The joy of Mercury retrograde in Leo

On July 16, 2025July 17, 2025 By Ka Malana - Fiestaestrellas.comIn Astrology7 Comments

Let us turn to joy.

Can we be in joy while the whole world is in tumult? Are we allowed?

For some of us, we ache from the insides, deep in our healing—all we’ve been exposed to, all that has dimmed us, our hopes, our hearts’ desires.

But the heart’s energy field is bigger than a brain as HeartMath will tell you, the following about the heart’s field. The energy produced by the heart is more than 100 times greater in strength than the field generated by the brain and can be detected up to 3 feet away from the body, in all directions, using SQUID-based magnetometers (Figure 6.1).

Figure 6.1 The heart’s magnetic field, which is the strongest rhythmic field produced by the human body, not only envelops every cell of the body, but also extends out in all directions into the space around us. The heart’s magnetic field can be measured several feet away from the body by sensitive magnetometers. Research conducted at HMI suggests the heart’s field is an important carrier of information.*

With Mercury retrograde in Leo it won’t be surprising to get clear on a number of things to review:

*How you put yourself out there

*What you do in life purely for the sake of joy and love

*What is your true need to be seen and heard by others

*Where you’d like to build more courage

I’m no stranger to this Mercury retrograde in Leo. Where Mercury is standing right now, He/She/They/It are directly on my natal Sun. ☀️

That very sun I have “given away” to “other” born in the house of “others.” (7th)

I have memories and contacts to explore. I have new relationships to consider. I get to PLAY with what possible wisdom may come from exploring those areas I need to show up with more courage.

At this point I have so many certifications, so much experience and expertise in a number of different fields that are all similarly related. I started a YouTube channel, and I’m maintaining this blog, my business, my house and plants, and my family.

Another BIG exam is slated for me to demonstrate my expertise in a new, deeper category of my TCM work: skin as an extension of my external medicine work. That exam will be at the tail end of the summer, during the “pause” right before a ton more astrological “action.” This is a category of achievement in my field where few have actually tread. The exam passing rate isn’t so high. That’s not why I’m doing it. I do it for love. Just love. I constantly and consistently invest myself in improving FOR others; to be of service.

But I’m human, and I’m making peace with a lot.

Much walking and physical movement, music, and catharsis decorates my summer Mercury retrograde party 🎈 banners/streamers and they look like balloons 🎈 around healing ❤️‍🩹 AND grieving at the same time.

I think we all know Trauma at this point. It’s become the collective consciousness’s main dialogue! How could it not? How many disasters are we recovering from, losses, interrupts, missed opportunities— at ANY given time?!

So, what can I offer you that has not been offered before? What will really make your heart sing?

Maybe… even just take some time out for some singing 🎶 and dancing. 💃 go outside and scream like a banshee, or if you realistically can’t, do it in a pillow.

No one needs to watch. Your own audience fills your inner world; it’s your shadow. Your shadow is your audience!

So don’t listen to anything that might hold you back from your purest heart’s desire. See what stands the test of time. See what stands the test of “this time.”

Mercury will retrograde from July 17-18 depending on where you live, until August 11/12.

What has been through the fire 🔥 that looks so shiny and sparkling now but has a lot of blood, sweat, and tears 😭 behind it?

You know. You are the one who been through the fire, through hell and back. You know: It’s your capacity to love.

During this Mercury retrograde when things might be better examined, slowed down, face unexpected technical challenges or fight inner demons.

You have a hand-holder, over here, in me. Somethings that REQUIRE courage, and the real movements can sometimes only be BABYSTEPS. I’m your girl. Your cheerleader. 📣

When you face those demons, you are not alone.

By next year I will also be offering my coaching programs and probably a slew of other carefully cultivated offerings. But I’ll still always be here— just like this. And this is MY love. To be here. With You.

*Source:

https://www.heartmath.org/research/science-of-the-heart/energetic-communication/

Full Moon In Leo: “Who is this I?”

On February 10, 2025February 10, 2025 By Ka Malana - Fiestaestrellas.comIn Astrology61 Comments

Hello lovely friends and visitors,

Whether I’ve known you for a while and we are constantly exchanging endearments (thank you!I can’t enjoy that enough!), or you are new to my world here at Fiestaestrellas.com, you are equally welcome 🙂 Come, and warm yourself by the virtual fire. You are welcomed into this space of our remembering unity.

I’m sitting here in the firelight with the chart for the full moon in Leo. See above, above. As a “Leo Sun,” myself, it gives me something to draw from: my own limited (yet nevertheless valuable) experience. Ironically, my own experience is deepening and expanding so much so that I am not identifying with the same “I” as I used to. Take a pause here with me.

Does the “I” have context and contents that are really real?

There is more awareness around myself AS others. You and me, we are one. Sometimes I can see myself sitting at my desk, writing. Doing the things I do with awareness of both being in the body, and not of the body.

We are.

It’s odd how the mind just needs to be trained to see things as they really are.

The Course In Miracles and many other tools exist to try to train/untrain the mind into clarity. You may ask, why isn’t clarity just inherent? It’s a great question.

I think the answer is that the mind is malleable, flexible, and at best: ‘neutral’ as its own inherent quality. But this also makes the mind impressionable. We are formed and forged by our backgrounds, environments, ancestors, connections, and familiarity. Eventually these impressions harden like any good molding material that you want to use for later (memory!).

What I learn from my deepening with Buddhism through the lens of my current teacher Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, or “Geshla,” is that the nature of reality really is emptiness. Nothing exists on the other side of the mind. The mind is the generator of all phenomena on the mind’s side of things. So if we identify this mind with the “I” we are lost in the woods, so to speak. But, if we never form memories or impressions, we are also lost in the woods, so to speak. chuckle.

What the meaning is of life therefore is the meaning you give it. Who is “you?” Where are its boundaries?

A fun experiment to meditate with is to feel the edges of your awareness, and practice softening to it.

For this Full Moon in Leo, we have Uranus in a nearly perfect square (90 degree) aspect to both the Sun and Mercury (in Aquarius) as one point of focus and the moon in Leo on the opposite point of focus. Dividing that opposition (180 degrees) or line, is Uranus: the Great Awakener. The planet does have this reputation for a reason. In 1781, the astronomer William Herschel looked up into the constellation of Gemini and thought he found a comet but it turned out to be the 7th planet in our solar system. In fact, Herschel wanted to name Uranus after a British monarch but many others in the world disagreed so they stuck to the convention of naming the planet after a figure in mythology; however, Uranus is Greek, and not Roman like the other planet names, which makes Uranus “unique.” This is a “break” from convention. If that’s not weird enough, Uranus’s orbit is virtually perpendicular to its orbital pathway; Uranus is laying down and spinning. Since Uranus was a later discovery from Saturn (the rule-maker), Uranus gets the reputation of reality construct breaker. Uranus is also “in charge” of what we consider the collective for humanity. Well, as if we aren’t completely thrown into a new world, already this year in 2025 with great billionaire bulls in the China shops of politics, government, and businesses, slashing and burning our structures and institutions one by one. Institutions (like Rome) that weren’t built in a day. The majority of us would probably agree the slash and burn is happening without any ideas of reasonable replacement. It FEELS careless, at best.

So, where does all this put a Leo full moon? Well, you can run around talking about how Leo is so self-important and aiming to just “show off” or you could see how the “individual,” “me” and “I,” is really a veneer or avatar FOR the collective. No one gets anywhere without their ego to help them stay alive. If you are dead, then, well, you aren’t doing anything–at all. Unless you are a strong ghost (but even then, you probably needed to have a strong ego in life before you died). Ego is almost synonymous with the mind in the way I am defining here. It’s inherently neutral and merely a creator. It’s a little creator, though. It doesn’t make anything real. The false Ego is the one that generates the delusions. The healthy ego is the one that is in balance with the whole, as part of it, as a collaborator with the collective.

Imagine if we didn’t have names. It would be very confusing in the early days of telephones when they used to be SHARED by households. Who are you calling for? What if you wanted to get someone’s attention in a crowd? What if you are the one holding the “hot potato” in the “hot potato” game. WE can’t call you. Having a name is like having an existence. Having an existence allows you to be considered, heard, referred to, etc etc. So the mind is so important for sorting things out and helping all of us be US– getting through our days with some healthy little bit of order.

This is where Leo comes in. What stands out to me with Leo, as a sign, is COURAGE. Leo exists. There’s an organizing principle not because anyone is special and deserves it. But, nature and energy, is organized. When we watch and marvel at life being formed, we look at how the cells collect and specialize. That’s a lot like us. We are nature. We are not separate from it. We are not merely destroying nature separate from ourselves. We are organization. We are an organizing force, and this is where, to me, the APPEARANCE of Leo shows up. The energy to BE. The energy to exist. It requires collaboration. It requires creation even in the form of little “i.” That “i” cannot be negated, nor should you really want it to be. It need be integrated, but not to fully dissolve. It can gain momentum and organizing power, momentum. Courage is not just a quality of character, its a quality of energy. It requires health to be courageous. It requires strength. This is what we want to cultivate during our Leo times.

Astrological Transits: The Beginner’s Guide…by April Elliott Kent

On September 6, 2015October 4, 2015 By Ka Malana - Fiestaestrellas.comIn Books Published, Friends & Authors14 Comments

Astrological Transits_April Elliott Kent — Ka Malana holding up April Elliot Kent’s book: Astrological Transits.

Some people are just so easy to converse with!

That’s how I feel about April Elliott Kent.

When she and I met, I didn’t realize that I’d be taking my astrology anywhere. As a solo practitioner of astrology, I didn’t really have any astrology friends. I was mostly closeted about it for a while. I was discovering it all on my own, with the help of books, while maintaining and editing my own constant reflections upon the transits. To me, it was my private scientific investigation.

Eventually, I had this blog, and I was meeting with the occasional client. I was still feeling out what exactly I wanted to do with my clients in the astro realm. I kept looking for the “WE,” the co-creating. How could I really be of service in a way that also worked within the flexible framework of my highest values and within my integrity? These were the types of questions that I began asking myself while healing from a major back injury, when I met April two years ago, in my new city.

I didn’t realize that April was such a popular and well-established astrologer!

She was just such a great friend to me from ‘go,’ and I noticed that we linked up nicely when comparing our charts, but I really only looked ‘after the fact’ for any astrological connection. Then, after a while, I started to read her blog posts on the New and Full moon (just like I had been writing about on my blog!) and I kept getting more and more of this sense about her as a WISE woman, with a delightful conveyance of the astrological archetypes. Truly her writings are highly accessible, and contribute to anyone’s monthly astrological undertakings.

To say that I have developed a deep respect for this woman as a person far surpasses even my own understanding for what she knows about astrology! That being said, I want to move onto a review of her book. Yes, I will basically be doing that from the perspective of being a friend and a fan.

A Beginner’s Book is a beginner’s book; it is something that you can understand if you don’t have a lot of background knowledge. The full title of her book is Astrological Transits: The Beginner’s Guide to Using Planetary Cycles to Plan and Predict Your Day, Week, Year (or Destiny). Side note, I can admire a woman who uses parentheticals. It’s one of my favorite features for writing in TODAY’s complex world. I applaud her use of parentheses in the title of this book.

If you notice the way I photographed the book, it appears as though it is as big as my heart–no, even bigger. It takes up the entire space of my chest. Why did I photograph it that way? Although this book is a “beginner’s book,” I see the value in all things “beginner,” and recognize that this book is for me. ☺

I commend this text for its concise organization, while containing a lot of solid “How To” information. April writes to TODAY’s astrologer: Astrological Transits makes what is classic, accessible. I am also referring to her writings, here, where her style really shines.

For the non-astrologer: Other books like it (Beginner’s Guides: sure there are some exceptions but…) rarely do they include a tiny little box of helpful tips specifically like, “how long this transit lasts,” and the approximate age that you may experience a particular transit. You do not have to be an astrologer to learn from this book!!! Whether you are an astrologer or not, consulting with another astrologer can be very helpful, as it helps to guide your understanding of what you are learning, experiencing, and evaluating.

Here’s an excerpt: I like April’s advice here about the Sun transiting the 10th house of a natal chart; it’s good advice for anyone, at any time!

The trick to enjoying the Sun in the tenth house is to imagine not that you’re in an inferior position that must be escaped at all costs, but rather that you’re in the perfect position to get where you’re going. Part of that journey begins with a plan—for your career or even for your whole life. If you already have a plan, revisit and revise it. If you don’t know where you are going, you won’t recognize it when you arrive. Also, since you probably work plenty hard already, work smarter—and learn to delegate. Even if you can do anything, you don’t have to do everything. Partner with others who like to do things you don’t care for, and vice versa. You’ll go much further with help from others than you can alone.”

Please visit her here @ BigSkyAstrology.com, where she’s been publishing for 15 years! Astrological Transits: The Beginner’s Guide to Using Planetary Cycles to Plan and Predict your Day, Week, Year (OR DESTINY) is her newest book!

In Astrological Transits, astrologer April Elliott Kent teaches you:

How Today’s astrological weather affects your birth chart and what is going on in your life

Ways to make the most of good transits and harness and transform the energy of challenging ones

The roles recurring planetary cycles play in your life and how to anticipate important transits

Exuberant Full Moon in Leo, February 14, 2014

On February 10, 2014August 18, 2015 By Ka Malana - Fiestaestrellas.comIn Astrology, Leo14 Comments

Photo from: oprs.usc.edu

This full moon is at 27 Leo with the Sabian symbol for, “Daybreak – the luminescence of dawn in the eastern sky.” All year so far we’ve been heralding new beginnings—and OH it does continue. This beginning is more about your individual flare. What is it that only you can contribute, that no one else can? Simply by virtue of being yourself—you offer your energy and your services—your presence, your individuality is part of ALL that is. Your ability to ‘be present’ is your gift to creation.

I’ve never really identified with my Leo Sun-sign, even though, in part I did more-so when I was a child. When I was a child, I was rather uninhibited. A full moon in Leo with sun in Aquarius is a time when my solar energy and my ascendant path are highlighted. Perhaps it was the attention to the Leo side of me that the Aquarius side of me felt really neglected—outcast, even. Well, I’m starting to feel the pendulum swing back again, my friends. Every time it does swing though, it brings with it the momentum from where it’s come. The seeming polarity of Aquarius and Leo has begun vibrating in my life with a resonant tone. The archetypes have been singing together, the SAME tune!

I‘ve been walking the path of Ubuntu. As astrologer Stephanie Austin so wonderfully writes in the Mountain Astrologer for this lunation something that I’ve had in my mind for a while, but never put into words myself. “Ubuntu, a Zulu or Xhosa word meaning ‘humanness,’ is a principle that describes the spiritual task of Aquarius: to create a kinship transcending family, religion, race, and country.” It’s a great word. I first noticed it when people talked about open source computer software. Then, I heard it while wearing my Anthropologist’s hat.
Now, you don’t have to be an Aquarius rising and Leo Sun to want that, Ubuntu, nor do you have to be an astrologer, a Zulu or a Xhosa, but the anthropologist in me feels that she was looking for that kinship in tribe for a long time, and she’s really found it. This full moon in Leo also activates my Nodal axis of N.Node in Leo and S. Node in Aquarius.

Regardless of what the astrological interpretation IS: I’m going to enjoy myself –and move as spirit moves me. I know what it means to be human and transcend my family, religion, race, and country. Now, I want to know, again, what it IS like to just be ME again, with nothing to transcend.

I’m starting to get my incredibly long and unmanageable mane back (my hair). I’m starting to find that spark that was purely ME again. Let’s DO this, tribe! Let’s BE US—a people full of ME—that are really good at letting other people BE whoever it is that THEY ARE… and encouraging all of us… just to BE. I look forward to this new momentum and updating my website, and all that I can make available to you via this spiritual transmission of beingness called Ka Malana. In my heart of hearts, I SEE you. I FEEL you. You have inspired me to cultivate my own spark, for you and I are ONE. Thank you.

I’ve been working with a beautiful deck by Ana Cortez, http://anacortez.com/. She and her father created the deck together. Here’s a poem about the One-Eyed Jacks by CJF that I think really illustrates the duality of Aquarius and Leo; the subjective and the objective realities; science and art. I also encourage you to check out this oracle beautiful deck, if it resonates with you.

“THE ONE-EYED JACKS”

In among the Lords and the Ladies

That rule this curious pack,

There’s a one-eyed pair of brothers

Both take the name of Jack.

At a glance they seem dissimilar,

Like night opposing day

Each looks his own direction,

Sees the world in his own way.

What’s misleading, each lives separate

And serves a different Queen

But unless they’re viewed together,

Leaves half a man unseen.

–CJF”

August 6, 2013 Leo New Moon, Heart Torus

On August 6, 2013August 18, 2015 By Ka Malana - Fiestaestrellas.comIn Astrology, LeoLeave a comment

At the ‘new moon’ the moon is conjunct (next to) the sun – both at the degree of 15 Leo. The moon looks dark in the sky. As with all new moons, the interpretation is that at this time (within 3 days) of the new moon, is the start of something new. Where in your chart – what house or area of influence? I cannot say, unless I am looking at your chart. But, I can speak more generally about how a new moon event is “unseen,” much like how a seed is planted beneath the soil. Until the seed has germinated and grown above the soil, it cannot be seen. The full moon gives us an indication of what was planted.

As I meditated and reflected, allowing what wanted to come through me for this blog post, I worked with Francis Hart’s ‘Sacred Geometry Cards.’ The card that corresponds with this new moon is called “Heart Torus: Intelligence of the Heart.” This card asks you to “integrate head and heart”… “[that] mind and emotions [Francene writes]…are “the expression and function of the intelligence of the heart.” You can get more information on her and her artwork via her website at http://www.francenehart.com/ . I have not gotten her permission to post her artwork so I’m sharing a link to her website for your own inquiry, should you wish to go deeper. Also, if you’d like to know more about the relationship between the head and the heart, check out: http://wellbeingcenter.com/happy-valentines-day-extraordinary-facts-about-your-heart/

The message of the heart torus card is perfect to express what the sign Leo represents in each of our charts. Leo asks us to be more heart-centered, to take the cultivation and upwelling of emotion from the past that was experienced in the sign of Cancer, and re-create through self expression, and giving gifts from the heart.

The Sabian Symbol for Leo 15 is “A Pageant.” If you would like to know more about Sabian Symbols, you can read more here: http://www.sabiansymbols.com/ There you can click on the Sabian Symbol Story and learn all about how Elsie Wheeler channeled the symbols, and how Marc Edmund Jones, an astrologer, came to write his book in 1953.

What we can get from “A Pageant” is showcasing your talents. Express the innate ability within you to allow your beauty to exist in the eyes of the world. Let them judge you – it is of no concern – for you have given yourself over to the expression of your joy – whatever comes of that, well, is not necessarily up to ‘you’ either. Leo is the expression of ego or identity. It also relates to the child, and with childlike innocence, the playfulness of Leo is the expression of BECOMING, a process of unveiling the individual ray of life that your experience asks you to be. It comes from within. “This little light of mine…I’m gonna let it shine…” song comes to mind.

Leo asks us to balance the head with the heart. After all the emotion and intuition brought in via the experience of the sign Cancer, and whether or not like a crab we hid ourselves, our light, our essence because we were timid. Leo asks us to step out of the closet and be not afraid of our talents, our flaws, or walking into the light of day, even into the spotlight. Remember, too, the spotlight can feel like a lonely place. This is why, as an archetype, Leo tends to be very generous. Leo wants to “give away” the energy that’s been cultivated in the sign of Cancer (through family). The sign Leo also rules children in astrology.

Aspects: Jupiter/Mars conjunction (passion/expansion) trines Neptune (spirituality, transcendence) trines North Node of the Moon at Scorpio 13 – Sabian Symbol “An inventor experimenting.”

No sign stands alone. In order to understand Leo, you have to understand the fixed cross. Here are its other members: Aquarius, Taurus, and Scorpio. These signs anchor the material plane of existence. Aquarius (air), Leo (Fire), Taurus (Earth), and Scorpio (Water). One must understand the zodiacal archetypes within the template of the whole wheel. For today, express your joy. Om Mani Padme Hum.