Leo Full Moon 2/1/26
Soul Fire
“My anger has taught me that what I love is still alive.”
— Terry Tempest Williams
Astrology is less about prediction and more about recognizing patterns. Sometimes these patterns are scattered, planets tugging us in multiple directions, making the signal hard to discern. Other times, the message compresses. It concentrates. It applies pressure. As if reality itself grows louder, insisting we pay attention.
Reality is like that sometimes.
When something matters, it refuses to stay quiet.
This Full Moon belongs to the latter.
With the Sun, Mars, Pluto, Venus, and Neptune gathered in Aquarius, opposing the Full Moon in Leo, we are living out loud. This is not subtle energy. It is directional, like an arrow pointing toward what demands attention. Themes of authority, power, sovereignty, freedom, and responsibility are unmistakably activated.
Aquarius governs perspective: future vision, collective reality, and technical truth—cause and effect, systems, and consequences. The technical truth of Aquarius invites us to look beyond ideology or wishful thinking and see how things actually function. On a personal level, Aquarius calls for uncompromising authenticity and realness. Collectively, it demands that we name what is real, even when that reality is inconvenient or destabilizing. With Pluto newly in Aquarius, this is the undercurrent of the entire year. Reality is rising to meet us.
Enter Leo
Leo, always opposite Aquarius, then asks a different question:
Now that we’ve seen the truth, how is that truth meant to be lived?
Because Leo governs embodiment. Expression. The channeling of light itself. Not just what we believe, but how we live it and how it moves through our presence, our choices, and our leadership.
The Sun, ruler of Leo, offers the clearest metaphor. It does not compete. It does not posture. It does not argue for its right to exist. And yet, it holds the gravity of an entire solar system simply by being what it is. It offers light not to impress but to serve.
Leo carries this same sovereign essence. It is deeply tied to the heart, not sentimentality or ego, but the gravity of integrity. Honor. Honesty. Humility. Purpose. It is soul-stuff.
Appropriately, the Sabian symbol for this degree is “A human soul awaiting opportunity for expression.” We are unmistakably at collective precipice points and moments of soul-level choice. And soul work is not abstract. After all, revelation requires responsibility.
Aquarius shows us what is real. Leo asks us to use the light of truth for betterment, for service, for the collective good. In this moment, we are invited to channel clarity into action, to let what we have learned become something lived, enacted, and shared. The truth revealed under Aquarius must be expressed through the heart of Leo, in how we show up for each other, and for the world.
As a fire sign, Leo needs heart-centered kindling to burn cleanly. When the heart is engaged, expression becomes generous rather than grasping, creative rather than performative, and altruistic rather than self-centered. This is why Leo is so closely linked with creativity—not as an ego display, but as a genuine contribution. It is an inspiration of hope, a light that uplifts others rather than drawing attention to itself. Leo’s true radiance comes from offering warmth, encouragement, and creative energy that fuels collective growth. Giving light is the point. In doing so, we become catalysts for others to recognize and kindle their own inner fire.
Without that grounding, however, the same force distorts. Fire inflates. Specialness becomes compensation. Light is borrowed, even stolen, rather than generated. What should illuminate begins to dominate. Narcissism is not self-love. It is disconnection and insecurity masquerading as power. Leo run amok is dangerous precisely because it confuses attention with authority and volume with truth.
Discerning the difference between heart-based fire and ego-driven heat is not simple. Anger, a Leo grace, can arise from grounded clarity or wounded defense. Our triggers may signal healthy boundaries and necessary assertion, or unresolved material seeking reenactment. Often, they are a mixture of both. This is why inner discernment is not optional right now. It is required.
Anger, at its root, is information. It tells us where something we care about has been crossed. What is worth defending. What we love enough to protect. In that sense, anger is not separate from love. It is one of love’s signals, alerting us to breaches in dignity, truth, or belonging.
We tend to think of love as gentle and soothing. And it can be. But love is also fierce. It defends what is just. It guards what matters. The fire of the heart can create or destroy. The difference lies not in the fire itself, but in consciousness. In intention. In responsibility.
So the question becomes not just personal, but collective:
How heart-centered are we in how we speak, how we lead, how we respond to what is unfolding around us?
Leo seasons awaken the heroic impulse in us, alongside quieter virtues of real leadership: maturity, sacrifice, gratitude, discipline, and wonder. A true hero’s fire does not scorch what it claims to protect. It steadies. It orients. It galvanizes without consuming. Like the Sun itself, Leo’s light is meant to warm and guide, not dominate.
What happens when the common good matters as much as personal desire? When principles outweigh popularity? When integrity carries more weight than applause?
We enter sacred territory.
Leo does represent the light within us all. But that light is not measured by visibility, validation, or wins. Those may come, but they are not the foundation. Every sustainable flame depends on its kindling. And the strongest kindling is humility: the willingness to serve something larger than the self.
That is the light of Leo.
The deeper work of this lunation, where anger becomes creative fire and sovereignty becomes leadership, continues in Heart-Centered Advocacy: Anger, Creative Fire, and Sovereign Leadership. You’re welcome to join me there.
This Full Moon occurs @ 13° Leo.
Photo by Aidan Thorvalson on Bluesky
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