Reclaiming My Sovereignty through Embodied Power
My 2026 & Year of the Fire Horse Manifesto
A Threshold Story
The final months of 2025 asked something honest of me.
As the year turned inward, I began to notice familiar patterns quietly resurfacing—old shapes of codependency, unrealistic expectations, and a low mood that often visits me in the darker stretch of the year. I felt myself drifting out of my own center, slipping into others’ lanes, attuning myself more carefully to my partner’s energy than to my own.
Around Samhain—the ancient threshold when the veil thins—I felt an unmistakable invitation to pause and take stock of what was needing to end, to be released. On All Hallows’ Eve, I pulled out parchment paper and began to write feverishly: what I was ready to release, and what I longed to call in. When the words were complete, I carried them outside and burned them in our backyard fire pit, under a sky scattered with stars.
There is something about shedding skin in the Year of the Snake that feels inevitable.
A deep knowing in my body: this cannot come with me.
I repeated the ritual on New Year’s Eve, alongside a Winter Solstice ceremony from Sarah Jenks’ The Living Temple. This time, it felt less like intention-setting and more like truth-telling—a quiet reckoning with what I had outgrown.
What surprised me most was how much of this reckoning came through relationships.
Close friends reflected back to me—lovingly, honestly. One offered a phrase that landed in my being like an attuned soul note: reclaiming sovereignty. Another reminded me of her book that I am returning to now, 40 Something, as a mirror for this season of becoming.
Since then, I have been asking different questions:
What do I want to create now?
What is Spirit inviting me to co-create?
What would it look like to live at the intersection of stillness and action, sovereignty and embodiment?
One morning, instead of shrinking into the gray, I dressed deliberately. Leopard print heels. Black jeans. An artistic top. Full makeup. Red lips. A fragrance that made me smile.
Not as performance—but as remembrance.
Joy. Creativity. Presence. Fire.
This manifesto was born from that moment.
A declaration for myself—and an invitation for anyone standing at a similar threshold.
What These Words Mean to Me
Reclaiming
Reclaiming, for me, is remembering myself after forgetting.
It is calling my energy back from places where I over-gave, over-adapted, or dissolved in order to be loved. It is interrupting old reflexes with conscious choice, and allowing myself to return—again and again—to my own interior temple.
Reclaiming is not forceful.
It is fierce gentleness.
It is the willingness to say:
I come home to myself without judgment or shame.
Sovereignty
This is not self-rule alone, but Spirit-led authority lived in trust.
Sovereignty, for me, is authority rooted in relationship with the Divine.
It is not separation—from others or from God—but a conscious walking-with the Holy Spirit. It is allowing divine guidance to shape my inner governance, rather than fear, obligation, or the noise of external expectation.
My sovereignty is lived as co-creation.
I choose, and Spirit meets me in the choosing.
I act, and God breathes through my action.
This kind of sovereignty does not isolate me—it steadies me.
It allows me to remain myself without merging,
and faithful without disappearing.
I listen for divine wisdom within my body, my intuition, and my conscience—trusting that God speaks not only to me, but through me.
I stay rooted in my own lane,
while remaining open to holy companionship.
Sovereignty, for me, is saying:
I do not abandon myself, because God has not abandoned me.
I walk in alignment with Spirit—
not ahead,
not behind,
but with.
Embodiment
Embodiment is where my spirituality takes flesh.
It is the wisdom of the body welcomed back into the life of faith. It is prayer not only spoken, but worn, moved, scented, and felt. It is ritual in fire, water and seasons—and in clothing, presence, and desire.
Embodiment invites me to listen when my body says yes,
to pause when my body says no,
and to trust that holiness is not abstract, but lived.
My body knows when I am aligned.
Presence itself becomes a form of truth.
Power
Power, for me, is not domination.
It is radiance with edges.
It is creative fire without apology.
Visibility without shrinking.
Desire without justification.
This is not hustle or striving.
It is action born from stillness, movement guided by discernment.
Power lives where courage and tenderness meet.
It allows me to take up space without asking,
and to be seen without performance.
My Manifesto
2026 Manifesto: Reclaiming My Sovereignty Through Embodied Power
I am no longer interested in dissolving myself into others’ expectations, energies, or timelines.
I am reclaiming the parts of me that learned to merge in order to be loved.
I choose sovereignty—not as separation, but as faithful self-trust.
I govern my inner world with clarity, compassion, and consent.
I listen when my body says yes.
I pause when the Spirit says wait.
I root my spirituality in my body—
in ritual and adornment,
in fire and fragrance,
in movement, pleasure, grief, and joy.
I let my power be visible.
I let my creativity be loud.
I let my desire lead.
As the Fire Horse year approaches, I do not hesitate.
I mount her with devotion and daring.
I am ready to be seen.
I am ready to move.
I am ready to burn away what no longer belongs to me.
I choose stillness and action.
Mysticism and momentum.
Softness and strength.
This is my remembering.
This is my return.
This is my sovereignty—embodied.
A Gentle Invitation
If this speaks to something stirring in you, trust that.
Thresholds recognize one another.
A Prayer for Sovereignty
Holy Spirit,
Breath of God within me,
Help me gather myself back.
From the places I have over-given,
over-adapted,
or forgotten who I am.
Teach me to walk with You—
not ahead in striving,
not behind in fear,
but with You in trust.
Bless my body as a place of wisdom.
Bless my desire as a holy signal.
Bless my boundaries as acts of love.
May I choose with courage,
act with clarity,
and rest in the knowing
that I am never alone.
I offer You my yes—
steady, embodied, and true.
Amen.
A Simple Ritual of Reclaiming
You may do this now, or return to it whenever you need.
You will need:
A small candle (or a moment of quiet, if fire isn’t available)
Sit or stand with both feet on the ground.
Place one hand on your heart and one on your belly.Take three slow breaths.
With each exhale, imagine yourself gathering your energy back into your body.Light the candle, or simply imagine a small flame before you.
Quietly say (or whisper):
“I reclaim what I have given away without consent.”Then say:
“I choose to walk with Spirit—whole, present, and sovereign.”Sit in stillness for a few moments.
Notice any sensation, word, or feeling that arises.
When you’re ready, close with gratitude.
No rush. No performance. Just presence.