Current Skies + Leo Full Moon
Hail Venus, everyone in the sky is now direct!
I would holler the hockey phrase “Full Strength!”, but Mercury and Venus are both still moving slow. If it doesn’t quite feel like everything has resolved or settled from the retrogrades, we may need to wait for our personal planets to catch up to speed. By end of March, Mercury and Venus will be moving swiftly, and our social calendars, communications, and the areas of our life overseen by these planets will quicken in pace in turn. In other words, if your things seem slow right now, take advantage because this might not last come Spring. There are some interesting technical details about the full Moon in Leo that can help us build meaning around it, but before that I’d like to discuss other places in the sky.
Jupiter Under the Beams
On February 13th, Jupiter sets into invisibility behind the Sun’s beams until March 25th. Jupiter’s significations of truth, faith, learning and teaching, understanding, wealth, and opportunity may be of a quieter, more inwardly-experienced nature during these five weeks. It’s a great time to explore internal understanding, personal truths, or even opportunities that aren’t necessarily in the public eye. We may spend this time investigating privately before we share our findings with others later next month. Astronomically, given Jupiter is pretty bright, he may actually still be visible for a handful of days after this, but astrological convention marks 15° from the Sun as a point of heliacal setting and rising .
Mercury returns to Aquarius February 14th shifting our focus from what works to what could work, and will spend the next few weeks returning to drawing boards and revising plans conceived here back in January.
Leo Full Moon
The full Moon in Leo on February 16th signals a chance to stand back, take a deep breath, and celebrate the wins or progress we have made in these fixed signs over the last year. The Sun in Aquarius is highlighting our progress to date under Saturn’s stern supervision. Aquarius has been under revision and reordering since January 2021, and we’ve now reached approximately the halfway point of this residency.
This culmination is happening at the bending of the lunar nodes. The lunar nodes are the two points in the sky where the Sun and Moon cross paths allowing eclipses to occur. The bendings square to the lunar nodes where these solar and lunar paths are farthest away from one another. Said another way, the bendings are where the Moon is farthest away in latitude from the path of the Sun. Demetra George characterizes the bendings as places where the Moon holds,"...a state of objective awareness between the lunar body and solar soul, but can also indicate the potential for dissociation and lack of connection."*
To me it sounds like a place of objective awareness where the Moon is able to get a wider, dispassionate perspective, helping us see the separate influences of mind and emotion/body on our circumstances. However, in exchange for achieving distance and understanding, we potentially lose connection with what is more proximal or intimate. That caveat being said, periodic wider appreciation for past accomplishments can be just what we need to forge ahead and continue putting our nose closely to the grindstone. As a transit, this influence is temporary and a good opportunity to clearly see what is happening across the fixed signs in our charts.
Saturn Heliacal Rising
One week after Jupiter leaves the evening sky, Saturn rises into visibility in Aquarius on February 20th, joining Venus and Mars in the morning sky. Barriers or obstacles that were hidden become clear(er). Untouchable or longstanding challenges are more directly approachable with new information and communication/organization help from co-present Mercury. Saturn’s appearance in the sky can also reflect moments of stopping, setting things down, taking a break. Saying no. Perhaps it’s time to finally bid farewell to something you’ve been meaning to step away from.
Good luck navigating the high seas of Pisces Season! <3
Photo by Jasmina Rojko
[Image description: Twilight lit and sparkling snow holding a winding path of footprints recently softened by a fresh layer of powder.]
*from Demetra George’s book, Ancient Astrology Volume I p.354 on the bendings of the Moon
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