Full Moon at 5 degrees of Leo: The Pain of Birthing the Self and the Bigger Pain of Not Birthing the Self

January 25 2024

This moon reaches its fullness in the solar sign of Leo- the seed in the heart of the self, the flame being cultivated within, reaching emergence. This full moon brings up the courage of selfhood and the ways in which we sometimes exile our true selves from our lives.

Becoming is not a destination but a transfigurative process that requires constant listening to. Leonine consciousness is deeply about the process of the self, the uncovering, the inner cultivation, the holding of the truth, the need to knock down some parts of the self and salvage others.

It is the witnessing of the self and the desire to listen to the power of the deep hero’s journey that unfolds from a central place within. We confront challenges that can derail us or trick us into hiding inner desires of becoming behind that which does not truly represent us.

We are confronted with the pain of birthing the self and the bigger pain of not birthing the self. We decide how we can manage the force of our becoming while getting to know the hidden fears of our own selves or the lack of trust in our own journeys.

This process is highlighted by Pluto’s significant ingress into Aquarius and I find it interesting that Aquarius is where the king is exiled, and the forces of sovereignty are no longer within his reigns. This suggests that we may be invited to examine the ways that we have locked ourselves out of our lives, where we experience underlying disorientation or panic around our solar achievements so far. Who are we going to become? Who have we become so far? Who do we become in this world as it gets progressively weirder?

This Leo Full moon calls us into fertilising centredness, into the inner space that stabilises chaotic emotion and acting against the self bringing a calm that makes the self permeable again. We can begin to defend our own sense of inner order while remaining open to our ever changing purpose and role within the self we inhabit. In these times we are asked to remain open and touched by the world but remain steadfast in the knowing of our own integrity of being and purpose.

We must be able to acknowledge all our weaknesses and talents and guide ourselves into an expression of fullness, to bring out more of the self even as the stage we are invited to participate in is rapidly shifting and unpredictable. The forming of the self is slow and magnificent work shaped by the power of elemental forces. We get to choose what we represent in this life and how much of that which is authentic in us we can spill onto the world as an offering. Selfhood and even purpose can be myopic at times, but Leo rules the heart and its true essence lies in its sense of building a self that serves the world well.

We all get to choose what we represent in this life and make it our work to find purpose in the multiple roles we inhabit for ourselves and others.To see ourselves clearly we must see ourselves from above, from the tethers that connect us to the people of this world, and from the centre, where it all falls apart and comes again. The Moon squares Jupiter echoing his conversation with Venus. This creates a warm space where all the parts of the self are reinvited to sit at the table and move beyond stuckness into cooperation.

I build myself slowly
In a quiet space
Where I can hear myself clearly.
I find an ancient part of me
Next to a pregnant idea of me
And see their continuity.
I leave myself behind
And pick me up from curbs
I wait years on.
I invite myself into my life to take over.
I forget some parts of me existed.
Some parts won’t let me forget they exist.
I very humbly thank myself for myself,
For the song of myself I came to live.
I hear it being sung when I shut up
And listen to what God put inside me.
I know I must carry myself forth
As I was carried out of the blackness
Into the world that birthed me
And now I am here and remember the song
And I imagine the horror of not speaking at all
So i must do something with myself,
So I build myself slowly in a quiet space.