Full Moon in Leo: A Chance to Discover Who You’re Becoming
A person with long light brown hair in a room surrounded by a dark green comforter holding out their hand. Above their hand is a floating full moon. They gaze at it.
Quick note, I usually share these intro details in my newsletter but I will be keeping the extra aspects and ritual to members only. So feel free to jump to the next section after the galaxy photo if you read the newsletter.
This full moon is occurring during the tail end of Aquarius season. This is a high-energy and exciting full moon for a number of reasons, but primarily for the surrounding influences playing out around this lunation.
The first thing I want to focus on and something that we’ve likely been feeling for a bit of time now is this exact Mars-Venus conjunction happening in Capricorn. Y’all, they are literally one minute apart at this full moon. This aspect will lend hot and heavy energy which could be beneficially spicy for those looking to heat things up, especially in terms of their sex lives but also in a more general sense of feeling a lift in energy.
With the full moon generally awakening a more feral and animalistic part of ourselves, you can imagine all that will come with the added heat of a generally hot-dry Mars and a hot-wet Venus, we are feeling the effects of this energy in the way our blood seems to rush more quickly, in the way our skin calls out for excitement and sensation. For those looking for a reason to extend Valentine’s day or Lupercalia, this is it. For those who don’t want to use this energy within the metaphorical bedroom, this is an invitation to invite a bit of sex magic and sensual play into your craft. As I’ve taught in my Dark Goddess Course, sex magic is inclusive for folks who are also on the ace spectrum, but more emphasis is placed on awakening the body and the senses.
Back to the Venus-Mars conjunction. At this point, Mars has now passed over Venus, just by one minute, they will continue to remain very closely conjoined through late April (by orb) but through May if you focus on the two finally separating signs. So this is a conjunction that has been happening and will continue to happen for a good deal of time. With this currently (and in the full moon chart) moving through the sign of Capricorn, this could be part of the reason why we’ve been feeling this desire push towards inviting actual pleasure into the journey of building a paradise for ourselves. This is partially why this full moon invites us to explore what truly brings us joy alongside what allows us to feel safety and security.
With Mars also being exalted in Capricorn, we’ve felt this strong desire to MAKE SHIT HAPPEN—to go after the things that we've been envisioning. Venus’ influence is a little bit different than Mars. Venus in this case invites Mars to slow down, to taper that drive only towards the path that is illuminated. The path that is filled with soft flowers reaching their little petals out with soft kisses and breaths of joy. While that invitation to pleasure having lead the first part of this ongoing conjunction, it could have also manifested as knowing what you want to do but being unable to do it unless there was a deep innate joy brought forth by that activity. Now that Mars is taking over, we’re given a machete to forge a path and make more space for the beauty.
A chart of the full moon around 8:56am PST on Feb 16.
Additional Realm Only Details
Another interesting thing that's happening is that we finally have Mercury back in Aquarius after their retrograde and so with that being in the same sign that the sun is currently in, I feel like this is going to add a little bit of a lift and vitality. We’re going to have a little more curiosity with how we approach the pleasure path we’re carving out. Now, I'm not going to focus too much on Mercury in Aquarius, but an aspect that is interesting in this chart is the fact that Mercury in Aquarius is making a sextile to Pallas Athene in Aries. In this chart, with Pallas having just entered Aries and in a sextile to Mercury (who is co-present and in Saturn’s sign) this brings a focused but playful and curious energy to the strategies we utilize. This is the ideal time to make a plan for the things you’re ready to let go and clear out of our life whether that is in relation to tangible items or more about beliefs. Definitely look to the houses that hold Aries and Aquarius for more information.
The full moon is closing out a cycle from the new moon that began in August 2021. That lunation had a small orb square occurring with Uranus and in addition to that, we still had Jupiter moving through Aquarius and retrograde. So those two planets put the spotlight on both what systems you aimed to build and how you could revitalize your sense of hope and idealism for the future. There was definitely an energy of recreating yourself in a lot of ways.
I recall also discussing inner child healing around that time and learning to nourish self. If you were able to work on healing your inner child around that time, then you might have been able to kickstart a sort of switch in your timeline, a sort of redirection in the ways that you began to manage your dreams and bring them to fruition. Uranus has been a pretty big influence for some time, especially for the fixed sign transits. And this year he’ll continue to play a role but more so in relation to the eclipse season. So we're still moving through cycles of reinventing who we are and how we revolt against the systems and structures keep us feeling tied down versus nourished.
As you approach this Full Moon, I definitely want you to consider what are the ways that you have changed over the last six months? Who are you becoming that you didn't envision yourself becoming? As you reflect on who you're becoming, how you're changing, and all of the ways that you have changed in the last six months, I want you to ask yourself, what still needs to be released? What needs to be done to fully allow yourself to unfurl? Are you still allowing yourself to seek out pleasure in your journey towards becoming more and more yourself? Are you still allowing yourself to express emotions that are normally categorized as negative or heavy emotions in addition to expressing joy?
About this ritual
We’re keeping this very simple and focusing on mindset, discovery, and release. These steps can be done in any order.
Journaling Prompts
When I ask my spirit how it most needs to unfurl, what answer does it give?
When I consider the changes I’ve made in the last six months, where am I still afraid of moving forward? Where have I embraced a new way of being?
What goal am I reaching for currently but feel like I’m running through sand to reach?
Where is Venus inviting me to slow down and take time in pleasure?
What area of my life most needs Pallas Athene’s strategy? (Especially look to the house of Aquarius and Aries)
How can I invite curiosity as I move towards growth?
If I gave the “revolutionary” aspect of myself a voice, where would they tell me to embrace change?
If I gave the “rebellious” part of myself a voice, what would they tell me to rebel against?
Releasing and Adjusting
Beginning with the evening of the full moon, for three nights I want you to spend a set amount of time (I suggest at least 3 minutes) journaling a response to the following question. Do not edit yourself, do not stop during the time.
What do I need to release and what am I ready to release?
After you finish the writing, go through and highlight or underline anything that sticks out to you immediately. The next morning, I want you to look at the marked sections of your writing. I want you to say “I release …” and fill in the blank. Move through the next 3 days actively changing your behaviors to adjust to what you are releasing.
For example, if I noted that I wanted to release “Predicting the end result” I might stop myself every time I claim to know how a situation will turn out and instead ask myself inthat moment, “What if the best possible outcome came about instead?”
A person releasing a paper lantern against a sunset.
Discovery
We will be doing divination with coffee grinds or tea - whatever you have on hand. The reason that I decided to go with this instead of a tarot reading was because of the idea of inviting curiosity and a new technique. I wanted to give y’all an exercise that would push you to tune in and ask yourself for meaning instead of looking externally.
So, what you will want to do is choose either a loose leaf tea or coffee that lets in a few grinds (think of stovetop espresso, french press, or cafe de la olla). This is unlikely to work as well with drip coffee. If you do use leaf lea, you can opt for loose herbal tea as well. It doesn’t necessarily have to be tea leaves (we’re not going traditional but a little more modern).
I want you to choose a time when you can sit uninterrupted for 30 minutes. Take a few moments to ground and center yourself and invite in your spirit team to communicate with you. When you are ready, ask your question or ask for a clear message and begin preparing your drink.
Let the drink steep or simmer or prep for as long as is needed. Then sit quietly sipping it, focusing on your question. Have a notepad nearby.
When you are near the end, be sure to leave a tiny bit (maybe a few spoonfuls of liquid). Swirl this liquid and the grinds or plant materia around. When you feel prepared, flip it over onto a small plate and let it all strain. Flip the cup right-side up. Take a look inside the cup and see what stands out to you. Are there words? Symbols? Shapes? Ideas? Write down what comes to mind without filtering anything.
When you feel you have emptied out your ideas, feel free to take a picture or rinse out the cup and move on. I encourage you to return to your notes within the next few days, especially as you move through the release exercise.
