This was a challenge to write, as there are so many possible timelines and potentials this Dragon year! But here is my distilled version of what came through to me, honed by my background in the Taoist arts.

It’s a sea change from the Year of the Yin Water Rabbit in 2023 to the Yang Wood Dragon from 10th February 2024. It promises to be an incredibly creative and dynamic year.

Much depends on whether we see dragons as magical and powerful protectors or scary, fierce and destructive monsters: myth and legend have given us both versions. This year we’re invited to choose which realities and potentials we believe in — on every level.

Either way, there will be many twists and turns! By the end of the year, we will see how far we’ve come personally, socially and globally. Inventions, collective shifts in approach, a groundswell of awakening and greater consciousness, will underpin new ways of living. Seeds sown in the Yin Water Rabbit year are germinating now. The past year was a chance for many of us to become clearer about our priorities and core values. Now we get to manifest these deeper urges and dreams.

Dragon energy is fiercely creative, flamingly passionate and individual. The mythical aspect links us to our ancestors, our boldest dreams and our potential. We should find it easier to access original ideas and our imaginations in 2024. More of us will be compelled to stand true to who we are, to show up in the world. We literally have more energy, more life force, moving through us, particularly from the increased solar flares, which gives us the passion and drive to follow through.

It’s an excellent year for accessing our originality and childlike wonder, and trying new things: dance, art, music, esoteric arts, nature connection… whatever we’ve suppressed or ignored since childhood, whatever captures our attention and lights us up. Dragon can be playful, mischievous, carefree.

Time to stand out from the crowd! If each individual dared to follow their own unique path, without shrinking back for fear of judgment, ridicule or being ostracised, what a miraculously diverse and liberated world we would live in! Competition would drop away and collaboration would become the norm as we each brought our own combination of skills, gifts and talents to the table and pooled our resources. That is the power of the Dragon energy, and it — and the alignment of planets now — collectively support this process. It will happen anyway over time, but we can speed up evolution and reach those lighter, more expansive planes sooner if we choose!

Embracing transformation

Dragon is a powerful transmuter. Its very presence brings about transformation and a fresh dynamism. Bring Dragon energy into your life consciously — with pictures, meditation or stories — and feel the momentum and motivation growing. It’s about expansion — and finding new treasures in unexpected places, through supportive people, collaborative projects or special places (geomagnetic power points, ley lines).

It also augurs the unexpected in other ways: the unpredictability of the lashing tail of the dragon, and of when and where its head might breathe its flames of change, or where its huge wings might carry it, mean this year will bring much that is unforeseeable. It will feel unpredictable. This is likely to manifest in unforecast extreme natural events, more fires, floods and storms (Wood is connected to the wind); fast-changing global weather patterns, and instability in Mother Earth (earthquakes and seismic shifts) as she reacts to humans’ continued plundering. These extreme events urge us to evaluate our highest values and priorities, and work together for the greater good, to be in alignment with nature. Can we trust in Gaia’s benevolence despite the extreme events?

The destructive shadow aspect of Dragon will feel equally strong outwardly and impossible to ignore, as war zones become more desperate and more ancient human trauma surfaces, including mass displacement. The rest of us are confronted by the disparity and our own insulation from “other people’s problems”. Yet this helps reinforce the majority’s desire for greater equality, peace, love and acceptance. It also gives us a profound opportunity to practise being present and non-reactive, to stay neutral and find our own inner peace. Can we trust in the greater evolutionary leap taking place through the chaos? This, to me, is how we can best evolve and hold the higher consciousness of the planet while keeping centred and steady, whatever struggles and troubles are playing out.

Intensified waves of humanitarianism and collective meditation have the power to transform war zones and areas of trauma, to help those struggling to feel seen and energetically supported. Forgiveness is vital to enable “perpetrators” to stop blaming and attacking and to put down their weapons. This year many more of us finally recognise on a heart level that we are all one: there is no “other”. What hurts someone else hurts us too. What heals others heals us too. Nothing and no one is in isolation. “Peace is a practice, not a hope,” said Thich Nhat Hanh. The simplest of messages.

Many traditional infrastructures are steadily morphing from the inside out as truth-led pioneers from within each system make their presence felt — whether in the medical and scientific world, education or big business… The old approach of profit, hierarchy and domination that has brought this planet to the brink feels ever-more unstable and demonic. The way of competition is solitary and isolating, it separates us from others and fuels a sense of lack, whereas co-creation and sacred activism — being of service to other humans or aspects of nature in some way — nurture ourselves and support the whole. Feel the contrast in energy even in the words and intentions themselves! This is about holding to the Yin, feminine, receptive energies to counterbalance this outward, Yang year.

There’ll be more dramatic breakthroughs with AI, but it will continue to polarise, depending on whether it’s applied and perceived to be for the benefit of the whole or just the few; a liberating and inclusive influence, or disempowering, controlling one. As individuals, we can feel scared or alienated by it, or focus on the aspects that are useful to us while remaining discerning about its influence on our lives.

You can choose which kind of Dragon you want to nurture and develop: a benign power for good, or a reactive, dark force? It truly is up to us in every moment: the micro becomes the macro. Every angry or negative thought adds a heaviness to the collective energies, pulling us deeper into the chaos. Every positive, kind and loving thought feeds consciousness and the light, healing field of the planet — and beyond.

It’s easy to fall back into resistance to big change, or emotional reactivity or suppression, and whenever we do, 2024 could feel like a very bumpy ride. Much better to channel, harness and cultivate our emotions whenever we humanly can!

How to work with Wood Dragon energy? Track your inner vitality and keep focusing on what you want to manifest. Incorporate regular physical exercise, and some kind of inner work or therapy to keep your channels and emotions flowing and as clear as possible; create in as many ways as you can… cooking, gardening, writing, tending to animals, dancing, painting, inventing, gathering with people to share food and stories, exploring in nature with children…

Are you ready to welcome a new phase in evolutionary terms? What would you like to manifest in 2024 that’s also in service to the whole? Aim high: all the signs are that, if in alignment with the greater good, the fantastical can become real this year!

In gratitude and with love

Saffron

10th February 2024

Photo generously shared by Huang Shun Ping/Unsplash