The Serpent Clock Method.

Welcome to your Wednesday Love Note, where I offer tips + inspo to help you cultivate and protect your peace, both personally and professionally—even with a busy-ass schedule.

First, here’s what's happening in the BGV ecosystem this week:

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Onto today’s inspo.

(a somewhat belated but no less enthusiastic) Blessed Lunar New Year, Audriana!

According to Chinese astrology and the lunisolar calendar, the beginning of this month officially entered us into the year of the Serpent.

Many wonderful characteristics are embodied by the serpent, including transformation, charm and grace.

As I’ve pondered serpent medicine in this first month of the Serpent year, the Ouroboros—the serpent which devours its own tail—has popped up again and again.

[above: unknown stone artist, Salvador Dalí, Kim Krans]

The Ouroboros is the most ancient symbol of alchemy, representing the cyclical process of the alchemist's “great work.”

Beyond alchemy, this easily recognizable symbol also clearly portrays the neverending wheel of eternity, and the cyclical nature of all things.

I love to ponder things that disrupt, challenge and redirect the current paradigm around time, and then share my discoveries in my writings and teachings.

And so, as we enter this year of the Wood Snake, I’m thinking about something I’ll call The Serpent Clock Method.

1. Look at the clock, and notice how it goes around and around in a never ending circle… Like the Ouroboros.

2. Now, think briefly about your lifetime.

3. Notice: did you think about a straight line, with a beginning and an end?

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Why can we theoretically conceptualize cyclical time as we ponder the Ouroboros or look at a ticking clock, but when it comes to a human “lifetime”, we immediately start to think linearly?

This is the Serpent Clock Method.

It is a game where you catch yourself thinking about straight lines—especially in the realms of productivity, success and aging—and then visualize the Ouroboros as a reminder that whatever illusion you’ve fallen into, you are simply going ‘round the wheel of life.

I recently wrote a Substack article where I shared about a book called “Zen and The Art of Saving The Planet,” wherein author Thich Nhat Hahn teaches the reader to cast away the notion of a “human lifetime,” which is part of the ancient Diamond Sutra teachings.

This idea aligns perfectly with the wisdom of the Ouroboros.

So does the Hindu cycle of creating, sustaining and destroying, which I’ve shared about passionately (and which is expressed beautifully in this pod ep).

The point is, when we view our projects, work, creativity, relationships, body or life through a linear lens, we are in a state of forgetting.

May this year of the Serpent invite us deeper into our remembering. Because yes, it's the second month of 2025, and we’re over halfway through Q1, and I’ve got to get working toward my goals, and, and, and….

AND, it's all alchemy.

We are being alchemized. We are the snake eating its own tail.

Depending on how you choose to look at it, that could deflate you, or set you free.

To massive and necessary shedding in the year ahead,

PS. One of the images above is by Salvador Dalí, known for his obsession with time, clocks and eternity. No wonder he chose to paint the Ouroboros.

PPS. Today, Feb 26th, is also the tail end of Mahashivratri, a much celebrated festival in India honoring Shiva, who also wears a serpent around his body like an adornment. Hmmm... coincidence? 🐍