilled in the world. You need to go and do this in order to bring to a close your pursuit of enlightenment, to in order to make yourself ready for that next big step into enlightenment.
00:41:32:02 – 00:41:59:20
Christopher
And certainly a lot of what we're experiencing in the world these days is this pendulum swing between the high and the low, between forces of light and darkness. You know who's on the light side? Who's on the dark side is subjective, but, you know, there's this you know, everyone's convinced that they're on the right side, but but this, this, this wild pendulum swing that's going on and this feeling that we have to get it right.
00:41:59:22 – 00:42:21:11
Christopher
You know, this feeling that in order for the planet to survive or for society to flourish, we have to get it right, and we have to get it right. Now, these are very reminiscent of attributes that people born in the year of the snake have, that that the karma is acting right now. This is the point where I pay my dues.
00:42:21:11 – 00:42:55:00
Christopher
This is the point where I figure it all out. So there may be that purpose, that urgency, that intensity that is filling our lives, that that's pushing us forward into this year. But our actions, our actions need to be informed and our actions, our actions need to be accountable. These are two other ideas, that I would like to sort of bring up from from the story, by Liz.
00:42:55:06 – 00:43:22:24
Christopher
Okay. She she deceives her husband Shushan. Okay. He, she doesn't tell him the truth. Okay. There's a secret that she's carrying that she's really a snake spirit and that when the truth is revealed, he dies promptly on the spot. So there's this. There's this idea that truths can be lethal if they're withheld. Now, everyone knows the value of a secret.
00:43:23:04 – 00:43:43:19
Christopher
You know, there are some things that we want to keep private. Maybe because we're ashamed or embarrassed, or we want to keep private because it's our own business and nobody else's. Or, we want to keep private out of concern, of hurting someone else, or we want to keep private because we don't trust what the other person's reaction might be.
00:43:43:21 – 00:44:06:03
Christopher
These are certainly things that are going through Bi's mind. You know, she is hopeful that by doing good acts, you know that she is curing and healing people. She's doing it for free. That that she can live this life on the mortal plane. Her interpretation, clearly of the Mother Goddess was to live life on the mortal plane.
00:44:06:03 – 00:44:33:04
Christopher
You know, she's come back from a thousand years to find the reincarnation of the boy who had found her. But was that why the mother's spirit brought her back into the world? There is evidence that that wasn't it. That's the reason to come back into the world was almost maybe to shed this, you know, to to, shed this love, to shed this longing.
00:44:33:06 – 00:45:02:11
Christopher
Perhaps the great temptation for by was meeting Shushan and recognizing in him someone who had saved her life. I mean, these are two snake spirits on the threshold of enlightenment. They shouldn't be getting dragged back down into things of the mortal realm. What they should also be doing is not breaking the rules of the mortal realm. And the rules of the mortal realm is anyone who's born into this world is going to die, you know?
00:45:02:12 – 00:45:30:11
Christopher
And that should be allowed to happen. You don't intervene. You don't stop that. If you do that, then you throw nature out of whack. You throw nature out of balance. And so, you know, some explanation. What might serve as an explanation for in one of the versions and one of the endings of the story of by being imprisoned, of her being silenced underneath this pavilion?
00:45:30:13 – 00:46:05:04
Christopher
Why the Buddhist priest is triumphant, in a way, is because she has transgressed the transgression isn't cross-species love, you know, the transgression is that she had brought her lover back to life, and that's a big no no in in all world mythologies. So what's kind of going on? There is also this, this question of like, you know, we're we're trying there is a feeling of urgency and purpose to life.
00:46:05:06 – 00:46:44:00
Christopher
You know, the fate of the planet is at stake. The fate of our civilization is at stake. We need to make right decisions. But these decisions cannot be made from past patterns. You know, these decisions cannot be made based on, you know, old beliefs, superstitions or fears or anxieties. The Buddhist monk, has some, some very, questionable ideas of, of of love, you know, and he's the one who's calling their love a perversion when it's seen as love is love when it's seen as being very beautiful.
00:46:44:02 – 00:47:11:12
Christopher
The reason this folktale has endured for so many centuries is because it's the celebration of a star crossed love, which is trying to find its way back to one another again and again. As I said, this is not going with what you do when you're on the verge of enlightenment. And this is not going with perhaps some of the rules of the laws or the doctrine of Buddhism, or at least as, as, as it's being practiced.
00:47:11:14 – 00:47:38:10
Christopher
So there's a sort of outlaw sense, that's going on with, by and the necessity of being an outlaw and an appeal of the outlaw that that we're rooting for love. We're rooting for the snake spirit who sacrifice is herself, who is so loving and who is so giving and wants to be reunited with with her great love, Shu Shen.
00:47:38:12 – 00:48:01:04
Christopher
So these are these are very powerful questions and these are powerful themes. And then this idea, finally, of sloughing off of the old skin. How do we slough off the old skin? Do we, you know, shake it off and say, I don't know, do we shake it off and say, this is the new me, and that's not who I was anymore?
00:48:01:05 – 00:48:26:18
Christopher
No, you can't do that. You come from a past. You come from a history. So how do you slop off the old skin? How do you let go of the old things that are toxic, that are poisonous, that are retrograde, that are holding us back? How how do we deal with these prejudices and these anxieties and these fears that provide such a backdrop to the story as well?
00:48:26:20 – 00:48:59:17
Christopher
I mean, why why is this snake seen as obscene? Because it's reptile and it's evil. It's it's it's it's it's alien. It's so unknown, you know, and it's not, you know, it's not seen as a loving as a loving creature. And and in fact, in this story, the serpent is a loving creature. The serpent is actually more virtuous than the man of God or the man of Buddha, and more virtuous than the people who are pious are being.
00:48:59:19 – 00:49:28:20
Christopher
And so that's another insight that we can take from this story of like, do we believe the doctrines? Do we believe, you know, what's deciding what's good and what's bad? Or do we question it? Is it something, if it brings harm, if it's seen, if it's seen as labeling things as evil, you know, is it something that we see as detrimental and something that we see as bad?
00:49:28:22 – 00:49:52:12
Christopher
The character of people born in the year of the snake? As I said before, they can experience those extremes. And and there's this feeling that their life is this is the time when I get it right. But there's also a benevolence. There's also a very deep feeling. It may not come across right away. They may appear, cold and and unfeeling.
00:49:52:12 – 00:50:21:23
Christopher
They may appear reptilian and alien. We may demonize them. But, you know, it puts me back in mind of that Asclepius axiom. The wound her heals. You know, just like a doctor has to puncture or to cut, or to administer, a medicine that may bring someone to the brink where they're hovering between life and death. You know, the person who wounds, who harms is also healing.
00:50:22:00 – 00:50:52:14
Christopher
And it's not like I'm going to wound and then heal. It's wounding is involved in the cycle of healing, you know, and we may say, well, why is wounding involved in the cycle of healing? Why don't we just, like, not get wounded, you know, but wounding is involved in the cycle of healing. When you think of when you think of your heart, for instance, you know, if our heart has never been broken, our capacity of to love is is limited.
00:50:52:20 – 00:51:23:13
Christopher
You know, we don't know what it's like, what heartbreak is like. We don't know what sadness is like, what grief is like. But fury and anger is like, you know, we live almost in this Edenic, you know, this Garden of Eden, of an unknown, of an unbroken heart. And so when the heart is broken and it can be broken for a variety of reasons and for multiple times in our life, do we go down the road into heartbreak and jaded ism, being jaded and rejecting and unloving and spiteful and vengeful?
00:51:23:15 – 00:51:47:16
Christopher
Or does our heart deepen as a result of heartbreak? And, you know, does our heart deepen? Does it become profound? Does it become more loving? Do we see in the tragedy of other people, you know, something that we would never, never countenance in our own lives? And how can we countenance watching this? You know, we want to rescue these people.
00:51:47:16 – 00:52:32:01
Christopher
We want to help these people. So so these are like the themes and the ideas that are brought up by this story of, of, by and Shushan and her marvelous sister Sylvia, who, as you can tell, I absolutely adore. Okay. So, so what I want you to think of going into 2025, the year of the snake is sloughing off the old skin of of of understanding what it's like to withhold information and to ask yourself, why am I withholding this information to look beyond the labels that people have?
00:52:32:07 – 00:53:00:12
Christopher
You know, the virtuous might not be so virtuous, the bad might not be so bad. You know, to to look beyond that and to really let your heart and your conscience be your guide, because ultimately it's more than sloughing off the skin and transformation. Ultimately, it's about enlightenment. And perhaps that is a theme that we could all benefit from by entering the year of the Snake.