Full Moon in Aquarius. Accessing your authentic self

This is the 1st of two full moons in Aquarius that we will get this year. Every year we have a sign that gets to have 2 full moons as we have 13 full moons in a year. This year there is one at the beginning of Leo season and the other at the end of Leo Season. This will accentuate Aquarius energy, which has been a theme of this year.

The Sun in Leo is in opposition to the moon in Aquarius and occurs in the very early stages of each sign, at 1 degree. This signifies quite a shift in energy as we have moved away from the watery, hibernating, nurturing energy of the Sun in Cancer and into the fiery fixed sign of Leo. This full moon will be felt most by the fixed signs of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius. At its essence, it is all about exploring our authentic selves, thinking outside the box, expanding our awareness, and working toward fundamental change for humanity.

The full moon represents a time to release, let go of energy, things, thought patterns that no longer serve us whilst also providing us an opportunity to explore some of the major themes that the sign the full moon is in.

The Leo Aquarian polarity and opposition represent the duality of self vs the collective, what you want vs what others may want of you, being self-determined vs working for the group and personal ownership vs freedom. It's about creativity vs Intellectualism and heartfelt emotion vs detachment. But at its core is the questions of where you may be compromising yourself for the sake of others.

Leo rules the heart, and Leo energy loves nothing more than expressing that love in significant heartfelt ways, to a point where they can smother others with their need to express love and with it, sometimes ownership. Leo says, 'I love you, you are mine" whereas Aquarius say, I love you, so I shall set you free.

Where then do you perhaps need to let go of something you are claiming as yours, when in fact, it may not be? Are there relationships, friendships, ties to which you have staked too high a claim? Can you find your way to free what is not really yours to own?

This theme can also apply to group situations in your life. Leo likes to lead, to have control and be upfront and centre of a project. On the other hand, Aquarius is all about democratic principles, being fair, equitable and letting all have a voice. This full moon may offer up an opportunity to look at where in your life you may not be being fair and equitable, where you may be asserting too much control, putting your needs first and not looking out for the collective.

This is such a dominant theme for all humanity at the moment, the absolute polarity of the self vs the other; my opinion is more important than your opinion, facts vs opinion, science vs belief, my needs are more significant than the needs of the collective.

Take this time to reflect on this. Are you really hearing what others have to say? Can you open your mind to exploring new ideas, at least ideas that may stretch you, open up your world view and help you become more equitable and accepting of others? What thinking patterns can you let go of and how can you expand to bring in new ideas. Letting go of the 'status quo' the ' this is the way we have always done things.' is very much associated with Aquarian energy.

What does community mean to you? Do you sit on the outside of a community looking in and criticising from a distance or are you able to immerse in your community and allow yourself to explore others ideas and values?

Activism and working for the disenfranchised, those without a strong voice, are all-powerful Aquarian principles. Where and how does activism play a part in your life, and is there something you believe you should become active in? Showing up, as your authentic self to participate in a cause you feel passionate about whilst fully respecting the opinions of others is a beautiful expression of Aquarian energy.

Saturn is in the sign Aquarius until March 2023, influencing the collective, giving us all the opportunity to mobilise and see the change we want to see in our communities and humanity. This full moon can cast a light on the areas you may want to affect.

Ruling groups, Aquarius is also traditionally associated with friendships and friendship groups. Despite many in Australia facing another lockdown, this is an excellent time to review, renew, reignite or remove friendships in your life. Aquarius is a beautiful connecter, a bringer of people together. Friends are the people who have our hearts, whom we trust, Leo, but Aquarius rules the group dynamic of the friendship group. Are your friendship groups serving your heart, do you feel connected and close, or are you participating in friendships for some other reason? Are you just trying to fit in with your group whilst not being authentic to your true self. All of these questions can come up now. Equally, are there people whom you love and who you have not been in touch with? The sun in Leo asks us to express our love, the moon in Aquarius asks us to express it to our friends. So if you haven't reached out to the friends you love, to those you may not have seen for a while, do so and tell them you love them.

Aquarius is an air sign; hence it operates most significantly in the thinking and intellectual realms rather than in emotional or expressive ways. Science and Aquarius are often connected, the rational scientific mind, bringing new and innovative ideas and insights.

This full moon may be an excellent time to work with new ideas and allow yourself to experience flashes of unique insight, especially ideas that may be connected with a creative project. If you are into it, this is an excellent time to get your inner nerd going. Get connected with new technology that may serve you or alternately give yourself a complete tech detox. How is technology helping or hindering your life? All things to explore during this full moon.

This full moon will sit next to Pluto, the planet of transformation, going deep and bringing things to the surface. Pay close attention to your dreams at this time, especially as you may have some flashes of insight that come to you. You may feel things or have ideas that seem to come from deep within. Take some time to listen to yourself and work with the Air energy of Aquarius and breathe deeply. This is an interesting combination, an unconventional intellectual moon, influenced by a planet that asks us to go deep.

The day after the full moon, the moon meets up with the traditional ruler of Aquarius, Saturn. Saturn and the moon don't necessarily get on that well; Saturn adds a bit of an emotional wall around the lunar expression so don't be surprised if you feel a level of restriction around your feelings or ability to express your feelings and emotions. However, this can be an excellent placing to put some structure and boundaries around any full moon work or creative projects you take on. It can also offer some self-discipline to get things done and provide an opportunity to be really honest with ourselves about how authentic we are, especially regarding our social situations and how open we are being to change.

We will have another opportunity to explore these principles again during the next Aquarian full moon on August 22nd.

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Sun Moves into Leo. Have some Fun

Happy Leo season all.

I for one, love this time. We get to play, have fun, access our inner child and love with a huge heart. The Sun moves into Leo on July 23rd and the following day we have the first of two full moons in Aquarius.

Following on from Cancer season, Leo season shifts our energy out of the inward-facing, nurturing, sleepy Cancer energy into Leo's energetic and creative firey energy. If we were not in lockdown where I live right now, I would be saying, get on your dancing shoes, it's time to play, dance, shine and express your authentic self in all its glory……alas, it looks like I might be stuck dancing in my lounge room…again.

We experience the first of two full moons almost immediately as the Sun moves into Leo, with the moon moving in opposition in the sign of Aquarius on the following day, August 24th. This full moon asks us to evaluate our authentic selves and how we fit into the collective.

See my specific post about the Aquarius full moon to learn how to work with these energies. For the sake of this blog, I am sticking to what's in store for the rest of Leo season.

Traditionally Leo season sees us bathing in creative pursuits, feeling vital, energetic, creative and playful. Leo rules the heart, so this is often a season of passion, warmth and generosity of spirit.

If there are creative pursuits you need to focus on, this is the time to do so. Leo energy needs to feel appreciated, so this is a great time to review how you appreciate, applaud, and honour yourself and others. Are you shinning in the areas in which you want to be shining in, whatever they may be for you?

Leo season is an excellent time for tapping into our heart and checking in on both physical and emotional levels. Are we giving enough love to ourselves? Are we looking after our hearts and hearts desires? Spend some time in Leo season tapping into the heart.

Leadership is another area ruled by Leo. Leo energy is not afraid to be on the stage; whatever that

stage maybe, it might simply be an area of life in which you shine or want to shine. Whatever it is, this is an excellent time for honing one's leadership skills and checking in whether you are leading from a place of authenticity and love or from ego and a need to be noticed and applauded? Both fall into Leo camps but end up expressing themselves in very different ways. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a need to be noticed and loving the applause you may receive; you just don't want to fall into the Leo trap of relying on it.

At a very fundamental level, Leo is about fun. Are you having enough fun in your life? The last few years have been very serious, and many of us may have forgotten what it is like to let our hair down and have some fun. Whatever fun looks like in your life, this is the time to make sure you have a lot of it. Be silly, play, dance, be joyous and connect with your inner child; they may have been missing you. How are you going about authentically expressing yourself?

In early August, we may feel the Leo light shining a little dimmer as Saturn makes an opposition to the Sun. Saturn in Aquarius opposite the Sun will ask us if we are going about expressing ourselves authentically; it will insist we cut any bullshit and face ourselves directly. At the same time, Saturn here can help us achieve some self-discipline, and self-control which may come in handy if we are undertaking some creative projects.

Following up closely behind, on August 7th, the Sun is met by a square from Uranus in Taurus. This may manifest as a struggle of wills between what you want to do and what others may suddenly ask of you. Unexpected changes could upset the apple cart, and you may find yourself digging your heels in and stubbornly refusing to budge. If this is the case, it is wise to ask what you are stubborn about and why. On the plus side, this placing may also offer sudden new ideas and insights that you can work toward integrating creatively.

The Leo energy will be turned up around August 9th when we meet the new moon in Leo, offering us the opportunity to set new goals and intentions around the areas of creative self-expression.

Jupiter adds an element of restlessness to the suns energy from August 13th until we are well into

Virgo times. We need to be careful not to overdo things during this time, as Jupiter's propensity is to do things to excess, not knowing when enough is enough. We should be careful of not overinflating our Leo egos and trying to keep things in moderation. Balance is also the key between what we want and what the collective or society is asking of us. The second full moon in Aqaurius comes and sits next to Jupiter in opposition to the Sun in Leo on August 22nd. This will add a flavour of expansion and opportunity to our emotions

The end of Leo season is punctuated with the second full moon in the sign of Aquarius where we can review what we learned during the first Aquarian full moon. How authentically are we showing up in the world?

New Moon in Cancer. July 10th. 2021. Tap into the feeling realms

Here we are halfway through the year and well into Cancer season, where we have recently had some rather intense astrological aspects, particularly with Mars Squaring the Saturn Uranus opposition. The Moon and sun sit together in Cancer, and the energies of the crab are acutely emphasised during this new Moon on, which occurs on

11.17 am July 10th in Australia.

As all new Moons, this new Moon offers us an opportunity to make new goals, set agendas, and embark upon new activities or habits in line with Cancerian energies.

The Moon is happy in the sign of Cancer, where it can delve into the feeling realms, access emotions and go with the flow.

Are there any new emotional habits you would like to begin? For example, we may choose to become more mindful of how we react emotionally, positively and negatively, and how we express our emotions. This is an excellent time for changing emotional habits.

Do you express your emotions honestly or let them bottle up to keep the peace? This may be an area in which you want to change and start new habits, committing, for example, to be more upfront and honest with others about how you are feeling.

This may be especially true in our family environments at the moment. What new habits or plans do you have that involve your family? Is spending more time with them important to you? If so, now is the time to commit to doing so.

Family is a broad and fluid term these days, so even redefining and honouring what family means

to you is a positive expression of this new moons energies. Getting together around a table and sharing great food is a beautiful expression of Cancers energies Family at its most fundamental level means security. Cancer is all about exploring how we get our security needs met? Are there any changes you need to make in how you go about finding a sense of inner security? How are you nurturing yourself and others?

Ruling the archetypal mothering principle, Cancer represents how we were nurtured and how we nurture others, so spend some time in this space.

How is your relationship with your mother? Whether she is still with us or not, we are all affected by the mothering we had or did not have? Are there areas here in which you could make some positive changes? Forgiveness of the mothering you received or did not receive, perhaps. Do you need to make some peace in this area and begin new ways of viewing or expressing this part of your life?

For those of us who are mothers, how are we doing? Without dumping mother guilt on us, what could we improve concerning how we go about 'mothering.'? This has been a huge one for me, all this year as I resolve to step back from my mothering role and allow my child to walk on their path without me in their back pocket.

We are meeting the new Moon this month, with Chiron, Neptune, and Pluto, all playing a part and affecting this new Moon's energies. Chiron and Pluto are making a more challenging aspect to the Moon and the Sun and offer us an opportunity to dig deep into the feeling realms and do some sensitive healing work.

Suppose you need to heal any emotional wounds. In that case, stuff may come to the surface during this new Moon, so healing around the Cancerian principles again, of emotions, nurturing, and mothering all come to play.

This offers us an opportunity to work on forgiveness, emotional expression or create new habits for ourselves in these areas. However, be aware that the feelings might be scratchy, or you could find yourself in a power-play dynamic with women in your life. The energy will pass but using it to work on areas you might like to change is using it in its best possible fashion.

We should be able to tap into our intuitive, imaginative and creative selves as Neptune makes positive trine energy to the Moon. This can enable us to tap into others feelings and gain some insight we may not have seen previously. Neptune here also provides a canvas for creativity. Creative expression is an excellent way to access our emotions, so get out the paints, the musical instruments or simply get creative in the kitchen. Mars and Venus are both happy together in Leo during this time, too, adding a flare of drama or extra bling to our creative pursuits, so this is an excellent time to begin new projects.

The sun moves into fiery Leo on the 23rd and is followed by the next full Moon in Aquarius the next day. I will have more to say about all of this closer to the time, but Leo is one of my favourite seasons and it looks set to be a little more workable than the month just gone.

If you are interested in exploring your chart and the astrological energies available to you, go to my web site www.aspectastrology.com.au/Book online. Please remember to subscribe, follow, share etc and I will see you all soon as we meet the Sun in Leo and play with the full moon in Aquarius.