Snakeskin, soulskin

A year of fast unravelling, shedding and starting all over, from the inside out

So here we are, in the last days of this infamous 2025, the Year of the Wood Snake in the Chinese astrological calendar, a time of deep transformation for many, certainly for yours truly.

Twelve months ago I had the strange experience of losing my husband three times in a week on ski slopes - something that had never happened before in 20 years of shared life - then misunderstanding one another each time about where to find the other. It was followed by a second bout of bad lumbar back pain in six months that flared up on my birthday. And a suprisingly enjoyable and successful trip to Tuscany in the depths of midwinter, cold and wet for the most part, lots of things closed, to see if we wanted to move to inherited family property and land for the next chapter of our lives. It seemed clearly so, and we were happy about it.

Then Life stepped in and everything changed. Yesterday dear hubby called to say we have been summoned to the court in Milan in April to sign our divorce papers. Earlier this month, we handed back the keys to the beautiful apartment where we lived for nearly 2 decades. We’ve gone our separate ways, me back to London, a new home, life, work, friends, and reconnecting with family and people I’ve known forever. That’s all good, healthy and enriching. I love the little sanctuary that is holding me through this turbulent time, overlooking a wonderful garden and property in a part of the city that has been with me since I was a teenager. Getting a parking permit for this highly sought-after area has been an extra bonus - I’ve wanted that for at least 30 years! It’s astonishing how things we have long forgotten to care about suddenly emerge out of nowhere.

My great business partner Josselin and I have begun our new activities through RegenB. We have our first pieces of work, new, very interesting requests coming in, and our first digital offer to launch in the new year. I left Milan with enough money to start over after a bitter fight to let one another go, and am now in the very blessed position of having a soon-to-be-ex husband who still loves me, if differently, and wants to support me as best he can for the rest of this life. We have released ourselves from a rental contract that was only hindering our health and happiness and my current landlords, a property company, are an absolute delight. When I choose to tell the story in a certain way, my life is full of miracles.

So what prompted me to shed my snakeskin and start revealing my soulskin? I started a process of exploration in Feburary that continues to remake me from the inside out. My sense is that it catalysed what was already happening below the surface of daily life, and shaped me into what I was ready for in my depths. It has been a wild and often brutal ride, mainly because I resisted what was arising instead of welcoming it as the shedding that has been long needed. This time of fast spiritual and emotional growth, enabled by regular energetic upgrading, has lifted me - sometimes it feels more like ripped me - out of all that was familiar and planted me back at my roots, at least for now. The roots that I successfully pushed underground in favour of putting down new ones far away from all that triggers me. The tree of life that grew from those shallow tendrils produced a strong trunk and branches, and buds that flowered beautifully for much of every year. When the fire came and burned all that was not real however, that lovely tree was nowhere to be seen. What remains of the roots are now asking to be brought gently into the sunlight, to be tended to and cared for by me, not a faithful gardener whose contract will inevitably come for renewal when I’m busy eslewhere.

Deep transitions demand that we delve into Self and Source, earth and sky, the masculine and feminine within us, in body and in spirit. We are so accustomed to looking outside for what we want to give and receive, what nourishes us, to be loved. We make people, places, situations and things the objects of our care and the source of our health and happiness. As the American-Israeli teacher David Ghiyam tells, there are 3 important rings in life - the engagement ring, the wedding ring and the suffer-ring! We make those who show up in ways we don’t like ‘wrong’ in their choices and actions. Often without even noticing, we disconnect, separate and polarise. Before we know it, we’re at ‘war’. Somehow, it is so much easier to see others’ blindspots before our own, point fingers in blame when things don’t go our way and see the difficulties we encounter as problems that take place outside ourselves.

‘Through the ages, from the beginning of time, I’m certain man has covered woman’s face with masks. They are, however, his masks, not hers.

Federico Fellini

But the masks we have strengthened over decades, if not lifetimes, quickly slip away as our toughened snakeskin drops. Taking them off can feel uncomfortable, tender and shameful as the much younger, often ignored parts of ourselves make themselves known once more. The polished performance we perfected through our adulthood that likely made us successful, admired, lovable and rewarded can no longer run the show. Something deeper, older and multidimensional starts to emerge. And s(he) will take no prisoners.

I’ve been having many conversations recently where themes of going deeper into our bodies, the emergence of archetypal collective wounds and essential healing are being explored. Samadhi is not such a difficult thing to attain today with focused practice and discipline. But diving down into the denser energies that we carry with us can be much more challenging. I am one who has successfully managed to avoid that for most of her life. Now circumstances are requesting, perhaps even cornering me, into going there. Arguably, to be of service in the years that are ahead we will all have to do this to an extent, and walk with others as they are called by the challenges they encounter to bring their own darkness to the Light.

Shining our awareness into our cobweb-covered corners doesn’t have to be a heavy or disturbing process though. It can be an adventure of wonder and astonishment as we strip away the layers and see who we really are when no-one is looking. We can let the guardians of our precious heart step aside from their trusted positions as protectors of what is most sensitive, and bring the organ of our love online to run the show, rather than our finely-tuned intellect. It is incredible how things around us shift when we make the heart our navigation system and connect with others and the world through love, peace and wisdom. When we live in the frequency of Unity.

It’s magic.

Wishing you and your loved ones a happy, healthy, miraculous holiday season.

And a wondrous 2026. Great things are possible in the year of the Fire Horse. See you there!