Leo Full Moon: The Warm Heart
- Liv Woodford
- Feb 1
- 11 min read
That was the year
she cleared out
all her old ideas of things,
until she could hear her own joy
with almost no effort at all.
Brian Andreas
The Full Moon on February 1, 2026 at 13° Leo invites us to drop out of our overtaxed mind and sink into the steady glow of our heart center.
Engage in activities that nurture joy and warmth. Let love for ourself and for life be renewed as we renew our dedication to a heart-centered life. Thoughts for the future will then be guided by love rather than fear and will inspire a vision for how we want to serve our world during this turbulent and inspirational time that is transforming the collective dream we share and live together.
Six planets in Aquarius
Full Moon Ruler: The Sun
Neptune enters Aries.
Mars conjunct Pluto separating
Fixed Star Acubens conjunct the Leo Moon
Full Moons occur at the peak of each lunar cycle. The days leading up to the Full Moon bring increased momentum, activity and often mounting pressure. Something comes to a head and is experienced as crisis, clarity or breakthrough which can lead to resolution. During the two weeks following a Full Moon, we are completing the month's journey and distilling the wisdom of the recent lunar cycle, so we are ready for the invitation that is presented with the next New Moon.
The house where 13° Leo resides in our natal chart indicate the area of life where we are looking to engage in activities that activate our heart center, where our love and ways of loving ourselves and the world are renewed.
The house where 25 – 29° Pisces resides in our natal chart shows the area of our life where we are experiencing a big shift. Saturn arrives at the final degrees of Pisces, just as Neptune is lifting off. In what has been a two year process, we are in the final weeks of 'final endings' where we are to complete and close out something significant so we can open to a new dream that is dawning in our consciousness.
Why do they always teach us
that it's easy and evil
to do what we want and
that we need discipline
to restrain ourselves?
It's the hardest thing in the world--
to do what we want.
And it takes the greatest kind
of courage. I mean,
what we really want.
Ayn Rand
As I write on the Full Moon, I sit near my wood stove as a snowstorm swirls outside. The temperature in in the single digits. A benefit to not relying on central heat is that it exacts a unwavering mindfulness every hour of every day, one upon the next, to tend the fire, the hearth at the center of the house. Its heat radiates, warming everything in its vicinity. It keeps me warm, sate and content. If I am forgetful, I become cold and then there is additional time needed to build up, tend and get the fire going again.
As part of using a wood stove to heat my home,
I love
To watch the fire, its continual movement and observe the changes in how logs burn differently, spark unexpectedly, and burst into flames in unusual ways.
I love
bundling up to go outside to get more wood.
I love
lifting the tarp and filling my arms with wood.
I love
shoveling ash into the bucket to make more room for more fire in the stove.
I love
how strong my thighs have become as I squat every hour of every day to tend the fire in the stove.
I especially love
the heat that radiates from the stove and through my body and touches everything around.
A wood stove brings warmth, joy and connects me with my body and the elements.
the heart resides at the center of our being, just as the hearth is typically placed at the center of a home. To live a heart-centered life, one built on love, creative inspiration and courage, requires continual tending to sustain the fire, the love. Fires can so easily go out and so we must be mindful to not to allow our heart to become hard, jaded or cold...And even if we do, the heart has an enormous capacity for renewal and rebirth. The Leo Full Moon is all about the renewal of our inner fire.
We are to declare what what lights us up at the Leo Full Moon. It may be a love for something or someone we have tended for years, or it can be a spark that holds the promise of becoming an enduring flame. We are to commit our recommit to its loving care. We can also do things that bring us joy - go dancing or play a sport, build a snowman or sing in the shower. The small things we do each day to feel and embody joy will feed the wellbeing of our heart.
It is good to love many things,
for therein lies the true strength,
and whosoever loves much ...
can accomplish much,
and what is done in love is well done.
Vincent Van Gogh
Shape Future Dreams with Love
Full Moon Ruler: Sun conjunct Pluto, Mars, Vesta, Venus and Mercury in Aquarius
The Aquarius Sun is surrounded by five other planets that are also Aquarius - this includes Vesta, the asteroid that represents the tending of the eternal flame.. So, focusing on Aquarius themes are important, even essential. But the Leo Full Moon points out the imbalances within an abundance of Aquarius and offers the needed antidote.
I have included the chart of the Full Moon because it provides a wonderful visual that can help see the power of the Leo Moon. In the Full Moon chart, the Moon is on the far left, virtually alone and opposing the conglomeration of planets at the opposite end of the sky. The Sun (the circle with the dot in the center) and the planets surrounding it are in Aquarius.
Aquarius and Leo represent a Polarity that at the Leo Full Moon we feel drawn to resolve in some distinct way in our loves.
Leo is Warm, Aquarius is Cool.
Leo is Heart, Aquarius is Mind
Leo Feels, Aquarius Reasons
Leo Desires, Aquarius Conceptualizes
Leo is Personal and ego-centric,
Aquarius is impersonal and Universal.
Naturally, there is a heavy emphasis on Aquarian themes at the Full Moon which will continue throughout February and build in momentum as we move toward the February 17, 2026 eclipse in Aquarius. And with Pluto in Aquarius until 2044, we can expect transformative change in the themes described below for years to come.
Aquarius emphasizes the visionary and the humanitarian. Within us it generates the our capacity for innovation, intellectual and conceptual thinking, and big ideas especially in the areas of science, technology and robotics. The value for decentralized power, community living and grass roots movements increase. We are being asked to be more future-oriented, nontraditional, and how can value and extend equality and freedom to all people. Aquarius pushes us to think of the big picture and what is best for the evolution of humanity and the planet.
The shadow side of Aquarius is that it can be cool and impersonal. Objectivity, scientific thinking and innovative ideas have us living in our heads, in a conceptual world of ideas and detached from the physical world. We can become disassociated from our bodies and our hearts. Leo is Aquarians’ are opposites of the same coin. One is not preferred over the other. They function best when they operate in balance. Leo provides the antidote to the current overemphasis on Aquarian pursuits.
We may be stuck in our head with so much Aquarius going on. The Information Age and rapid integration of AI can have us feeling mechanical, robotic, cold. We may be inundated with the conversations sweeping through the collective, more aware of what is going on in the world, and the different viewpoints about what is going on, than any previous peoples since the beginning of time. Too much thinking leads to imbalance, exhaustion, disconnection from our bodies. The antidote is to tend to our heart and what we feel called to love, not think about.
"We all carry a piece
of that sacred fire within us.
We have to honor it
and care for it.
You are the firekeeper.
William Booth
We can feel the winds of transformation moving through the collective, gathering like a tornado or hurricane just off the coast of our lives. 2026 is a pivotal year within the larger cycles of time and humanity, as we are on the precipice of a new paradigm of living that will present new priorities, new beliefs, and the shaping of a new identify for us individuals and as a society.
To not be swept up in the winds of change or be carried away by the movement of the collective (Pluto in Aquarius), we are to anchor ourselves, center ourselves in our heart (Leo Moon). We are to tend to the internal flame, to be centered in our heart so we have the strength to stand for what lights us up rather than compromise our heart's joy to align or conform to a group for our sense of direction, belonging, or acceptance. We may even feel called to move away from, in tandem, or separate from the pack. We seek to strengthen our courage to make choices that are motivated by love and not by fear or rationale.
The Leo Moon Invitation
Ask:
What warms my heart?
What activities brings me joy?
What do I want to tend with love and care?
What is the sacred flame that I want to not have go out?
Shadow Side of the Leo Moon. It seems we can look to our leaders on the world stage to, more often than not, demonstrate the shadow potential of astrological alignments. Leo is the sign of the child, believing that we - like the sun - are at the center and all life operates around us. When we fucntion without the more adult Aquarian understanding that we are connected to and part of something much larger than ourselves then the Leo nature can become narcissistic, selfish, and entitled.
Leo is also the sign of the king and like the child, everything revolves around the king and the king's will and bidding. Kings or kinglike leaders can be benevolent or empowering when they have resolved the Aquarian/Leo polarity within themselves. But taken to the extreme, if the shadow side of Leo is harnessed, it can have a person believing they are God and are not only above all other people, but that everything around belongs to them. Instead of radiating light, which is Leo's natural essence, a person can absorb the light of others and everything around into themselves. Instead of being a life-giving sun for their people, they simply take everything for themselves and leave a cold, dark world in their wake.
Striking A Balance. Too much Leo and we glorify the self and become self-absorbed. Too much Aquarius and we find ourselves an extension of the group lost in collective movements or trends. Currently, the preponderance of planets in Aquarius indicates that we are being swept into the collective dialogue and loud chatter within the social fabric. It is not about shutting it out; we are part of it.
The Leo Moon illuminates a pathway for how to move with what is happening on a large scale,
Anchor ourselves in our heart
Feel what lights us up. Feed the inner fire
Once our love, our light warms us and we are filled with the joy and self acceptance...
Feel how our love naturally radiates outward
Feel how we are called to serve the collective and help warm a cold and dying world.
These are steps that can be practiced daily. We may need to take added time with one step before moving onto the next, or perhaps we can do all of them as part of a morning practice where we grow to move with ease from one step to the next.
Oh! My heart,
the most faithful part of my being,
does not stand as a witness
against me before the court
because you are the God
in my body and my Creator
who preserves my organs.
from Chapter 30 of the Book of the Dead
Often engraved on "heart scarab" amulets
What will Lighten Our Heart
Acubens conjunct the Full Moon
The fixed star Acubens is known as the Gateway of Life.
Ancient Egyptians called this star: The Giver of Life. As the primary star in the constellation of the Scarab Beetle (the same constellation we call The Crab), they associated it Resurrection - the rebirth that occurs cloaked in darkness and mystery.
The Egyptians revered the Beetle as a symbol for the Sun in its capacity to renew itself and rise again each day. The scarab was closely associated to the cycle of creation. Like the Sun, they saw in the scarab, the unstoppable forward motion of life.
The scarab beetle rolls dung into balls, lays its eggs inside the dung balls it has rolled. The larvae then develop unseen and in the dark. Once hatched, the dung provides warmth for the young beetle and the food they need to survive. Eating through the dung, the beetle makes its way into the light of day and emerges fully formed into the world. For Egyptians, they saw the scarab as 'self-created', arising spontaneously from the earth, mirroring the belief of the sun being reborn each morning, emerging anew from the darkness of the underworld.
To successfully re-emerge a journey through a dark time or dark realm, one needs a buoyant heart. Egyptians believe that, after death, our heart is weighed on the scales against a feather. The heart needs to be at least as light as a feather, in order to not be devoured by the monsters of darkness. Because the scarab was associated with the transformative journey throught the underworld, they wore amulets in the shape of the scarab and inscribed them with sayings from the Egyptian Book of the Dead (see quote that precedes this section).
With Acubens illuminated, we are to trust that our heart is experiencing a renewal. As we eat through and digest the dung of our life, in a journey that is unseen by others, our heart is being renewed. Any hardness or coldness or jadedness can melt away with the warmth of our love - both within our heart and the heart's of others that our love can touch at this time. In this, I am reminded of the Buddhist monks currently Walking For Peace - how the peace in the monk's hearts has demonstrably melted whatever stands in the way of having the people they engage feeling peace within their own hearts.
Final Thoughts…
There are large planetary and human cycles that are ending and beginning. We are living in times of transformative change. The dissolution of shared dreams and understandings, of an economic world order, and societal norms are leaving a large opening for new ideas and unprecedented potentials to emerge in the vacuum that is left. The Leo Full Moon reminds us that we will know how to move within these times if we seek to live a heart-centered life.
February 17 will be the first eclipse of 2026. In Aquarius, it offers a turning point in our ability to vision our future. The Leo Full Moon is a time to prepare to receive the vision. We do this by opening our heart and tending the fire of our love.
Neptune has arrived at 0 Aries, the Creation Point of the zodiac, for the first time in 165 years. In two weeks, Saturn will join Neptune at this point in the sky. Aries, like Leo, is a fire sign. It is the fire of the Warrior and of War. We are each being called to fight for our beliefs, our ideals, to stand up and be counted. This can lead to a glorification of war, but there many other ways it can manifest. It can also lead to occurrences like The Walk for Peace, and the Buddhist monks who are acting as warriors for peace as they walk from Texas to Washington. Find what we love and then fighting for what we love will be a natural outcome.
Her entire life shifted
the day she decided
to tell the truth
about what made her happy.
I never knew it could be
that simple, she said.
Brian Andreas
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