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Full Moon at 13 Leo (Sun at 13 Aquarius)

2 February 2026 (local time - Kurrajong, NSW, Australia)


Wow, well the past couple of weeks have felt both heavy and intense with so many planets moving in to dance with Pluto in Aquarius. We will find that this Full Moon still carries much of the flavors that have been awakened for us on both personal and collective levels.
Leo is a fixed fire sign and so while it sits opposite to much of the Aquarian energy by sign, it is really keyed into the major move of Neptune ingressing into the sign of Aries (also a fire sign). Leo energy always asks us to be authentic in a naked and vulnerable way - when we respond poorly what usually happens is we are inauthentic in a very loud and dramatic kind of way. Naked vulnerability is not what we are wired into or taught through culture. It's why Leo energy gets such a bad rap and is so deeply misunderstood. When the Moon is full here we have this opposition between the intuitive truth of our soul (Moon) and the conscious vision of our minds and intellects (Sun in Aquarius). I say it all the time, opposition does not have to mean conflict. Yes, it can be a tug of war or a see-saw but it can also be two people holding hands and thus each able to lean farther out in opposing directions than they would be able to without the balancing weight of the other. Oppositions when used in this way can be both anchoring and innovative. We are stronger together than we are separate.
This is the lesson of this Full Moon. As fixed air, Aquarian energy can run the risk of being too cold and removed and often if feels like it is on the outside looking in to "belonging". Leo too is looking for belonging. Its something both of these energies have in common. For Leo the trick to belonging is to stay grounded, true and authentic and when applause isn't happening to go and search of the right audience. For Aquarius belong come from allowing itself to be a hollow bone - to stay grounded and true to its values and vision and allow itself to be a channel for whatever messages need to come from that place into now. Neither Leo nor Aquarius are guaranteed applause. Messengers and prophets (Aquarian energy) are known for being shot and stoned, and Leo - well, we can see how well it is received by all the disparaging press this sign gets for being a self absorbed loud show pony with big hair.
For me it is way more interesting to try to understand why an energy is present in this way. If someone spent a lot of time being made small - don't you think learning to step into themselves fully and be big and loud about it might be in order? And if someone was in a position of authority and thus spent a lot of time with folks hanging off their every word, maybe some time is needed where they needed practice getting out of their own way. In both cases there there is a quality of humility and authenticity that is required - the same but in different ways. And that is the key here - the anchor point. All aspects are about integration.
Yes, during Full Moons, the lunar energy is very loud, but with so much energy in Aquarius i think we are well balance to feel pulled very strongly in two directions. This can be some crazy making. It can be very tense and uncomfortable. We might have big emotions or want to retreat into a dorsal vagal state (think of a turtle hibernating). With Mars having just had its conjunction with Pluto things can seem really grim. Again the key here is authenticity and humility. They are the ways we actually get to the sense of belonging that we are really after.
Belonging after all is just a longing to be.
We are in changing times. There are no 'fixes' just like there is no 'going back'. With Neptune changing signs and Saturn just about to follow we are embarking into new territory. Our old stories and patterns and habits won't serve us the way they have in the past. We have to find our bottom lines. We have to stand in our own individual truth. We have to find our rightful place. This is not about becoming something different or about learning or growing into something. It is about BEING just as you are in this moment and meeting it with the vulnerability of your own authenticity. It is no small ask. If not now... then when? We are the ones we have been waiting for.

New Moon in Capricorn

19 Jan 2026: 6:53am (exact, local time)
The New Moon in Capricorn gives us a rare 6 planet out of sign stellium with Mercury-Mars in tight conjunction to the Sun & Moon from Capricorn, with Venus and Pluto joining the stellium from Aquarius.

"Start as you mean to go on" - is a good motto for this New Moon. Capricorn is cardinal earth, it wants facts and step by step action for strong foundations. Capricorn always brings themes of integrity and longevity to the fore. Aquarius is fixed air. Pluto wants our honest evolution, aiming deeply and intensely to do so. Venus wants our values and connectivity, she moves through grace and aesthetic. Both teach us about power dynamics. Air activates the intellect and the mind. As we step forward into 2026, things will continue to move slowly until midyear and so we may feel stuck in a doorway or threshold, anxious and wondering what we are doing with our lives and our energy. Trust the process. This pause can be very useful if we don't dissipate our attention thru frustration.
Use this New Moon as a time to seed a message for yourself and the collective. We can remember that instead of acting rashly from a place of anxiety or stuckness, we can choose to use this time to center ourselves and ground (Capricorn) into our collective (Aquarian) ideals (Venus), not by ignoring our shadows, but by acknowledging them (Pluto) and have the courage and willpower (Mars) to walk our talk (Mercury) from where we actually are at now in this moment. Stelliums really highlight focused embodiment of energy. So we keep our feet grounded in the truth of where we actually are, and from here turn and face our shadow and the discomfort that is just a part of growing. "Responsibility is simply the ability to respond", and we can do so taking our shadow by the hand and walking into the unknown from this more integrated and evolved place.
When there is a New Moon, the Sun and Moon are in conjunction and so both are bringing forth the same energy through their different lenses. The Sun is our yang - our conscious day time awareness that moves linearly and outwardly. The Moon is our yin - our intuitive, reflective night time awareness that moves circularly and inwardly. Together they form the energy of the spiral, a pattern on which much of the known universe - from our DNA to our galaxy, sunflowers to seashells - is based.
What do you fear more - Change or things staying the same?  "If we keep doing what we've been doing, we'll keep getting what we've got." Venus conjunct Pluto in Aquarius advises us to lean into one another, without turning away from or avoiding our shadows and the messiness of our actual growing and humanity. In Aquarius, they promise that by reaching into creativity together, we are able to envision something totally different from the old forms and what we have been habituated to seek. So let us embrace the discomfort of this time, knowing that only by doing so can we evolve into the change we want to be in the world.
Saturn and Neptune are sextiling this New Moon from Pisces and so there is tangible magic in the air, but we will have to actually work for it. Pisces is mutable water and these days between now and Feb 15 we can seed prayers and intentions more easily into the ether. When Saturn and Neptune form the exact conjunct at 0 Aries on the 15th of Feb, it marks a very tangible shift into cardinal fire energy, where the vibe of intensity and force, initiation and transformation will tend to dominate. Aries is known for being rash, blustery and impervious. Think of a seed deep in the dark earth at the point of germination - it requires those qualities to grasp the spark of life and push through heavy soil into light where it can unfurl its still vulnerable new possibility. It means that the seeds we sow now while the gods of form (Saturn) and formlessness (Neptune) are still drenched in compassionate driven, empathetic Pisces energy are really key to what we will be harvesting in the future.

New Moon in Leo

New Moon in Leo

5:11am, 25 July 2025 - local time, Kurrajong, NSW Australia

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This is a very complicated New Moon, with lots of big players getting into the game... or rather this New Moon really initiates some of the big picture energies of the outer planetary alignments that have been moving into new positions over the past weeks.

In and of themselves, New Moons are initiations periods - that dark moment when a seed germinates in the soil, invisible and yet highly potent. They are times when energies are ripe for manifestation. In Leo we are getting a bright glimpse, something is shining forth and showing both its teeth and its vulnerabilities. Leo is ruled by the Sun and because all New Moons are conjunctions between the Luminaries, Leo New Moons always have extra potency. Leo energy always asks two things of us - unabashed authenticity and the bold willingness to walk off the stage in search of our rightful audience if the current one is unable to appreciate our true selves.... and not in a hissy fit or a cloud of shame, but in non-judgmental curiosity for the better fit that awaits us all. Your current audience might actually need a love story and what you were born to give is action and swashbuckling adventure. No one need be wrong or bad here... it's just about finding what actually goes together. Think of it like a puzzle - don't force the pieces, just keep plugging away until they actually match.

This New Moon is opposite Pluto, the lord of shadows and obsessions and things that make us cringe and want to turn away. And so a very big part of this means facing our fear demons head on. Allowing ourselves to feel our insecurities and vulnerabilities and just allowing the discomfort of it to be there without needing to tell ourselves a story about it. Well, sure we could... this is a New Moon in Leo after all - drama queen galore if that is the path we want to walk down, but remember that you are in your seed and germination stage... is that really what you want to grow? especially given the big picture nature of the outer planetary patterning that is being initiated? We stand on the cross roads and we can allow our small selves to carry the day and choose the next 8-14 year chapters, or we can stand strong in our center and face the onslaught of our own discomfort and by doing so, help to turn the tide of the global story by showing up in our authentic truth. Being naked in public is never comfortable.... and even though it is going to be hard to sense and realise, know that everyone is in the same boat at this time. So your individual bravery and loving compassion and authentic vulnerability will by its very nature help others to realize their own possible potentials (Leo and the Sun are both known for their generous giving life force energy).

This Moon is also sextile Uranus in Gemini, so it is really a time when we can catapult into new paradigms by leapfrogging with one another - for good or for ill. Ultimately Uranus wants freedom, but if we cannot harness our courage and dare to reach for what our soul authentically hungers for - to be seen and appreciated for who we actually are - we will choose petty rebellions to fuel our discontent and waste this golden opportunity for mind blowing growth and change. And again this will set the tone for the next 8 year Uranus cycle.

This Moon is also trining the Saturn-Neptune conjunction in Aries - both of these planets are retrograde and so it means we need to revisit our responsibilities for our own spiritual growth. Saturn conjunct Neptune asks us to get real and grow up, to do some hard and honest work on our spiritual evolution. The Aries energy lets us know that it is going to take the fire of our will power to actually stand in our rightful place. And with Aries' ruler Mars in Virgo conjunct the South Node we know it will be key for us to give up and let go of our need to be right or perfect as well as our stories of guilt and shame that go along with those needs. Those stories are all tied up with the ways we by-pass spiritually. In order to really evolve as individuals we need to first connect with our real and true selves - warts and all... and without the shame and guilt. Because unconditional compassionate love means we ALL belong. "God don't make no junk." When we can show up as our whole selves and share that with one another, then we easily can begin to create community and belonging that flips the table on all the fear mongering and scarcity mindset patterns that have come to dominate the global reality. Or we can get righteous and insist we have already done our work and have risen above all that nonsense, slamming the door to what actually shows up on our path... sure.... that's an option. Just know that Neptune's passage through Aries is a 14 year story. Start as you mean to go on, because if there is one thing that Saturn is known for - its determination and that means it will follow a long and harrowing path to its very end as much as it would be determination to scale the legendary heights of Shangrila.

And before you scoff and go on your merry way, I offer the words of my wise teacher, Steven Forrest 'to see the glass half full is just as true as to see the glass as half empty. One perspective is far more liberatory and leads to much more creative and generative solutions to the real problems that plague us than the other'.  

I will say it again... we are at a crossroads, your choices and where you choose to place your foot next matters - not just for you personally, but for the wider we. Each of us casts a vote every moment, and some moments are more potent and decisive than others. This New Moon is one of those decisive moments, so stay present and stay rooted in your true heart. When you notice you have drifted off course - and you will - give yourself all the love and compassion you have to offer in that moment as well as a big hurray for noticing and then get your ass back in alignment with you deepest truest heart centered attention and set your determination to stay present and mindful and true to yourself for as long as you are able. We are the ones we've been waiting for... not our fantasy super hero selves, but the true rickety, shamozzle of humanity that we actually are. Creation in all her wisdom, made us just right for this moment. So be Honest and be Vulnerable. Shine YOUR light and trust in what made you.

Go Team!

Solar Eclipse in Aries 2025

New Moon: Solar Eclipse 29 March 2025, 9:59 pm - local time: Bilpin, NSW Australia

The astrology world is a-buzz with a lot of talk and predictions to get your heart rate up these days, especially with this upcoming Solar Eclipse in Aries along Neptune moving into Aries on the 31st. Neptune usually stays in a sign about 13-14 years on average, so yea this is a big shift. The outer planets govern our collective zeitgeist, so we can expect change a big energetic shift in our collective energy and focus - over the next 14 years or so. This energy will not erupt overnight, but rather build momentum over time. Neptune governs 'possibility' so we need to consider the whole range from the spiritual to the delusional. This past cycle was in Pisces, an energy that wants to dissolve and abdicate its own smaller ego self into a larger mass. This could be unity consciousness or conspiracy theories and we surely have seen a flowering of spiritual focus within the collective as well as mass delusion. Astrology can't show us where anything will land in the spectrum - that part is up to the individual players and the work we have each done and are willing to do to evolve our individual consciousness.
The point of Neptune is simply to get us to question the nature of reality and thus widen the scope of probability. Pisces is a very different kind of energy than Aries. Aries is considered the 'beginning energy' of the zodiac, so here we can be both a bit naive and a bit reactionary, but most often - just blundery. This energy is known for learning about itself by bumping into things. As the outgrowth from the previous energy of Pisces which is porous and in its shadow says "i can be whoever you want me to be", Aries is more about boundaries and claiming its own space and autonomy. It says "i am" and wants to exercise 'beingness'. Be careful not get rigid in your imagination when considering Aries. It is not an earth sign, which would make it about form and manifestation of the body. It is a fire sign, which is mostly about transformation and the spirit (earth=body/form, air=mind/intellect, water=heart/emotions, fire=spirit/essence). In 4 element pattern theologies fire transmutes what water has dissolved (Pisces is a water sign). So while water softens the connections and loosens boundaries, fire burns complex forms down into their base parts and then reforms them - a bit the way the liver works in the body.
This solar eclipse lands near the North Node, meaning that it is metabolic or about taking in (when an eclipse lands the Moon near the South Node we know it is catabolic or about purging). Eclipses are always considered wild cards, when the normal patterning of energy is suspended and something out of the ordinary can emerge. It is that chaos moment, when anything can happen. So as what we have collectively been focused on and dissolving into, gets shaken around and served back to us, pay attention to where you land and what feels like your boundary - where you stop and another begins. Will you claim what belongs to you and work to transmute and transform THAT, nothing more - nothing less?
This eclipse is certainly a threshold. The doorway into possibility thrown open and we are all collectively about to step into a new paradigm regarding our individual comprehension and interest into the nature of reality. As individuals within a collective, we will be learning about personal autonomy and how actual individual choices contributes to the larger field of probability. I suspect we shall all be bumping into a few things as we figure out who we actually are and how that beingness interacts with all the other beings out there doing the same. Remember this next Neptune cycle is about fire energy, so we have an opportunity to transmute the very nature reality. Steven Forrest, in his most recent podcast called up the beautiful words of Ram Das : 'It doesn't matter if we are on the verge of an apocalypse or on the verge of a flowering of enlightenment... - the work remains the same.'
(Here, here!) So let us work to love ourselves more completely... and not just because it means that we can then love others better too. But rather because when we make our shadow as welcome to sit with us as our super hero, we might finally begin to grasp that we are neither our worst selves, nor are we our best selves. We are simply ourselves - more complex and nuanced than that binary model allows for. I for one, suspect that the unfolding collective moment we find ourselves in, will require just such delicate and unfathomable blend of complexity and nuance to meet it. Aries demands that we us get our feet wet. It asks us to begin. Aries energy is never about planning, nor strategy - it is simply the doing of the thing. So set your fears aside, grab the tool at hand and charge into the moment. You are enough.

Mars in Cancer

I just wanted to talk a bit about Mars in Cancer.

I have been reading and listening to a lot of astrologers getting really glum and anxious about the astrology of September and with sound reason. But i also know that it is the stories we tell ourselves and each other that lay the seeds for the future.

Any of you who work with me, read me, or looked at my chart know that i am simply not a "flight into light" kind of person. So i am definately not going to ever tell you that things are rosy - they aren't. We all know this. We also all know that the issues and problems we face as a species, socially, emotionally, environmentally - pretty much on any front you care to examine closely - are epic. And while many are becoming addicted to astrology to tell them how to prepare, i think this is a very poor use of this amazing tool. A hammer can help bash your thumb or help build your house. Astrology is the same. We wield the tools. We are the story tellers. It's kinda the definition of human don't you think?

And so, yes, Mars in Cancer is super emo. It isn't seen as a favorable placement for Mars for obvious reasons. Ramping up emotions isn't always a good thing these days - especially if we are on a hair trigger, waiting for the shoe to drop, not being present, afraid of feeling our feels. And so these reasons are why folks are approaching Mars in Cancer this way.

But as a story teller and tool wielder, i want to offer another astrological perspective to consider. What if the point of Mars in Cancer is to give us courage and willingness to feel our own tender places, acknowledge our vulnerabilities? What if we were all more willing to be present with our shadowy murky waters whose tides ebb and flow? Might that not act as medicine to all the rage and violence and greed and apathy rampant in our world? What if we were willing to dive into ourselves and bravely hold our ground in own wild hearts to actually face our fears and overwhelm instead of running from it? Anger is always a reaction to fear, just as rage is always a reaction to grief. It might not look like it, and we might have lots of ready counter arguments, but anyone who has done depth work with these emotions inevitably finds fear and grief at their roots. When we fail to show up for our fear, just like when we abandon ourselves in our grief, Mars is very happy to help us along in often not very evolved ways. But this isn't inevitable. He is just as happy to lend us courage and staying power. Cancer more than any other sign likes to go within. Mars in Cancer's super power is its ability to feel our feelings deeply and without flinching or a need to excuse them. This is the first step on the healing journey. And we all could use a bit more work on this front.

If there is something that you know you have to work on and unpack and own - this extended period of Mars in Cancer can really help. Yes of course you can find things to throw a pity part over and yes, you will have plenty of moments to have someone or something get on your very last nerve. If you want to tell a story about how your back got broke, hay bales will abound that you can load onto your hump. But that is the point - what story are you interested in telling? Are you in enough pain and do you see enough misery in the world that you are willing to do the hardest thing? Let go of the old story.

For most of September, Mercury is in Virgo - the sign of rulership and exaltation and the ruler of Jupiter in Gemini. What energy better understands how to tell both sides of a story but Gemini? What planet better rewards noble efforts by expanding the results but Jupiter? What planet is the quintessential storyteller, who can travel freely both in the upper and lower worlds, for whom no door is locked, but Mercury? What energy most asks us to pay attention to the detail and to learn discernment, but Virgo?

Astrology tells us that the nativity is important. What was where, and how all the players are playing together when something begins. When Mars ingressed into Cancer, where was his planetary partner Venus? She was in her ruling sign of balance and inclusion, sandwiched between the Moon and the South Node. This tells us that intuition (Moon) and karmic patterns (South Node) were on the table when it comes to how we relate (Venus) and all were in a dance of inclusion and balance (Libra). Libran energy is not so much the energy of the scales as it is the energy of the fulcrum - Libra knows how to find the place between disparate and conflicting things, because it gives everything a voice and thus widens the scope of possibility. Similar to Mercury, Venus will also be in Libra for most of September.

And let us not forget that Retrograde Pluto and Retrograde Uranus are forming a trine. Pluto wants us to evolve and become more conscious and Uranus wants us to change and individuate. In Capricorn, Pluto is pointing to deep systemic changes in the way we honor and work with facts. In Taurus, Uranus is asking for tangible changes to how we embody our power and use that power to influence and build the world around us.

There are lots of ways to use a hammer, and there are lots of ways to tell all kinds of stories. They'll tell you in AA "if you keep doin what you are doin, you'll keep getting what you've got". The metaphysical farmer in me says "if you plant potatoes, you will get potatoes - if you plant roses, you will get roses." We are the stories we tell. Tara Brach says 'the wave only thinks its separate from the ocean.' We have to sit inside ourselves long enough to remember that we are the ocean. Mark Nepo writes "to listen is to lean in, softly, with the willingness to be changed by what we hear." Personally the story i am going to pursue is the one where Mars in Cancer is here to help us not only bravely plumb our own murky depths, but offer us the force needed to shift the bedrock of the stories we ourselves tell about it.

It's funny how if you were to ask any astrologer "who rules the will?", they would all immediately say "Mars". Similarly if you asked astrologers which planet rules "power" or force, very nearly all of them would again point to Mars. And yet, rare is the astrologer that honors Mars by attributing him with "will-power" - the very words that most describe him. He is always the hot head who we need to monitor and be super careful with. I have Mars conjunct my Sun. Yes, i have had a lifetime of personal study with rage and anger, as well as fear and grief - in helpful and unhelpful ways. And personally, i give thanks to that beautiful feisty planet. My capacity for all of those difficult emotions are HUGE - meaning, i have a large vessel. I have both the will and the power to contain these waves however violent and stormy. I can use my will-power to ride the waves, until i remember that i am the ocean.

One needs great courage when diving deep into the vulnerable waters of Cancer. One needs great will to stand strong and unflinching with a wide open heart. One needs tremendous power to shift the lead weight of those unhelpful stories we have bound ourselves too.

So just some thoughts... you wield your tools and tell your stories the way you want. May you find nourishment from what you choose to plant in your garden.