Fire Horse

Good Morning my friends! I am back from my trip with my mind refreshed and settled, and my resolve renewed. (Even though a little food poisoning and weather challenges made the trip home extra fun!)

I had something planned to talk with you about this morning, but then I had the unfortunate experience of listening to Tom Homan’s speech. Let me just say to you there is NOTHING in what he said that was reassuring or calming to me. There was NO attempt to quell the anxiety Minnesotans are feeling today. In fact he made it crystal clear that his goal was to just become more ruthless and efficient at what he was doing. He stated “If you think we are going to surrender our authority you are wrong”. He calls us “agitators” in Nixonian terms. He says “Stop the rhetoric”. Nope. Nope. Nope. All hail to Minnesota! And, don’t forget he took the paper bag with $50K in it….what a guy.

With our resolve to fight, I find it helps to seek out hope from every channel we can find it. This morning I was drawn to the ancient Chinese Zodiac calendar. Now I am careful about my adaptation of mysticism, but there are truly parallels.

2026 is the year of the “Fire Horse”, according to the calendar. This occurs only every 60 years, with the last being 1966. Fire Horse years do not create chaos, but they accelerate existing tensions, end illusions and force transitions. Starting in mid-February, the Fire Horse year combines the movement, independence, speed, travel and boldness of the horse with the intensity, passion, volatility and transformational courage fire.

Today’s political polarization, low confidence in institutions and cultural disruptions show the same kind of patterns that were present in 1966. There was a sense of urgency, historical turmoil and feeling that old rules did not apply. This is the same today. And also today as then, confrontation is favored over negotiation, new voices are emerging and the old guard is receding. There is volatility, not gradualism (speaking to you Schumer).

Today we are at a pivotal point in our history. There is a strong and ever strengthening pressure to CHOOSE. All of us will choose, whether deliberately or by default. (Doing nothing is a decision.)

Stay vs. Leave

Adapt vs. Resist

Rebuild vs. Cling

We are in this moment together. It is not an endpoint, it is a transition. And we will all be a part of that change, and we will make it happen.

*I never use AI for writing, but I did get info on Fire Horse year from that source today—did not know too much about it

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