February’s Full Moon blossoms in the warm and expressive sign of Leo on February 12 at 5:53 a.m. US/Pacific carrying the possibility of emotional shockwaves rolling through our hearts and minds. Staying in the present moment may be challenging should unexpected events create anxiety or even positive excitement, and this Full Moon recommends slowing down to connect with the body and calm the nervous system. The more significant shifts that 2025 will bring are gradual, and this lunation is just one piece of a larger story. Finding our feet on the ground is a sure way to participate meaningfully in the plot twists.
So many of us will feel the itch to make changes or address the things that frustrate us now. The Leo Full Moon strongly suggests that we listen closely to all our emotional responses, including the ones that don’t fit with the others we are having. There may be a vital intuition to heed to ensure that we are listening to all of our wisdom and resources. When Mars' direct action becomes stationary and returns to direct motion on February 23, his energy will be more like Pluto’s overwhelming intensity. We might experience this as a desire to plunge ahead no matter what, but careful deliberation seems to be more rewarding under these skies.
Mental Mercury’s time in mystical Pisces from February 14 to March 3 asks us to consider lots of information and to be sure that we take responsibility for our role in relationships rather than giving our power away to others. Speaking of power relations, as Mars returns to normal, direct motion, Venus, the planet of grace and harmony, prepares to make her retrograde through the zodiac. A more assertive version of relational Venus can be expected, with a willingness to confront head-on where we might have previously been less bold.
All unspoken agreements underlying our relationships with intimates, friends, colleagues, and our connection to livelihood, work, or income will likely come up for evaluation and examination. Venus retrograde is about making our lives’ connections more real and solid, addressing whatever is beneath the surface of our agreements or our perception of them.
The Moon’s opposition to the idealistic Aquarian Sun catches fleet-footed Mercury in a dynamic square with ingenious Uranus, suggesting shocking information and wild ideas that hit us in the emotional breastbone. This Full Moon could, in particular, churn up anxiety or apprehension due to Uranus’ electrifying nature, which can be very compelling and overload our circuits.
For many, this lunation could symbolize a resolve to break free from a situation that has grown unbearable or stifled our creativity and desire to be authentic. Perhaps we have finally gathered enough historical perspective and objectivity to realize what has held us back or where our frustrations lie.
Planetary + Retrograde Forecast
Mars Retrograde
Mars Trine Saturn
Mars’ retrograde motion since December 6 has brought frustrations and delays for many of us. It’s also provided a chance to review our motivations, rethink the various missions we are carrying out, and understand more about our relationship to our willpower. At the Leo Full Moon, Mars will make a long-lasting, harmonious trine aspect to Saturn (exact February 9 and April 4), underscoring a need to calculate carefully and deliberately. As impulsive as this Full Moon is, turning its flash of insight or resolve to one’s favor could require some finesse.
The trick may lie in admitting all our feelings and not stamping down the inconvenient emotions. As the pioneering physicist David Bohm put it, “Perhaps there is more sense in our nonsense and more nonsense in our ‘sense’ than we would care to believe.” Whether fear, enthusiasm, anger, joy, or anxiety sticks out as something inconvenient to attend to, giving all of our responses some honest consideration will pay off. This may not be the fastest way to make decisions, but including all our parts will ensure we don’t ultimately self-sabotage through great haste that misses details or fails to notice an important intuition.
Speed is just a funny thing this month. Mars is slowing down to station direct on February 23 and will spend over three weeks at 17° of Cancer, where he would ordinarily only spend one or two days during his normal direct motion. This slowness amplifies Mars’ hot and fast energy until it enacts something closer to Pluto’s unbridled intensity. We might experience greater inner or outer conflict or burning away of illusions that might otherwise cloud our thinking. If we’ve been running on adrenaline and cortisol for an extended period, we might hit a wall, forcing us to slow down and regroup. Otherwise, Mars’ slow movement forward through the rest of February should indicate a forward movement on many of our delayed projects and items or the unwinding of disputes or tangles with others that occurred at the start of the retrograde period, perhaps from as far back as October 2024.
Mars Retrograde
⚈ Mars enters retrograde shadow at 17° Cancer on Oct. 4, 2024
⚈ Mars stations retrograde at 6° Leo on Dec. 6, 2024
⚈ Mars stations direct at 17° Cancer on Feb. 23, 2025
⚈ Mars leaves retrograde shadow at 6° Leo on May 3, 2025
Venus Retrograde
Mars stationing direct will also be widely squaring the magnetism of Venus, another indicator of interpersonal tensions, though they will never complete that square aspect. As Mars starts moving forward, Venus is preparing to make her standstill in the sky to turn to retrograde motion. We entered Venus’ pre-retrograde shadow period on January 27, and she will appear to reverse direction in the sky on March 1. Venus Retrograde periods often exhibit a different face due to her desire for symmetry and harmony. Venus is not just a story of appeasement, peace at all costs, and superficial cooperation.
Venus Retrograde periods also indicate a visit with some of the unspoken or implicit agreements in our intimate, social, or collegial relationships. We’ll have to look at what happens in our relationships, beneath the avoidance or just going along with unconscious or habitual responses to stressors. Venus retrograde is willing to break rules and overturn social expectations wherever those interfere with the flow of reciprocity and ideals of fairness or justice. Her entry into assertive Aries on February 4 (until June 5) was a significant mood change, as we can be more direct or even pointed, not mincing words and being more inclined to take action.
Venus’ eye for beauty and symmetry is reflected in the symmetry of her retrogrades, which recur every eight years in roughly the same part of the zodiac. 2025 brings us Venus’ retrograde in Aries, which, as of 2009, began to creep into the sign of Pisces. If we reflect on the first quarter of the years 2017, 2009, 2001, and every eight years prior, we might gain some insight into the types of events or encounters we can expect when Venus heads to the underworld in search of greater reality and meaning in our relationships and our work.
Venus Retrograde
⚈ Venus enters retrograde shadow at 24° Pisces on Jan. 27, 2025
⚈ Venus stations retrograde at 10° Aries on March 1, 2025
⚈ Venus stations direct at 24° Pisces on April 12, 2025
⚈ Venus leaves retrograde shadow at 10° Aries on May 16, 2025
Mercury Square Jupiter Conjunct Saturn
Jupiter Direct
The mental sphere of Mercury merges with mystical Pisces on February 14 (until March 3), indicating we may take more time than usual to gather information and sort through various stories to arrive at a clear picture. Mercury in Pisces needs lots of space to meander and explore and will benefit from the square to expansive Jupiter on February 20, followed by conjunction with clarifying Saturn on February 25. It could be helpful to hold a big, broad picture along with the problematic details through this period and not collapse into one or the other perspective. Any tendency to give our power away by failing to demand our role in our relationships—taking responsibility for our side of the equation—can seriously undermine our efforts.
If boundaries connect us, we can see conflicts as trust-building exercises, discovering what each of us needs and desires and asking for connection from that centered ground. The source of power—the ability to cause or prevent change—is ultimately a matter of relationship, and it matters deeply what stories we tell about our roles and with whom we are karmically entangled.
The storyteller Jupiter’s return to direct motion on February 4 flows into Mars, returning to direct motion in an indication that the opportunities, expansions, and growth cycles we have been working on may now move forward. We might look back at May 2024 and September 2024 for the topics most related to the fresh growth spurt emerging in February 2025. There is still the matter of dealing with agreements we have made in the past or new agreements that need to be thoroughly worked through, as Jupiter will make a final square to taskmaster Saturn on June 15. As we move forward, the opportunities, expansion, or growth emerging at this time should include the possibility of later adjustments. Finding fluidity and knowing our absolute limits as we move along can help us make or reinforce structures and foundations that are meant to last.
Full Moon in Leo by Moon Sign
The Moon represents the materia of the anima mundi or Soul of the World, symbolic of the sacred body and its interwoven interdependence with all of nature. The Moon describes our deepest vulnerabilities and profound capacity to connect with others. Full Moons amplify energy and emotions, and this one sends an electric jolt through the system, whether as shocking news, sudden clarity on breaking with a stifling situation, or simply emotional overstimulation. Let’s see how the Leo Full Moon impacts your own Moon placement!
Aries Moon
Why you experience separation from others, whether distancing yourself through anger or letting the bully inside you respond to interpersonal challenges, is not so important as finding the courage to become more vulnerable, Aries Moon. While the Leo Full Moon may trigger a desire to tell the stories of your wounding, the movement toward greater connection involves a story of your healing.
Taurus Moon
The sacred temple of your body may be calling out for love, care, and attention under the Leo Full Moon so that you become more aware of how you are moving through your days. Connect with the greater body, the Earth, to stay connected to your sense of the sacred. No one can stand between you and the divine, Taurus Moon, that ultimate source of protection and power.
Gemini Moon
The dreamer of you is likely to be initiated by this Leonine Moon, which carries a call to connect to the symbolic revelations and provocations within your unconscious mind. Whether through night dreams, daydreams, or those images or thoughts nibbling on the periphery of your vision, pay attention to these sources of knowledge and inspiration, Gemini Moon. Symbolism can provide key guidance.
Cancer Moon
The Leo Full Moon is announcing an ending in your life, Cancerian, the end of a long haul and the result of much effort, or a karmic moment that bears the fruit of actions taken before you can remember. While this could be an exciting and liberatory moment that should be celebrated, stay with the process of integrating what it all means.
Leo Moon
This is your Full Moon of 2025, Leo Moon! This lunation might abruptly reveal some of your interiority, the truth of matters dwelling beneath a surface that may have provided you with comfort, safety, or belonging. Is there a message that you came to this planet to show up, not to show off? You must grow with the challenges life has dealt you rather than hiding behind those challenges. Pretenses are giving way now, and there is no need to hide as the lion within you stirs.
Virgo Moon
Whatever initiations are brought by the Leo Full Moon, they represent an encounter with powers you have always possessed but were hidden from you. To initiate means to start; it is the beginning of the journey. Allowing yourself to fully feel the opening, the hope, and the lightness present, too, will make you a vessel of excellence, Virgo Moon.
Libra Moon
Easing into a new phase of creativity or inspiration may feel wobbly at first, Libra Moon, like trying to hang onto a rocket ship. Taking time to ground yourself, connecting to sensory awareness, and the pacing of Earth’s movements can help the Leo Full Moon become an ally in making your intuited visions a reality.
Scorpio Moon
The poet William Stafford wrote in The Way It Is: “There is a thread you follow. It goes among/ things that change. But it doesn’t change.” The Leo Full Moon may bring that strange thread of Soul, an inner voice or intuition, creeping around the edges of your awareness. Though dramatic events could be waving their arms frantically all around you, Scorpio Moon, a quiet and mysterious inner knowing may be the more critical focus of this lunation.
Sagittarius Moon
This lunation may be overstimulating for you, Sag Moon, and others around you may also be boiling over. It might be a good idea to lay low or prioritize your rest to metabolize all the excitement around you. The Leo Full Moon ultimately invites you to understand how you shape your future—not as a lone agent but in cooperation with many who are moving in the same direction.
Capricorn Moon
You may find parts of yourself drawn out of the shadows, Capricorn Moon, and some parts hiding behind a cloak of insecurity or lack of self-confidence. The Leo Full Moon would like to illuminate some of your true strengths, and your power to rise to great heights. The opponents you imagine outside of you are those inner doubts whose valuable time has passed.
Aquarius Moon
The Leo Full Moon might result in a tremendous emotional flushing out, an exhalation of pent-up energies, moods, or an untangling of emotional confusion. This initiation into a deeper connection with your intuitive or psychic power may initially feel unfamiliar, Aquarius Moon, but it actually brings you home to yourself.
Pisces Moon
Though the path may seem strewn with rocks to climb and branches and thickets to navigate, those symbols of your destiny or fate are not the thing that seeks you, Pisces Moon. The Leo Full Moon could bring potent reminders that something much larger is calling you to proceed on your path to mastery through fully apprenticing to the creative voice of your Soul.
