Feeling Exhausted and Activated? The Organ That Changes Everything

The Fire Horse energy is about momentum, alignment, and fire. It is fast-moving Yang energy. In Chinese medicine, fire isn’t just passion or visibility. It’s movement. Expansion. Activation. And there is a lot of it right now.

Our essence lives in the kidneys. The kidneys respond to yang. So any fire, true or artificial, will mobilize your essence, says Dr. Gabrielle Naomi, @rhythmsofhealth, a Chinese medicine practitioner.

It makes sense that I clocked discernment as a big theme as we crossed from Yin Wood Snake to Yang Fire Horse energy. That’s why I’ve been noticing so many people talking about feeling energized and exhausted at the same time.

I am a year of the Fire Dragon, so this energy functions similarly to my birth element. I also have Sagittarius Sun, Mars, and Neptune in the 5th House, with Leo Rising and Saturn and Chiron in Aries. IYKYK.

I came to this life to learn the lessons of embodied fire. The last few years, life has been lifing, and I have been steeped in this energy. So I emerge as the phoenix after these trials by fire to support this work of releasing and integration through discernment.

And this is where the small intestine comes in. It is paired with the heart. Its role is to separate the pure from the impure. Not just food. Energy. It asks: Is this fire aligned to my truth? Is this fire my pacing, in coherence with my heart and my purpose?

Or is this collective fire? Noise. Urgency. Pressure. Performance.

In a Yang Fire Horse year, the medicine is discernment, not more activation. The fire that is yours will move your essence into purposeful creation, and what isn’t will burn you out quickly.

Your body is an ecosystem that is adaptive, intelligent, not a container for the world’s urgency. It is a temple and when you honor it with presence and listening the proper flame gets fanned to grow. Life blooms, more peace and ease arrive because your energy is used to support your intuition, life, and purpose. There is less confusion and resistance, hustle, forcing, and burnout.

You can also work with this energy through the lens of Human Design to make it practical.

Your authority functions like an internal small intestine. It separates correct impulse from conditioned noise.

Yang fire without discernment looks like:
• Initiating from the mind
• Amplifying collective sacral buzz
• Riding someone else’s momentum
• Mistaking pressure for purpose

That is artificial yang. It burns yin. It depletes.

True fire in Human Design is initiation from authority. It can move fast, but it does not scramble.
It activates essence without draining it.

Especially in a Fire Horse year, the nervous system can confuse activation with alignment.

Artificial fire feels wired, urgent, comparative, externally referenced.

True fire feels clear. Simple. Almost quiet. Then decisive.

For me, with Splenic authority and an open Sacral, discernment is quiet. My spleen speaks once, softly.

So listening is important, so I build space into my day. Morning. Midday. Night. I check in with my body. I create stillness so I can actually hear it.

My digestion variable is low sound.

That means my body processes best in calm environments.

Not loud spaces. Not scrolling while eating. Not working through meals.

Artificial fire may show up in habits like:
• Eating while overstimulated
• Scrolling while chewing
• Working while digesting
• Being in loud chaotic spaces
• Pushing through fatigue because momentum feels good
• Artificial Fire through caffeine or substances

That is yang without discernment. It taxes the kidneys. It confuses the small intestine. In Human Design, digestion is not just food. It is how you take in information and life. If your digestion calls for calm, this is not the year for more input. It is the year for cleaner input.

In Human Design, digestion is called Determination. It is based on six core themes called colors, it’s not colors like we think. They describe how your body best processes life.

Color 1: Appetite
Theme: How you take in and sequence input.

Consecutive: One thing at a time. Simple, steady, focused intake.
Alternating: Variety supports digestion. Mixing inputs feels correct.

Color 2: Taste
Theme: Consistency versus novelty.

Closed Taste: Familiar, repetitive foods and environments feel safest.
Open Taste: Needs newness and change to stay aligned.

Color 3: Thirst
Theme: Temperature and metabolic processing.

Hot: Warm food and warmer environments support digestion.
Cold: Cooler food and cooler environments support digestion.

Color 4: Touch
Theme: Nervous system and physical environment.

Calm: Requires a settled, stable environment to digest well.
Nervous: Digests better with light stimulation or subtle activity.

Color 5: Sound
Theme: Auditory environment.

High Sound: Background noise or activity supports digestion.
Low Sound: Quiet and minimal sound support digestion.

Color 6: Light
Theme: Visual environment and timing.

Direct Light: Bright light and daytime eating feel best.
Indirect Light: Dimmer light and evening settings feel best.

Digestion in Human Design is not about diet culture. It is about the environment your body needs to correctly separate pure from impure. It is small intestine medicine through mechanics.

Especially in a Fire Horse year, knowing your Determination helps protect your yin from artificial yang.

And the other layer is Environment.

Environment in Human Design is kidney protection and small intestine clarity in action. When you are in the correct environment, your nervous system settles, your yin is preserved, and your body can accurately separate what is yours from what is not.

When you are in the wrong environment, artificial yang increases, essence gets taxed, and discernment blurs. Correct environment is not aesthetic. It is physiological.

In Human Design, there are six core environments:

Caves: Protected, enclosed, controlled spaces where you can see who or what is entering.
Markets: Active spaces with exchange, variety, conversation, and movement.
Kitchens: Creative hubs where things are being made, prepared, or transformed.
Mountains: Perspective and elevation. Space above the fray.
Valleys: Information flow, communication channels, connected pathways.
Shores: Edges and thresholds. Where two worlds meet.

It is in the correct environment that your body can hold fire without burning out.

So practically this year:

Protect digestion.
Simplify input.
Reduce stimulation while eating.
Curate your environment.
Limit exposure to collective urgency.
Honor fatigue early.

The body will tell you which fire is yours.

It’s not mystical. It’s observable.

You will feel it in your gut before you see it in your calendar.

If this resonates, Alchemy of the Breakthrough is a space where we explore discovery, practice, and integration of embodied fire energy together through Conversation, Connection, Practical Astrology, Human Design, and Numerology.

If you prefer to start independently, order your prerecorded Astrology, Human Design, and Numerology overview to find your unique rhythm and pacing for this year.

No matter what you choose I am here to support your journey. No gatekeeping just resources and space to comehome to yourself and life your best life now.

XO—Amy