JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2026 EDITION
The Monday Night Sangha Newsletter
The Turning Point:
Integrating the Snake, Preparing for the Horse
“To integrate the lessons of the past is to free the energy needed to move forward.”
Jack Kornfield
We are closing out the Year of the Wood Snake, a year associated with shedding outdated patterns, examining the deeper layers of our psychology, and quietly restructuring the inner architecture of our lives. On February 17th, we move into the Year of the Fire Horse, a dynamic period known for bold movement, renewal of life-force, and the courage to act on what we’ve discovered. Where the Snake dismantles, the Horse mobilizes.
In many traditions, the Snake year works beneath the surface, unraveling old ways of being and helping us release what has reached its natural completion. The Fire Horse year, by contrast, calls for motion, expression, courage, and embodiment. It is a year of forward momentum. Reflection at this juncture helps create a bridge between these two cycles, allowing what was quietly shed to be brought into conscious awareness. When release is named and understood, it doesn’t disappear into the background; it becomes usable insight. From this clarity, the energy of the Fire Horse can move forward with intention rather than impulsivity, supporting action that is grounded, purposeful, and aligned with what has already been learned.
The Quiet Work of Breaking Cycles
This past year has been a powerful turning point in my own life. In January of 2025, I intentionally turned toward some long-standing ancestral patterns with the hope of softening them—perhaps even shedding them, like the skin of a snake. On my father’s side, both my grandfather and great-grandfather struggled deeply with depression and overdrinking. It’s both remarkable and sobering how unresolved patterns in a lineage can quietly shape the inner lives of those who come after. I have three siblings, and while we were each affected in different ways, I can recognize the shared ancestral patterns at the root of our struggles.
Both of my parents were very young when I was born, and although the language didn’t exist then, they were living with what we now understand as PTSD. They were not equipped to raise children with the kind of attunement, safety, and care that helps a nervous system settle. I grew up in a traumatic environment, and much of my adult life has been devoted to healing those early wounds. Over the past few years, I’ve been working closely with two child parts that held tightly to their defenses. What emerged–through mindful attention, compassion, and embodiment–was clarity. By learning to meet these parts as a steady adult presence, I could begin to see the looping programs, limiting beliefs, survival strategies, and protective patterns that had once kept me safe but were no longer serving me.
It is difficult to transform what we cannot see. Traumatized child parts often live outside the body, and the dense energy created by their reactivity can obscure clear awareness for our more resourced adult selves. For a long time, a storm was moving through my energy field without form or language—it registered simply as anxiety. Only through slowing down and turning toward it was I able to recognize what was actually happening and begin to work with it skillfully. This is why reflection matters so deeply now. What was softened, revealed, or released during the Snake year can become actionable intelligence as we step into the fresh momentum of the Fire Horse.
Carrying Awareness Into the Fire Horse Year
As we cross this threshold together, the invitation is not to rush forward, but to move with awareness. The Fire Horse brings energy, courage, and vitality—but without integration, its speed can easily outrun our wisdom. When insight is embodied, movement becomes grounded. When clarity is present, action carries purpose. This is the kind of momentum that supports real change, not driven by urgency, but guided by understanding and self-trust.
Monday Night Sangha offers a space to practice exactly this kind of transition. Through meditation, reflection, and gentle inquiry, we create room to integrate what has been learned and to listen for what wants to move next. In this past session, I guided a meditation on inner freedom, inviting participants to recall an experience of reactivity that still felt unresolved. Each person worked skillfully and compassionately with their own experience, gently sensing what inner freedom might feel like. When this quality is tasted, even briefly, it becomes difficult to ignore the quiet guidance of the heart.
As the Fire Horse year begins, may your actions arise from presence, your courage be informed by compassion, and your forward motion reflect the deep work you’ve already done. This is not a beginning that leaves the past behind—it’s one that carries its wisdom forward, with care.
With loving kindness and peaceful presence
Susan Keller
Conscious Calm Presence