The Year of the Snake arrived on January 29, 2025, with the Chinese Lunar New Year. About half of people feel anxiety about snakes and may have a phobia: ophidiophobia. So, it may have seemed like another dark sign as the United States is ensnared in chaos due to the constant drama of politics, power, and wealth inequality.
However, the zodiac sign mythically brings many things. Great positives are transformation, shedding toxicity, perseverance, love, and wisdom. It’s a year for self-reflection that brings personal growth and change. On the other hand, the snake brings the unpredictable and surprising, which already seems to be on full tilt.
Ceremonies Ward Off Bad Vibes
At the start of the Lunar New Year, ceremonies like the Dragon and Lion dance ward off bad energy. Dancers animate colorful dragons and lions in public spaces. A mirror-like Third Eye forces bad spirits to see themselves in a mirror, repelled by their own ghastly reflection. Perhaps, it’s time for people in power to take a long, hard look in the mirror right now?
“Evil entities are so evil that when they see their own reflection, their own evil, it curses themselves away,” explains a dancer from the 50-year-old Mak Fai Kung Fu Lion & Dance Association in Seattle.
Before the lion performs its first dance, an honorable person performs a blessing, “the Opening of Light.” The ceremony awakens the lion’s spirit and “dots” the creature’s eye and body to bring positive spirit elements from heaven.
Video by KING 5 Seattle about the Year of the Snake:
The Wood Snake and the Rat
This year, the snake sign is a wood snake, which only happens every 60 years. As we face countless challenges, it could be naturally countered by a greater potential for harmony, creativity, and flexibility. Depending on your zodiac sign, the year may be auspicious, such as for those with the rat sign. If you believe in that sort of thing, it looks like it might even be a lucky year.
In the real world, it looks like rats have been living it up around the globe. As a side-effect, snakes benefit since they rely on rodents for food. However, the reason rats are proliferating is not about zodiac signs but for another reason: climate change.
The ‘Perfect Rat Storm’
According to the Guardian, there is a “perfect rat storm” in cities worldwide today, including Washington, DC. In the last decade, a study showed that the rat population exploded in the nation’s capital by 390%!
“Rising temperatures correlated with rising rat numbers, researchers wrote in the paper. As small mammals, rats struggle during winter, but in higher temperatures they can breed for more of the year and forage for longer,” the article states.
Therefore, a rise in rat sightings is tangible evidence that our climate is changing fast. Each rat you see is a little furry reminder that it’s real and can’t be fixed by opening up a dam or raking the leaves. Perhaps those who have the power to make significant changes will be seeing more and more rats everywhere they turn?
“The world doesn’t work on petrol,” as Sir David Attenborough put it.
In many cities with rising temperatures, rat populations are rising exponentially. While many people know rats make intelligent and gentle pets, in the wild, they carry over 60 diseases to humans, cause structural damage, and harm biodiversity.
Rat Explosion in the Nation’s Capital
Interestingly, news of a rat explosion due to global warming is arriving now. Days ago, the current White House occupant pulled out of the Paris Climate Agreement for a second time. Consequently, the prospects for rats and a few snakes attempting to survive in Washington DC look highly favorable indeed.
Looking back, when the pandemic swept the globe in 2020, the rats also got a huge boost. Why? It was because more folks were staying away from public spaces at home and disposing of food waste in residential areas. As a result, the District became the fourth most rat-infested city in America by Orkin.
Cats Drive Away Rats and Snakes
While exterminators resort to chemicals, traps, and poisonous gas, cities are finding relief without toxins. Through carefully planned feral adoption programs, cats are helping drive away the rodents with their presence in urban neighborhoods. Thus, caring for cats could offer an environmentally friendly solution to the rat problem.
People who love cats are leading efforts to carefully manage feral cats in urban environments. So, ironically, what cities like DC may need more of this year is more cat people, childless cat ladies or otherwise.
Since ancient times, symbolic cats have driven away harmful snakes, like Apep the Egyptian symbol of chaos and destruction.
Video by WGN News about feral cat programs in Chicago:
As for the White House, it looks like there won’t be a resident mouser or a dog either, for that matter. In 2017, rat complaints hit an all-time high and rat traps were required around the executive mansion.
Coincidentally, Trump’s critics have compared him to rats, with giant inflatable rat balloons in New York and Mar-a-Lago. Curiously, even Trump’s supporters, like Ted Cruz, have compared him to a rat.
Featured image: Black cat via Wikimedia Commons with snake via Pixabay and rat via Pixabay