In this episode of The Emberwing Collective, Kimberly Beer and Vicki Jurica explore why February often feels restless, emotional, and impatient—and how seasonal wisdom, nervous system awareness, and embodied practices help us understand what’s really happening.
We weave together the meaning of Imbolc, the arrival of Fire Horse energy, equine wisdom around movement and regulation, and the psychology of rising momentum. From tending small flames before speed arrives to learning how safety and boundaries support motion, this conversation offers a grounded way to move through February without burnout or suppression.
If you’ve felt energy building but aren’t sure how to work with it yet, this episode will help you recognize the season you’re in—and how to meet it with intention, awareness, and care.
Transcripts
EWEP 010 - February
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Speaker: [:
Speaker 2: And I'm Vicki Jurica.
Speaker: Yay, Vicki. It is February.
Speaker 2: I know.
Speaker: Yes, it is crazy. Right? Monday was Groundhog Day and it was really interesting. I kind of lived a whole groundhog like themed day, like the Groundhog Day themed day. Not like a Groundhog Nature Day, but like that whole, the movie, you have to repeat the process.
Speaker: Yeah, like. Like I'm waking up and then waking up every single day. And the same thing I like had to repeat and finish a whole bunch of loops and I'm like, okay, we have like wound that concept up way too tightly with Punxsutawney to Phil. And then I recorded a podcast and Phyllis was on the podcast and she's like, well, now they have Punxsutawney Phyllis, who's his wife.
Speaker 2: Oh.
e like Florida or something. [:
Speaker: We have Imbolc, we have Aquarius season and Valentine's Day. We have the fire horse arriving, we have Mercury retrograde, we have Black History Month. There is just, there is a lot going on. And although we're not gonna hit all of those topics, we are gonna talk about the ones that make this month feel a little
Speaker: oddly impatient, emotional and itchy and, um, yeah. Yeah. And so what do, what do you think about all of this, Vicki?
o February was kind of nice, [:
Speaker 2: Yeah. And, and that really gets me to, to in Imbolc, which is the season that we are in. And it is a season, this in between winter and spring. It's its own season, and yeah, it does feel very restless. I caught myself saying to my son the other day, I was like, oh, I just can't wait for the warm weather to be here, which is true, and it didn't really honor the fact that this season has importance too. In that moment.
anting to start, is starting [:
Speaker 2: And Imbolc is really, I think for me, represents this time of becoming directional with that energy. Not taking the steps, you know, and putting it all in motion necessarily, but under understanding that it's building and recognizing the building of energy and thinking, thinking about where does it need to go.
Speaker: Yeah, absolutely. I, I believe in, when I look at Imbolc, I look at it as a claiming space for what is waiting to be born, what wants to be born. It's, and I think about it in relation to what goes on on the farm. So back when I had cattle. This was the time of year when we were preparing for calving season.
ve any, I, there's no babies [:
Speaker: And it's, it's all heading into that crazy giving birth time. For me, I'm, I'm looking at planting seedlings right now and birthing them in the house so that they get started. So all of those things that are really setting up for the growth of wind springing gets here and I look at the, we have winter wheat this year.
some wheat for my bread this [:
Speaker: Well, part of my
Speaker 2: very cool
Speaker: goal is to, to make bread with, um, my sourdough bread with wheat that was actually milled here from the farm. So I, I love those kind of things. Farm
Speaker 2: table,
Speaker: farm to table, immediately farm. It's, it's even better field to stomach.
Speaker 2: I love it.
Speaker: I'm, I'm gonna skip the farm and the table and go straight from field to stomach, but, um.
Speaker: Yeah, and I'm looking forward to that. I've signed up for my bee class, so we're gonna be adding bees this year. So that's the energy that is in this moment of claiming the space for all of those things and that are gonna happen. It's a very third trimester of the pregnancy kind of time period because it isn't really manifesting yet, but it is certainly doing that and it feels.
nd comfortable, and the more [:
Speaker 2: think
Speaker: about that. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well it's, it's, it's tending. So Imbolc Traditionally was associated with Brigid which is a Celtic goddess of healing, poetry, hearth,
Speaker 2: inspiration. And so you, I mean, you're talking about it, you're in the inspiration of, of all the activities that you're doing that you're going to be doing later in the year, you're getting started now, with that inspiration energy birthing, uh, lambing season coming up. And so it is, it is a gestation period where there's a lot of
Speaker 2: kind of movement underground or in the womb. But it's not,
Speaker: not here
t's not time to be. It's not [:
Speaker 2: So it's, it's making sure that you're tending to those dreams the beekeeping and the winter wheat, you know, and stuff like that. So all of it. This period is so important, but it, it does get very there's just so much energy to it that we,
Speaker: yeah. And you know why that energy is so at a peak right now?
gs. It's very slow movement. [:
Speaker: On February 17th, we are gonna hit the year of the fire horse. We're gonna hit the year of the horse, and then the added element of fire. And that is all about motion. And I was at a presentation recently where I got to talk with a Feng shui person who is very educated about the year of the fire horse.
Speaker: And she was telling me that this. This season, this, it's as late as it can get, like the Chinese New Year the season shift is always under the sign of Aquarius, and Aquarius actually ends on February the 18th. So it is literally almost to the very end of wind. The snake lasted really a long time before we hit the ground running with the horse and
ourse this is a big year for [:
Speaker: are, this is not a good sign for them to be born under. They consider them very unruly and not me good marriage material, which I guess I embody that. So I'm good with it. Honestly, I'm totally okay with it. Apparently that'll explain some things, but, yeah, fire horse energy. It doesn't like confinement.
ke what we were just talking [:
Speaker: To the thing and the little guy is gonna come along in a moment and open up the little lids so that you can get into your seat and go for the ride. That is spring and that is gonna be the fire horse. And um, I do wanna say, getting the privilege to work with horses in both a magical and a therapeutic way.
Speaker: With the Gestalt training that I have a few lessons I think horses give us are that movement does create clarity like. It's, it is. Horses have to move their feet to think if a horse is standing super still, that contemplation a lot of times is representing stuck energy versus processing energy.
survival technique for them. [:
Speaker: It's where they work out their fear or their anxiety. And I think that's another thing that I think humans are gonna have a little bit of a struggle with because. It's a harder energy to kind of wrap your head around because we're all told our language and our culture says, slow down. Think about it.
to do some thinking and some [:
Speaker 2: I agree.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. And you're right about our society or our culture is like slow down process it or deescalate yourself. And sometimes it is very important that we too, not just horses, but humans, move the energy. And a great question to ask ourselves is, what happens if I let this energy move through me instead of managing it?
ressing that, that energy or [:
Speaker 2: Like, I was just
Speaker: thinking cube work. This is bringing up cube work,
Speaker 2: but it's, it's important because that finishes that emotion or that nervous system loop. Yeah, and we've gotta be able to finish that. Horses do it naturally. Dogs do it naturally. Humans were told to do something different many times and I think the fire horse is saying, Uhuh, honor what you're feeling and act.
Speaker 2: Whatever's being activated and process through the whole experience of it.
Speaker: Absolutely, and, and a couple of things that came up for me there, you know, men are not always encouraged to be still. Men a lot of times are encouraged to go ahead and express their anger in particular.
Speaker 2: Sure.
ki and I just mentioned cube [:
Speaker: And in our gestalt training, we learned a technique called cube work from our mentor, Melisa Pearce, at Touched by a Horse is basically taking this cube and we have safety measures to help you get through it, but it is moving stuck energy, especially from women and especially where it is anger that has gotten stuck inside of you and it is moving that energy out and it is, it is cathartic.
Speaker: It is, it moves the, it's just what horses do, right? It's they move and I, and I, I have this feeling in my body about those times when I have when I've Angry cleaned is a time too. I'm an angry cleaner. But
Speaker 2: that's movement.
right? It's building up the [:
Speaker: And I know for me, cube work scared the bejesus out of me for a little while and, um, but over time, and I, I know Vicki. Vicki, you have been an inspiration in your cube work 'cause I've witnessed Oh, thank some of yours. You are a cube work master.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you.
ry different states of being.[:
Speaker: It's gonna feel a little bit like we're being pulled in two directions for a moment. Yeah,
Speaker 2: yeah,
Speaker: it is. It's definitely going to feel that way. So we do have some practical magic to offer you for this time of year. So the question that I wanna pose is, what small flame do you need to be tending before
Speaker: everything goes ablaze with the fire horse before the fire horse runs through your life and sets it sets on, sets you on fire and into motion. So fire in a good way, by the way. It's not fire in a bad way, it's being fired up. It's being, you know that I'm fired up and ready to go. I'm it's creative. Yeah, it's creative.
suffer for stupidity or, or [:
Speaker: what do I need to be tending so that I do not get consumed in this fire, that I am here and ready to go and, and forge things that move forward in my life versus being consumed or burned out by it?
Speaker 2: Sure.
Speaker: That's a great question and it really creates
Speaker 2: a bunch of awareness that gives you practical things to do, right?
wanna move energy right now? [:
Speaker 2: That, spending time with that and getting some clarity around that and then tying it back to mindfulness or, or really, you know, your mind, body and spirit then opens up for that question of, you know, where in your body, how does your body wanna move this energy? Is it. Quieter energy, like a ember flame or, you know, a soft flame, or is it really a, a wildfire that you're ready to launch and launch in a big way?
Speaker 2: Um.
Speaker: Is the latter this year. I definitely am ready to, uh, get on the fire horse and I don't need a bridle or a saddle. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to just roll with it.
you are and, and, and being [:
Speaker 2: It's a beautiful thing for me. I am not a fire horse sign. And so I'm very aware that this energy, this fire and speed and mobility is going to be very triggering for me aging. And Challenging. And challenging. Yeah. And so that I have to take some care around the activities that I do to stay grounded in the moment, even while quote, the flames are all around me.
Speaker 2: Um, yeah. So it is, and that comes through. Just the awareness and the slowing down from the beginning of the month in the Imbolc phase of this month where, I really do pay attention to my thoughts and my body and, and my energy levels.
Speaker: So interesting sidebar, that goes back to nature
the ranch we do set fires on [:
Speaker: And what I kind of thought of as you were saying that is that would be an outstanding practice for you to do, is to look at your life and see where there is tender that could burst into flames and create fire breaks or boundaries around that so that you you don't get burned up or the fire doesn't go outside of the area that you need it to be contained in.
would be, as a metaphorical [:
Speaker 2: Yeah, it would be. Yeah, because that. It doesn't, you know, movement doesn't have to be reckless. And what, that's what you're saying exactly is putting in those fire breaks and making sure that it's very intentional.
Speaker 2: Your movement or obviously with the burning there on the ranch, you're intentionally burning just this spot and you're saying it's not gonna go you're forming the container, which is a boundary. And that is that so beautifully really mirrors what we need to be doing as humans too, with this energy is making sure that we have our containers set and that our, we know where our boundaries are and that we're very intentional with this very rapid energy that is coming in.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker: So yes, it's all about safety, safety within movement, which is important.
: Oh [:
Speaker: And, um. Awesome. Well, folks out there just hear this sometimes magic is just understanding what season you're actually in and how you can exist and thrive in that season intentionally and with awareness.
