Welcome, 2026: Year 1 of the Fire Horse
Galloping Horse, Xu Beihong. 1941.
Molly Hankins January 1, 2026
As we cross the threshold from a numerological year 9 of the wood snake in 2025 into a year 1 of the fire horse, beginning February 17th in the Chinese zodiac, we are shedding the last of our old identity-skins. What wasn’t working in our lives on the material plane is being closed out over the next six weeks, as the year 1 energy of 2026 refreshes our consciousness and charts our new course in life. The fire horse energy gives us the supercharged creativity to begin and sustain the momentum of following our highest excitement. A year 1 also promises surprises, unexpected opportunities, new relationships, and a significant expansion of our perspectives. Think back to the last year 1 which was in 2017- that was fire rooster year and there will likely be parallels across the macro themes in our lives.
In numerology, annual cycles are calculated by adding the numerals of a given year together, so 2026 is a year 1 because 2+2+0+6 = 10, and 1+0 = 1. The 1 represents a fresh start, so this is a year that asks us to embrace change and become more ourselves. The fire horse energy will fuel the urge to express our authenticity and share it with the people we love. Having shed so much over this previous year, we are ready to make new connections that form a circuit of conscious beings stable enough to run the powerful fire horse energy. In 2026, our life force is activated at a new level, and this will magnetize resonant souls who will be great company on our life’s journey. They also reflect back to us what we need to recognize within ourselves.
Numerologist and best-selling author Kaitlyn Kaerhart, who was interviewed for Tetragrammaton in 2025, believes that “when we know the nature of the cycle we’re in, we have a greater awareness of the energy that’s most supported at any given time, and how to make that energy work for us.” The year of the fire horse brings action and change, but beware that the energy can also be so quick-moving that it can lead to distraction or hot-headedness. “This year will feel dramatically different from 2025,” Kaerhart says. “Year 9 is the most intense and demanding year in numerology because it’s focused on endings, closure, grief and release. Collectively, 2025 was a dismantling, like a caterpillar dissolving inside the cocoon. In 2026, we emerge. This is the year we grow wings and begin again from a new level of awareness.”
“This isn’t a year to rush blindly. It’s a year to choose wisely.”
As for how to work with the new year energy, Kaerhart points out that not only are we in year 1, replete with fresh-start energy, but there’s a ton of horsepower behind that creative urge. We must be conscious of what we’re creating, why we’re doing it and who we’re working with. “Because year 1 is foundational, the most important way to work with this energy is through conscious initiation. Be intentional about what you start,” she reminds us. “Relationships, businesses, creative projects, relocations and commitments made this year have staying power. They carry momentum that can last the full nine-year cycle.”
Horses have co-evolved with mankind to help us get where we’re going and build lasting structures, so think of this energy as the fuel powering the next phase of our individual and collective evolution. In order to tame a horse, trust must be built and limits must be put in place otherwise the horse will run wild and we lose its power. The horse must also be tended to and taken care of, the same is true for this year. We can use this cycle to our advantage by slowing down our thinking and acting, making sure that what we’re doing aligns with who we are and how we want our lives to be. Conversely, we can create chaos with this energy if we’re impatient or misaligned in our relationships and activities.
“This isn’t a year to rush blindly,” Kaerhart says. “It’s a year to choose wisely. The consequences of our choices matter more now than they have in years.” As we work with this new energy, it can also be helpful to compare the year 1 we’re collectively experiencing to the one we are personalling travelling, which requires another simple calculation. To figure out what personal year you’re in, add up the digits of your birthday to the current year. For example, a July 10th birthday would add up to a personal year 9, because 7+1+0+2+0+2+6 = 9. This means endings and new beginnings will be happening right next to each other. The image of the ouroboros comes to mind, where the snake eats its own tail in a representation of eternal self-creation. For more specifics on how our personal year cycles interact with that of the collective, Kaerhart publishes annual planners detailing how to use this information to work with the astrological energy of the year.
Since what we create this year sets the tone for the next 9 years, the hope is that we can tame the fiery horse energy and harness it for our highest good. “Year 1 is the year where new timelines are initiated, identities are reshaped and long-term paths are chosen,” she explains. “It’s the spark year — the moment where ideas move from possibility into form.”
Molly Hankins is an Initiate + Reality Hacker serving the Ministry of Quantum Existentialism and Builders of the Adytum.
