Jade
Observatory
16 September 2026
Snake is number 6 in the 12-sign cycle. Snake years in 1924–2035 are 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013, 2025. Its most recent return is 2025; the next is 2037. Each begins at Chinese New Year, not 1 January.
The Snake is traditionally described as perceptive, private and composed, preferring to understand an encounter before revealing a complete response. Its strength is selective attention: looking past a first impression, retaining useful detail and allowing an idea to mature without the pressure of constant explanation. Guardedness and suspicion are the other side of that reserve, particularly when a wish for privacy makes a reasonable question seem intrusive or leaves a companion guessing about feelings that have never been stated.
The year stem changes on each twelve-year return; the Snake branch stays Fire. An identical animal-and-element name returns after sixty years.
Wood turns the Snake's private reflection toward gradual learning and the development of a carefully chosen idea. Its perceptiveness is expressed through curiosity, with room for a trusted companion to add another perspective. The challenge is opening that process early enough: waiting until every thought has matured can make a supposedly shared undertaking feel closed to other people's influence.
Fire repeats the Snake branch's fixed element, giving composed observation an underlying intensity and a more expressive finish. The portrait combines a reserved beginning with a strongly felt conclusion once the Snake decides to speak. Its tension is between privacy and visibility, especially when a desire to be understood arrives without the earlier explanation that would help another person follow.
Earth steadies the Snake's perceptiveness, emphasising patient assessment and a preference for conclusions that have practical support. Reserve here can provide calm in a conversation that is moving too quickly. The challenge is treating caution as a temporary stage rather than a permanent answer, so that asking for more evidence does not become a way to avoid every unfamiliar possibility.
Metal concentrates the Snake's selectiveness into clear standards and firm boundaries around what it chooses to reveal. This variant values a precise observation and a carefully kept commitment over a broad display of enthusiasm. The difficult edge is distrust becoming too settled, where an early judgement is protected so closely that later evidence has little chance to change it.
A Water Snake reading emphasises depth of observation, quiet receptiveness and an ability to notice the changing mood beneath a composed surface. Water adds flexibility to the animal's deliberate way of forming an opinion. Its challenge is excessive interpretation: a subtle signal can invite several explanations, and privately weighing them all may be less useful than asking a straightforward question.
All eleven pairings retain every named layer. Mixed means both support and tension; neutral means no named relation, not incompatibility.
Three Harmonies
The Ox's patience and the Snake's considered judgement share the Metal trine. This reading values time taken seriously: neither needs an immediate display, and a carefully reached conclusion can be supported by a commitment that remains steady afterwards.
Three Harmonies
The Snake's private discernment and the Rooster's explicit observations meet in the Metal trine. One looks beneath the first impression while the other makes a conclusion clear, creating a traditional pairing of depth with careful articulation.
Seasonal meeting
巳 Si and 午 Wu meet through the relationships shown above.
Seasonal meeting
巳 Si and 未 Wei meet through the relationships shown above.
Six Harmonies (secret friend) · Destruction · Punishment of Ingratitude
The Snake's selective observation meets the Monkey's experimental wit. Their secret-friend attraction sits alongside punishment and destruction, so intellectual interest and clever exchanges coexist with a need to make intentions more explicit.
No named branch relation
巳 Si and 子 Zi are not joined by a named harmony or tension in these branch sets.
No named branch relation
巳 Si and 卯 Mao are not joined by a named harmony or tension in these branch sets.
No named branch relation
巳 Si and 辰 Chen are not joined by a named harmony or tension in these branch sets.
No named branch relation
巳 Si and 戌 Xu are not joined by a named harmony or tension in these branch sets.
Harm · Punishment of Ingratitude
The Tiger's direct initiative meets the Snake's preference for a considered, private response. Harm and punishment overlap here, highlighting how an urgent question can feel intrusive while a reserved answer can be mistaken for resistance.
Clash
The Snake's selective reserve contrasts with the Pig's ready openness. In their clash, one approach can find the other too guarded or too trusting, making the pace of disclosure a clearer point of difference than a general judgement about affection.
Compare full birth dates to add both year elements and Na Yin.
These popular traditional associations belong to the Snake portrait, regardless of the birth year's stem element.
These 6 full birthdays resolve to Snake at the Chinese New Year boundary. Each person's year-stem element identifies the variant.
The running Yang Fire Horse year lasts from 17 February 2026 to 5 February 2027.Snake last returned in 2025; its next animal year is 2037. The comparison for this year is between the Snake and Horse branches.
The named branch relations in this pair are traditionally read as supportive.
The animal's fixed coordinates
These coordinates belong to the branch, not the changing year stem.
Open a five-element chapter for exact New Year boundaries and year names.
