#78 The Fire Horse Year - Trend or Turning Point?
The Year of the Fire Horse… an Instagram trend, or a deeper energetic shift?
In this episode, Kelly explores the significance of the Fire Horse alongside the powerful numerology of a 10/1 Universal Year and the beginning of a new nine-year cycle.
Blending personal reflection with spiritual insight, she shares why 2026 feels less like a typical new year and more like a threshold - a moment of initiation, courage, and quiet transformation.
Weaving her own story of coming full circle into the conversation, Kelly invites you to consider what may be ending… and what's ready to begin.
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Read the Transcript for this Episode below:
Episode 78 of the Project Me Podcast. Hello, dear listener, I feel called to record this episode as it feels like we're standing at a really powerful, energetic threshold right now. You may be hearing about the year of the fire horse that's beginning on February 17th. That's in just a couple days time as I'm recording this.
I wanna preface this by saying that this isn't something I'm jumping on just because it's trending on Instagram. It's something I'm feeling on a deep personal level, and I'll share my story around that today. Now, normally I don't really pay that much attention to the Chinese New Year and which animal year we're in.
But last year I became very aware that it was the year of the snake, which was all about releasing, letting go of what no longer serves just as a snake, sheds its skim. And I really aligned with this energy of using 2025 to examine what stories and beliefs were finally loosening their grip on me. What was I tired of working on?
I just wanted to be free of once and for all, and I also really leaned into paying more attention to the lunar cycles. I do specific meditations in the Insight Timer meditation app during moons to work with shining a light on my limiting beliefs and stories and releasing them with intention. And it's really rather incredible how much I shed.
It's like working consciously with the snake energy really assisted me, and it began falling away much more easily than ever before. It was like I could explore a limiting story I was telling myself in my journal and kind of rewrite the story and bam, I could feel the new one empowering me as the old one dissolved.
I now understand so much more about how the snake year was preparing for this horse year in order to climb up onto that horse and ride with confidence and clear direction, we can't be dragging behind any excess baggage. Right? So in this episode today, I wanna kind of break down three significant turning points we're all at right now, because in addition to this fire horse year.
We're also ending and beginning a new nine year cycle. And 2026 is a universal ten one year in numerology. And I'm gonna share what that means for us both individually and collectively because we course we can just shrug this off and not work in alignment with these energies and just kind of see what happens, or we can bring a conscious awareness of it to our lives.
Stay open, be curious, be explorative. And I'm always up for staying open-minded and curious myself. How about you? I'll begin by going back to what I was starting to say about this year of the fire horse. This is a significant energy. It's the first fire horse year in 60 years, and I'm especially aware of this cycle because I was born in the year of the fire horse back in 1966.
There is a fascinating cultural story here. In Japan, the fire horse year has long been associated with strong, independent, and powerful feminine energy. So much so that historically there was a fear around girls being born in this year, and the birth rate actually dipped in 1966. A woman with too much fire was seen as something to fear, and I find that deeply symbolic.
Just think about that last year of the fire horse, 1966, it was a year of revolution and cultural awakening. Old systems were being questioned and a new generation was beginning to find its voice. Women were rising in new ways, pushing beyond the traditional roles and stepping into visibility and leadership.
Music and fashion were shifting fast, carrying a rebellious and expressive energy, and at the same time, the world was deeply divided. The Vietnam War intensified protests grew louder, and young people filled the streets calling for peace and change. Civil rights movements, gathered strength, challenging injustice, and demanding equality.
And there was a lot of experimentation with marijuana, LSD, mind altering practices. There was a real spiritual curiosity and a sense that consciousness itself was expanding. It was a year charged with both tension and possibility. A moment when the old world hadn't, world hadn't yet fallen away and yet something new was undeniably being born.
Won't it be interesting to see globally what happens this year? This year, the fire horse, but let's look at what it could mean for you first on a personal level. Fire horse energy is bold, it's passionate, independent. It's about leadership being unstoppable. It's that energy of knowing what you want and going after it, not waiting for permission.
Shrinking to make others comfortable. Second guessing yourself. This is not a year for waiting or refining or overprocessing. Fire horse is all about initiation and risk and decisive movement. It rewards action taken from clarity. I read this post by Young Pueblo and I saved it because I wholeheartedly believe in these words.
Stop thinking that other people who are living the life you wish you had are special. You are just as special, unique, and capable. Combine believing in yourself with real effort, and you'll be surprised by your own greatness. Yeah, I agree. It is all about how much we believe in ourselves and how much we believe in what's possible for our lives.
And taking aligned actions. There's that old quote, whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right to use this fire horse energy to be bold and to believe that you can. And then now let's add the next layer to this. So 2026 is also a ten one year in numerology. So you add up the digits two plus zero, plus two plus six for the 2026.
That equals 10. And then you take the 10, the one plus zero, and that brings you one. And so this creates a ten one vibration. In numerology 10 is considered the higher octave of one. So 10 is this wheel of fortune, energy. It's destiny, bold movement, new cycle, and one is new beginnings, initiation, leadership, independence, and creation.
And together they offer a double invitation. It's a shift in destiny. And a fresh start. So 2026 is the year that you're asked to turn the page with intention and step into a more aligned version of yourself energetically. 2026 invites fresh identity, courageous beginnings, self-led leadership, clear decisions, releasing old patterns, self-authoring your life.
Claiming your vision, honoring that first step energy. It's a year that says, I choose this path. I begin, and 2026 also marks the beginning of a brand new nine year cycle in my Soul Explorers community. I've been asking everyone to think back to nine years ago, 2017, what was just coming to an end Then. Or what was just beginning, and it's been amazing to hear what different people realized when they journaled on this question.
Some had just become a mother and they were starting this whole new identity shift. Others were moving into a new career path or had just moved to a new country. I think about my husband and how he retired at the end of 2025, and this truly is a fresh slate year for him now, and the beginning of his next cycle is rediscovering himself after a long career that had defined him.
My own journaling revealed that nine years ago I received my book publishing deal and I began my journey into finding my voice. I've been sharing all those stories here and on the podcast, healing my throat chakra, taking that public speaking course, overcoming so many fears and anxieties around showing up and not just hiding behind my keyboard.
Blogging it led me to start my membership in 2019 and starting this podcast in 2020 and hosting retreats and fully stepping into my soul plan. Which is all about using my voice to facilitate groups and helping others to express themselves openly. And on January 31st, just a couple of weeks ago, I had a real full circle moment of knowing that this particular nine year cycle for me is now complete.
I hosted 40 beautiful souls at my London Day retreat with so much ease and flow. I enjoyed every moment. No fears or anxiety, no loss of sleep, not feeling like I did it to the best of my abilities, all that old stuff. It's like, ah, that whole chapter feels complete now. And now another nine year cycle has also revealed itself to me.
And this is so big and so profound and so new, and I wish I could share it here in full because it is such a mind blowing story. But because it involves someone else who does not wanna be in the public domain, I am only sharing it as a private story to my Soul Explorers members. It is just absolute proof to me in the nine year cycle, and in my case, a full circle moment that's taken 60 years for the truth to be revealed to me.
I discovered all of this on Friday. It was just a couple days ago, and I spent all of Friday sobbing on and off just for the sheer release of it. And I am so fortunate to have a husband who truly got it, and he just let me cry in his arms and he just said all the right things. And I am so grateful to my oldest friend Amy, who has played such a big role in me discovering the truth.
And she said to me on Friday, let yourself feel all the feelings. Don't try to put it in the past too quickly. Lots of emotions will come up from little Kelly who is being lied to and knew it. Which makes kids distrust their instincts to some degree. Hug her, reassure her, spend some time with it all. And so I genuinely, I just did that.
I just cried and cried. And I, yeah, it was, it was very, very, um, therapeutic. The very next day I woke up and the tears were just replaced by so much peace and an awareness that, that, that never quite feeling quite good enough or quite ready enough yet, like it's over. And I realized this was just like the missing piece of it on a subconscious level that I just hadn't realized.
And for it to slot into place last Friday, which just a few days before the start of the, of the fire horse year, like it's the last of that shedding. It is just incredible to me. I feel this sense of wholeness, like I feel like I am enough and that the cycle is now complete and I really can step forward into this new wine.
And so let me ask you, are you feeling at a reset point? Like something new is ready to take shape? 2025 carried the energy of completion, release and closure. Nine year cycles always ask us to let go, to let go of identities, timelines, patterns, and stories that have run their course. So if things did feel heavy, if ending surfaced, if you felt called to clear space in your life or within yourself, that wasn't random.
This was the natural rhythm of the cycle completing, and now we're stepping into the very next beginning again, and what you initiate here energetically, emotionally, spiritually. It begins a journey that will unfold all the way through to the next completion point. Nine years from now. Really lean into that.
What fascinates me is how all these different modalities kind of combine and come together. So we have this, this fire horse year in the Chinese calendar that amplifies courage and movement in 2026, being that numerology year, a ten, ten one year, it asks us to initiate. It's all about those like fresh starts and that all of this, this, this, um, fire horse here is starting on.
February 17th, which also happens to be the new Moon, solar eclipse. It's a reset point that accelerates and shifts us into new timelines. And now a new nine year cycle is beginning, I mean, all of it. It's just like, whoa. Had never really paid attention to this before. And yeah, it's incredible. And you know, you don't have to have a crystal ball to be able to see your life nine years from now.
But you do have an amazingly powerful gift, imagination. If you can imagine it, it can happen. So this is the time to create a fresh vision board or a soul board, as I now call mine. Allow yourself space to tap into all these fresh energies. If you're too busy, it'll all just pass you by. You know, I think about this last year and how I really decided like, Hmm, you're the snake.
I'm gonna lean into this. What, what needs to be shed? And like whenever I would hear about a moon and like, oh, this is the moon to be shedding things and shining a light and things like, okay, I'm gonna do the work. You know? And like, because I leaned into it and didn't just kind of let it just be something that I saw on Instagram and went, oh yeah, okay.
Like I really leaned into it and yeah. I really invite you to do that because you can just have it kind of pass you by or you can work with these energies. And also, you know, with this fire horse energy, you could be riding a bucking bronco holding on for dear life rather than gracefully galloping on your horse, towards your dream visions.
You know, if you, you gotta tap into this or you could just be taken for a ride. Um. And if you want my support to actually take aligned action this year, I do have a couple of offerings for you and the most low cost way. It's got a high reward but low cost option that is to join my Soul Explorers membership.
It's just a low monthly fee or even lower if you pay for an annual membership. And this is going to give you that ongoing inspiration and support, encouragement. You know, you don't have me one-on-one, but you've got so much of me in the group. I mean, I'm there all the time. We've got a, a private, um, Facebook group and you know, I'm in there every day and you're surrounded by me and other women from all over the world, and we all wanna live in higher states of consciousness.
And we all know how easy it is to slip into autopilot, and we're there and we keep each other constantly connected to our dream visions and those soul nudges. And we'll help you figure out what those are, even if you're not sure yet. And I hold a zoom circle gathering once a month at 8:00 PM UK time, which is a time that members from all over the world are feasibly awake.
And there's always a replay. And we'll soon be sharing our vision boards. And having that date, that kind of deadline, I call it like a loose deadline, but it's like a deadline of the day that we're gonna gather together and share our vision boards that provides this impetus and a kind of, you know, deadline to actually make a board.
'cause sometimes it can be one of those things where you just, if you don't have a deadline, it can just be like, it doesn't really happen. And then there's the power of going into these small breakout rooms that I organize in Zoom. And you share your dream visions with others and you just share what's on your board, why you put it there, and what it means to you.
And this really activates the energies. It's incredible. And, um, what else? Members receive their 2026 open to Possibilities workbook, and that really helps you identify what's ready to shift now. What's dissolving or on its way out and what's now opening? 'cause you can be thinking about all this kind of stuff that I've been talking about, but it can be kind of hard to just figure it all out.
But this workbook, like, I feel like I channeled it through this year. Like it's, it's really incredible. I'm hearing that from everybody who's using it and I'm, I'm finding it really, really insightful myself. And yeah, it's causing some really exciting awakenings and shifts already so all members get that workbook.
That Soul Explorer is, like I said, it's like the lowest cost way of working with me. I know all the members, like, I mean, I get to know you and if you're curious and you're open to joining us and just seeing what it might be like, just come along and see if it feels supportive of you. I don't hold any attachment if people come and go and people do.
Um, so just come and, and, and check it out if, if it's calling to you. And I'm now also opening up two space for private, one-on-one Soul mentoring, and I'm gonna update my website with information on that. Um, I'm finding that really powerful working with some women one-on-one and everything that happens in these sessions.
And, um, if you haven't had a soul plan reading with me, that is also a wonderful place to start to know and align with your soul plan as you begin this new nine year cycle. Wow, what a gift. You'll find clarity and a deeper understanding and compassion for the challenges you've been through and how to turn those into your greatest gifts, and you'll learn your soul, destiny, and who you came here to be.
I've done two podcast episodes now about Soul Plan, if you'd like to learn more about that. I really love helping others to expand beyond 3D living. You know, I talked about that two episodes ago, all about how we can be living our life just in this kind of 3D everything, all the tangibles and everything.
But boy, when you begin to tap into those higher four D and five D levels, that is when life takes on a whole new meaning. And since the next nine year cycle looks set to create huge changes in the world from the rise of AI technology. To the crumbling of old, outdated government and political systems to uprisings and lots of chaos just like we had 60 years ago.
It's so important that we create the inner stability needed to stay calm and centered so we don't spiral down into it all. We have to take the horse by the reins and not let it trample us. My soul theme, and this came to me when I was doing My Soul Explorers Open to Possibilities Workbook. There's a whole page to kind of explore what will be your soul theme this year.
It's different from the word of the Year. This is like a soul theme, and I came to mind finally, and it is conscious leadership. And that is about me embodying that calm, graceful, wise, kind energy that supports others to also live in this frequency, especially during challenging times. I've been calling myself the reluctant leader for too long, and I'm recognizing that as I move into my 60th year of life and this new decade of being 60 something, I am finally owning all that I've experienced and the wisdom gained on this journey.
I know that I'm here to remind people of who they are and what they came here to do. Because the more of us that are awake and living in alignment and in a higher frequency, the less division there's gonna be in the world, the more unity we're gonna experience. And it's that golden future that I spoke about in episode 76.
I'm now viewing leadership in a whole new way, not in the old I lead. You follow dynamic. That never appealed to me. But as a shared field of energy where we rise together, leadership to me feels like creating spaces where people remember their own wisdom and they hear their own voice and their own power, and it's less about who has the loudest opinions and more about holding a frequency of clarity, integrity, and presence.
I'm drawn to a form of light leadership that invites rather than instructs. Where each person learns how to trust their inner compass, their own intuition, instead of asking for devotion to an external authority and always looking outside of themselves for the answers. It's a leadership that encourages others to step forward in their own way.
And so I'm incredibly excited about turning 60 in August and stepping into this, um, this conscious leadership. And all the possibilities that are open for me in this next decade of my life. Okay? Right now, if you're able to relax your forehead, take a long, slow, deep breath in and let it all out with a sigh.
What's opening up for you right now as you step into the year of the fire horse? In this global year of new beginnings and fresh starts in this new nine year cycle,
what direction do you feel gently pulled towards now?
Where do you feel called to live more in alignment with who you truly are using your natural soul talents or strengths? You don't need to have any of these answers clear right now. This is simply an invitation to open yourself up energetically to the field of possibility.
Thank you for listening to the Project Me podcast. Please share this episode with someone else who might enjoy it, and you could take a screenshot right now and share it to your stories. If you're on your phone and you're on social media, tag me, Kelly Project me. And if you're not yet on my newsletter list, add yourself to receive my soulful love notes and my list of 17 books to light your path.
My website is kelly pie.com and there are links in the episode show notes. I am wishing you an incredible year ahead. Take hold of the reins and ride that horse. And may your own personal nine year cycle be filled with infinite possibilities, joy and wonder. Until next time, open your mind, open your heart, and stay curious.
We all need some space in our lives for the magical and unknown.