Each year as the Sun travels through Leo, we have a Full Moon in Aquarius. This opposition of fixed Fire and Air can bring light or generate a lot of heat. When Leo, the Sun’s own sign, opposes Aquarius, the sign of fixed Air, we see and feel how well our playful, passionate self (Leo) and most cerebral, rational self (Aquarius) are getting along.
Leo rules the heart–the living, beating heart that keeps our blood pumping, and also our heart space, the place from which we shine (or hide) our light. Here we’re creative. We love to play, make grand gestures, make a splash, long to be seen.
Leo’s shadow is self importance, the wounded self who feels we’re not getting our turn, we’re not appreciated or loved as we deserve. Here we can be petty, resentful, and hoard our gifts.
Aquarius is a collective sign, a place of value and principle, our sense of what we owe to our communities and to the world. Here we create our belief systems, how we interpret the world. Here we enshrine reason, logic, and structures that uphold our sense of what is right and good.
Aquarius’ shadow is fanaticism, the place where a fixed idea or principle becomes so important we lose our compassion (a Leo quality). We lose our sense of other perspectives, other lives. Only our view, our code, our laws are right and just.
At this Full Moon, there’s a lot going on in the chart, but it’s not configured to the Sun and Moon. This time, the only aspects the Sun and Moon make are a sextile and trine to the asteroid Ceres, and quincunxes to the North and South Node.
Ceres is the Roman name for the goddess Demeter, the goddess of spring who made the earth bloom. Yet when her daughter Persephone disappeared, none of the other gods or goddesses, some of whom were family, would help her. She went cold. She disappeared. Nothing grew, no grain, no fruits, no flowers. She did not give way until she got the help she needed to rescue her daughter.
We can view Ceres as a solar figure, whose warmth and joy brought spring each year. But when she lost her daughter, her heart, she drew a very strong line in the sand. We might call it an Aquarian line. Nothing grew. Was she right to do that? Make the world suffer for her loss? Or was it the only way for her to motivate the powers to actually live up to their own principles and help her?
The quincunxes to the Nodes of the Moon signal that this Full Moon is out of sync with the world at large, a pattern reflected in the rest of the chart.
But how can the Full Moon herself be out of sync?
When a chart contains strong aspect patterns that don’t connect well with other patterns, communication is limited. Sometimes, even seeing what else is going on can be limited. It’s like we don’t have the full picture.
Sometimes this separation is exactly what we need.
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The other patterns in this chart, which I will describe, represent the vast forces of change, now present in the skies, reflected on Earth. Change is the Water we swim in, the Air we breathe, the Earth we walk on, and the Fire we walk through.
It’s genuinely difficult to maintain presence with this. It’s a huge task to track all the changes, in all the places, among all the people, which if they’re not affecting us now, soon will.
We need time out. We need a break. But not to ignore what’s going on around us.
At this Full Moon, we’re invited to check in with ourselves. How are we doing, each of us? What do our hearts need? How is our sense of the world, our model of how things should be, holding up?
As we confront current realities–or, it might feel more like these realities are confronting us–where do we need to honor our needs? Honor our principles? Or perhaps make changes? Maybe our worldview needs an update. Maybe the world we thought we knew is no longer the reality.
When big change comes, we each need to know where we stand. What are our core principles and ideals and goals? What do our hearts need? What do we need to give, create, love, protect, celebrate?
As we walk through the rest of this chart, check in with your heart and your mind. Notice what calls you.
The three outer planets, Pluto in early Aquarius, Neptune in early Aries, and Uranus in early Gemini, along with Saturn in early Aries, Mercury in early Leo, and Mars in early Libra form a complex yet balanced pattern.
Within this design, we can see a Kite and a Rectangle, a Grand Trine in Air, and a bunch of sextiles. The overall message, though, is all these planets and the forces they encode are connected. They are communicating with each other.
In such patterns, the outer planets speak to what is unfolding in the world on a large scale and a long timeline. Each of these planets, Pluto, Neptune, and Uranus, recently entered new signs, which tells us we’re in a new phase of our history. These three have aspected each other for a few weeks now, letting us know (in case we missed it) that the world we’re moving into will not be like the one we know.
Saturn, the outermost visible planet, is the keeper of boundaries, holder of structure, and reminder of our responsibilities. He sits now in Aries with Neptune, sextiling Pluto and Uranus. He cannot stop what the outer planets bring forward, but may help us to contain it. Maybe.
Mercury and Mars act as triggers. They are the fastest moving planets in this pattern, and the ones closest to us and our day-to-day lives.
Mercury, moving toward their retrograde station in Leo, also moves back into an opposition with Pluto, lord of deep chthonic spaces. This looks like the little guy pitted against vast power. We might identify with Mercury here, yet in most of these kinds of tales, the little guy wins, usually using the very skills Hermes excels in.
Mars is the trigger. By moving into Libra, he completes the Grand Trine in Air as he flows with Pluto and Uranus. He also opposes the Saturn–Neptune conjunction in Aries. This creates the Kite hiding inside this larger pattern.
While Mars is not at his best in Libra, he is well placed here to do what he needs to do, which is, negotiate. Mars takes action in the style of the sign he’s in. In Libra, he takes on the mantle of the mediator, the diplomat, and facilitator. He’s got his work cut out for him.
Pluto carries great weight and opens the way to great depth. He transforms from the bottom up. In Aquarius, he examines all of our core structures and beliefs. Are they working? If not, he will highlight precisely where the fault lines are. To Pluto, Mars might admit changes are needed, but invite Pluto to create a steady but slow pace. Let’s not break everything at once.
Uranus loves the electric, kinetic energy of Gemini. He transforms from the top down and the inside out. He had to move slowly while in Taurus, and is excited to be in a curious, if scattered, Air sign. He’s got new fire from the gods and he loves lighting matches. He will bring quick change in tech, travel, language, media. Here, Mars will advise not caution but collaboration. Let’s work together and stop moving fast and breaking things.
Mars opposing Saturn–Neptune in Aries is complicated because Saturn–Neptune in Aries is complicated. This is a place where we can easily locate the confusion we’re living in. Disinformation, deliberate deception, breaking rules while trying to pretend we’re following rules–all of these things live in this nebulous space where the lord of boundaries and the bringer of dreams both sit in an initiatory sign neither is happy in.
Mars role here is to talk, to try to maintain dialogue and figure out what’s going on, which may be the best we can hope for at the moment.
Other inner planets will take the places of Mercury and Mars in this chart, bringing the big changes down to earth, and helping us understand and adjust as needed.
Although this Sun and Moon are not connected to this larger pattern, they are well placed to help us understand and make connections.
In the middle decan of Leo, the Sun is strong, shining robustly. This is a decan of victory, associated with the Tarot card, the 6 of Wands, which portrays a triumphal procession. Austin Coppock names this decan A Crown of Laurels and, not surprisingly it’s ruled by Jupiter.
Here we can experience all the solar qualities most clearly. Here are the benevolence, generosity, and warmth of a good ruler who is strong and secure. Here we also can see how the chances of the world can allow those who are corrupt and vile to seize power, taking what they like while giving nothing back.
T. Susan Chang names this decan Your Moment in the Sun, and here is the question. How will we, or would we, act if we were in charge? Because of course we are in charge, of ourselves, if nothing else. Are we benevolent and generous? Or are we hoarding what wealth we have, perhaps in an attempt to shield ourselves from looming dangers?
As this strong Sun illuminates the Moon, how are we shining into the world?
In the middle decan of Aquarius, the Moon finds herself in alien territory, more comfortable in Water or Earth. Yet she is dedicated to understanding and building community. And while Aquarius is for sure an Air sign, it’s the sign of the Water-Bearer, often mistaken for a Water sign.
The Moon, who loves to serve others, carries water. She rules our tides, often linked symbolically and esoterically to moisture.
To “carry water” for someone is often a diss, a slam. Whoever carries water is merely a minion for some more powerful other who’s calling the shots. So one way we question this Full Moon is to ask, who am I carrying water for? Who do I support with my words, actions, money, votes? Are these powerful others really who I want to align with? Give my support to?
Austin Coppock names this decan Heaven and Earth, a place of finding commonality and building bridges. So the idea of working with others is supported. We just need to know who they are.
Coppock notes this decan is not a peaceful place. There are monsters here, terrible beings who threaten our ability to build and sustain our lives. Terror can be found here.
Doesn’t that sound like something Pluto can do?
In this complicated chart, the only other planets in Leo and Aquarius are Mercury and Pluto, who oppose each other. While these two are copresent with the Sun and Moon by sign, they are in the traditional sense, averse–too close see each other. Yet they are part of the Leo–Aquarius message.
Let’s bring in the Tarot card associated with the middle decan of Aquarius, my favorite card in the whole deck, the Six of Swords. In the midst of sharp pointy Swords, this card offers passage out of difficulty.
The Rider-Waite-Smith image shows a small boat on deep water. A veiled woman and child are being rowed to safety by a standing figure. T. Susan Chang names this card Celestial Navigation and identifies the ferryman as Mercury.
This decan is ruled by Mercury, messenger of the gods, so, a minion of sorts, but not really. No one who knows Hermes’ history would believe he’s following anyone else’s rules. He values the transfer of goods and information, but has his own methods for making sure that happens.
We sense the perils represented by a Mercury retrograde in Leo moving back to tightly oppose Pluto retrograde in Aquarius, and yet feel we can be carried to safety by the most adept, crafty ferryman of all.
Mercury, fresh from their cazimi with the Sun, is the patron of asking questions of all kinds.
We’ve been given a Full Moon that illuminates us against a backdrop of big, ongoing changes. Ask the questions. The answers we get may be yes, no, maybe, or anywhere within that space. The key invitation is to ask. Then listen for the answers.
