Full Moon Astro-Tarot; Fuelling the Flames
The full moon in Leo is exact around 7.30am on Sunday 9th February here in the UK, bringing the vital energy of the sun to awaken the spring. This fiery full moon asks us how we are fuelling our inner flame - is it burning bright, or threatening to flicker out? Leo energy is vital, alive, ruled by the Sun. It asks us what makes us feel most alive, what brings a sense of creative fulfilment and feeds our hunger for life, for experience. The full moon in Leo is playful, asking us to do what we are passionate about and to do it for fun, because we enjoy the process rather than because we want to reach the chosen destination or a desired goal.
The dynamic of Leo and Aquarius (where we currently find the Sun) is the dynamic of the individual and the collective. Leo is about self expression and individual growth whereas Aquarius is more concerned with collective energies and where we fit into the wider pattern. Leo asks where and how we shine but Aquarius wants to know how we are using that shining power to change the world. Both signs are concerned with truth, with expressing our true self (Leo) and with expressing and working for a higher truth (Aquarius). The energy of these fixed signs can be intense, with Leo having a tendency towards the dramatic and Aquarius towards the perfectionist. Aquarius takes life seriously whereas Leo, in common with all of the fire signs, is more playful. This is the dynamic of the authentic self, where we find ways to express our true self and rebel against the "shoulds" which haunt us, whether internal or external.
Leo is the sign of the creator, and with my own Moon in Leo on the Descendant (so where we tend to project our energies onto others), taking back my creativity has been an ongoing journey for me now for some years. Reading (yet another!) book on creativity recently, it occurred to me that these two signs, Leo with its individual creativity and Aquarius with its reluctance to follow the crowd, have more in common than it might first appear. Those who honour their creativity and live by it, rather than following a more predictable path, have always been seen as outsiders. Both Leo and Aquarius have a calling to innovate, to create the world and the life that they dream of rather than settling for the world and the life they are offered or which everyone else has or seems to want. There is lots of life force and vision here. Both Leo and Aquarius seek to subvert, or perhaps simply ignore, cultural norms and social expectations, which tend not to be seen as relevant by either sign. Both also seek to be accepted for who they are, whilst refusing to fit who they are in with what is expected of them. But whereas Leo might have the confidence to brazen it out, Aquarius might be more insecure and prone to over-thinking (raises Sun in Aquarius hand sheepishly).
So for this full moon, I asked the tarot;
Moon in Leo - How can we express our individual gift? - Priestess (Queen) of Swords
Perhaps ironically, this is a card I often associate with Aquarius energies, that ability to detach, observe, to be honest with ourselves as well as with others. The Priestess of Swords can be blunt at times but she always tells it like it is. I'm drawn to the bird in this image, letting ourselves fly free, to move without constraint wherever our will takes us. The clarity of the mountaintop is also important, a need to step away from the expectations of others and get higher, take the long view, figure out what is most meaningful to us as individuals and then act on that.
Sun in Aquarius - How can our individual gift contribute to collective growth? - Five of Swords
More Swords - perhaps expressing and sharing our gifts is not something that comes easily to us, something that we tend to intellectualise. Its certainly something that we give a lot of thought to, perhaps fearing getting it wrong, fearing the opinions of others or simply fearing that we have nothing to offer. The message here might be that our energy is better focused on action than over-thinking, that we need to choose our battles and stop expecting the worst. Our fears can be a trap, holding back our own growth as well as collective change.
Leo is the sign of the creator, and with my own Moon in Leo on the Descendant (so where we tend to project our energies onto others), taking back my creativity has been an ongoing journey for me now for some years. Reading (yet another!) book on creativity recently, it occurred to me that these two signs, Leo with its individual creativity and Aquarius with its reluctance to follow the crowd, have more in common than it might first appear. Those who honour their creativity and live by it, rather than following a more predictable path, have always been seen as outsiders. Both Leo and Aquarius have a calling to innovate, to create the world and the life that they dream of rather than settling for the world and the life they are offered or which everyone else has or seems to want. There is lots of life force and vision here. Both Leo and Aquarius seek to subvert, or perhaps simply ignore, cultural norms and social expectations, which tend not to be seen as relevant by either sign. Both also seek to be accepted for who they are, whilst refusing to fit who they are in with what is expected of them. But whereas Leo might have the confidence to brazen it out, Aquarius might be more insecure and prone to over-thinking (raises Sun in Aquarius hand sheepishly).
Moon in Leo - How can we express our individual gift? - Priestess (Queen) of Swords
Perhaps ironically, this is a card I often associate with Aquarius energies, that ability to detach, observe, to be honest with ourselves as well as with others. The Priestess of Swords can be blunt at times but she always tells it like it is. I'm drawn to the bird in this image, letting ourselves fly free, to move without constraint wherever our will takes us. The clarity of the mountaintop is also important, a need to step away from the expectations of others and get higher, take the long view, figure out what is most meaningful to us as individuals and then act on that.
Sun in Aquarius - How can our individual gift contribute to collective growth? - Five of Swords
More Swords - perhaps expressing and sharing our gifts is not something that comes easily to us, something that we tend to intellectualise. Its certainly something that we give a lot of thought to, perhaps fearing getting it wrong, fearing the opinions of others or simply fearing that we have nothing to offer. The message here might be that our energy is better focused on action than over-thinking, that we need to choose our battles and stop expecting the worst. Our fears can be a trap, holding back our own growth as well as collective change.