“Full Moon Over Distant Landscape,” chalk pastel by Maria Theresa Maggi
The moon is full in the tropical zodiac in the sign of Leo at 10:29 AM Pacific Standard Time. We started this lunation cycle in Leo’s opposite, the sign of Aquarius, the most abstract sign of the zodiac. So if some of us have been reeling a little from non-sequential events that may leave us feeling changed, yet unsure how to integrate that change, the Leo full moon comes along to show us how. While Aquarius rules the intellect and the electrical currents that run through our nervous system, Leo rules the heart. It is the second fire sign, after Aries, taking Aries’ instinctual urge to act and deepening it with the warmth of the heart. As the fifth sign of the tropical zodiac, Leo rules all our creations—anything we perform or make, right down to our literal children. It also rules our childhoods—that time of life when the world comes alive to us through our imaginations. And Leo also presides over our love affairs—relationships that are of the heart, rather than those we sign a contract and speak formal vows to keep. Sometime they are one and the same, but Leo does not require that kind of agreement to shower its passion on another loved one.
Leos are natural performers. They glow and bask in the light of an audience. Like the sun itself that rules the sign, Leo gives life to the spark of our being and its creativity. Sometimes this might mean that Leo energy seems rather self-absorbed. But really Leo has just taken a deep dive into the act of creating a persona or a feeling or a product that will delight and enliven those surrounding them. A person with strong Leo energy also seeks—and sometimes longs for—approval. Unlike its opposite Aquarius, that can be maddeningly oblivious to the effect its energy has on others, Leo is very sensitive to it. Like a flower that turns itself to follow the sun throughout the day, Leo energy can turn to blossom under the seemingly loving eye of approval. Sometimes Leo has to learn that gaining approval is not always the most genuine path to unlocking the heart. But always Leo teaches us the power of the personal.