Tomorrow just before noon, the Full Moon in Leo reaches its exact moment. Which means the Moon will look most full tonight, a fact I can attest to, as a beautifully round and softly shining Moon currently hangs in the sky outside my house just above the tree line.
Leo is the sign of passion, creative flair, playfulness and a love of children. This is fixed Fire, the sign that holds the energy of high summer. So we might think this is the ideal Full Moon to arrive a few days after Valentine’s Day when romance and red roses and indulgences are all around.
But we might guess, given the intense times we live in, that this is not going to be a simple, straightforward Full Moon in Leo. And indeed it is not.
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This Full Moon is part of a Grand Cross in the fixed signs. By definition, at a Full Moon in Leo, the Sun will be in Aquarius. Both Sun and Moon tightly square the Nodes of the Moon in Taurus and Scorpio.
So our Full Moon illumination will include all four of the fixed signs, those most intense expressions of their elemental signature.
The fixed signs each show us what their element can be at its best: Passionately warm Fire. Cool, cerebral Air. Solid, dependable Earth. Insightful, deep Water.
We can also experience these elements at their worst, each one stubbornly clinging to its own point of view, unable or at least unwilling to change.
Leo can be passionately defensive. Aquarius, so distant connection seems impossible. Taurus, stolid and uncommunicative. Scorpio, icy and dangerous.
With each one close to the end of its sign, nearly the end of the third decan, this intensity increases. There is a sense in these fixed third decans of needing to hold on to what has been gained, or acquired, or learned, or taken. Control, mastery, and authority are issues.
So is loss. As we near the end of each sign of the zodiac, we are increasingly aware that change is coming. We seek to consolidate what we have in the face of inevitable shifts that will challenge and possible erode our standing.
The other planet aspecting the Full Moon Grand Cross is Pluto, who trines the North Node while sextiling the South. Transformation is on the table. Life as we know it will not continue indefinitely. The stakes are actually pretty high.
The crux of this Full Moon’s illumination is this: Where do we feel we have gained something, earned something, achieved something that we would find really difficult to give up?
In an uncertain world, whatever we can’t let go of becomes a key point of vulnerability. What roles, ideas, titles, or achievements define us as who we are? What would happen if we lost that seemingly essential thing?
Of course, devastating losses do happen in some lives. Yet at this time in history, is seems likely that many, perhaps all of us, will need to redefine what it means to be a human living on this planet in order to survive.
That’s a lot. And I think it’s what this Full Moon is asking us to at least consider.
It’s not about feeling bad. It’s not punishment for not taking care of our ecosystems, or something like that. It’s more about looking ahead, which we do at Full Moons, to think about a future in which many societal structures must and will change.
Who will we be then?
Leo asks, what is my role and can it be a staring one? In a wider sense, Leo wants to know what creative opportunities are on offer, and what we can get passionate about.
Aquarius considers wider community needs and issues, and looks for a broad, well constructed blueprint for an inclusive future.
Scorpio focuses in on issues of power, insight, and control. Who has power now? Are they likely to keep it? How can I get some? What’s my next move?
Taurus looks to the earth. What is actually being done? How does it affect day to day life? Are we making choices that will create a sustainable world for everyone?
These are all critical and still open questions.
The word “crux” means cross. Anything that squares the Nodes of the Moon is said to be “at the bendings.” This Full Moon is therefore at the bendings, halfway between the last eclipse and the next one.
This is interesting in that we’re at a crossroads with eclipses as well. We’ve completed 18 months of eclipses in the mutable signs of Gemini and Sagittarius. We’re beginning 18 months of eclipses in Taurus and Scorpio.
Again, it feels as if the Full Moon wants us to notice where we are and check in with what that means for us.
As always, check to see where this Full Moon falls in your birth chart. Be sure to check all four of the fixed signs, Leo, Aquarius, Taurus, and Scorpio.
In general, we feel any Moon more strongly when it aspects something key in our charts. This time around, though, I’m feeling this Leo Full Moon is reminding us where the world is these days.
So, this time, especially, it can be worth considering the Full Moon questions even if the Sun, Moon, and transiting Nodes are not touching anything in our personal chart.
We’re all caught up in the changes the world in undergoing. This Full Moon offers us a window to the world that invites us to consider our own investment in certain ways of being and how that might need to change in an evolving future.
This is worth contemplating.
Title image adapted from Denys Nevozhai
https://unsplash.com/photos/_QoAuZGAoPY
Sunshine adapted from Timothy Eberly: https://unsplash.com/photos/XVE2eMZGrhk
Seedling adapted from Bogomil Mihaylov: https://unsplash.com/photos/EPdCJtYPrPE
Clouds adapted from Billy Huynh: https://unsplash.com/photos/v9bnfMCyKbg