Leo Full Moon

The Leo Full Moon brings a natural sense of drama and occasion with it, perhaps charming us and entertaining us — even when we think life ought to be absolutely serious! Perhaps we’re dealing with decidedly difficult themes and situations — the conjunction of Saturn with the previous New Moon would say so.

On the bright side, Saturn is on the other side of the Sun — and the Moon is past a close opposition to it, even though Saturn remains in sight. Thinking of dramatic themes, the planetary setup evokes Mark Wahlberg’s character, Bob Lee Swagger, in the movie The Shooter, where he meets his adversaries on the snowy ridge of a Rocky Mountains glacier. Wahlberg’s natal, passionate Mars–North Node is conjunct this lunation’s chilly Saturn, and the surname Swagger echoes Leo capacity! Whilst his love interest’s life is severely at stake with a gun to her head, Swagger’s consummate talents and hitman work skills ensure that the hostagetaker is gradually overpowered in a way that not only ensures the woman’s safety but must surely impress! The fact she represents his future might also bear upon the passion behind his aim. This is the kind of intensity that the Moon in Leo forges ahead with now. It is creative, confident, and peacock-like. It has the power to leave the dry, haughty authority of Saturn behind.

The Moon might well be tying up a few loose ends, since it’s also separating inconjunct Pluto. The inconjunct — or quincunx — is one of those slightly puzzling aspects; being minor, we stand to underestimate it. But because it has links with themes such as illness and blindness (metaphorical or otherwise), we ignore its messages at our peril. On the illness front — is there some stone left unturned that ought to be checked? Some box left un checked that’s going to matter later? If we can manage some action before it’s too late, that’s probably a good thing!

As for the blindness theme of this aspect — maybe we haven’t seen how much a Pluto issue has been affecting us. Pluto issues span quite the spectrum, including resentment, jealousy, a sense of void, deep hurt, emptiness, feeling put upon — the list goes on. Much has been said and written on this planet, especially by evolutionary astrologers, such as Steven Forrest and Mark Jones. In The Book of Pluto, Forrest describes part of a Pluto–Moon transit experience as showing any area in which we might pretend to be happy when, deep down, we are not. If our mood is rather more discontented than we are letting on, we might harness the nurturing side of the Moon to find a place of greater integrity with life and ourselves. This may not necessarily bring immediate peace — after all, telling the truth to someone else can sometimes rock the boat! But honesty might bring a sense of relief — and when the dust settles, we love ourselves that little bit more and feel somewhat more whole.

As the Moon is void of course, we may not be in a position to make huge plans just yet. Maybe we need time to just consolidate what’s been happening and to set the record straight with ourselves, as much as possible. The Moon is square to its own nodes after all, which suggests that a bit of karma might be addressed at this time. We could need time to integrate the “below the surface” changes going on — whilst we witness some benefit on the external plane as well. In fact, because this is a Full Moon, the nodes form a grand cross-type pattern, where the squares fall in four directions, rather like the hub of a wheel or fruit press. The grand cross often brings to mind the idea of the physical effort involved in keeping cogs turning! While operating a fruit press, one must put their whole body into it, no matter what other distractions may be occurring — and there can be several at such a time.

This lunation is ripe with strength, energy, and passion and is trine to Eris in fiery Aries. We potentially need to be top performers to manage life well. But there will surely be some sort of lull or reprieve with the Moon void of course when we must take time to see how the next chapter unfolds.

This article is from the Mountain Astrologer written by Diana McMahon Collis