All Full Moons are opposed the Sun; that position is the whole reason the event exists, and once a year, when that Full Moon is in Leo, we have the Lunar energy blooming to fullness in direct opposition to its own ruler. It creates a kind of emotional co-dependence between our senses and feelings (the Moon) and the source of both our identity and the energy for the event itself (the Sun). That means flow between, and potential confusion as to, the origins of what we’re perceiving, and especially of what we’re feeling, and I think this interplay is drawing my attention right now (even though it happens once a year with every Leo Full Moon, this time at 13 Leo 03) because the Sun is currently sharing Aquarius with so many other bodies, including assertive Mars and heavy-hitter Pluto. All this emphasis in the atmosphere on Aquarian mental perceptions, Higher Mind functions, the intellectual approach, academic assessment (particularly of what might be better met with the instincts, the emotions, the intuition, or other non-verbal faculties), and a cool, distanced eye contrasts directly with a Sun-ruled Full Moon that calls for complete personal engagement via the emotions and sensitivities, in fact, that requires immersion in those sensitivities, interpreted through a highly Self-focused feeling lens.

That’s the first thing we need to be clear on: our own feelings, viewpoint, responses, are center mass right now; it’s appropriate that we’re reading the room, ourselves, the world, through our emotional responses to it and the place our identity holds in the larger scheme of things. We’re right to put ourselves at the center of our considerations–so remain aware that others or circumstances that try to minimize your presence in the equation are, most likely, trying to distract you for their own reasons from what you should be assessing, judging, weighing. The impact on you, and what you are called to do because of Lunar events, need to be your main focus, in order to make the most of the Leo Full Moon’s perceptions and insights.

I’m going to allow for all of these bodies in Aquarius, through a chain reaction kind of contact, to be interpreted as opposed that Leo Lunar energy. Though normally I prefer a more precise picture, so that we can sort the Moon’s influence from everything else, here I think having so many influences rooted in the intellect and in the wider social Zeitgeist makes for an atmosphere that encompasses the Lunar event, rather than is just peripheral or background to it. Again, it’s that sense of immersion, so that the Full Moon needs to be read in the larger, Collective context. Here the overall picture says, ‘We’re living in our heads, in our intellectual interpretation of things, and we need to think about our identity and the roles we play in terms of larger events, and what those mean, and especially what feelings those roles create, in and for us.’

The span of placements through Aquarius is from Pluto at almost 4 degrees to Mercury at 21. The Sun sits roughly equidistant between Mars (already contacted by transiting Moon and Sun) and Venus (already passed over the Sun in Superior Conjunction, but not yet opposed by the Moon)=this may give a more mundane face to events, as we’ll tend to focus attention at a micro-personal level, on ourselves and our role within relationships or finances, and our own associated behaviors, choices, and culpability. Those perceptions aren’t inaccurate, but they may distract from the very important order in which we should process influences, and may keep us in ‘navel-gazing’ mode, rather than creating a larger awareness of ourselves within the bigger picture.

By the time of the Full Moon, Luna will have just completed oppositions to first Pluto (a purge of feelings, ‘housecleaning’ led by intuition, the senses, and instinct, pondering destruction or elimination of what doesn’t serve the identity or doesn’t feel good), then Mars (what to do about the feeling landscape, after Pluto’s done his number, and assessment of what’s our personal responsibility, emphasizing our choices as an individual). Then the Lunar event of the 1st, a culmination of our feeling about ourselves (Leo) within the larger group dynamic (Aquarius), followed quickly by oppositions of the Moon to first Venus (who am I in relationships, what are my assets, now, after these Lunar revelations about who I am), and opposition of the Moon to Mercury (working out the contrasts between thoughts and feelings, reconciling the two for some sense of harmony, in order to move forward). It’s notable that just after that the Moon will trine Chiron, perhaps making it too easy to focus on our wounds, what we feel we and others have done wrong, and could cause defensiveness as we try to protect ourselves from real or imagined hurts.

The Moon’s Sabian is, ‘A Human Soul Seeking Opportunities For Outward Manifestation’. This puts emphasis on the active way we’ll approach the Full Moon experience: we’ll want to do something about what we discover, and what we feel; we’ll also look to create effects/ change in the material world–but take care, don’t fool yourself into thinking that change is, at this point, necessarily something one can hold in one’s hand or see with one’s eyes–it can instead be Soul-deep, the catalyst of what will come, as much as what is. The Sun’s Sabian is, ‘A Train Entering A Tunnel’. Sorry, just got to LOL at that classic symbolism, in this instance perhaps suggesting completion accomplished at least in part by taking a (minor) risk, that is, by plunging into an arena where we can’t see what’s ahead. That may, actually, be what we do when Luna contacts Pluto, and so carry that chancy bit, that tiny risk, with us into manifestation of the Full Moon. Even though we’ll be ‘on track’, we’re going into darkness–but the Moon’s image tells us don’t be afraid–we’re guided by the Soul, so in the midst of the material situation, moving toward exactly what we need.