“Whether it’s science or magic, if it’s of fun benefit, enjoy!” ~ ed

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“Whatever arises…love that.” ~ Matt Kahn

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There is an awakening of the heart happening if we slow down enough to feel it, to sense it, and to become a sacred and devoted witness to it.

A subtle stirring and hum in the backdrop of so much chaos, shifting parts, turmoil, and collapse on the world stage and individually so too. A pulsation and drum of the earth beat, a pull back into the cosmic heart, and an invitation to remember a truth long forgotten. That we are a part of the whole heartbeat of humanity. That the heart is a window and portal into truth. That love truly is the bridge back to a new world, but an ancient one built on community care, feminine and masculine in balance and harmony, nature as our healer and guide, and connection to our divinity as anchor.

Times are changing faster now. A new year and first month of 2025 down, a month chock-full of extreme weather events across the globe. A firestorm and literal fires of destruction to birth a whole new world, alchemy in action, ashes of fodder for new growth to bud in due time, as we rebirth a whole new world.

We honor the death and the loss and grieve as we need to. To show up fully for the process of alchemical healing by feeling our way all the way through to the bone of healing and honoring the death cycles as they keep moving through us. The deep shedding has begun. Shedding like a snake sheds its skin. Shedding the worn out layers of decay. The crusted over parts that no longer fit. The process of transmutation is a journey we all must take. From the old self we must shed this outdated way of being that has restricted and constricted our life force for far too long. The programming, the conditioning, the trauma cycles, the samskaras, the limiting belief systems handed down the line of our lineage and the epigenetics that have shaped us, for better or worse.

We are now in the year of the Wood Snake, according to Chinese astrology, which is a unique system unto itself but a deep and collaborative reflection of energy back to the more westernized system of astrology. The year of the wood snake is all about the shed. The transformation. The shedding of the old way. The changes to come. The changing of the self and the collective fabric that weaves us all together. Growth and change is the name of the game this year. A time for deepening of wisdom, patience, and restoration of balance. To find grace and ease as we change and move through change.

For many of us who have endured complex trauma, change can feel frightening and retriggering of trauma imprints. As change can ignite fear that something bad will happen or we won’t be able to navigate our way through safely, we grip tighter to the old way of behaving, old coping mechanisms and addictions. For a known pain often feels safer to the traumatized brain than an unknown and unexpected, or unforeseen and under-prepared-for one.

But we are meant to change and grow. That is why we are here. To become something new, every day even. To give ourselves the true freedom of that expansive permission to grow and change. To bridge any fear we hold about being different with curiosity. How interesting it is to become something new even if at first it feels wildly uncomfortable and threatening to our nervous system’s familiarity with collapse and shutdown or freeze response. As much as we can, getting curious about our process and inner state is the way forward and toward less resistance of discomfort and possibility for self-liberation.

Radical creativity is the way forward now. To become radically creative in our thought processes, ways of moving in the world, and ways of believing. Because this creation energy is the juice needed in any death and rebirth cycle. Creative energy is the new energy we need when the old collapses. When problems arise or the old way stops working, instead of collapsing in defeat, we must embrace our inner creative spirit to see and expand into what’s possible. The moment we disconnect from that inner fire of creativity is the moment we stop growing and become numb to life in its vitality of zest and aliveness.

Reclaiming our creativity is a rebellious act in this day and age. The artists and creators know this. But we are all creators and co-creators with the divine intelligence that weaves its life force through us all. These words on this screen are one example of pure creation energy funneling through the writer as channel and receiver of messages and energies. Stepping into creation energy is heart energy. Being willing to step outside the fear paradigm and looping thoughts of the incessant mind chatter bent on constriction and lack, and open to the flow of creative heart energy.

This is the energy in its purest sense of Leo. The energy and guiding light for this upcoming full moon on February 12 at 8:53 a.m. EST and at 24 degrees of the fixed fire sign. Leo energy is that of the heart and of our inner creative channel. To exist in the heart space, especially these days, takes immense courage and bravery, of which Leo energy has much to boot. Ruled by the sun, Leo energy shines its light in the darkest of spaces, reminding us that we too have an inner, inextinguishable light within us that can never diminish. The inner light of our divinity can shine even in the darkest spaces and places. And we need this inner light more than ever, to know and trust in its power and ability to overcome any darkness, within and without. To know that we are the light. That this is the sage truth passed down from all the wisdom keepers of the ages: Jesus, Buddha, and Gandhi knew the inner light of love and truth deeply.

Whatever we are facing and whatever is arising in ourselves and in the world, we must fiercely face with love. Ask, what would love do? How would love move? How would love move through me in this moment? Does this feel like love? We must reorient as many times as needed when we have wavered from love as guide. And no we aren’t meant to be perfect at it either. We drift into forgetfulness and illusion. We lose sight of what truly matters. We get mired in pain. And then judge our own suffering and modes of operating out of fear. To bring love to the inner judge, to the inner critic, this is how we liberate the self from pain. As beloved and spiritual teacher Matt Kahn teaches, we must face whatever is arising within us with love or else continue to be in battle with parts of self we were taught to withhold love from.

Leo energy brings the fire to light our hearts up again. To remind us of the inner light. And the courage it takes to remember and live from the heart again. Leo energy is our sovereignty. To stand powerfully and whole in our light and know that by being in our light we are embodying the lived example for others to do so also. To let ourselves be seen in our light and in our gifts. To come out of the spiritual closet and let our true, authentic self be not only seen but deeply celebrated.

This is the energy of Aquarius season working deeply with us as well, as the sun continues its movement here. Aquarius energy is all about being different and unique. Saying no to conformity and traditional ways of behaving, and embracing the uniqueness we came to embody and explore. Aquarius energy reminds us that even if we were condemned early in life or other lifetimes for standing out and being different, that withholding our authenticity in this lifetime and at this time is no longer in service of ourselves or others.

Leo and Aquarius energy stand opposite one another but deeply in union and harmonization, even if not at first seeming. Leo is the self. The individual. The me, myself, and I. Aquarius energy is the collective. The group. The communities we exist in. Humanity as a whole. To know the me is to know the we. To explore the we is to understand the me. As William Shakespeare wrote so brilliantly, “All the world’s a stage…” We truly are a microcosm of the macrocosm. A part of the whole. A whole of the part. And others reflect back to us unintegrated parts of self.

As souls, we move individually through our own lives and then weave in and out of others’, learning about and seeing ourselves differently. We need the mirror of others to understand the self more deeply. Which is why healing in isolation can only take us so far on the healing journey. We need others to reflect back to us our light as well as our fractured parts. We need communities and support systems that foster spaces to be held and witnessed in. We are wounded in relationship and so too do we need to heal in relationship again with others.

So how to balance the needs of self with the needs of the group? How to be of service to the whole while standing in deep servitude to the evolution of self? It’s an intuitive process to feel and know when we must refocus back on the self and when we are spacious enough to hold space for another. Trusting the contraction and the expansion equally.

We are working strongly here for this full moon with Uranus energy. On January 30, Uranus stationed direct. Which sets in motion a revolution and awakening of consciousness. Sudden shocks can be expected. Expect the unexpected. Truths coming to light. Sudden shifts in consciousness and revelation. The higher mind coming back online. Uranus energy brings the shifts and shocks we often need to break us free from stagnancy.

Uranus in Taurus here emphasizes the earth energy cycles, bringing weather and climate patterns that disrupt and shock. Earth mama will continue to move through intense weather patterns mirroring our own shifting and electrifying energy system changing and expanding. This full moon will be making a T square with the sun to Uranus. A point of tension that brings change and innovation to the forefront of our consciousness and our emotional process. Where have we gotten stuck in our energy again and limited-feeling in our creative energy? Like bringing a defibrillator toward the heart center, making contact, and shocking us awake as the heart returns with its recalibrated heartbeat, we come back to life.

Our heart chakra is stirring. All the heart wounds and heartache we’ve been moving through lately, which for many of us has felt relentless, is all for a purpose now. As much as we have been clearing out old residue of heart pain and heart wounds, we are ready now for new love and life to come in. But a truer love for the self and other bent on authenticity and sovereignty. One where our egos aren’t leading us into outdated karmic cycles now but where we soften and return back to the heart space. The puffed up ego can be a shadow side of Leo, prideful and defensive, in need of being right. But the ego is often just the wounded inner child trying to get its unmet needs finally met. And the inner child often becomes the higher self and higher heart octave guiding us as we heal and awaken to love.

Can we love ourselves or bring the love that we are to parts of ourselves that can’t bear yet another change or self-transformation? Can we bring more love to the inner resistance? Because we are going to continue to be moving through big change this year, and we might as well bring more love and grace to the self undergoing it all. All of the outer planets will be switching signs for the first time in 300 years. Neptune and Saturn will be entering Aries for the first time in many years. A huge shift will be felt this year as we move into brand new energies in our lifetime. Things will continue to feel less solid, more malleable, and increasingly changeable as we create the new world. We are in a massive year of transition and the more we can be super easy and gentle on ourselves and grace-filled with self and other, the smoother it’ll feel.

This full moon reminds us that we are already breaking free from the programming of who we should be and more fully stepping into and becoming our authentic selves. Leo demands authentic self-expression. No more censoring and holding back our heart’s deepest truth. It’s time to be who we came here to be. No more dilutions of self will do. No smaller versions of self will be acceptable now. The world and humanity need us fully in our sovereignty, authenticity, truth, inner light, and power. The time is now to shine and to light this world on fire. To light the darkness up. To shed all false versions of self.

To stand up bravely and say, “No more! I will not diminish myself, shrink my heart energy, or cower away in fear from my own power of my light. Fear, you have no power here. Your voice is not of truth or love. I call you out now in the name of love. May you remember your true nature as I remember mine as love too. My heart’s sword is love. And I am a warrior for love. For myself and for the world. Each time I speak love to myself, I set in motion a ripple effect of love for the world and humanity. My love for self is a torch to light another’s. Love is my true nature. My true nature is love. My true nature is the heart that holds this love.”

This full moon energy brings us the freedom we have been seeking to keep awakening to our inner truths and gifts we may have hidden away from ourselves out of fear of being more fully in our power. An illumination to the shadows within the self that fear standing more fully in our light and our power.

Our mercurial minds our going through an overhaul of energy here too. Mercury, messenger of the gods, conjunct to the sun, ignites our consciousness with awakening truth, to the words and messages we need to speak and communicate. Opposing the moon, Mercury reminds us to feel into the hidden and deeply felt emotional truths before speaking and communicating. How can we use our minds and words to connect more deeply with others from the higher octaves of love as our guide now?

Jupiter in Gemini stations direct on February 4th, bringing forward new ideas and perspectives. New ways of seeing things. Seeing ourselves in a new light perhaps too. An expansion of the mind. Mars continues its retrograde in Cancer until February 23, a time to keep feeling into those deep emotions and letting go of the past hurts so we can take action from a clearer heart space, less congested with pain and trauma. Venus has begun its own retrograde journey in shadow now, stationing retrograde officially on March 1 in Aries and Pisces, a time where our values, all things money-related, and heart-and-relationship-related will be under review and reflection.

We are awakening deeper now to love. This full moon is the reminder we need to awaken even more of that dormant heart energy. Let this full moon remind you of the power of living in that heart space. Of feeling deeply all the things you feel. Of bravely releasing all the stories of programming you’ve had where you believe you had to be different, smaller, less, or more acceptable by society to be loved. The programming of society and culture is not one you have to carry anymore. And even if there’s fear of being boldly you and standing out, there is a growing number of others authentically coming home to and expressing their truest selves too. These are your people. You are finding your group now by being fully you. Authentically you. Less facades and masks now will do. Let this full moon remind you that staying in your light and sovereignty is not selfish but an act of service and devotion to humanity and the collective awakening of all.

Allow this full moon to light you up again. To ignite your heart with so much love for the unique fingerprint of God you are. You are you, and that is your power. Let your uniqueness shine a light on others and grant them deeper permission to be fully themselves. Wounds, scars, beauty marks and all. Let. Your. Light. Be. The. Gift. That. Keeps. On. Giving. And. Let. Your. Heart. Illuminate. Your. Truth. And. Purpose. Here. You. On. Purpose. Here. Blessed. Being. Beloved. Light. Awakening. Heart. Of. Love. Aho. Amen. And so it is and shall be so.

Check out Anna’s podcast on the Leo full moon on Spotify or Apple.

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