Ep. 49: Year of the Fire Horse 2026 – working with Double Fire energies

The Year of the Fire Horse is almost upon us, galloping onto the scene on the next New Moon. This is a “Double Fire” year, carrying the invitation and the opportunity for dynamic changes, transmutation and transformation – and explosive power, if we are prepared for it. The Snake Year that is currently drawing to a close has pushed us to shed our skins and release that which no longer fits, so that we can shine bright with the essential Fire energies of this Year of the Fire Horse. I’m so excited for the unbridled, wild and untameable energies of this coming year – but the Fire Horse has not always been welcome. Indeed, individuals born in Fire Horse years were painted as ungovernable (yay!), reckless and dangerous – precisely because of their independent nature, fiery will and authentic expression of their truest selves. And none were more stigmatised than Fire Horse women. Year of the Fire Horse Stigma Women born in the Year of the Fire Horse were shunned as wives – seen as too wild, too free and too full of passion. Female foetuses were aborted, and unlucky “accidents” befell female babies. The lucky ones had their birth years misattributed to the neighbouring years. This data is clearly documented in the 1966 birthrate in Japan, which dropped by a staggering 25%. Why are these qualities of passion, self-authority and living one’s truest impulses so feared? I have some thoughts. And I also believe that this coming 2026 Year of the Fire Horse is a potent opportunity for all of us – Fire Horse or not, woman or not – to embody even more of our most wild, essential selves. To be guided by our hearts and souls – both aspects of the Fire element. In this episode: (00:00) Introduction (02:44) what IS the Year of the Fire Horse: why it’s so potent – and so feared? (06:00) Double Fire and the potential for transformation & alchemy (07:28) The stigma of being born in the Year of the Fire Horse (09:40) Why the Year of the Fire Horse carries vital energy for ALL of us (13:47) 2026 – rise of AI or an opportunity for greater embodiment? (17:00) Balance Double Fire with simple habits & rituals (and a Feng Shui tip) (20:30) Fire & Water polarity One of the practices that is so important in grounded and capacitating these powerful energies of the Year of the Fire Horse is Qi Gong – literally, “energy work”. I have created a beautiful, self-paced experience that guides you through energy work practices in just 10 minutes a day. Open up the flow in your meridians, alchemise blocks, unlock the secrets of your energy centres (chakras), charge up your Qi and tune up your biofield – so that you can best harness these powerful energies coming our way. Learn more here. Transcript Introduction (00:00) Hi everyone, welcome to the Balanced Natural Health podcast where we share insights from the ancient science and timeless wisdom of Chinese medicine. Information from the old natural ways of healing can support us in leading more beautiful, more vibrant and more vital lives today. In this podcast I share simple, natural and accessible tips that you can incorporate into your everyday life for more vibrant health and wellness. I’m so glad you’re here. Episode Welcome (00:32) Hello beautiful beings and welcome to episode 49 of the podcast. I’m Dr. Maz and in today’s episode I would like to dive into something really timely and very exciting because as many of you may know we are about to head into a new lunar year – the Chinese New Year is coming up. It begins on February the 17th here in Australia and this year upcoming is a really exciting, powerful, dynamic one. It’s ripe with possibility and opportunity and it is the Year of the Fire Horse. I’m just so excited about the energy that’s about to come through this Year of the Fire Horse. We’ve been getting ready for this new power that’s going to pour through us with the Snake Year that we’ve just been through. So we’ve just been through a shedding of skins, releasing of anything that might be clouding or dimming our power – and the way it shines through us. This has all been in service to clear the way for the wild, untamable power of theYear of the Fire Horse. In today’s episode we will talk about why this is such a powerful year and what it means for feminine power – the rising of the deep, wild, sacred, untamed feminine within all of us. Because we all contain at least a seed of the masculine and the feminine. We’re going to talk about what that means for reclaiming our essential, truest, most vibrant expression of selves. We will also talk about how we can best support ourselves to capacitate the flow of this powerful energy in this Year of the Fire Horse. Also, things to look out for and practices that we can put into place to ground and hold this huge influx, this surge of Fire Horse energy that’s coming our way. Maybe you’re tapping into this energy as well? Perhaps you’re feeling like it’s been a weird kind of stop-start (or not-quite-start) to the Gregorian calendar, or maybe you’re feeling an upwelling of excitement – like something’s really brewing – and that is the Year of the Fire Horse that is coming. What is the Year of the Fire Horse? (02:44) So first of all, let’s take a look at what is the Horse year – and what is the Fire Horse year, specifically. In the Chinese view of the world and from the Chinese calendar perspective, we have a 60 year calendar. It’s a beautiful calendar called the Heavenly Stems and the Earthly Branches. And this calendar has been used for millennia to map climate cycles, weather patterns, to harness the best harvest and to best align ourselves with the environment, This is because in Chinese medicine, we acknowledge that we are woven into the web of life all around us. And so knowing how we can position ourselves to be in the best alignment with the prevailing energies of the climate – and the weather for each particular year – is really beneficial. And this is something that has been honed to a fine art. Stems & Branches: the Chinese 60 Year Calendar The 60 year calendar is based on the 10 Heavenly Stems and the 12 Earthly Branches. There’s 12 animals – these are the 12 Earthly Branches. And this is where we get animals like the Snake, which we’re having this year, or which we’re just wrapping up, and the Horse which is coming up. Each of the 12 animals have unique attributes. So for example, the snake likes to stay quiet, close to the ground. It’s really tuned into frequency and vibration. And it is well known for its ability to shed skins. And the horse, in contrast, is full of a dynamic bursting forth. The horse is known for its energy, its love of movement, its freedom, its independence, and its generally enthusiastic and outgoing nature… and so on for all of the other 12 animals. So we’ve got the 12 Earthly Branches and the 10 Heavenly Stems. The 10 Heavenly Stems are based on a Yin and Yang version of each of the five elements. The five elements are a really key way in which we describe the world in Chinese medicine, Taoist medicine and Taoist thought. Five Elements within the Calendar The Five Elements are Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Wood. And for each of these, we have Yin and Yang counterparts. We’ve got Yang Fire and Yin Fire within the Heavenly Stems. So what happens is we have 12 animals, but we have a 60 year cycle. And this is because each of the animals gets a go in one of the Five Elements. Now, you might be wondering, hang on a minute, there’s 12 animals and 10 Heavenly Stems, which would make 120, not 60 – and you are correct. But there is a rule that only Yang stems get matched with Yang branches (or animals that are Yang), and Yin stems (Yin type elements) get matched with Yin branches (Yin animals). In the case of the horse, the horse has a Yang nature because it likes to move, it likes to be dynamic, to move explosively, it likes to run free, it has a really fiery active energy. And in addition to that, the horse is ruled by Fire. So no matter what element it falls in, the element associated with horse is already Fire. Why the Year of the Fire Horse is a Double Fire year So in this coming Year of the Fire Horse, when the horse falls into the Fire element, we have Double Fire. And there is potential for so much transmutation, transformation and alchemizing, because Fire is the element of transformation. It turns one thing into another, it’s dynamic, it’s full of energy, it’s the life force within all of us. (06:33) And this is why this Year of the Fire Horse holds so much power for all of us, whether we’re a Fire Horse or not. There is an opportunity to claim this wild untameable power within us all for ourselves. And the Fire Horse is the most dynamic of all the horses. In another 12 years, we’ll have the Earth Horse year – the element of Earth moderates that fiery Yang nature of the horse that is innate to the horse anyway. So Earth Horses are said to be more grounded. And, for example, a Water Horse will be more balanced than a Fire Horse in as far as their dynamism goes, because Water and Fire have a polarity, they balance each other out. So if someone is a Water Horse, they will possibly be less impulsive, explosive, dynamic than a Fire Horse. Year of the Fire Horse Stigma (07:29) Now, because of its double Fire nature, there’s been a lot of stigma around people born in the Year of the Fire Horse over the centuries, and particularly women. This is due to the nature of a society that liked women to be biddable, meek and submissive and to surrender to the will of others. And particularly so in a society that valued collectivism and submission to authority – anyone who stood in their wild, untameable, self-sovereign self-authority was a threat to that system – and none more so than women. (08:06) Tragically, for centuries, many female babies were aborted when they were due to be born in a Year of the Fire Horse. If they were lucky, their birth was misattributed to the year before or after, to make them more marriageable. They might also have fallen prey to unlucky accidents or infanticide. There’s actually some pretty chilling data looking at the rate of infant deaths due to accidents in the Year of the Fire Horse, and there was definitely a spike in that. What happened in the last Year of the Fire Horse, 1966, in Japan? This was looking at the data in Japan from the Year of the last Fire Horse in 1966. And we can also look at a really fascinating bit of data from this same year in Japan, where we see that the birth rate actually dropped by 25%. This was possibly due to people holding off on having a baby in a Year of the Fire Horse. Perhaps they didn’t want to risk a female child being born as a Fire Horse, which would ruin her prospects of marriage (because Fire Horse women were seen to be unlucky wives). Or it could have also been due to misattribution of that birth year to either the year before or after the Year of the Fire Horse .You can have a look at the data, it’s very clear. There’s been quite a few articles speculating about what’s going to happen in Japan in this new Year of the Fire Horse, given what happened in 1966. And when you actually look at the population chart by birth year, it’s really quite striking. The Fire Horse’s invitation to all of us And I think this is why it’s so important, more than ever this year with this Fire Horse energy coming in, that we all step into and claim this wild, untameable essence of ourselves: this wild truth, this self-sovereignty, self-governance, self-authority that runs within all of us, whether we’re a Fire Horse or not, whether we’re a woman or not. I think that this is so desperately needed in our modern society where we have externalised our power, we’ve given away our authority to systems outside of us – and we’ve forgotten, some of us, that we all carry this spark, this stream of the divine within us. We all can connect to that at any moment and that can give us direction, that can give us vital information. And I feel that it’s time for the reclamation and remembrance of this force that is within us all – the force that is the wild and untameable, the truest essence of ourselves, and what could be described also as the deepest part. It’s the Yin and the feminine part of ourselves in a way, and it’s that which has been hidden or suppressed. And I feel that this is never more important than now, for this aspect of ourselves to be expressed and reclaimed, because for too long now we have been living an unbalanced way of life – we revere one way of being at the total denigration of another. Collectively, our current way of being is unbalanced (11:21) We revere the intellect and rational thought and logic, and yet we have denigrated, forgotten about and belittled the value of instinct and intuition – or body wisdom and felt senses. And I love that we’re talking more and more about the power that comes from these senses and impulses, and the information that we get from our nervous system. We are so much more than our intellectual mind and when we are only operating from one half of ourselves, we’re only operating at partial power. But when we combine the Yin and Yang aspects of ourselves, we have access to the totality of our power, the totality of our essence. So this means giving space to honouring our feelings over always our thoughts. It means honouring our deepest desires over the external shoulds of society or our communities or expectations. It means honouring our own needs and speaking up even when it might go against societal norms. It means also honouring that which is of the body – and giving the body space as well to share its wisdom with us. Not just living in the mind, but actually listening to the whispers of the body and soul. And also it means honouring and giving space to the living over the dead. And I’ll explain a little bit more about this. The Five Elements, our consciousness and soul (12:59) In Chinese medicine we understand that each of the five elements also rules an aspect of consciousness. And in the case of the Fire element, it rules the Shen, which is translated loosely as our present awareness, our consciousness, our spirit. It’s how much spark of life someone has in their eyes: when you look at them, you can see that you’re connecting to something beyond the physical. You’re seeing that spark of the divine in someone’s eyes. And everything that we do in Chinese medicine is about cultivating our shen, cultivating all aspects of self. We are looking to cultivate our shen so that we can be living as the truest, most vital expression of ourselves. Will the Year of the Fire Horse bring more AI overload, or deeper soul embodiment? And this brings me to my point. So many forecasts for the 2026 Year of the Fire horse talk about the rise of AI, because Fire relates to energy, which relates to, in the modern day, electricity, internet and technology. But while this may be true, and while we are certainly seeing that AI tools are exploding everywhere, I think that at the same time we are having a massive influx of energetic power coming through our consciousness- if we are available for that. (14:20) And that means actually allowing time for cultivation of our presence and our awareness, our consciousness, our attention – and not just giving it all up to AI. I know that there can be some valuable time-saving tools that come from AI. But also I think that when we rely on AI for expression we lose that sense of aliveness that comes through in our own authentic voice – our own authentic expression – because that is also part of the element of Fire. (14:52) And it might not be perfect. It might have spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, but it’s true and essential, wild and untameable. And I think we’ve all seen the absolute flood of AI content everywhere. So much of it feels lifeless and dead. And I think that this Year of the Fire Horse is an opportunity for all of us to be vessels for this divine force of Shen-spirit-consciousness that is coming through us, and to cultivate that through practices like meditation, Qigong, and even contemplation. So: sitting outside and contemplating a tree, or having a slow & meditative grounding walk outside, connecting to that energy, that living energy that is all around us, getting our feet on the earth, putting our face to the sun, charging up with that life force energy. It can also be things like observing our own impulses and getting curious and getting to know ourselves more deeply, so that we can start to clear out conditioning and allow our truest self to shine through and flow through. The gift of the Snake Year And this is where the Snake year has been such a gift, because it’s been a continual (for me anyway!) sloughing off of old skins… of looking at where I was still in old habits of giving away my power externally, rather than looking to that wild untameable source within. And also perhaps shedding limiting habits of thought, and limiting perceptions. (16:42) So all of those, or many of those (I’m sure there might be others lurking in the corner!) were challenged and were able to be shed. And there’s still time for all of us to do this in the next few weeks as well. You might be actually experiencing this for yourself as well. Maybe there’s old triggers coming up, things that felt like that you feel like you might have already dealt with in the past, and yet they’ve resurfaced again. So I feel like we’re actually going through a purge at really the deepest levels, as we are readying ourselves for this influx of Double Fire energy that is coming our way. Now in Chinese medicine and Taoist medicine, Taoist thought, we are all about balance and moderation and the middle path. And so a Double Fire year, a double Yang year, like we are having upcoming in the Year of the Fire Horse, can bring with it really strong energies that require moderation and grounding, so that we can absorb the best of them – and so that we don’t get burnt up in the flames. If we were to go straight out of the gate into theYear of the Fire Horse, without grounding and anchoring, we could become burnt out. Another aspect of the Fire element when it’s imbalanced is mania. It’s like this ungrounded mental energy, someone talking a million miles an hour, or maybe laughing inappropriately, jumping around with thoughts. It’s going to be really important as these energies come through with the Year of the Fire Horse to bring a moderation and capacitance to hold those energies. How to balance and ground in the Year of the Fire Horse So this will be things like a daily grounding practice, like a somatic body practice, moving practice to open up and course and flow the meridians in the body so that our circuitry is well primed to receive that influx of energies. (18:40) I like to think of the work that we do with cultivating and grounding our Qi in work like Qi Gong, or slow walking meditation, seated meditation, any kind of contemplation, getting into Mother Nature. All of this work is about connecting with our earthly vessel, so that we can provide a container for that energy to come through us. And the more grounded we are, the more of that beautiful Fire energy we can actually receive and work with in a productive way so we don’t get burned up. And I think of this like shoring up the banks of a river, so that if there is big flow coming through in this Year of the Fire Horse, it can contain it. This is why we do these daily cultivation practices of Qi, because – rather than having to be controlled externally – it’s a way of internally cultivating that flow, so that we can hold more of that power and become more powerful, more vital, more vibrant and more radiant. And we can use that towards our enduring health as well. The extent to which we can ground and hold these energies of the Fire Horse, will also in part dictate how much of that energy we have available to launch our own dreams passions and desire this year- to manifest them into physical reality. (20:11) The Year of the Fire Horse will give us the power to create changes if we want to – to transmute into a newer version of ourselves if that’s what we choose – and just to hold more of that energy for our own personal power and our own self-expression. The polarity of Fire and Water Now I mentioned before that the Fire element shares a polarity with the Water element, and it’s one of the fundamental balancing polarities of Chinese medicine. So in this coming Year of the Fire Horse, we can bring in more water into our lives – maybe it’s swimming, surfing, being around bodies of water, or maybe just bringing more awareness to how we connect to our water. I’ve talked a lot about structured water, and the information-carrying capacity of water in other episodes, so you can have a listen to those. And perhaps it’s a more intentional connection to the water already in our lives – and it’s also about bringing qualities of Water to this Year of the Fire Horse. Water can be still, it’s steady, it’s slow, it’s persistent, whereas fire likes to flare quickly, it likes to create rapid change, it’s more impulsive. In this Year of the Fire Horse, it’s about also bringing moderation or just checking ourselves with our impulses. And it’s about balancing out periods of productivity, speed and dynamism with periods of slowness. And this is definitely a note to self because I am a horse, and I have a habit of getting carried away when the energies are there! (21:51) It’s a reminder that this Year of the Fire Horse, as every year – it’s a marathon not a sprint. A reminder to rest before you’re tired, to put little periods of rest and stillness (those qualities of the Water element) throughout the day, so that you can then have more access to lasting aspects of that Fire energy. And again, grounding, getting your feet on the earth, getting your body on the earth is so vital. Qi Gong helps us to capacitate, anchor & benefit from these big energies The Year of the Fire Horse might be a beautiful time to get started on a Qi Gong practice if you haven’t got one already. This is why I created my beautiful Qi Gong program, Coming Home to You – in preparation for this powerful year, so that we can really work with these energies and ground them into our earthly bodies. It’s a beautiful, simple, accessible program, just 10 minutes a day. We go through a seven day sequence looking at the secrets of each energy center, and the different Qi Gong flows that cultivate our Qi – our energy – for that center. And then we put it all together in a beautiful flow, and we go deeper into two other classic Qi Gong sets as well. Qi Gong doesn’t have to take a lot of time, but the benefits are profound. And the more regularly we practice it and over a longer term, as we practice it, the more benefits we reap. You can actually feel that energy moving through your meridians. So that invitation is there for you. (23:22) The Year of the Fire Horse is a beautiful time to get into this practice. It’s on my website at drmaz.earth. A tip from Feng Shui for the Year of the Fire Horse (23:29) And before I wrap up, one other hint froms ome feng shui practitioners about how to moderate Fire energies of this Year of the Fire Horse is to bring more Water and Metal element into your space. The color of Water is a deep blue or a black, so we might bring in these colors in our clothes or in our environment. And the Metal element is associated generally with white, but also with Metal textures like gold or silver. So these can be colors or textures that we can bring into our surroundings or into our wardrobe, and even into our awareness, our meditations and visualizations, to balance out those impulsive, powerful qualities of this Double Fire Year. I hope this has been interesting, enlightening, exciting perhaps. I think that this coming Year of the Fire Horse is just such a powerful portal for reclaiming that wild, untamed nature within all of us. So I’m wishing you all the very best for this coming Year of the Fire Horse. Please feel free to share this episode if you found it interesting, and I look forward to seeing you in the next episode.