My last exposé may have seemed like an overshare, but I don’t feel like I gave much away. Secrets, lies, and suffering are all very commonplace. It seems better to let them unite us than to feel uniquely diseased, exceptional, or outcast.

During the sunniest month of Snake Year, our dark underbellies are exposed. Yin Wood Snake is deep, mystical, and revelatory. The Solstice sun illuminates everything we would rather not see. The good news is that we have a standard-issue underbelly. Exposing it feels vulnerable, but variations on human pain are few.

We might mistake resolution for retribution if we don’t recognize this as the jewel of an opportunity that it is. The potential for catharsis is astronomical (literally). Family grieving is especially present in my broader community. Let uncomfortable truths surface without stifling them. Put yourself in the good hands of a trusted witness. Talk or weep or pray with a river or a rock, or a person, if you’re lucky. Air out wounds that may have not seen the light of day since childhood. You won’t need to look for them. They’re the ones at the surface, maybe the ones you’ve been avoiding. Clarify your purpose—resolution, integrity, wholeness—then let go.

Attending to personal fate during planetary war is a guerrilla skill and collective endeavor. Nothing is truly personal. We are a compound dream, cohering. I have not found a difference between outside and inside—war is everywhere, and we can’t estimate the impact of our efforts toward integrity.

Snake Year has zero chill. Now is the time to face our fears, our feelings, and our underbellies. Nothing is going how we planned anyway. Surrender to the disruption—transformation cannot occur without it. Even if we never meet, know that we are collaborating in a resonance of courage. Allow our shared dream to hold you. Who knows what small, good things may come of it?