Moon in Leo

The Moon entered Leo today and stays there for roughly two days, so the tradition's teaching on this pairing is worth knowing while it lasts.

Start with the Moon itself. Sepharial gives it gracefulness of manner, suavity of speech, softness and adaptability of nature, and above all variableness: a love of change, romance and adventure. Ptolemy explains its quality from its physical nature. The Moon chiefly generates moisture, being so close to the earth. It has only a moderate share of heat, and that heat is borrowed, coming from the light it receives from the Sun. In the tradition's terms, the Moon is the part of us that is fluid, responsive and quick to shift.

Leo asks for something else. Pavitt, writing in 1922, calls it the fiery sign and a fixed sign, and he names fixity of aims and ideas as its marked trait. When the Leo type believes itself right, it is "immovable although never aggressive," and it does not bother arguing unless the listeners are sympathetic. The same writer credits Leo with warmth: large-hearted, high-spirited, free from envy. It is liable to quick flashes of temper but harbours no grudge. He also names a particular mental gift, the faculty of presenting well-known facts in a new light, and of telling a story so the point loses nothing in the telling. The Lion is the sign's image, and Pavitt notes it is older than the Greeks, appearing in both the Egyptian and Indian zodiacs.

Put the two together and the lesson is plain. A changeable body is passing through a sign that holds its ground. Feeling, which usually moves easily, tends to settle and take a position. It warms as it settles, which is generous. It can also stiffen: a mood becomes a stance, and a stance becomes a view one no longer explains.

Today the Moon also squares Mercury exactly. That puts friction at the point where a firmly held feeling has to be put into words.

The practice follows from Pavitt's pairing of fixity with fresh presentation. When you notice yourself restating a point the same way for the second or third time, stop repeating it. Use Leo's other gift instead: say the same facts from a different angle, or tell them as a short story with a beginning and a point. Keep the conviction, since that is what the sign supplies, and change the telling. If a flash of temper comes, let it be what Pavitt describes: quick, and then over, with nothing carried forward.