Forward Movement has Begun
Year of the Horse, the Shedding of the Serpent's Skin, & Eclipse Season
In the traditional Chinese calendar, the Year of the Snake gives way to the Year of the Horse.
The Snake moves low to the ground. Watchful, strategic, shedding old skin. It represents quiet transformation, subtle recalibration, survival through discernment.
The Horse arrives with movement. Fire. Momentum. Forward charge.
Where the Snake coils inward, the Horse runs forward.
Some see these symbolic transitions as myth. Others see archetypes: reminders that human attention moves in cycles. There are years of tightening and years of release. Years of concealment and years of forward progress.
Combine this time with an eclipse window, a time historically associated with shadow, recalibration, and sudden illumination, and the metaphor becomes obvious:
An old way completes.
Something restless prepares to move.
The Land Waited
High in my home of the inner San Juan Mountains of Southwest Colorado, winter has barely come this year.
Many long time locals have said it has been the worst they’ve seen in 20 years.
Many south-facing slopes are bare up to 13,000 feet.
The valley has been warm by day.
The ground exposed.
It has not looked like February. It has looked like late spring.
But the last two weeks, a series of storms came.
They were dense and restorative, with high moisture content.
Snow stacked quickly, reshaping ridgelines and refilling slopes that had been nothing but rock weeks earlier.
At my north-facing house, a cornice formed thick, curling outward like a frozen wave suspended in time.
Winter finally looked like winter.
To Celebrate
I did what I always do when the mountains restore themselves.
I went snowboarding.
A storm cycle resets more than terrain. It resets the nervous system.
There’s something clarifying about riding fresh snow. It reminds you that droughts do not last forever.
Personal Weather
For months, I’ve felt something similar.
A shedding. A narrowing. A refusal to be pulled by every distraction.
Less urgency and reaction and more alignment with my truth.
The Snake year required tightening: shedding illusion, cutting excess, facing collapse in parts of my life that were no longer structurally sound.
The Horse year feels different.
Not frantic motion. Just intentional movement. Even if slow but steady. The time will come to gallop across golden fields.
Momentum emerges from clarity.
What I’ve Been Building
During this quieter stretch, I’ve been working on my next book:
The Broken Shards of Uncompahgria: Backpacking the San Juan High Route with my Dog.
It follows a route I devised, a 60-mile traverse along the primary ridge spine of the San Juan Mountains, what I think of as a long fossilized dragon laid across Colorado’s southern skyline.
The concept of the Land, the world, and life itself as a dragon is everywhere in myth and cultures spanning 6 continents.
This podcast from The Emerald dives into this topic, interviews people from various cultures around the world with this myth, and has a mesmerizing backing soundscape.
As I slowly layer this book with my personal account of the crossing, reflections on the themes of extraction vs. sanctuary in the wilderness, and the geological and human history of this mountain range, I feel a quiet pull towards my own center. A gravitation towards peace. The old distractions and side temptations no longer hold the sway on me they used to.
On the crossing, I weaved through the high basins of the uplifted basement rock, stone nearly half the age of the planet, crossed exposed tundra, volcanic remains, and slept in high alpine basins, on ridgelines, and on the highest peak of the range on the full moon above 14,300 feet. All places that hold the geologic memory of this range. Those geologic layers hold the truth of the forays humankind has taken away from their highest calling.
It’s part wilderness narrative.
Part geologic and human history.
Part personal reckoning.
More on that soon.
Music, too, is waiting. I began recording original songs, paused for a bit, but I’ll be back at it soon. Likely even this weekend.
Resources for Realigning
The land doesn’t rush to immediately fix itself.
Vitality and abundance accumulates slowly.
If you’re feeling a shift away from distraction, false goals and concerns, and towards a realignment with what actually matters to you personally, you might find the following resources I made helpful:
The Cosmic To-Do List Starter Template - A free framework for prioritizing what truly belongs in your life.
If you want the expanded print edition of The Cosmic To-Do List, a guided journal for aligning your life with what truly matters, you can get it in paperback or hardcover here:
As one user recently wrote:
“I was very scattered and unsure of myself prior to finding this, and it came at the perfect time. It really got my mind cleared by writing down and clearing out my worries or uncertainties. I now feel like there is hope in areas that i was lacking before and I know what actions steps to take to improve those areas. It is going to be a monthly activity for me and I can’t wait to see the progress!”
-Vivienne Helen — visit her Substack Here
The origin story of this framework on how I lost touch with what mattered and found it again is inside my memoir:
What’s My Nitch? : My Quest for Purpose in the Content Creator Economy
A story of collapse, identity unraveling, and rebuilding from my own personal geologic foundation.
Movement
The Year of the Horse does not promise ease.
It promises forward motion.
Check out that Dragon Podcast Here:
— Brady Snow, 2/27/26 — Silverton, CO — The Caldera inside the Caldera