3rd AnnualOracle Reading
Year of the Snake
Tết new year festival with Thich Nhat Hanh (2005, Saigon). Photo by Kate Cummings.
Join us on February 5 to celebrate the Lunar New Year, Tet, through the magic and playful mystery of the Kieu Oracle Reading. In 2025, we invite in the energies and the spirit of the snake. In Vietnamese culture, the snake symbolizes wisdom, calmness, gentleness, depth, and occasional anger, along with resolve and persistence.
For our third annual event, we’ll have meditation, chanting, a short talk from Sister Kinh Nghiem exploring Thich Nhat Hanh’s creative adaptation of the Kieu Oracle Reading. Afterwards, participants will have plenty of time to pose their questions to the oracles: Ava Avalos, Peggy Rowe Ward, Larry Ward, and Sister Kinh Nghiem.
How the readings work: You share a heartfelt question about your life and practice for the new year. The oracle listens, then randomly selects a number linked to a poetic stanza from the Vietnamese classic The Tale of Kieu. They offer a deeper interpretation, connecting the verse to your question. This guidance is yours to reflect on, supporting your intentions for 2025. Like a personal koan, it invites you to explore within, aligning body and mind with the symbology of the snake.
Wednesday, February 5
4:00–5:30 pm PST | 7:00–8:30 pm EST
Donation-based, Online
Register Now
After registering, you’ll arrive on our donation page where you may choose to make a contribution. We will email everyone who registers the recording within 48 hours of the event. Due to the interactive nature of the event, we highly recommend trying to attend live to deeply enjoy and revere the oracle readings.
Teachers & Oracles
Sister Kinh Nghiem
Sister Nghiem is a fully ordained nun and senior Dharma Teacher in the Plum Village Tradition. Growing up in the monastery and working closely with Thich Nhat Hanh as his attendant for more than 17 years, she has developed an interest in creating and sharing mindfulness practices in ways that are accessible and inclusive to all. She has traveled across 25 countries leading retreats in local communities, schools, universities, juvenile halls, prisons, and businesses.
Ava Avalos
Ava is a dancer, Dharma teacher and doctor currently working as an HIV Specialist in Botswana. She is originally from Southern California and loves to weave together her Mexican roots with those of Africa, where she has lived for over 20 years. Ava is a devoted student of yogis Rodney Yee and Colleen Saidman and brings her love of the body, dance and yoga to her Dharma practice.
Peggy Rowe Ward
Peggy is the co-founder and Director of Education at The Lotus Institute. She is a senior Dharma teacher trained under Thich Nhat Hanh, a certified trainer at the Trauma Resource Institute, and author of Love’s Garden: A Guide to Mindful Relationships. Through meditation, movement, and art, Peggy offers a path of deep insight that enables her students to discover and embody their most creative and authentic selves.
Larry Ward, PhD
Larry is the co-founder and Executive Director of The Lotus Institute. He is a senior Dharma teacher trained under Thich Nhat Hanh, a certified trainer at the Trauma Resource Institute and the author of America's Racial Karma: An Invitation to Heal. As a teacher, Dr. Ward interweaves insights with personal stories and resounding clarity that express his Dharma name, “True Great Sound.”
Watch last year’s Oracle Reading, the Year of the Dragon…