Hey hey, it’s your lion here (Leo Moon), reporting to you from where I write most of these blogs--bed. (I know it’s horrible sleep hygiene, but what can I say, my 4th house Mercury in Pisces seems to operate best here).
This Full Moon in Aquarius is the third lunation in a row with the Sun conjunct Venus. The lessons in love are not over. Mars, Mercury, and Juno are all also in Leo, bringing the heat and upping the fun factor. With the Moon opposite all that in Aquarius, we’re called to investigate the relationship between Leo and Aquarius.
Leo is, among other things, the sign of royalty and top-down power. At its best, this aspect of Leo manifests as personal sovereignty, and rulership over one’s own inner king/queendom. But it also signifies downright greed, self-importance, and the desire to be at the top of the hierarchy. And this version of Leo best describes those who currently hold power.
We can call our governments democratic all we want but that doesn’t make them so. Our society is blatantly elitist. We know that the billionaire class calls the shots. And when wealth is the only factor determining rulership, then we shouldn’t be surprised that those with money rig the system to get more of it.
This is where Aquarius comes in. Aquarius relates to group-think and conformity, as well as to the rebel, the one who dares to be different for the sake of the group. I think there is a collective memory of being excluded, banished, tortured, or killed, for going against the group. And for those of us who live in societies where our physical safety isn’t at risk, there are nevertheless very real social and emotional risks to going our own way.
So, in fear, Aquarius energy can lead us to conform (which includes conforming to the norms of subcultures as well the mainstream). It can lead to group-think: to going along with what we are supposed to think and say and do, rather than discussing ideas openly with respect for multiplicity and complexity.
But at its best, Aquarius is the energy of innovation and creativity for the sake of the group. Aquarius is concerned with what is best for all. As the polarity of Leo, it’s about grass-roots power, the power of the people, for the people. It manifests as the rebel or revolutionary or activist or outspoken weirdo or scientist or inventor. As someone who has the courage to risk exclusion and ostracism, in order to propose something totally different.
We are at a moment when it’s very clearly no longer safe to be safe. If we stay with what on one level might feel safe (to some of us anyway)--life as we’ve always known it, the status quo, business as usual--then we most certainly won’t in the end be safe as we will be inviting more climate disaster and war and oppression… we know where this road leads.
Aquarius, when unintegrated with Leo, can be detached. It can be all theory and grand vision, and no heart. It can manifest as the radical who identifies as radical through their pain and desire to shock. It can manifest as the grand Utopic political vision that once realized turns out to be even more tyrannical than the one it replaced.
All signs need their polarity. Aquarius needs Leo, Leo needs Aquarius. Leo at its best is heart-centred, warm, creative, embodied, playful. Aquarius-Leo offers the possibility of courageous and heart-centered rebellion.
The craziest thing about the f-ed up situation we’re in is that it’s held in place by our cooperation. Violence, oppression, manipulation, and ideology also maintain the current system in which we live. But that requires our cooperation too. Not that we cooperate in full awareness. We’ve been manipulated, lied to, coerced. And--forgive the conspiratorial language, but let’s say it like it is--brainwashed. The ideology runs deep.
The good news is we’re waking up to the truth of this. It’s not as if this situation we’re in is new. We’ve been controlled by the few in power for millenia. The difference is that we see it now. And THAT is power, more powerful than money. The realization that this system only operates because of the participation of people give us power. Because if we decided to, we could stop cooperating.
If we decided to, we could shut our cities down, shut our countries down. Together, we have power. If we decided to demand that the system be changed so that it’s for the people, not the elite, we could do that.
Ok. That’s easy for me to say sitting in relative privilege. I know not everyone can just stop, especially if that means possibly risking a pay cheque. But there are so may ways we might stop cooperating. Because we have more power than we know, when we stand together. We actually do have the means to demand change.
There are all kinds of details we could argue about. But don’t most of us agree that the richest corporations should pay taxes? That corporations shouldn’t be allowed to pollute our rivers and earth and air for profit? That they should be responsible for cleaning up their mess like any child is taught? That they shouldn’t be allowed to harm our health for profit? And that to the extent that have harmed the environment and the people, that they should have to pay?
Sometimes people wonder where the money will come to fund the revolution. Easy. The big corporations owe us the people tons of money. Time to make them pay.
Ok ok so I’m on this Aquarian Utopic kick. Let’s bring it down to Earth. What does this mean for each of us individually? For one, we could do some important work in considering our personal relationship to the group. Noticing when we give in to group-think or conformity. Noticing when we rebel just to create a stir. And seeking to integrate our Leonine, personal, embodied, creative self-expression and sense of humour, with our Aquarian objectivity and care for the people.
We could also do well to notice when our Leo is out of hand. When we are a little too self-focused or indulgent or inflated. And work to integrate a little emotional detachment and Aquarian objectivity and consideration for the collective with our Leo fire.
Finally, Mercury and Uranus are square at this time, impelling us to speak our truth, communicate about these kinds of Aquarian ideas, and rebel through our words. If we resist it, if we play it safe, we’ll probably be more prone to the anxious energy Mercury and Uranus can also produce. So stand up, friends. Let’s do this. Together. And in love.
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