Leo Full Moon: Thinking For Yourself

Dear Friend and Reader:

We're on the verge of the Leo Full Moon today. At the same time, Mercury is conjunct the Sun in Aquarius. So this is an unusual and especially influential Full Moon -- which may be translating to feeling like there is some extra tension in the air -- as well as the opportunity to resolve it. Full Moons often have a quality of providing a release point from deadlocks or stalemates. Today one might come in the form of an especially good idea that may have been plainly obvious, but which nobody noticed.

Chime Rinpoche. Photo by Eric.

The Full Moon is exact Tuesday at 4:54 pm EST. The chart describes looking at the world from the perspective of a child, and is a reminder to at least see the complexity that we weave around ourselves, even if we cannot do that much about it. The mere recognition of complexity is a simple idea, and it can help sort life out to its basic elements.

First, a little astrology background. A Full Moon is the opposition of the Sun and the Moon, with the Earth in the middle. At a Full Moon, the Sun and the Moon will always be in opposite signs. There's generally a Full Moon in each sign once per year, though occasionally it will happen in the same sign two consecutive times. Because the Sun is now in Aquarius, the Full Moon is in Leo. This is an axis of the zodiac addressing matters of individuality (Leo) contrasted with group interests (Aquarius).

There's also a planet in the mix right now -- the Sun will be exactly conjunct Mercury in Aquarius. This Full Moon is therefore an alignment of the Moon, the Earth, the Sun and Mercury, all exact to the degree. That kind of rare alignment adds extra emphasis to the event, because there is a peak of the Sun-Moon cycle at the same time as a peak of the Sun-Mercury cycle. I don't actually remember another simultaneous Full Moon with Mercury conjunct the Sun. It must have happened at some point, though this chart looks truly distinctive.

The Moon in Leo is more about heart than mind; it's about feeling what is right -- the way a child feels. And how would that be? A child's thinking is animated mainly by one thing -- curiosity. And this is the thing that is bred out of nearly all young people by the time they're 18. What may remain in sexual curiosity is then carefully extracted and disposed of over the next few years.

Imagine the complexity of the Aquarius Sun, reflecting the innate passion and curiosity of the Leo Moon. We've all been here, and we've all seen it. Adults think in complicated ways. Kids just want to know how or why something is. Part of what adults learn from being around children is reconnecting with the curiosity they see reflected in children. The conjunction of Mercury to the Sun is a way of saying that there is still a child (as represented this time by Mercury) contained in every adult.

Thinking for yourself means thinking connected to the simple, curious, passionate desire to know. Conversely, most forms of group-think and acting like a zombie are based firmly on not wanting to know much of anything. This lunation is a reminder to connect with that kid in you who wants to know, and who (like most kids do) has a novel theory for why something is the way it is.

Often, the lack of this ingredient is why groups (including family groups) are the very thing that prevent people from thinking for themselves, or thinking at all. Remember that the family is the first group we encounter, and it sets the pattern for all the others. One thing about groups is that they often, by definition, involve sacrificing your own ideas or values for that of the collective, or what you think the collective thinks. With so much going on around us -- as children or as adults -- it's easy not only to feel like we're missing an essential part of ourselves, it's possible to actually be missing something. The Leo Full Moon is asking us to consider the possibility that our own opinions may be quite different from those of the groups around us -- and the implications.

Both the Full Moon and the Sun-Mercury conjunction represent an eruption of individuality -- not the kind that has to make a fuss, but the kind that can consider existence from its own perspective, and maybe share it with someone else who may be curious.

Lovingly,