The year of the horse is fast approaching, so get ready to gallop into the New Year and charge your days with momentum!
Though you may think of Feng Shui as entirely calm and tranquil, this year’s energy looks set to challenge that, and keeping your home balanced is going to be key.
Not only do we have a powerful animal energy entering on the 17th February through the horse, but we also have the element of fire and Yang energy accompanying it. In simple terms, it’s a fierce energy – one that’s going to require balancing.
Sure, the principles of Feng Shui can seem daunting. But at its basics, it’s all about energy management. For calmer, more introspective energies, like the Yin kind, you can lean into invigorating colours and materials. However, this year, a calm-toned interior is the perfect antidote to prevent that fire horse energy from overwhelming your space and lifestyle.
So before you pick up that bright crimson paint, take a look at what our Feng Shui experts recommend for a calm and balanced year of the fire horse.
What’s the Difference Between a Yin and Yang Energy in Feng Shui?
In Feng Shui, each year's animal is associated with one of the five elements: earth, fire, water, metal, and wood. Collectively, these elements are called the Heavenly Stems. For each stem, you have a Yin and a Yang version, giving 12 total variations.
The Yin version is said to have a more introspective energy, while the Yang versions are more bold and outward. This year is the year of the horse, with the element of Yang fire – hence the fire horse.
Feng Shui master Angela Ang explains, “2026 is a Fire Horse year. The Horse is a fire element, and 2026 is a double-horse year. Fire is the only element that will transform all the other Feng Shui elements. Meaning, fire burns wood, scorches the earth, evaporates water and melts metal. The sense of your identity can change this year with a double fire element."
With over 24 years of full-time professional Feng Shui consulting around the world behind her, Master Angela Ang is committed to propagating and preserving traditional Feng Shui and dharma as a means of helping people better their lives.
1. Keep Colors Calm
Beware of 'fire' colors this year.
How we perceive colors, even subconsciously, is crucial to understanding Feng Shui in your home. From relaxation for Feng Shui colors in living rooms to sleep cycles for bedroom, choosing the right shade in your home can create harmony throughout your lifestyle. This year, to balance out the energy, the experts recommend cool color schemes and water-like colors.
Expert Angela says, “Avoid using fire colors like reds, dark pinks, dark purples, and orange colors on big wall space as this can bring too much fire and cause unnecessary arguments, short tempers, and encourage drama. A little bit is fine, but not a big area. Especially if it is a South room.”
This year, the South area of your home is particularly important in Feng Shui. This is where the Five Yellow Star will be sat – a star that is said to bring misfortune. Strong fire-like colors, such as bright orange and yellow, can strengthen this energy, causing it to overwhelm your life, so they're best kept to a minimum.
Master Angela’s favorite tones for calming this energy are lighter, earthy tones. “Use a calm sand dune colour if you would like to have more calm, stable energy, which is also energetic and uplifting,” says Angela.
“Darker browns will suck up more energy, plus it's a more serious colour. If you will use the room for work, then have lighter earth tones, too."
2. Edit Your Items
The Year of the Horse looks to be free from clutter.
It's time to consciously uncouple from your clutter. According to Master Angela, keeping your clutter around this year will only limit your growth. In the spirit of moving forward into an exciting new journey, it's time to edit your household items.
“Horses like to have their freedom and be ready to up and leave if they so choose,” says Angela. “If you have too many things, you are tied down. Material things tie you down. Too many things will become a burden. Set yourself free by having fewer things. Less is the ability to have more freedom to move.”
The beginning of the year is a great time to evaluate your possessions and part with the items that aren’t serving you anymore – especially true for the leftover Christmas clutter. For me, if I haven’t used or worn it in a year, then it’s being donated elsewhere; as Angela says, “when you have empty space, something new can come in.”
For decluttering more sentimental items, curate your collection carefully and only keep what you enjoy and what you actually have time to reflect on. Apps like Keepy are a great guilt-free way of keeping your child’s artwork creations without the boxes and boxes of physical paintings!
Master Angela even incorporates this clutter-free mantra within her annual lunar New Year ritual. “Before the start of the New Year, it’s tradition to clean the house from top to bottom. Open all the windows and let Chi circulate the house. Clean all the rooms and only use environmentally friendly cleaners.”
3. Lean into Natural Materials
Natural materials are the way to go if you want to balance your home’s Chi this year. Woven natural materials like hemp and cotton rugs paired with robust wooden floors and furniture are a great combination to help ground you amid turbulent energy.
In terms of less favorable materials, Feng Shui expert Simon Brown suggests plastic could be problematic for a year as charged as the fire horse. He says, “If this year you feel more stressed than usual, meaning a sign of too much fire, it would help to reduce bright, colorful plastic items associated with fire.”
As alternatives to plastic, for Simon, creating balance with the fire horse is all about natural materials. “The typical earth materials we might use in a home are clay, terracotta, exposed bricks, and natural plaster with a sealant. The earth atmosphere can be enhanced with rugs, curtains, big cushions, soft furnishings, blanket,s and large floor cushions. Sitting on the floor puts us in a more earthy position and posture, too.”
Sculptural objects are a great way of balancing energy in your home, too. Just remember to place them in the right areas. Your home is divided into different compass sections as part of the Feng Shui map — eight in total. Metal should be placed in the north west and west home areas to encourage helpful people and mentors. Wood should be placed in the east for health and family, or the south east for wealth and prosperity.
4. Clear your thoughts with vision boards
Balance the fire energy by getting your thoughts out into the world.
In line with a clutter-free home, it’s equally important to declutter your mind. The start of the lunar New Year is a great time to embrace change and set out new plans and intentions.
“As we come to this time, it can be helpful to have our homes more open, decluttered, clean and refreshed so that we are in a better position to start a new phase in our lives with purpose and focus,” says expert Simon.
“Think of standing on the top of the mountain, seeing all around you, and having the vision to know where you want to go and how you will get there. Vision boards, a big empty canvas, painting a wall with blackboard paint to write on, or even a clear table with large sheets of paper, all encourage the expression of new possibilities to explore.”
For Master Angela, it’s all about manifesting and setting intentions. She explains at the start of a lunar New Year, “I plan my goals for the New Year and practice Chinese manifesting with prayers. I make a list of good deeds to do, and energetically improve my energy field and karmic vibes by doing good deeds, amongst other things. Remember what you do will come back to you.”
If you’re unsure where to start, keep it simple at first and use the items in your home to narrow down what speaks to you. It could be a family photo which inspires you to commit to better quality family time, or even a photo in a newspaper of a place that you always wanted to travel to. From there, branch out into intentions that will help you achieve your vision!
Simon is a Feng Shui, macrobiotic and face reading author, teacher and consultant. He is the author of The Feng Shui Bible, Modern Day Macrobiotics, Macrobiotics For Life and The Secrets of Face Reading. Simon studied macrobiotics from 1980 with Michio Kushi, Aveline Kushi and Shizuko Yamamoto, as well as feng shui with Takashi Yoshikawa. Simon is the chair of the Feng Shui Society and served as chair of the Macrobiotic Association.
5. Embrace greenery
Plants are a natural soothe to fiery energy.
We all love a houseplant, right? They purify the air, improve our mental health, and provide beautiful foliage throughout our homes.
For a year like the fire horse, restoring tranquillity is key, and as expert Simon explains, the secret could be in the humble houseplant.
If you're experiencing increased stress levels this year, Simon says, "bring in more plants which feed the fire qi with more Yin energy."
"All plants will engage with our parasympathetic nervous system, helping us relax, heal, be more creative, and think better, according to the research", says Simon. "In the five elements, wood feeds fire. Each element has a Yin and a Yang version. So when we feed fire with Yin wood, in this example, plants, it helps make the fire more Yin and calming."
If you're looking for a houseplant that's easy to maintain, you can't go wrong with a Japanese peace lily. Impossible to overwater, its glossy green leaves will calmly counter the hot energy of the fire horse.
Or, for a statement plant that can fill a blank space, the monstera or fiddle leaf fig are ideal candidates!
Stepping into the New Lunar Year is a great opportunity to reinvest in yourself and your surroundings. The fire horse's forward energy will propel you into your future, just be sure to balance the fire and maintain a calm mindset.