Full Moon in Leo: Outside the Box

This Full Moon in Leo is dramatic and creative.

Our focus has been on Pluto and the Sun moving into Aquarius together, definitely intense and world-shaking. Things feel serious. Things are serious. Yet the Leo Full Moon invites us into an upbeat, outside-the-box space where we can take a fresh look at what’s happening.

The Full Moon arrives Thursday, January 25 just before 1:00 pm EST. Sun and Moon are opposite at 05º24’ Aquarius and Leo. Pluto at 00º09’ Aquarius is conjunct the Sun and opposite the Moon, a key player in this chart.

Neither the Sun nor the Moon are strong in the signs they’re in. The Sun much prefers Leo, and the Moon is never at strength in the Fire signs. We might look at this setup and say, “OK, Pluto is clearly the strongest and this will be a Plutonian Full Moon.”

That’s not wrong. Pluto is absolutely a force to be reckoned with.

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Except this Moon is out of bounds. This playful, dramatic Leo Moon has slipped outside the Sun’s influence and is playing her own game. The Moon’s moods may be off the charts (and we ought to take note of this), but it also opens the door to outside the box creativity.

This is a Full Moon in fixed signs: Fire and Air. Pluto brings a lot of gravitas. We might be heading into the Full Moon feeling weighed down, locked in place, not seeing any way out. That’s fair.

But an out-of-bounds Moon in Leo is ready to toss the whole deck of cards into the air and rewrite the rules of the game. This might sound crazy, silly, or impossible, but consider what happens when we’re trying to solve problems.

The first step is defining the problem. We describe what the issue is, then set about trying to understand it. Today’s world, and our personal lives, seem to be filled with intractable problems. No matter what we do, we can’t seem to catch up, find a way out, or fix the issue.

But the best researchers and creatives know once we’ve defined the problem, we’ve already limited possible solutions.

What if this out-of-bounds Leo Moon is asking us to look at problems from another angle? What if we turn things upside down? Is the problem actually what we think it is? What happens if we shift the boundaries of what we’re looking at? What if we could change adversaries into allies?

Changing perspective is how breakthroughs happen.

The Full Moon is in a T-square with Jupiter at 06º41’ Taurus. Jupiter in Taurus brings a feeling of stability, a sense of connection with the past, and the comfort of the familiar.

Aquarius can feel cold, cerebral, and implacable. Jupiter in Taurus reminds us of everything we’ve already accomplished. Jupiter in Taurus is a survivor who’s weathered many storms and rebuilt after every single one.

Also, if the passionate creativity of the Moon in Leo gets to be a bit much, Jupiter in Taurus will tell us to eat some chocolate and take a nap.

The Moon sits at the apex of a yod, an aspect pattern built from two quincunxes and a sextile. The quincunxes (150º) are to Saturn in Pisces and Venus in Capricorn, who sextile each other.

A yod represents a problem. The three planets (the Moon, Saturn, and Venus) are in different elements and different modes. There’s not much in common to build on.

The answer to a yod lies opposite the apex, which in this case brings us right back to the Sun–Pluto conjunction in Aquarius. This reminds us that Aquarius is awesome at problem solving and very innovative. We need to leverage the radical creativity of Aquarius, rather than focusing only its fixed nature.

There’s another pattern in the Full Moon chart worth looking at. Mercury and Mars are conjunct at 14º39’ and 15º52’ Capricorn. These two square the Nodes of the Moon at 18º34’ Aries and Libra, and also Chiron at 15º51’ Aries.

These connections among Mercury, Mars, Chiron, and the Nodes of the Moon remind us that the actions we take have consequences, some of which we can’t see from here. This should not prevent us from acting. Instead, we’re invited to first review the past. What’s worked? What has not?

And we can bring our out-of-the-box viewpoint here too. If we look back through our own past, or history, with fresh eyes, what can we see now that we missed before?

The Full Moon and the waning cycle to follow offer opportunities.

At the Full Moon, all planets are in direct motion except Uranus–and Uranus will station direct during the Full Moon phase, on January 27. All planets will remain direct through the Aquarius New Moon on February 9.

The waning cycle includes a series of trines: Uranus direct will trine Mercury and Mars. Venus trines Jupiter. These are all Earth trines that support stable, productive work.

February 5, Mercury enters Aquarius to conjunct Pluto. This aligns thought and communication with the monumental shift Pluto has made. It will also spark more innovative, out-of-the-box thinking.

I’m going to set a goal for myself for this Full Moon and waning cycle. I will explore at least one of my current challenges. I will turn it upside down and inside out, change its boundaries, reexamine its history, and play around with new viewpoints.

Maybe creative innovation will emerge. Maybe I’ll get some great new ideas. I hope you’ll join me.