The twelve Animal Signs

for Women

Snake woman
Her psychological makeup

Being in the line of Helen of Troy, this subject is no doubt aesthetically inclined. Her sense of proportion, line, color, rhythm, and melody reaches the highest degree. Beauty and harmony in all form exalt her; she needs them around her in order to function properly. On the contrary, ugliness and untidiness greatly revolt her, making her feel miserable and unhappy. For these reasons she is very fond of rituals, not for their symbolic significance, but for their aesthetic content. She would refuse to eat food which is not beautifully presented. Unfortunately, her love of things beautiful is often carried so far as to make her lose touch with reality; her irresistible penchant for luxury, for instance, can get her into serious financial trouble at one time or another.

The Snake female functions mostly with her heart, rarely with her mind. She possesses an unerring instinct for doing the right thing as far as human relations are concerned; whatever her background, her sense of propriety is never out of tune. Her intuition serves as a kind of extremely sensitive and accurate radar in her business of living: She can know the right answer to most problems in a flash without a shade of reasoning and is seldom betrayed by her impressions, feelings, likes, and dislikes.

She is always afraid to antagonize other people since her peace of mind and happiness largely depend on their acceptance and approval. It is why she acts with true prudence, trying to look carefully at both sides of things and duly weigh all the pros and cons involved. She also makes serious efforts to show fairness by avoiding bias, giving everybody a good chance, and to reach impartial judgments. Whether or not she can succeed in this direction is perpetually open to question because her emotivity often gets in the way of her good intentions. But she does what is in her power to do. Her basic instinct of tact and thoughtfulness seldom fails her. Gentle and affable, she excels at showing consideration for other people's sensitivities, readily admitting her mistakes and carefully concealing her aggressivity. In addition, she has exquisitely tender affection for those nearest to her heart.

This is a highly intelligent female whose cultural level is well above the average. Everything fascinates her, for her intellectual curiosity knows of no limit. An avid reader, she does not waste her time on bad or even mediocre authors and is not liable to say stupid things. No subject seems to be beyond her grasp.

One of her major weaknesses is her persistent inability and unwillingness to face up to reality. She dreams a lot, broods a lot, and often has difficulty lifting herself out of her moods. She also deliberately cultivates her air of helplessness because it can profit her more than a display of self-reliance. The result is that she has a basically "feminine" character - she muddles through life hesitant, indecisive, unpredictable. It is difficult for her to commit herself to any definite course of action, and for others to know exactly what she is up to. Besides, she is prone to religiosity, mysticism, and bigotry.

Altruism is a quality she will have to learn all her life, for egoism is an essential part of her psychological makeup. Although she never means to be unfair or deceptive, her affability, gentleness, feminity, and helplessness are, in the last analysis, fundamentally a gimmick she uses to get what she wants out of life - and she wants everything to satisfy not only her real needs but also her caprices. She would not deprive herself of anything for anyone's sake; she would extend a helping hand only if this profits her at the same time or at least entails no personal sacrifice. She is extremely clever at ferreting out advantages for herself and, when necessary, gets herself be supported, thus becoming a drag on her friends sometimes and forgoing her sense of independence. (Jacqueline Kennedy's successive marriages may well account for this character trait of the typical Snake woman.) However, in some exceptional circumstances, especially when she is involved with a Snake man, it is not impossible for her to let her heart be moved by the misfortune of others.

This woman's need to be adored and loved for her beauty is as great as the Dragon woman's desire to be admired and worshipped for her talent. To seduce everyone is her own way to supply fuel for her ego, and she puts all her fertile imagination to use in this endeavor. While her otherworldly charm is clearly hard to resist, it of course does not necessarily work with all. But she cannot bear seeing someone remain indifferent to her spell and will mobilize all her resources to enchant him into surrender. This is how she manages to get her way in life.

Another of her undesirable characteristics is her snobbishness. She does not want to make friends with anyone but carefully selects those who enjoy wealth, rank, prestige, or fame, discarding without regret such people as are unlikely to help in her social promotion.

She loves to entertain sumptuously and does it with exquisite refinement and perfect know-how; nevertheless people of modest condition cannot expect to receive an invitation card from her.

Lastly, she always wants life to treat her as a princess. A lazy streak is conspicuously discernible to the fore of her personality. Not only does she detest uncongenial or manual chores, she also hates to make necessary efforts in all directions except, obviously, when it comes to enhancing or trying out her charm.