Tomorrow we begin the month of February with the Full Moon in Leo. The old saying has March coming in like a lion, but this year, it’s February.
Which fits because in 2026, February, in spite of being a short month, is packed with intense and challenging astrology.
Saturn enters Aries and meets Neptune for their one-and-only exact conjunction. This meeting at the Aries point, 0º Aries, is one of many resets we can expect this month.
Uranus will reenter Gemini, where he’ll stay for the next seven years. Uranus in Gemini is faster and crazier than Uranus in Taurus.
We’ll begin the spring eclipse season, not with this Full Moon, but with the New Moon on February 17, an annular solar eclipse at the end of Aquarius.
And our first Mercury retrograde will begin, in dreamlike, confusing Pisces.
So it’s good to begin this month with a clear call to action embodied by the Moon in mid Leo. The middle decan of Leo is a place of triumph and recognition. Associated with the 6 of Wands in the tarot, here we experience ourselves as champions. We’re a success. We can celebrate.
Of course, mid-Leo Moons show up in a variety of ways. Some might claim triumphs they never earned, or inflate success to gain more attention, or feel jealous of others’ success, or seek success not through skillful action, but brute force.
We have choices here.
Across from this Leo Moon, we find the phalanx of Aquarius we’ve been watching for the last weeks. Pluto, Mars, the Sun, Venus, and Mercury are all distributed across fixed Air, the sign of the eccentric, the innovator, and the community.
The Leo Moon stands alone.
A key difference between Leo and Aquarius is a shift in focus between personal expression and collective action.
Aquarius stands for the collective. Aquarian values seek the greatest good for the greatest number. Aquarius is clear thinking and strongly committed to their core principles.
These are admirable qualities, yet, the shadow side of Aquarius is fanaticism. Aquarius can decide they know what’s best for the collective. Their values, their modes of action, are the ones that will succeed.
They are innovative and principled but not always good at listening. As the fixed Air sign, once Aquarius has made up its mind, things can feel immutable, not open to discussion.
In the end, what gets done, even when part of a carefully planned collective action, is done by individuals.
Leo is the capacity to stand up, as our unique selves, in the spotlight. Leo is creative, playful, and passionate. Sometimes, strongly Leo people can take up a lot of space, but, at its best, Leo brings things alive, makes experiences vibrant, and moves the needle.
Seeing this Leo Moon facing into all that Aquarius reminded me of the arena quote, something Teddy Roosevelt said in a speech in 1910. This is a quote Brené Brown made famous as the key to one of her books, Daring Greatly.
Teddy Roosevelt said:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
This sounds like mid-Leo to me.
I do want to be clear, though, in this historical moment, that neither I nor this Leo Full Moon is calling all of us into the same arena. We are not all able to march, to video, to stand up. There are many ways to participate.
Each of us can find our own arena. How can I stand up for my beliefs? How can I stand with those who face violence without legal protections? What am I able to do, to make my views known? To support those who need safety, food, warmth, help?
We can all do something.
So this Full Moon calls us into our arena.
Are we already there? Wonderful. Are we keeping our passionate creativity and warm connections vibrant and healthy? Human connection is fuel for Leo.
Are we not in an arena yet? If not, what’s holding us back? If we need information or clarity, Aquarian activities can help. Aquarius is all about deep conversation and self examination. Getting clear on our values. Discerning where we can be most effective. Finding the communities calling for our support.
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At this Full Moon, the axis between the vibrant Leo Moon and the strong Aquarian community is the key to this chart. There are other planets in the chart, of course, but the Leo-Aquarius alignment is the core.
Eclipses will be happening across this Leo-Aquarius axis.
The Nodes of the Moon are in early Virgo and Pisces right now, which means we are shifting from Virgo-Pisces eclipses into Leo-Aquarius eclipses. (Remember, the Nodes rotate through the zodiac signs backwards.)
So while this Full Moon is not an eclipse, its call to action sets us up for the eclipses in February and August that fall across Leo and Aquarius.
In other words, Leo and Aquarius are activated this month and will be important in 2026.
So, check your birth chart. See where this Full Moon falls, and also look at the boundary between the Virgo-Pisces axis and the Leo-Aquarius axis, because that is where our 2026 eclipses will be.
If you have planets or points in the first decan of Virgo or Pisces, or in the last decan of Leo or Aquarius, your chart will be involved in this year’s eclipses. This Leo Full Moon is your heads up.
Whether we have stuff going on in Leo or Aquarius or not, we’re all part of the world, which is the largest Aquarian community we’ve got. The bold invitation of this Full Moon in Leo is to find the best place, our arena, for each of us to participate, stand up for what we believe, and be passionately active with our communities.
