Fire Horse energy in 2026

Fire Horse coming in hot.

Seems like everything is happening this week: Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent and Ramadan. Tuesday was Mardi Gras, a “ring of fire” solar eclipse (though only visible over Antartica) and Lunar New Year.

Lunar New Year is a festive time in my household. Family get-togethers, yummy food, wearing lucky red, and the kids’ favorite tradition: the exchange of hong baos, also known as red envelopes. Growing up, we always put our red envelopes, which my parents also called yā suì qián, under our pillows. My husband’s family exchanged red envelopes, but didn’t put them under their pillows. I decided to look into this so I could better understand where this tradition came from.

Arranging yā suì qián under the pillow.

I was surprised to learn that the tradition of putting red envelopes under your pillow is from Suzhou. This discovery delighted me because my maternal grandmother was from Suzhou and knowing this makes me feel connected to her. Further investigation told me that the term “yā suì qián” originally meant “money to suppress the demon Suì.” The demon named Suì appeared on New Year’s Eve and the money (qián) was believed to protect children. Over time, the character suì (祟 - evil spirit) was replaced by the homophone suì (岁 - age/year) and the meaning was changed to “suppressing age money” or “money to ward off old age,” symbolizing longevity. So interesting! I always thought suì meant sleep (since we put these under our pillows), but it turns out I was totally wrong. There are so many homophones in Chinese. It’s a good thing that I didn’t know anything about the demon Suì, because that would’ve been scary as a kid.

This is the year of the Fire Horse, which is very rare (only occurring every 60 years) and is associated with intense energy, high-speed progress, and passion. I’m not one to take much stock in astrology or the Chinese zodiac, but it’s fun to see if any of the broad characteristics of any given year match up with your life. We just wrapped up the year of the Wood Snake, which was supposedly a time to shed old identities. Leaving behind my identity as a Googler was a major shedding for me.

I was interested to read that the year of the Fire Horse is considered an ideal time for making bold decisions and taking action. Especially when paired with a solar eclipse, the message is to move forward quickly and to accelerate change.

“If you can’t fly, run; if you can’t run, walk; if you can’t walk, crawl; but by all means keep moving.”

Martin Luther King Jr.

This got me thinking about my career and different times where I felt compelled to take action vs. letting things happen. At early stages in my career, I was more passive and allowed shifting circumstances dictate how my career progressed. When you’re a junior employee, it’s also a bit hard to say “no” to certain opportunities, even if you aren’t so sure you’re interested. Looking back, I don’t regret any of my career moves. My rule of thumb is to say yes when interesting opportunities are presented and see where they lead. In 2012, I couldn’t have predicted that my manager asking, “Do you know what DNS is?” would open the doors to the next decade of my career and beyond.

As I’ve been starting up my own consulting business in the top-level domain space, I have a lot of passion and energy, but sometimes things move slower than I want. Contracts take forever to wind through legal departments and big company timelines are not always aligned with the speed that I’m used to operating. As we enter this new year, I’m hoping the Fire Horse brings big energy and forward momentum.

What bold decisions are you looking to make in this Fire Horse year? Whether you’re warding off old demons or chasing new opportunities, may this year give you the speed to outrun anything that holds you back.

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