Full Moon in Leo: What's Blocking You From Shining?
I seem to be obsessed with the Moon these days. I can trace the path in my own chart, illuminating why I am so profoundly tugged by these particular tides in this particular moment. As I turn my gaze inward I am filled with a sense of coming home to myself and immensely grateful for the reunion of places within that I had unwittingly neglected over time in the busyness of life.
As I have said before it is very ironic that everyone basically knows their Sun sign but we live our daily lives from our Moon. It is our home. The place where we take our clothes off and are able to be our most vulnerable. Our softest place.
Ideally over time, our lifetime, we are able to consciously integrate and blend the energies of our Sun, our developing self with our Moon, the repository of our past experience and everything familiar. This begins by being hospitable to ourselves and our experience. In essence, when we are hospitable to ourselves we are able to feel safe enough to fully share the beauty of our vast inner world authentically with the outer world. This truly is the great work of our lives for all of us. To nakedly be ourselves. And to feel safe and nurtured in doing so.
This Wednesday, February 16, we have our annual Full Moon in Leo. This is a fiery creative Moon. Wherever we have Leo in our chart, and all have it somewhere whether it is emphasized or not, we are learning to shine and spread our warmth. Leo is a creative sign, connected with fun, play, self discovery and the pleasure of being alive. At its core though, the essence of perhaps spiritual practice of the Leonine energy is about understanding what it truly means to love and appreciate ourselves. All of ourselves, particularly the places where we feel most vulnerable and let pride get in the way being living the life we dream of experiencing.
New Moons symbolize new beginnings, Full Moons symbolize culminations and release.
This is a potent Full Moon for dispelling self doubt, particularly this year with Saturn in Aquarius sitting opposite reminding us of where we have the tendency to feel like an outcast. Our shadow self, which is really just the wounded part of us really just needs a healthy dose of self love and acceptance. If you don’t have an immediate idea of what you need to banish, look into your obsessive thoughts, toxic habits, time-wasting activities, and familiar insecurities. Most of us know exactly which habits aren’t serving us anymore. In particular direct your gaze towards any unworthy notions of yourself — the inner voices that prevent you from expressing the authentic core of your being. Think of this core as a sacred flame that needs to be fed. Passionate, mysterious, forever changing its shape, as it dances and plays with the surrounding world.
Leo rules the heart, how perfect that this Full Moon falls two days after Valentine’s Day! I invite you to hold loving yourself, being hospitable to yourself as a spiritual practice. To daily feed your internal flame and watch it grow.
Leo Full Moon Ritual:
Set the stage by finding a quiet place to center yourself. Light a candle, symbolizing your inner flame, take a deep breath and go within. Imagine a glowing light in the center of your heart and allow yourself to bask in its warmth. When you can feel its warmth flowing throughout your being invite your inner doubts, toxic habits, obsessive thoughts and feelings, any notion of unworthiness into the warmth of your heart’s love. Invite these places of fear into the light. Into the transformative power of love. Bring them in from the cold and darkness where they have felt so rejected, into the warmth of your inner core. Breathe deeply, welcome these parts of yourself that are simply expressions of where you have experienced rejection back into the fold. Breathe this warmth that you have gathered into these places until you experience a sense of unity and completion knowing that all parts of you are sacred simply because they belong to you.
