My recent article explored the void, that time during perimenopause and midlife when many women find themselves lost between who they were and who they are becoming. I wrote about the magic that can unfold when we get brave enough to sit with the not knowing instead of rushing to escape it.
But there’s an elephant in the room that we haven’t talked about yet.
What happens when you’re in the void during the year of the Firehorse?
Because right now the collective energy is moving very fast. And the void asks us to go slow and stay present with what’s unfolding.
The truth is, we can’t ignore the current collective energy we exist in. While we’re each in our own process with our own timing, we’re also part of the whole. And if you’re sensitive like me, there’s no doubt that the energy around us will impact our personal experience of the void.
So let’s get curious about this. How can Fire Horse energy support us through the void and where can it pull us off course? And what does it mean that so many of us are moving through a personal void at the same moment humanity is moving through one collectively.
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Fire Horse energy
I’m not an astrologer or an expert in Chinese zodiac. But I am a total astrology geek and spend a lot of my free time reading and learning about it. So here’s what I can share.
Fire Horse energy is bold and free-spirited.
Think momentum, action and breaking from convention. It’s a kind of “leap and the net will appear” vibe. Fire Horse years are known to bring fast change along with collective and personal transformation.
And the reason why this particular year is getting so much attention compared to other Chinese Zodiac years is because the Horse’s fixed element is already fire. So when a Fire year lands on a Horse year, you get double fire energy.
While Fire Horse energy can be catalytic, liberating, and awakening, it also has a shadow side.
The shadow side of Fire Horse energy
In its shadow expression, Fire Horse energy can feel impulsive, impatient, reactive, volatile and exhausting, like everything is moving faster than our nervous systems can actually process.
If we’re experiencing a personal void right now, Fire Horse energy can pull us out of our process before we’re ready. Watching everyone around us pivot, reinvent and create when we don’t have answers yet can make us feel like we should be further along. And it can tempt us to force clarity before what wants to come through has actually landed.
But the void asks us to do something different: to be present with the not knowing. To sit in stillness and listen to what emerges from the space between all the doing.
The question is, how do we honor that during the year of the Fire Horse?
I think the first step is learning to consciously work with this energy, so it supports us through the void, instead of rushing us out of our own timing.
The medicine of Fire Horse energy
If we stay connected to ourselves and create the space to listen instead of react, Fire Horse energy can actually move us through the void faster than we would in another year, with enough momentum that we don’t get lost in it.
This energy is catalytic.
Its gift is that it can accelerate awakening.
When we’re in the year of the Fire Horse, we may see through illusions faster. Whispers that have been trying to get our attention for years may suddenly become impossible to ignore. Misalignments we’ve been tolerating in our relationships, work or health may suddenly feel unbearable.
Places where we’ve been moving through life on autopilot may begin demanding change.
For those of us who’ve spent years stuck in overthinking or waiting for just the right moment, Fire Horse energy can become the thing that finally gets us moving.
A personal void within a collective one
Even though the energy is moving fast around us, you can probably also feel that collectively we’re in an in between space.
The structures and ways of living that once felt solid are changing fast and what’s replacing them isn’t established yet.
The days of performing success and hustling are over. Truths are being revealed that change the way we see the people and the world around us.
We recently entered Uranus in Gemini, a 7 year era that’s bringing huge changes in communication, technology and intelligence. And we’re right at the start of it.
During all of this, we’re going through perimenopause and midlife, which can send us into our own personal void where the person we were starts to change and our new identity hasn’t replaced it yet.
This can feel disorienting. It can be hard to tell if our life is falling apart because of changes happening inside of us or if we’re having a natural response to the world collapsing around us.
I believe it’s both.
And that there’s actually wisdom in the timing.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that so many of us are moving through perimenopause and midlife during a time when humanity itself is going through a massive transition.
Midlife already asks us to loosen our grip on old identities by having us question the roles we’ve performed and the expectations we inherited. It naturally strips away what no longer feels true.
And the world is about to ask that of everyone. Actually, it already is. We’re just doing it first.
So if you’ve been feeling your purpose shifting and the things that used to get you out of bed in the morning just don’t light you up like they used to, it may be that nothing is wrong.
Maybe the parts of us that no longer fit are falling away because we’re being prepared for a new role in the world that’s emerging. And we get there by honoring where we actually are right now.
Honoring your own timing
Even within the collective energy of the Fire Horse, we’re still moving through this season in our own way and in our own timing.
Some of us are just beginning to wake up to the fact that the person we’ve spent our entire life trying to become no longer fits. Others are deep in the void and can’t see their next step. Some are starting to feel the first glimmers of what’s next. And some are finally clear enough to take aligned action.
None of those places are wrong.
One of the biggest challenges of being in the void during a Fire Horse year is that the speed of the collective energy can make us feel like we should already be further along. The Fire Horse can move us through faster, and that’s a gift. The work is staying connected to ourselves enough that the momentum serves our process rather than hijacking it.
So what does that actually look like?
For me it starts in the morning. Before anyone wakes up and before getting sucked into my phone, to-do lists or other people’s agendas, I go on a walk and then I meditate. This is the most important thing I do to stay connected with myself and not get swept away in the fast paced energy around me.
I go to sound baths when I can. During a sound bath, my nervous system can finally exhale and drop into stillness underneath my thinking mind, where what wants to emerge can come through my body instead of being forced through my head. My friend, Janis, leads a beautiful weekly sound bath in Louisville, Colorado, if you’re local and want to attend with me sometime.
If sound baths aren’t accessible for you, humming, chanting or even lying still and letting music move through you can work. The point is getting out of your head and back into your body, where deeper knowing can come through.
I spend time hiking, paddle boarding or just sitting in nature because mother earth deeply honors her own timing and being with her reminds me that I can too.
Plant medicine became an important part of how I stayed connected with myself through the void. I never thought psilocybin would be something I’d work with, and now I can’t imagine my path without it. It has helped free me from lifelong patterns that kept me spinning in second-guessing and fear. Now I can hear my truth under all the noise and actually trust it.
It took me years to learn, but I listen to my body. For most of my life I overrode what my body was telling me, which led me to burnout and resentment. That’s a story for another day. Now I follow each little yes forward, even when I don’t know where it’s leading. And when my body says no, I stay with that too.
And maybe most importantly, this isn’t a path we’re meant to walk alone.
The void can feel isolating, especially when it seems like everyone else is moving quickly and confidently around you. But healing often happens through co-regulation. Through safe people and honest conversations. For me this has looked like women’s circles where I’m reminded that I’m not the only one experiencing what I’m feeling and that I don’t have to rush to become someone new overnight.
Because the truth is, even in a Fire Horse year, the next version of who we’re becoming can’t be forced through pressure and urgency. It’s something we have to allow space to unfold.
The Fire Horse may accelerate the process.
But the void still needs our presence.
And our timing is still sacred.
Invitation to share:
What's one thing that helps you stay connected to yourself when the energy around you is moving fast?
Hey , I’m Jessie May!
At 39, perimenopause turned my life upside down and eventually became an awakening I never saw coming. Now I guide women through the whole arc of this initiation, from sitting in the void of not knowing what’s next, to finding our voices as we emerge into who we’re becoming.
I love creating spaces where we can talk about what this time feels like with people who understand. Thanks for being here, I can’t wait to get to know you!
Ways I can help
✨ Substack Coaching - For women who want to turn the experiences they’ve lived through into a meaningful Substack publication that helps others feel less alone.
✨ Perimenopause Initiation Coaching - For women waking up to themselves through the initiation of perimenopause.
We were never meant to walk through perimenopause and midlife alone.
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I’d loved reading this piece. I feel like it’s so tough keeping my own pace when it feels like everything and everyone is pushing forwards.
I have to come back to my own journey and remind myself I have a clear picture of where i’m headed and i’m staying curious along the way. Trying to remain true to how MY energy really feels and honoring that.
Loved reading this. A beautiful reminder to create ritual and pause, often. Resonated with the morning routine, creating space at the start of the day. For me it's the mornings as well. Meditation, reflection, and ease before the world asks anything of us.