When the Spiral Loosens
There’s an interesting thing about cycles: they don’t announce themselves when they’re finished. They simply stop asking for attention.
The Year of the Snake, carrying the weight of a nine-year arc, has been like that. Quiet. Observant. Patient. Less concerned with forward motion than with discernment. In Taoist language, it’s a season of return—where what no longer fits falls away on its own.
The Snake doesn’t hurry this process.
It doesn’t dramatize it either.
It waits until the skin is already loose.
Nine has that quality. It isn’t an ending that needs effort. It’s an ending that happens because nothing else is required.
On Spirals and Staying Too Long
Spirals are fascinating. They give the impression of progress while keeping us close to familiar ground. Healing spirals especially—always revealing something just beneath the surface, always offering one more layer to explore.
And they’re useful.
Until they aren’t.
Taoist thought doesn’t reject the spiral, but it also doesn’t worship it. A spiral is meant to return us to center, not keep us orbiting ourselves indefinitely.
At some point, inquiry finishes its job.
Not because everything is resolved—but because alignment has been reached.
And when that happens, staying in the spiral starts to feel unnecessary. Almost… inefficient.
The Shift from Nine to One
The transition from nine to one is subtle at first, then unmistakable. Reflection gives way to direction. Completion quietly hands the baton to initiation.
The Fire Horse brings a different tone altogether. Less concerned with understanding, more interested in motion. It doesn’t argue with timing. It moves when the gate is open.
From a Taoist perspective, this isn’t urgency.
It’s responsiveness.
A one-year doesn’t ask for more contemplation. It asks what happens now that contemplation has run its course.
A Different Kind of Accounting
Instead of resolutions, the moment seems to invite something simpler—almost casual:
What’s worth carrying forward?
What’s clearly finished?
What wants to begin without explanation?
KEEP
What’s stable. What’s integrated. What no longer requires attention to function.
STOP
What has already taught its lesson. What repeats without adding clarity. What delays movement under the guise of depth.
START
Whatever generates momentum. Whatever feels oddly obvious. Whatever doesn’t need to be justified to move forward.
No pressure. No declarations. Just noticing what’s already in motion.
Letting Direction Be Enough
The Tao doesn’t demand certainty before action. It assumes timing reveals itself through ease.
The spiral doesn’t disappear—it simply loosens its grip. And in that loosening, something else becomes available: direction without commentary.
Not because the work wasn’t meaningful.
But because it worked.
The season for shedding passes.
The season for movement arrives.
And nothing needs to be fixed before stepping into it.
Goin’ on Vacation
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