It’s time to start planning for for the year of the Fire Horse and moving things around to receive (or not receive) the new energies that are coming in 2025. How will this energetic shift affect you and your home? The information in this post will help you to set up and it is accurate, however, it’s somewhat generic because it doesn’t address the specifics of your situation. If you want to go beyond the basics, the application of Feng Shui must be tailored to you and your home.
As the energy shifts, some of the areas of your house that you have been avoiding or keeping quiet in 2025 will be more user friendly now. For example, in 2026 the energy of the east is safer, while the energy of the north and south are a bit compromised.
Following the Calendar
There are multiple markers for the start of any year – it’s not as if a switch is flipped and we’re in instantly new territory.
The first marker that I observe in the changing of the year is the winter solstice. The second marker (sometimes third) is the Solar New Year. This year, the third marker is the Lunar New Year. The order of Lunar and Solar New years varies. Check the Hsia calendar for accuracy.
冬至 Dong Zhi Winter Solstice – December 21st 2025
立春 Li Chun Solar New Year – February 4th 2026
農歷新年 Nong Li Xin Nian Lunar New Year – February 17th 2026
Speaking generally, after the winter solstice through the Ox month most of the energy of the old year is weak but so is the energy of the new year. That means it’s usually a good time to rearrange and clean. This time around, I would recommend you find some auspicious dates to get the most out of your efforts. I’m calling January the tail of the Snake – it’s different than other Ox months you’ve experienced.
If you’re reading this after February 3 2026 and you’ve already missed that window, you can still make changes. Again, you will benefit from finding good dates for this. Let me know if you need help, or you might want to subscribe to my Monthly Guide.
This next part is a bit complicated so skip down to the end for 2026 Feng Shui guidelines if that’s how you scroll.
太歲 Tai Sui, 歲破 Sui Po and 三煞 San Sha
The Year of the Fire Horse opens on February 4th at 04:02. The Tai Sui or Year Boss is in the S where the 午 Horse is located because the Horse is the boss. The south is on top in the diagram above. Jupiter is in the N and the Tai Sui sits opposite, mirroring.
With the year of the Wood Snake in 2025, we entered a big season of Fire, meaning we have three years of Fire energy from 2025-2027. The Snake, Horse and Sheep branches (also years, months, days) relate to Fire and the season of summer. In a cycle of 12 years, we are now in the middle of summer.
If you’re not already familiar with the concept of the Tai Sui you can think of it as the ruling energy of the year. In some years people born under the same Animal branch as the year are considered to be offending the Tai Sui. The Horse is one of these signs.
Directly opposite the Horse in the S, is the Rat in the N. That means in 2026 the Rat is called the Sui Po or “year breaker”. The Rat is considered to be in opposition to the Horse. Their relationship is a clash, meaning they bring changes to each other.
Energetically the Horse sends force towards, pressures or stimulates the Rat. The clash between Horse and Rat is a clash of Water and Fire. To put it in the broadest terms, this clash might involve wake up calls, coming to your senses, disappointment, realism, stimulus, leaks, melting; south challenges north and all that entails.
If you’re feeling worried about the clash because there’s a Horse or Rat in your BaZi, book a BaZi reading with me and I will help you find practical and applicable solutions. I can help you to navigate safely, mitigate and sometimes take advantage of a clash.
The San Sha or Three killings in 2026 covers the entire area between Pig (NW3) and Ox (NE1) covering 322.5 – 37.5 degrees. The Rat, centering at 0 degrees in the north, is in a difficult position on the compass but we can’t ignore that Horse, centering at 180 opposite the Rat is too. As I mentioned earlier, the energy of the San Sha this year is Fire element (south) vs Water element (north).
Lest you get lost in the technical stuff, it’s important to remember that Feng Shui is all about relationships. You can take that perspective and work with Feng Shui every day. Stick to first principles: Wu Xing and yin/yang. If you want to know how the energy moves around, it’s elemental and elementary.
The annual calculations are expressions of the relationships of elements. They point out the Tai Sui, Sui Po, and San Sha: the relationships that may need more of your attention in any given year. You can think of them as representations of roles we may be called to play.
Flying Stars
Flying Stars is a system used to identify energy pockets within a building, city, country…The base energy for each area is indicated by the traditional Lo Shu where Star 5 is in the center. This arrangement is also called the Magic Square, partly because the numbers add to 15 in any direction.
Lo Shu or Magic Square
There are different layers to consider when working with Flying Stars. In addition to these base stars which are static, each house has it’s own collection of Flying Stars, which some would say is similar to a natal chart. The best results come when you’ve understood and dealt with these static and underlying energies first. There are dynamics in their interactions but they do not change.
Once you’ve done that, you can play with the dynamic stars, the ones that move and change. Those would be the stars of the time Period (currently we are in the 9 Fate), the annual stars, monthly Flying Stars and daily Flying Stars which you may be familiar with if you read my daily forecasts.
Each star corresponds to a trigram from the Later Heaven Bagua and so each one also has an elemental nature. Some stars naturally pair up. Some stars play well together and some don’t. Some are helpful and some not so much. I won’t try to explain it more here.
In 2026, we have the 1 White Star in the center, setting the tone of the year. The map below will tell you the locations of the annual Flying Stars within your home for the Fire Horse year. They will interact with the monthly Flying Stars in a guest/host relationship. This interaction of the annual and monthly stars is used for Feng Shui, forecasting and other forms of divination.
Annual Flying Stars for Fire Horse 2026
As a general practice, we want to avoid the annual Wu Huang or 5 yellow.
Guidelines for 2026
- Don’t face S, meaning the Horse who is centered at 180 degrees. Take care with spending time in the S location of your house and don’t face that direction.
If your head points S when you are in bed, you’ll want to consider changing that. Having your back to the S is fine.
- Avoid Rat (N2) and the areas directly adjacent. The scope of the San Sha covers Pig-Ox as outlined above. Don’t have your back to the San Sha (north).
- The energy of the Wu Huang or 5 Yellow is in the S this year indicating volatility and upheavals. Now that we are in Period 9, in 2026 Star 5 Yellow is paired with Flying Star 4 Green. This is not considered an auspicious combination. Avoid construction or other noisy activations in the S.
- Star 1 in the center expresses the Water/Fire conflict of the year. In Period 9 this may relate to emotions, health, hormones, or wealth, to name a few possibilities. I don’t recommend you do activations there however, without some knowledge and/or guidance. Make sure you know the underlying Flying Stars of your home before you try anything.
- If your house faces S or N I recommend you have a Feng Shui survey and mitigate any potential issues, especially if an exterior door is located in the S or N.
Consult a professional if you want to activate or make major changes to either N or S locations.
These locations and directions can be fine tuned further by applying Ba Zhai (8 House or 8 Mansions). In Period 9 I think West Group people may have an advantage over East group when it comes to helpful orientations.
When to Act
Moving things around the house, changing rooms, and placing Feng Shui cures and enhancements is best done between 冬至 Dong Zhi or winter solstice around December 21st, and 立春 Li Chun which is usually around February 4th or 5th. The exact dates vary slightly depending on the year. Details are above.
You can maximize the results of your changes and adjustments by using date selection. If you want help with that, I invite you to subscribe to my Monthly guide or, contact me to find a date that’s specific to you and your house. If you’d like to learn how to track these timings yourself, I recommend a copy of my Fire Horse 2026 Almanac.
Those familiar with applying Feng Shui can use the information in this article to set up your house. You’ll also need to know your Ming Gua to make the most of the energy of 2025. Just compare your good directions with the “rules”. And of course I’m available if you want to enhance or mitigate rather than simply avoid.
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