In the spirit of the horse I want to revisit part of a piece I shared years ago.  Florence Welch sings in her song “Shake it Out” from 2011, “And I’ve been a fool and I’ve been blind; I can never leave the past behind.  I can see no way, I can see no way.  I’m always dragging that horse around.  All of his questions such a mournful sound.  Tonight I’m gonna bury that horse in the ground; I’m done with my graceless heart, so tonight I’m gonna cut it out and then restart; it’s hard to dance with a devil on your back.”  I sing and share this song as an anthem for the momentum of this year.  The things that hold us back are in our own minds.  We can decide to move forward and let the dead horse lie because what good does it do to continue to beat the issue to death?  All it serves is an anchor to a time when we were a different person.  Even the happy moments we’d like to replay in our minds no longer exist and that can lead to it own type of pain seeking that feeling again.  What have we told ourselves we need to keep with us and for what reason?  Do we display our faults as a sort of penance?  Do we hide them because we fear what others will think of us? Yes and Yes, whether we know it or not. 

The human psyche wants to be accepted and seeks protection knowing it’s part of a group and somehow validated.  We either hide what we are for fear of not being included or we display them for some sort of demonstration of self-awareness/self-deprecation.  In either case we lose sight of the potential of what we can be and who we are. We take these tings we’ve done and somehow make them our identity.  Even if we know all the millions of facets of who we are and all the millions of other things we’ve done that were right on par, we find a way to relive those fantastic lows.  This year is about movement and I encourage all of us to look at the horses we need to bury and the ones that will take us to freedom.  What devils have we created and decided to carry along for the ride?  To dance, we must be free of those burdens.  We must forgive ourselves and create a new story, one that we tell, not the devils inside our minds.

I still remember the first time I heard “Shake it Out” and how it stopped me in my tracks.  Hearing the lyrics I shared above triggered such an emotion it was as if I’d written them myself. Repeating the same stories doesn’t show us a new option and, personally, this is the year I want to move forward.  I know what the same story has gotten me all this time and I’m tired of it.  I know what this version looks like day in and day out and there’s a reason I’ve been trying to leave it behind—we all have something like that.  But we can restart, and as we spoke about yesterday, this year in particular demands it.  This is a chance to finally leave those pieces of us in the past with no regret.  Take charge and take the journey forward.  Take the lessons and figure out how to apply them on the next phase.  Make peace with whatever we need to and accept that’s enough, forgiving ourselves is enough.  Embracing who we are is enough.  We are enough to move forward.      

Note, This is an amalgamation of several pieces and thoughts and posts strung together—I’ve cited work where appropriate.

Welcome to 2026. I want to hit the ground running this year, with feeling and meaning and no more nonsense.  The nonsense of baggage weighing down the steps we need to take because we feel so much of it.  Feeling was great, now it’s time to feel through it.  The feeling is done, it’s time to advance in what the feeling showed us and the lessons that came with it.  Shop Catalog said it perfectly: 2025 taught us what to release, 2026 asks us to move and clarity becomes courage.  The shedding is done, what’s aligned stays and what’s next runs forward.  One year revealed the truth, the next lives it.  And maybe that type of energy is what I’m picking up on because I’m certainly feeling like I’m ready to move on.

This is the year of the horse.  This s a year of application and movement.  There is nothing left to prepare for.  Complete the shedding of all that no longer serves, of all that doesn’t work, of all that doesn’t feel right, and get to work.  It’s an exciting time.  It’s a busy time and it’s an incredibly important time in the way of transformation.  It’s the next step in our personal evolution and it will change everything.    

To expand a bit more, 2025 was the year of the snake which taught us how to shed what no longer fits.  It was a season of quiet clarity—one that asked us to slow down, listen honestly, and recognize where we were living out of habit instead of truth.  The lesson wasn’t about rushing change, but about understanding why it was necessary.  The snake reminded us that growth often happens invisibly, and that letting go is not an ending, but a preparation for what comes next.  The year of the horse brings movement, courage, and forward momentum. Where the snake revealed the truth, the horse asks us to act on it.  To trust our instincts, choose freedom over familiarity and move boldly toward what feels aligned.  This is a year of embodiment and expansion, where clarity turns into action and confidence grows through passion.  The shedding is done, now we run (all via Shop Catalog). 

Golden Alchemist explains further: 2026 is not continuation energy, this is restart energy. 2026 is a numerology 1 year and it’s a horse year and this is exactly what happens when destiny wants motion again.  Horse energy is momentum, one energy is rebirth.  This is why 2025 felt like a hallway.  You weren’t stuck, you were being positioned.  Horse years do not move slowly.  They break stagnation, they return passion to the body.  The one year does not ask who you were it asks who you’re willing to become and who you’re becoming.  This is the timeline where your confidence returns, your voice returns.  You become more charismatic, everything starts to line up perfectly for you. The horse doesn’t sprint to escape, it sprints to find freedom. So the 2026 energy is not subtle, it’s like taking your first breath after you’ve been holding your breath for so long.  The fact is you’re not preparing anymore, you’re becoming.  And the horse year aligning with numerology number one year is a perfect synchronicity to start something year.  Because this is the year you’re cultivating a brand new identity you get to decide who you want to be starting this brand new nine year cycle.

That being said: Let’s get it.