2025 was an extremely difficult year for my family. As we walk through 2026, we are doing it with deeper intentions. I'm going to be laying out a monthly guide here. This is my personal guide for making 2026 the year of embodied mastery. I'd love for you to follow along if you'd like to be more intentional with your year.
January brings us our first full moon on January 3rd. This is lovingly known as the Wolf Moon. The wolf moon is cold, dark, clear, and still. We find ourselves on the other side of the darkening year, but we are still very much with the long, cold nights. January was decreed the first month of the year by the Roman emperor, Julius Caesar, who eventually named the month after Janus, a god of doorways and new beginnings. Janus had two faces, one looking forward and one for looking back. So, he represented the shift from one year to another.
Resolving to change everything in early January is an extremely difficult task. There is so little energy coming from the sun that our bodies will tend to resist, especially if our resolutions involve things like more exercise or less eating.
The Dakota Sioux called this the Moon of the Terrible and indeed this month can be. The celebrations are over. This month was originally sort of a dead zone. A liminal void if you will. It was too cold to go to war, so people just rested.
As difficult as this time can feel, there are ways we can soften the sharpness of the Wolf Moon. The Celtic name of this lunation is the Quiet Moon. It's time to stay inside, to be quiet, to nourish ourselves with gentleness and warmth. There is an invitation to rest in the dark, here; not as a way to wallow in depression, but rather as a way to remain in the dreamy, quiet mood of January's Wolf Moon, to trust that our inner howling will be met, in time, if we know how to honor its message.
This energy is the reason that I have chosen January's intentions to feel so soft.
January feels like Stillness & Self-Authorization
Theme: I begin without proving.
How I am setting the tone: no urgency, no announcements
I will be choosing my non-negotiables (rest, boundaries, truth)
After all that we shed in 2025, I look at 2026 as a fresh beginning. I am leaning into the freedom of choosing who I am not available to be anymore.
Anchor question:
What do I stop justifying this year?
January Affirmation
I claim my authority without explanation. I begin this year already enough. Rest is my medicine.
Wellness tips from a Clinical Herbalist:
Eat warm, cooked foods, drink warm beverages, and spend time with a heating pad on your mid-back, where your adrenal glands (atop your kidneys) are. They can get overly cold and depleted this time of the year. Hot baths and saunas can also be so soothing this time of the year.
Practice gentle yoga or other forms of movement that aren't exhausting.
A perfect herb to work with in January is Zingiber Officinale (Ginger).
Here's why...
ginger is strongly warming and circulatory.
ginger disperses cold and damp (which is very common in mid-winter).
ginger supports digestion, which tends to slow in the cold months.
ginger gently stimulates immunity without forcing the body outward.
ginger helps aches, stiffness, and that deep winter sluggishness.
Ginger is energetically hot, pungent, circulatory, and protective. My favorite ginger tea is Great Faith Organics Turmeric & Cocoa Inflammation Support Tea. You can check it out by clicking the highlighted link.
January asks for contained fire, not stimulation, but simply embers. Ginger warms without rushing, protects without force.
I also personally love Astragalus membranaceus (astragalus). It is both warming and immune tonifying. That means it is best for prevention. I love astragalus for its immune modulating support and it's adaptogenic properties. It is also a beautiful herb for excellent upper respiratory support.
I use candles in my journaling, meditation, and herbal practice. I am sharing with you the color candle that I will be using each month.
I have chosen red for the month of January.
Red anchors contained warmth during the coldest month.
Red strengthens life force, blood, and vitality.
Red protects and stabilizes rather than expands.
Red honors survival, endurance, and the will to remain.
For me because I don't celebrate the new year until Earth comes to life in the Spring. January is not about manifesting loudly. It is simply about the keeping the flame alive.