Happy Full Moon in Leo! This Full Moon at almost 17 degrees of Leo became exact at 1:28 PM EST/New York Time (18:28 GMT) today, Sunday, February 5, 2023.
Leo is a fixed fire sign that is represented by a lion—an animal that exemplifies pride, beauty and power. Fixed signs in the Zodiac come in the middle of a season and bring the energies of stability, endurance and stubbornness. Fire signs come with high energy, vigor, passion and outgoingness. We of course find ourselves in the middle of winter in the Northern Hemisphere—in fact we had Imbolc, which occurs almost exactly between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox, earlier this week on February 1-2.
Leo is ruled by the sun, which is the ball of fire that all planets in our solar system rely on for light and sustenance. Leo rules over the 5th House, the House of Pleasure, which is in charge of pleasure, recreation, creativity, romance, and children.
The sun currently resides in Leo's polar opposite, the fixed air sign of Aquarius. Unlike Aquarius-- which is focused on how the many can work together in unison--Leo is focused on the individual, on the ego. This is why so many celebrities are Leos!
Uranus—the planetary ruler of Aquarius—forms a tense T-square with the sun and moon, providing an element of surprise and freedom-seeking to the next 28 days. There is a revolutionary spirit in the air; it will certainly be interesting to see what happens in world affairs (in places like Peru, for example) over the next 28 days.
Let's discuss the ego-self and the personality—and how to bring out the highest aspect of yours! My rising sign is Leo, so I love discussing this topic!
BRINGING OUT YOUR HIGHEST PERSONALITY
Leo—and the sun that rules it—teach and encourage us to bring out the positive aspects of ego—or what I would term the ‘Highest Personality’.
The ego is not inherently bad. The ego is much more complex than that. The truth is, the ego (actually a better term for this is the ego-personality) is the vehicle that is necessary for the experience of being almost any type of physically incarnate being.
If you've ever played or seen someone play the computer game The Sims, you'll recognize this example. The soul is the game-player who creates the Sim, and the Sim is the ego-personality. You can't experience the 'Sim World' as the game-player (soul/consciousness) unless you create an avatar to experience the 'Sim World'. This avatar is the ego-personality.
I believe that the day and time that you are born is predetermined by your soul, meaning that your astrology is also predetermined. Your natal chart pretty well determines your personality.
Your soul chooses a particular predetermined personality that will allow the soul to experience life from a particular individuated perspective in any given lifetime.
The hundreds (or thousands) of unique individuated perspectives that your soul experiences in human form on earth—in different timelines, time periods, and geographic locations; and in different types of bodies, with different ethnic backgrounds, families/upbringings, cultures, economic climates, and geographic climates, etc.--form a complete 'wheel of experience' (to simplify, think of it as your soul experiencing the unique perspectives of all 12 signs of the Zodiac wheel, over and over again, so that it can experience the totality of the Zodiac wheel).
So your soul wants to experience life through your unique perspective. Your unique ego-personality is not a barrier to Ascension; rather, it is the vehicle through which you are meant to experience Ascension.
Now, as you go through your Ascension process, your personality will inevitably shift and evolve. Some of the Shadow aspects of your personality that show up in your birth chart—the negative, immature, and unhealthy tendencies and aspects of ego—will dissolve away and you will embody more and more of the most positive, healthy, and spiritually mature aspects of your particular ego-personality.
In fact, as one Ascends, what is really happening is that the aspects of the personality that come directly from the soul are starting to shine through. Yes, it's true. The soul has a unique personality too! And it's likely that if the soul has a personality, so does the oversoul/Soul Group (12 souls) and the monad (12 oversouls = 144 souls).
I believe it's likely that all individuated aspects of the All-That-Is have a unique personality. Perhaps it's a logical given, considering all individuated aspects of the All-That-Is have a unique perspective due to having a unique experience of existence.
One of the best ways to bring out that Highest Personality is to focus on purity. As empaths, we tend to sponge up 'stuff' from others, and if we don't know how to set boundaries with others and shield or cleanse ourselves spiritually, we won't be able to experience our highest personalities coming to life. You can't be fully YOU if you're expressing all sorts of 'crap' from others!
To experience more purity, it is important to spend occasional time in sacred solitude, and plenty of time in nature. Man is a social creature, yes, and that truth is illuminated during this Leo time; however along the spiritual journey the importance of alone time cannot be understated.
It is also crucial to practice spiritual hygiene: take cleansing baths, use palo santo or sage, and use visualization and sound frequencies to keep yourself clear. Cut negative cords with people in your life. Also, exercise daily--it moves stuck energy out of your energy field.
Around this Full Moon and over the course of the next 28 days is the time to highlight the most positive and charismatic aspects of your unique ego-personality. I feel like as a Leo Rising I need to be an ambassador for this point. Don't be afraid to let yourself loose, to let yourself shine! You deserve it!
I feel that I have a pretty good sense of humor. Without my sense of humor, I think my life would be pretty boring and depressing, and I wouldn't be able to meet so many cool people.
So I consider my sense of humor one of those 'soul' aspects of my personality. And Leo rules over humor—so if you also have a ‘funny bone’, let that aspect of you shine like the sun over the next 28 days!
Here are some questions of self-inquiry to help you figure out which aspects of the ego-personality might be from the soul-self and which aspects you still might need to transmute. Feel free to journal on these if you feel so called:
Which aspects of my personality am I most proud of?
Which aspects of my personality serve others best?
Which aspects of my personality feel most associated with Love?
Which aspects of my personality do I feel like come from my soul?
Do I have a tendency to hide these most positive aspects of my personality?
Am I afraid to be seen? Why might I have this fear? Could it come from childhood? Teenage years? Past lives?
Could I allow myself to shine more?
Which aspects of my personality are toxic, manipulative, codependent, or martyrish?
What do I know deep down that I need to do better in order to transmute these negative patterns into healthier ones?
How would my Highest Possible Self act in this body of mine? How would they speak?
Leo is also associated with the Inner Child. Let's discuss. HONORING THE INNER CHILD Leo is the most childlike sign of the Zodiac, bringing with it an air of freedom, play and unabashedness. It is an aspect that we all carry within, though unfortunately most of us forget it is there as we journey from childhood to our teen years and into various stages of adulthood. As adults, we can become so disconnected with how it feels to be a child. Sometimes I get nostalgic recalling how amazing and adventurous everything was when I was a kid. How my friends and I would spend from after school until sundown playing sports and games in my backyard, taking breaks to drink my mother's delicious fruit punch. My yard was the biggest in the neighborhood, so all the kids would congregate there. In the wintertime we would build elaborate snow forts and go sledding often, taking full advantage of the overabundance of snow in Western New York. Most adults in today's Western world have become disconnected from their Inner Children. Society is structured in a way that most people don't have time to connect with their Inner Child, as they are too busy just trying to earn enough money to survive. And many of those who do make more than enough to survive end up finding themselves lost in illusions/addictions like gambling, alcohol, drugs, pornography or sexual obsession. In fact, one of the reasons that so many teens and adults find themselves so enamored with those things is that it gives them an outlet to play. (Note: I'm not saying there's anything inherently wrong with gambling; alcohol; substances that are classified as drugs; pornography; or sex; it's all about how they are used—is it a healthy experience of play/pleasure or is it addiction/obsession/escapism?) But we can find ways to play in more innocent ways. We can dance. We can sing. We can make silly faces. We can make jokes. We can throw snowballs at one another. Doing an Inner Child meditation would be a great idea around this Full Moon. I like to take myself in my mind to a beautiful forest scene and really sink into this setting. I then imagine my Inner Child approaching from a distance, and I ask him what is it he needs from me that I haven't been giving him? I embrace him, I hug him, and I make sure he feels like I am there for him and I am listening to him.
If you've never done an Inner Child meditation before, you may find that your Inner Child shows up at the age that you feel like you experienced the most trauma and abuse. This is because whatever basic physical or emotional needs that weren't met by your caretakers at that age are what you then spend the rest of your lifetime healing. The things that people say or do that trigger you most directly relate to those unmet needs of your Inner Child. As an awakening being, you now have the opportunity to heal your Inner Child and experience the liberation of being a fully integrated sovereign adult consciousness. To do this, we first must get to know the voice of the Inner Child and identify what needs he or she has. When the Inner Child's needs haven't been met and then are continuously ignored during adulthood, the Inner Child must find a way to get the conscious attention of the operator of the consciousness.
So, the Inner Child will put on a scary mask, so to speak, and become the Shadow. The Shadow Self can trigger you to act out in the darkest of ways, or even to attract people to treat you in nasty ways. The Shadow Self may sabotage your dreams and make it difficult for you to move forward. The good news is that by listening to the voice of the Inner Child, the Inner Child feels seen, heard, and acknowledged, and thus doesn't need to morph into the Shadow to get your attention. When we consciously make the choice to honor those needs that the Inner Child has let us know he or she has, we can make rapid leaps forward in our spiritual development. Here are some questions to ask yourself to help you get into deeper communion with your Inner Child: - If I had to guess, what would my Inner Child say about my life as it is now? Would (s)he be happy about it? - If I had to guess, what would my Inner Child say about my current living environment? Would (s)he be happy about it? - If I had to guess, what would my Inner Child say about my current job/career? Would (s)he be happy about it? - If I had to guess, what kind of things have I been neglecting to give my Inner Child that (s)he needs? - Which activities or creative endeavors from my childhood have I neglected lately? - Have I been taking life too seriously? - Do I let myself fall into the trap of the seriousness of those around me? - In what ways am I still mean or nasty to myself? How can I stop being mean or nasty to myself? - Am I OK with failing? How could I learn to be OK and forgive myself when I fail or mess up? - Do I forgive myself instantly or do I tend to hold things against myself? - How could I practice instant self-forgiveness? - Do I tend to let others' negative emotions take me over? How could I avoid this pitfall? - Am I OK looking silly or stupid to others? Does what others think of me actually really matter? - Am I truly honoring my deepest desires?
VENUS SQUARES MARS: VOLATILITY IN ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS
Venus, the planet of love and romance, is currently in Pisces. It squares Mars in Gemini on this Full Moon. This could spell trouble, quarrels, and volatility for romantic relationships—especially with the Full Moon being in ego-enhancing Leo.
It has been said that men are from Mars and women are from Venus; well, when these two planets square, the apparent differences between men and women—in the way that we think and communicate—becomes more apparent. This makes quarrels and squabbles easy to come by in romantic relationships (including queer relationships).
When you feel your ego flaring up (the not-so-positive, egotistical part of ego, I mean), it’s extra-important to remind yourself to quell that ego flare over the next 28 days. It’s generally going to be better to just let little things go in romantic relationships to avoid devolving into arguments (and this goes for friendships, family relationships, and business relationships as well).
Also, with the Full Moon being in Leo, use humor to diffuse difficult interpersonal situations over the next 28 days. Laughter disarms people and energetically encourages them to step out of the inflated ego, which can allow for productive conversation and (hopefully) resolution to take place.
Wishing you a Happy Full Moon in Leo!
With Love,
Matthew John
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