2025 Day 29: New Year of the Wood Snake

2025-0129W-0900 Austin, TX

As I’m typing this, the beautiful being in the apartment I’m visiting is getting ready to have an Ecstatic Dance inside. I have a choice now. I can continue typing OR I can stop typing and start dancing. Both universes exist regardless of the choice I make. Neither universe is of lesser value than the other. My quantum self will experience both. My classical self will experience writing now, and dancing later. I will finish this blog post first …

As the Year of the Wood Snake (乙巳, Yǐ Sì) begins, we are invited into a space of transformation, wisdom, and adaptability. The Snake, in Chinese tradition, is an intuitive navigator—one that moves between shadows and light, sensing the unseen and shifting effortlessly through obstacles. The Wood element brings an added layer of growth, flexibility, and resilience.

Universe Surfing can be thought of as the conscious movement between possibilities—the shedding of past skins and the emergence into new timelines.

The Wood Snake and Universe Surfing

The Snake thrives in subtlety, navigating through unseen forces, much like the way we experience quantum reality—the multiverse in which infinite versions of our choices play out. We surf through these possibilities not as passive observers, but as active participants, shifting realities with every decision, every intuition, and every unexpected moment.

The Wood Snake year calls us to embrace this movement, to sense the energetic flow of the universe, and to trust in our ability to shape our experience. In this spirit, let’s revisit the Three Hypotheses of Universe Surfing, now through the lens of the Snake’s wisdom.

Universe Surfing Hypothesis 1 – All Parallel Classical Universes Hold Equal Reality

Universe Surfing Hypothesis 1 – The classical universe we experience is equal in reality to the multitude of parallel classical universes that we do not experience.

Just as a Snake sheds its skin, revealing a new but equally real form beneath, we are constantly shifting between realities, even if we only experience one at a time. Each moment contains an interwoven web of potential timelines, and the version we perceive is simply the one we have tuned into—not the only one that exists.

The Wood Snake does not resist change—it embodies it. And as we step into 2025, the invitation is to release attachment to a singular, linear narrative. Whether we choose to dance or write, both universes are real. The wisdom of the Snake reminds us that we do not need to fear change, for every moment of loss, transformation, or uncertainty is also a doorway to new possibilities.

Universe Surfing Hypothesis 2 – Unexpected Events as Windows to Possible Futures

Universe Surfing Hypothesis 2 – Unexpected events are more connected to your possible futures than to your possible pasts, and therefore are useful signposts and windows to your possible futures.

In the mythos of the Snake, it is often a guardian of hidden knowledge—the whisper of insight in the darkness, the flash of intuition before a choice. When an unexpected event occurs—whether a moment of synchronicity or a sudden shift in plans—it is not random. It is a glimpse into a branching universe where other potentials are waiting.

The Snake moves without hesitation, sensing the right path not through force but through deep internal knowing. This year, we are invited to pay attention to disruptions in our paths, to treat them not as obstacles but as signposts to alternative futures. A missed train, a chance encounter, a sudden change in plans—all of these are moments where we stand at the threshold of parallel worlds, invited to peek beyond the veil of our expectations.

Universe Surfing Hypothesis 3 – The Non-Directionality of Time

Universe Surfing Hypothesis 3 – Related events influence each other and the order in which we experience two events gives us the classical impression that one event caused the other.

The Wood Snake weaves through past, present, and future, reminding us that time is not a fixed stream but a spiral, folding in on itself in ways we may not always perceive. Events that seem to be “causes” may in fact be the echoes of a future already in motion. The choices we make now ripple backward and forward, shifting the intersections of possibility in ways we might only recognize much later.

In the Year of the Wood Snake, we are called to trust the timing of things, to embrace the idea that every moment is interconnected—not as linear progressions, but as interwoven threads of experience. When an opportunity arises, ask: Is this a calling from my future self? When a challenge appears, consider: Is this an invitation to shift my path in ways I have not yet seen?

The Snake reminds us that wisdom is not just found in analysis but in deep, embodied knowing. Sometimes, we must simply move forward, even when the path is unseen.

Surfing the Year Ahead

As we step into 2025, we are surfing a universe of infinite choices, synchronicities, and realities. The Wood Snake invites us to move with purpose yet fluidity, to sense the unseen pathways, and to trust in our ability to adapt. Shed the skins of past limitations. Let intuition be your compass. The universes unfold before us, waiting to be explored.

新年快乐,万事如意! (Xīnnián kuàilè, wànshì rúyì!)
Happy New Year! May everything go as you wish!

… such a sweet dance I just had, classically just now and my quantum self while I was blogging. In fact, while I was blogging, I noticed myself being pulled into the dance from time to time. Z was dancing with a lot of Shakti energy and it was difficult for me to stay focused in my Shiva energy.

2025 Day 19: Why is 19 sacred?

2025-0119u-0719 Austin, TX

For the last week, I have been curious about the history of the 7-day week. This led me to a curiosity around the sexagesimal (base-60) number system developed by the Sumerians over five thousand years ago. The earliest evidence of counting is the clay tokens made in standardized shapes over seven thousand years ago. These shapes included spheres, cones, cylinders and discs. They seem to have been used for numerical abstraction and record-keeping.

In a sexagesimal (base-60) number system, one counts from 1 to 59, and then 60 is represented by the same symbol as 1, now with a weight of 60. Normally, the position of the symbol is used to determine the weight. In the Sumerian system, the rightmost position represented units 1-59, the next position represented multiples of 60 (60-3540). The third position represented multiples of 3600 (3600-212400). You can see how you can represent large numbers with only a few sexagesimal symbols. Fractions were also represented in a similar way by positional symbols to the right of the main unit. There was apparently no “decimal point” and context of usage was needed to distinguish between 60, 1, and 1/60th.

In the ancient Babylonian times, it was known that lunar cycle (of 29.53 days) and the solar cycle (of 365.25 days) would synchronize every 19 years (19 * 365.25 / 29.53 = 235.007), which equals very close to 235 lunar cycles (off by 0.007 lunar month, about 2 hrs or 1/12th of a full day). This 19-year cycle would need a single day adjustment only every 12 * 19 =228 years!

WOW! I have been researching lunar and solar cycles for hours. It’s now Monday and I am still finishing this blog. I have been trying to figure out when the next alignment of the lunar and solar cycles would be. As my alignment, I have been using the winter solstice and the beginning of the lunar cycle as the Babylonians calculated it. Well, this year is the year! The winter solstice will be on December 21, 2025 (9:02am CST). And, that evening after sunset will be the first crescent moon of the new moon cycle!

Reference: https://theskylive.com/moon-calendar?year=2025

2025 Day 14: Day of Mars

2025-0114T-0925 Austin, TX

Today is Tuesday. Tuesday is named after the Roman god Mars, the god of war, which parallels the Babylonian god Nergal, also a deity of war, destruction, and the underworld. In many Romance languages, the name retains the link to Mars (e.g. Martes in Spanish, Mardi in French, and Martedi in Italian). The English name Tuesday is associated with the Norse god Tyr, the god of courage, strength, combat and justice. Mars’ fiery red appearance has long associated it with war, action, and energy.

Tomorrow, January 15, 2025, Mars will be at opposition! As a universe surfer, I note this synchronicity of me blogging about Mars on this day. Last night when I was viewing the full moon, Mars was passing behind the moon and you could see Mars at the edge of the moon. During opposition, Mars is at its closest point to Earth for the year. Earth will be directly between Mars and the Sun. The retrograde (westward) motion of Mars, which has been going on for the last month, will peak tomorrow and continue for another month until Mars exits retrograde and begins moving eastward again.

This is a simulated picture of what it looked like last night when Mars was near the Moon (Image credit: NASA.gov)
Mars retrograde motion Sept 2024 to June 2025 (Ref: NASA 2024 Stellarium Maps of Mars Retrograde)

Synchronicities are probabilistically unexpected and also meaningful to the one experiencing the synchronicity. Checking ChatGPT now, the next time Mars will be at opposition after January 15, 2025, will be on March 5, 2027, at approximately 10:19 PM (UTC). Oh interesting, 10:19 is a meaningful number from my past and so this is also adding to my feeling of synchronicity. This is based on the average 779.93-day synodic period between successive oppositions.

The Babylonians were the first to systematically track the synodic period of Mars (Salu, The Red Star). They recorded its oppositions and retrograde motion on cuneiform tablets (The Enuma Anu Enlil and Astronomical Diaries) as early as the 7th century BCE. I find it interesting that 780 is also quite a divisor heavy number that includes 60 as a divisor. The divisors of 780 are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 13, 15, 20, 26, 30, 39, 52, 60, 65, 78, 130, 156, 195, 260, 390, and 780. Notable additions that are not divisors of 60 include the multiples of 13 (13, 26, 39, 52, 65, 78, 156, 195, 260, and 390). Removing divisors of 15 gives a smaller list (13, 26, 39, 52, 78, and 156). It’s amusing how the number 13, which I discussed yesterday as being unbalancing (2025 Day 13: Day of the Moon), has worked it’s way back in to balance through the Earth-Mars synodic period of 780 days.

Diving Deeper: The base-60 numbering system of the Babylonians is more precisely a combination of a base-6 and base-10 numbering system. The 360º circle is evidence for this, but the main evidence is how numbers were represented. Numbers 1 to 9 were represented by vertical wedge marks. Multiples of 10, 10 to 50, were represented by sideways wedge marks. Other numbers 11 to 59 were represented by a combination of vertical wedges and sideways wedges. The number 60 was represented by the same vertical wedge mark as the number 1, but shifted to the next positional value to the left.

The next few days I will cover the remaining days of the week and their history of assignment from the ancient Babylonian time period. I created the following chart with the help of ChatGPT. I don’t have evidence of the 29th and 30th and intercalary days deities. I just assigned those myself based on the role of the deity. I am also assuming that the first (and 8th, etc.) day of the lunar cycle is always a Sunday. This is based on the idea that multiple of 7 days would be days of rest and reflection, and aligned with the Saturn god Ninurta.

Looking back five years: On this day five years ago I blogged about Buddhism: https://surfingtheuniverse.com/2020/01/15/2020-day-14-the-fourteen-precepts-of-engaged-buddhism/. These fourteen guidelines still resonate with me.

2025 Day 13: Day of the Moon

2025-0113M-2048 Austin, TX

Day 13 of 2025 is a Monday – day of the Moon. I’m actually writing this on Day 14, because it’s after midnight. That’s synchronistic because it’s a full moon now, which roughly marks Day 14 of the lunar cycle. Before writing, the full moon would be a multiple of 7 day and would be a day of rest and inner reflection. There would be no war. No harsh judgments.

But this blog is for Day 13. Like the number 7 of the ancient Babylonian times, the number 13 has some superstition surrounding it. The numbers 6 and 12 are considered complete. 7 and 13 disrupt the harmony of 6 and 12. They both represent excess, irregularity, transition, imbalance, and uncertainty. Many ancient cultures associated these numbers with misfortune. Divisibility of numbers was associated with harmony. Prime numbers like 7 and 13 have no divisibility except by 1 and itself. There are 13 full moons in a year which disrupts the natural alignment of the lunar year with the solar year. Today is Day 13 of 2025 and also a full moon.

The year 2025 is highly divisible with the divisors: 1, 3, 5, 9, 15, 25, 27, 45, 75, 81, 135, 225, 405, 675, and 2025. Last year 2024 had the divisors: 1, 2, 4, 8, 11, 22, 23, 44, 46, 88, 92, 184, 253, 506, 1012, and 2024. In 23 years when it is NYE before the year 2048, AI robots and such will be having a celebration like it’s 1999. Excluding 1, the divisors of 2048 are all multiples of 2: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, and 2048. So in computer binary numbers, the year will be 100000000000. This is  2^{11}, a single bit set at the 12th position (starting from the right). Ahhh … completion.

Diving Deeper: Mondays are synonymous with Days 2, 9, 16, and 23 and were transitional days in the lunar cycle. While not as prominently mentioned as the quarter phases, they had significance as moments of adjustment and preparation:

Day 2: Early waxing crescent, symbolizing growth and refinement of new beginnings.

Day 9: Momentum toward the first quarter, a time for strengthening and evaluating progress.

Day 16: Waning after the Full Moon, focusing on balance and stability.

Day 23: Waning crescent nearing the last quarter, symbolizing preparation for endings and consolidation.

2025 Day 12: Day of the Sun

2025-0112u-2345 Austin, TX

It’s now morning and the sun is rising again. I only wrote the title of this post last night. I was doing a bit of research on Sunday about the history of Sunday. When near midnight I read that Sunday has traditionally been a day of rest, I felt myself getting very sleepy. I decided to finish in the morning. Now I am reading that actually the 7th day is the day of rest, so I have to wait until Saturday to rest.

Day 12 of 2025 is a Sunday. How synchronistic in many ways. To learn the origin of Sunday, we have to travel back seven millennium to the time period of 2025-7000 =-4,975. Geographically, we need to focus on southern Mesopotamia. During this first millennial time period of 4975 BCE to 3976 BCE, the people of this area were moving from dispersed Neolithic settlements to more centralized villages. Irrigation was used to move water from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. A reliable water supply allowed these villages to grow barley crops, dates, and keep livestock. Temples were constructed, with the earliest and most significant one being the temple of Eridu.

Aside: In Sumerian mythology, Eridu is the first city. It was created by the gods. It is associated with the god Enki (also known as Ea), the god of water, knowledge, mischief, crafts, and creation. The Eridu temple, known as the E-abzu, is dedicated to the god Enki. Archaeologists call this millennial period the Ubaid period, which continues to c. 4000 BCE.

There were no written calendars and cuneiform did not exist yet. Archaeologists have found clay tokens of different shapes. I have not seen any research that claims these tokens were used as money, but it only makes sense to me that they were used as a medium of exchange. Here are seven different types of tokens and how I imagine that they might have been used. I have also ordered them and given a representation I will explain later.

  1. Cone – for barley and wheat, representing a cone of light, life, and earthly sustenance
  2. Ovoid – for eggs and small animals, representing cycles, fertility and wisdom
  3. Disc – for fish and cheese, representing conflict and nourishment from struggle
  4. Cylinder – for rolled textiles and rugs, representing communication and trade
  5. Gemstones, e.g. obsidian or lapis lazuli – for luxury items, representing wealth and authority
  6. Spherical – for livestock, representing fertility, beauty and abundance
  7. Triangle/Wedge – for land or labor, representing structure, balance, and discipline

The ancient Babylonians used one of the most advanced mathematical systems of their time. The sexagesimal (base-60) system is the foundation for our 360º circle, 60 minutes in an hour, 60 seconds in a minute, and 24 hours in a day. The number 60 was chosen because it is highly divisible (with divisors of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, and 60). This makes it ideal for fractional measurements. It also makes it useful for dividing time, space and celestial cycles.

Notice how the divisors of 60 include all the integers up through six, but not seven. Seven is mathematically special in a base-60 numbering system. Additionally, the lunar cycle is about 29.5 days on average (it varies between 29.27 and 29.83 days). Day 1 of a lunar cycle would begin with the first crescent moon after the new moon. This would naturally lead to day 7, 14, 21, and 28 aligning very closely with four main phases of the moon: first quarter, full moon, last quarter, and dark moon. On these multiple of 7 days, certain activities were forbidden or restricted by the Babylonian priests. Old Mesopotamian texts refer to these four days of the lunar month as “ul ūma” (evil days). These days were considered both sacred and inauspicious. Therefore, to avoid angering the gods, or disturbing the cosmic order, certain activities were restricted. The reasoning was tied to the Moon’s transition points which were seen as powerful but unstable energy.

On these moon transition points, the priests advised the following:

  1. Avoid making major decisions or judgments
  2. Refrain from starting new ventures
  3. Refrain from working or agricultural work
  4. Avoid travel or expeditions
  5. Practice sexual abstinence
  6. Limit public appearances or displays of power
  7. Practice self reflection and mindfulness

To counteract the inauspicious energies and to counterbalance the risks of acting on these sacred days, priests often prescribed rituals:

  1. Sacrifices and offerings of animals, grains, or incense to appease the gods
  2. Consult omens through liver readings, astrology, or other forms of divination
  3. Undergo ritual cleansings (e.g. fasting, bathing in sacred water)
  4. Align with divine will through seclusion, mediation, and prayer

Diving Deeper: The Enuma Anu Enlil is a collection of astronomical and astrological omens. It details the significance of lunar days and specifically mentions the multiple of seven days:

  1. Day 7: A day of rest and worship
  2. Day 14: A day of reflection and time of fullness – no war or harsh judgments
  3. Day 21: A day of introspection and preparation
  4. Day 28: A day of vulnerability and time of renewal – defer decisions and prioritize rituals

These multiple of seven days are actually tied to Saturday rather than Sunday. So, for Sunday we have:

  1. Day 1: A day to start new initiatives and a time of renewal
  2. Day 8: A day to build momentum and make progress in a measured way
  3. Day 15: A day to celebrate accomplishments, avoid hubris, seek balance, and tap into your divinity
  4. Day 22: A day to reflect, consolidate, and prepare for the end of the cycle

Update 2025-0118S-1034: I don’t know if I was inspired by my 5-year ago post when I blogged about this day. I have been checking these to get inspiration so it is very likely that I did. However, I don’t know remember doing so. It was a short post 5 years ago which I can just include here:

The number 12 is special to Earth, it’s Moon, and the Sun through the fact that the Moon revolves around the Earth 12 times during the time that the Earth revolves around the sun. There are 12 lunar cycles plus 11 or 12 days in a year. The Babylonians calendar defined a year to be 12 lunar months, each beginning with a new sunset crescent moon in the western sky. Twelve is found prominently in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Greek mythology.