The twelve Animal Signs

for Men

Snake man
His psychological makeup

Extremely sensitive and easily hurt, the Snake male could not live without taking carefully into account other people's attitudes and reactions. Nothing is more important to him than being at peace and in harmony with his environment. In other words, due to his utmost vulnerability, the conditions required for his psychological well-being do not lie within himself, but without.

This individual's life motto is quite simple - "security first" - although he may be hardly aware of it. If he is charming and conciliatory, it is, fundamentally, because he feels rejection very acutely. He must at all price avoid confrontations with his fellow men and defuse threats of hostility or aggression. In order to achieve his objectives, he mobilizes all his energy on a permanent basis and never relaxes his vigilance. He acts with true prudence and circumspection, carefully scrutinizing the ground he is treading on. He always adheres to the line of least resistance. Even when he is not directly involved, he spares no efforts at smoothing over tensions and settling quarrels around him.

But the Snake male's elaborate defense strategy involves serious drawbacks which he is generally unwilling to recognize. His extreme caution often paralyses him, neutralizing any daring and initiative he might be born with. Intent on making no false step, he forces himself to take refuge in moralism and conformism, thus running the risk of intellectual and psychological ossification. One could reproach him for his cowardice and exaggerated taste for compromise. Lastly, by dint of repressing his own aggressivity and emotional outbursts, he might very well end up an inhibited, frustrated person.

What are the specific measures he usually takes to assure his security? They are numerous, varied, and sometimes contradictory.

Overly dependent on others for his own survival and happiness, he does his best to secure their good feelings toward him. He treats everybody with gentleness and consideration, almost never with belligerence. He acts with meekness and talks with circumspection, carefully avoiding tyranny and harsh words. It is practically impossible to provoke him as he has learned how to swallow his angers and conceal his pains. When bullied or attacked, he does not seek to retaliate - to him, there should be no such thing as an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth - but only puts up passive resistance, unafraid to display a marked masochistic tendency. Mahatma Gandhi, a native of the Snake sign (born AD 1869), is a perfect sample of this behavior pattern.

It is always so difficult for the Snake man to say "no" or defend his own legitimate interests against aggressors, even if he knows he will have to bitterly regret his amorphousness afterwards. He is apologetic in the extreme and shows too much gratitude for every favor he receives from someone.

This individual is keen on showing the utmost sense of equity and fair play under all circumstances. Always afraid to commit an injustice, he gives others every possible opportunity to have their chance, expose their views,, and defend themselves. He is often willing to lend an attentive ear and may at times listen patiently for hours and hours on end without interrupting his interlocutors.

When it comes to formulating ideas or reaching a judgment, he makes honest efforts to weigh all the factors in view, gauging every element available, and tries seriously and scrupulously to have as balanced an opinion as possible. It would be most surprising to see him make a rash statement or impetuous move. On the contrary, he is well known for his perpetual deliberations, hesitations, and moments of agonizing indecision. The hardest thing for him to achieve is to make up his mind, to commit himself to a definite course of action. Skepticism and procrastination have thus become his ingrained way of life. Since he is most of the time unable to take decisions, he is prone to cling to his existing ideas and principles with such tenacity and intransigence as reveal us the maniacal,, hard-to-please, and tyrannical side to his character. In the same vein, he may at times be tempted to turn a deaf ear to someone else's arguments if these threaten to shake and shatter his own convictions. Not rarely does he shelter himself behind the screen of futility, dilettantism, absent-mindedness, vagabondism, escapism, or even psychopathic personality in order to avoid life's challenges. Of course, his irresponsibility is carried out in all good faith and perfect unconsciousness.

But it would do wrong to this man if only the negative aspects of his nature were brought to light. His life strategy, while containing many important flaws, gives him equally important assets, some of which have been hinted at earlier.

This is an outstandingly lovable character. He is goodmannered, kind, sociable, and obliging. His instinct for propriety is well developed, which unfailingly warns him against vulgarity and coarseness. Despite his exacerbated sensitiveness, he rarely seems to lose his self-control and patience; people often seek his company because he radiates lovely calm and marvelous tranquility.

His intellectual acumen is superior. Apparently carefree and somewhat dull, he nevertheless understand everything with amazing rapidity. His mind is literally like an oversensitive photographic plate, which faithfully registers any and all impressions it receives. With his insatiable curiosity, it is not easy to set him posers. One is always well advised to take counsel with him, for he has a kind of sixth sense which enables him to find the right answers in a flash for other people's benefit - but curiously not for his own!

Few people would be as rich with so many depths and breadths as the Snake male. His emotions and feelings can run the whole gamut of shades and hues and colors. Owing to this he is able to grasp the slightest nuances in every conceivable field, especially in the realm of the heart. With his marvelous instinctive sense of balance, harmony, and beauty, he is unsurpassed as an artist and poet.

This man usually has the reputation of being an incurable idealist, visionary, and philosopher - with just reason! Philanthropic and altruistic, he believes in the goodness of mankind, the eventual triumph of reason over foolishness, and never doubts man's capacity for moral progress. He readily shares the ideas of such people as Sir Thomas More, who is a major figure in utopian literature because of his impossibly optimistic views on human society.

By dint of cogitations and speculations, he often neglects the practical side of life and displays incredible laziness, sometimes even forgetting to feed himself. But it is not at all impossible for him from time to time to stumble on startling ideas or hatch out enlightened theories - our world does need such visionaries as him! While he is not exactly afraid of death, he does have metaphysical anguishes which may bother him throughout his life.

He is tirelessly in quest of wisdom, or more precisely of a formula which would allow him to lead a "good" life. But here as in other areas of his existence, his efforts are of benefit to others rather than to himself: While his philosophy of life can help his fellow man live better and more happily, he himself is always in want of aid in this direction.