Full Moon In Leo: “Who is this I?”

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?

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.

Lunar New Year– Aquarius NM Jan 29, 2025

Hello and welcome.

We will be entering the year of the “Wood Snake,” in the Chinese calendar. This, as with many Asian and Jewish cultural traditions (and countless others I didn’t mention) have a focus on the lunar calendar (basing the new year on that) vs. just the solar calendar/Gregorian calendar. The Chinese calendar is more-so based on the planet Jupiter. Jupiter changes signs approx every year. So, the Chinese “animal” is annual. These different astrological frameworks (cultural traditions), can enhance and help flesh out interpretations of what’s to come, be, or what feels like it’s ripe and ready to turn the corner. They are complimentary to each other, rather than contradictory. Consider it all a Zen Koan.

I’m not getting a ton of intuitive insights right now, but I will share what I’ve got. This year has the potential to be very creative and full of growth. The wood energy is all very directional and intentional–so having some solid and flexible plans (think of bamboo) will certainly help to make the best use of this energy. With the Western astrological sign of Aquarius, we are also looking at a time of pretty profound novel ideas. The air element in the Western astrology is *very* present. Just look at the astrological map down below: 4 planets in absolute or near conjunction: Sun, Moon (yes we call the moon a planet in astrology), Mercury and Pluto! Wow wee… With Mercury there, and newly minted “Pluto in Aquarius” for he long haul, the emphasis is on transformational and profound ideas, and changes! Power is being reconfigured in every single way. With the presence of Pluto, nothing will look the same again. But, I think you already knew that! Hah!

Venus and Neptune in Pisces can actually strongly enhance our intuition, and our ability to tap the spiritual for compassion, comfort, and more. Interestingly, those two planets, along with Saturn in Pisces are forming a “trine” or easy-flow aspect to Mars in Retrograde) in Cancer. The time is now to work through those emotions, clarify that road within to understand the movements of our urges and desires. We have a change to step back and get a better angle on seeing it all from different perspectives with that strong help from Aquarius!!! It’s a good time work with the desire nature in a way that tempers it, but also, while helping that desire nature to flourish in a productive way (pointing back to the “message from the Lunar New Year: growth and creativity!).

As if there wasn’t enough Aquarian influence, that Venus/Neptune conjunction is also in harmonious aspect with Uranus (sextile) and that means that whenever Mars and Uranus start moving forward again (Did you guess it would be so close to the New Moon/Lunar New Year?!– Jan 30th), innovation rules the roost! Mars won’t follow suit until Feb 24 when it goes direct in Cancer at 17 degrees. This is actually marvelous. Uranus astrologically is definitely known as the great disruptor–but also the great liberator! Humanity needs to see clearly, but can it? With the strong Piscean addendum/influence to this Lunar New Year, it seems that there could certainly be a lot of confusion. What does the muddling mean? Well, the Ego won’t tell you. And, the Ego is okay and not a bad guy, but fear is the matrix for promoting non-change, “stay the same” and not reclaiming any new freedoms. So there is a need to “wake up.” It’s not a really good catch phrase, “wake up.” A better word form would be “SEE CLEARLY NOW.” How can we see clearly if we already have so many fears and conclusions? It’s much harder to keep the mind open, to watch, and wait and see. Isn’t it? Well, this is the time to do that.

Focus on your only locus of control: your own life, behavior, patterns, thoughts, schedules, and rhythms, and that will really, really help. To back up what I’m saying, Mercury in Aquarius is forming a trine to Jupiter in Gemini. There can be some transformation in the “lightening up of the load” by truly focusing on the narrow and small. The narrow and small, and the big picture can both be part of the clarity–but none of us our omniscient, so we gotta work with just what we’ve got now. What is right there in front of you, staring right back? That doesn’t mean you can’t strive for more. It just means you have to start with the stump you are already on, right now. Right here, and right now.

Happy Lunar New Year Everyone!

Let’s make this a year to grow our own gardens of possibility. It can take on any form. And the best part is, all you need to do is make the choice, and then hold the “space for it.” Yeow! Let’s have the best time we can!