Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Leo: Astrology of 1/16 – 1/22

The Moon grows full into a Leo lunar eclipse this week. Many of our transits this week point to expansion and growth in some way, if we will also let go of that which has become excessively dull and limiting in our lives. Often when a more resonant or expansive path is ripe and waiting for us, the other things we are attached to that inhibit this path become less and less appealing and we feel readied to take a leap. This doesn’t have to mean acting rashly in ways that you would regret, but feeling the internal green light to make a change that has been long knocking at your door. You might notice this change might be more about saying no to something or letting something go than it is about doing something new – to make space for what is incoming, without necessarily knowing what that is yet.

Jupiter and Neptune are still fresh from forming an exact square last week, and Venus in Sagittarius highlights this dynamic and brings it home to our relationships by conjoining with Jupiter and squaring Neptune. We can be engaging with fantasy and the dissolving of fantasy in relationships.

Read more about the week below! But before you do…

These are the last few days to sign up for the upcoming online Evolutionary Astrology Intensive course beginning January 20. This is an opportunity to learn astrology through the lens of the soul’s evolution and to gain the tools to inquire more into the nature of the soul and the past lives that brought you here, as well as what your purpose is in this life. This way of reading the chart is deeply psychological and empowering, offering skillsets for actualizing our purpose by also addressing our blocks and traumas that keep us from doing so. I’ve found that this school of astrology has been like a Rosetta Stone of personal individuation, allowing anyone who studies it earnestly to expand past limitations and elevate their natural gifts so they can live more authentically. The course takes place over 15 weeks and is live and recorded, and there are still some spots left! Read more and enroll here, and email me at sabrina@monarchastrology.com if you would like to pay by payment plan.

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(Top artwork: Leilani Bustamante)

January 18, 2019

Venus in 11 Sagittarius trine Mars in 11 Aries: 9:49 AM PDT

• Venus is also conjunct Jupiter (magnifying love, indulgence, and sweetness) and this alignment will exact later in the week. As the pair trine Mars in Aries, each of these planets in fire signs, we might find ourselves and others more demonstrative and outgoing in the sharing of love. Normal levels of hesitancy to be affectionate or to express love can be overridden with these outgoing, courageous, and bold placements.

• Notice where you have opportunities to be honest and upfront about your feelings toward others. Love is very active in the field, and communicating rather than withholding may be a way to celebrate.

Mercury in 21 Capricorn conjunct Pluto in 21 Capricorn: 1:03 PM PDT

(Image: Edward Gorey)

• This transit can relate to a heightened interest (or compulsion) in investigating, digging, and exploring the taboo or the unconscious.

• As the collective becomes more psychologically adept – able to recognize trauma or anxiety for example instead of just being inside of it and pulled around by it without any awareness – we are discovering our ability to transform not just our own ancient patterns (such as karmic ones) but also the patterns of trauma in our body and DNA passed on from generations before us.

• Some of our breakthroughs that are helping us move forward at this time are not just optimizing our lives or adding on external successes or achievements – but in going inward and undoing/rewiring our trauma-based consciousness.

• This can be a good time to employ modalities that you have (such as meditation, breathwork, mantra, etc.) that help you transform your nervous system or a time to discover a healing practice that you connect with.

Sun in 28 Capricorn square Uranus in 28 Aries: 6:31 PM PDT

The Sun is conjunct the South Node of the Moon (and really, part of a whole stellium between Saturn, Pluto and Mercury as well). Uranus is conjunct Eris in Aries.

• We may be feeling pressure or a sense of urgency at this time – an energy that is in a way, cooking in us to evolve us faster. Some processes will have to take their time, but the urgency we feel is a catalyst to get started or to address blocks we would have otherwise been complacent about.

• Moving forward on our creative paths or self-actualization paths, structure and re-structuring is likely necessary to materialize and ground whatever it is we are creating. We have structures that have imprisoned or restricted us in the past, but this is not all structure – much structure is supportive. We will need to uncover what boundaries and constraints truly work for us.

• Some of our routine defenses may prove maladaptive at this time with the Sun conjunct the South Node in Capricorn – see what liberation occurs when you allow these defenses to soften. Your intuition may point you to where this is occurring uniquely for you. We do not have to become gapingly and uncomfortable vulnerable, just open to life where we were before impenetrable in way that didn’t serve us.

January 20, 2019

Sun enters Aquarius: 2:00 AM PDT

• The Sun’s stay through Aquarius is an opportunity to view our creative process as ecological; to see how embodying our unique selves and individuating actually connects us to resonant community and belonging.

• Somewhere along this path we may feel very alone, especially if we begin to change in a way that separates us from the communities that we previously belonged to. Many people resist the individuation process at this stage because of fear that there will be no one on the other side; that one will just be weird and alone.

• At other stages along this path we already have a rich and vibrant community, and one that can more fluidly hold our evolution. The Sun in Aquarius can be a beautiful time to reach out into your networks and form new connections and friendships.

• Enrich your life at this time by being yourself, raising your freak flag, and communing with likeminded people!

Venus in 14 Sagittarius square Neptune in 14 Pisces: 9:15 PM PDT

(Image: Vasilisa Romanenko)

• This is like a party for Venus, who is conjunct Jupiter and in aspect to Neptune. This is BIG love in a lot of ways, the kind of love that changes a room, a community, the world, the cosmos…!

• We may feel inclined to lavish ourselves and others in optimistic and inspiring lights which encourage us to recognize our inherent goodness and also to live into our potentials.

• We may feel inclined to forgive, and we spiritually expand as we do.

• On the more challenging end of this transit, we may struggle seeing others as they really are, instead projecting fantasies onto them. This can add a layer of confusion to our relationships, especially newer ones.

• We may expand as our projections about others dissolve, or the veils of illusion we have around relationships lift.

• Social experiences had at this time may be very positive and help dissolve limiting beliefs or constructs about the availability or presence of love.

• This is a beautiful transit to recognize love in more holistic ways – rather than projecting love onto one person or a group of close intimates, seeing love everywhere you go – in the faces of people you have not met, in the way gravity holds you to earth, in the support of the earth pushing up at your feet, in the Sun, in flowers, in animals, in everything.

• If we engage with Source as our primary lover (and all ephemeral or temporary forms which we love come from this Source) we experience a heightened abundance of love and healing.

Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in 0 Leo: 10:16 PM PDT

This eclipse is more potent than the prior one, with the Sun and Moon just four degrees away from the ecliptic. The South and North Node of the Moon are on the Capricorn/Cancer axis, with the Sun and Moon having just moved into Aquarius and Leo.

As eclipses bring exits and entrances, here are a few possibilities of what specifically is coming and going. I’m mostly offering these as blessings. Eclipses are not always easy, as often times they bring us in touch with our anxiety or situations that bring up difficult emotions. But because we have free will in what we move toward or move away from, here are some ideas.

• Exiting: a sense of removal and distance from life based on austerity, choosing to have it together over relating and being intimate, feeling disconnected from life because we are acting out of duty rather than inspiration or heart-centered commitment, experiencing an inner-winter because we project a capable identity and no one thinks we need anything even when we’re struggling and we just carry on alone, shame-based trauma.

• Entering: the cultivation of warmth in one’s inner life, increased humor and playfulness, the giving and receiving of recognition and validation, being tender and supportive of our own creativity and allowing it to blossom at its own pace without judgement instead of thinking we have to be creating masterpieces or nothing, allowing ourselves to share our light or be visible in ways that expands our current comfort zone of doing so.

• It’s interesting how the work of Marie Kondo has re-entered the zeitgeist in spotlight at this time: if an item doesn’t spark joy, donate it or give it to a friend. Eclipses are times where it can be easier to let go of stagnant energetics in our lives or addictions – if we let them go during an eclipse cycle (and of course, if we really mean it), we are less likely to relapse into them. This Full Moon is in Leo, and Leo is all about joy, creativity, and generosity – which makes sense regarding the focus toward what sparks joy.

January 21, 2019

Mars in 13 Aries square Saturn in 13 Capricorn: 4:48 PM PDT

• At times our willpower may be dampened. Victory may be easy when we already feel confident or have circumstances stacked in our favor. This transit may reveal to us moments where moving forward involves tenacity through and with obstacles – doing the right thing when it’s not necessarily easy.

• Where we are already experiencing a strong foundation (a practice or ritual we have kept up with over time, long time habits, etc.) we may be called to create new branches and extend ourselves from these roots we have so sturdily laid down.

January 22, 2019

Venus in 16 Sagittarius conjunct Jupiter in 16 Sagittarius: 5:26 AM PDT

(Image: Vasilisa Romanenko)

Remember these two are also squaring Neptune in Pisces! See the themes from this transit on January 20 above.

Venus is a planet of passion and beauty, though it can also express as a tendency toward superficiality and smoothing conflict over with nicety – smiling and saying nice things while something else is really being felt below the surface. When Venus is in Sagittarius (and now also conjunct Sagittarius’ ruling planet Jupiter), we can find ourselves valuing truth over false harmony, and we can be more likely to be honest. Let’s consider a few instances of honesty mixed in with the benefic, expansive qualities of Jupiter –

• Being honest to ourselves about what we like and don’t like, instead of rationalizing or settling.

• Voicing our preferences, even if that ruffles feathers or changes the status quo.

• Being forthcoming about feelings we have toward another person instead of playing it cool – being bravehearted.

• Loving our friends and intimates enough to mirror back parts of them that they cannot see, being generous in offering reflections which, depending on the situation, could lift someone up or hold some accountable for a pattern they are enacting unconsciously. This is not to be holier than thou. It’s to have people’s backs and be willing to challenge them. We may also give people in our lives actual permission to reflect at us what we can’t see.

• Stating to friends and intimates ways that we would like to expand into greater connection – such as a shy person holding the intention to be more playfully expressive and flirty, or not-so-touchy person opening up to touch and be touched more, or whatever our unique intentions are at this time. If we voice these things, it gives the people in our lives the opportunity to support our expansion.

Thank you for meditating on the planets with me this week! Please let me know what you think in the comments – truly I want to know so leave a note! I love you and you are tribe to me, thank you for finding your way to these words and resonating with them in whatever ways you have. If you feel you would benefit from further guidance on your personal natal chart and transits, I am available to help! Book a reading with me here.

On another note, I’m becoming increasingly expressive on instagram and I love connecting with people there. If you use the app, follow me @sabrinamonarch and say hello ?

With love,

Sabrina Monarch

Sabrina Monarch is a soul-centered Evolutionary Astrologer who publishes weekly astrological forecasts, works with clients and teaches. She has been collecting astrological experience for over a decade. She is a novelist and is currently pursuing her masters in Philosophy. She also enjoys kundalini yoga, meditation and ashtanga yoga.

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