I’ve done everything in my power to avoid opening this missive with a discussion of Sex and the City. I’ve racked my brain for any other cultural reference or just some adjectives (seductive! exposed! exhilarating! sexy!) that could describe this Full Moon without having to invoke yet another HBO show from the turn of the millennium. But after finishing my first full watch through of the series only a few days ago, I must admit, it’s what’s on my mind and tomorrow’s Full Moon in Leo (exact on 2/16 at 11:56 am ET) has undeniable SATC vibes. So let’s set the scene.
In the final episodes of Sex and the City, Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) meets a hot, mysterious and very pretentious Russian “lighting” “installation” artist named Aleksandr Petrovsky (Mikhail Baryshnikov) at an insufferable performance art exhibit on the Lower East Side. At first, Carrie isn’t too impressed with this guy or his art world (same, bb) but through a series of increasingly over the top romantic gestures, Petrovsky wins Carrie’s heart and convinces her to drop everything: her successful newspaper column, her $750/month rent controlled studio apartment on the Upper East Side and her daily diner visits with the girls, to move to Paris with him.
Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) can’t deal with this. “You’re living in a fantasy!!!!!!!!!!!”she shouts at Carrie. But Carrie doesn’t care. She doesn’t even care that Mr. Big not only wants to bone her again but is desperate to lock her down. Carrie’s over what she already knows. Her friends. Mr. Big. Even New York. If she stays in the city, she’ll stay alone—surrounded by all of her partnered friends (who are going through various ACTUAL crises at the time might I add, dealing with breast cancer, adoption and a mother-in-law with dementia respectively). But in Paris, Carrie will have the one thing that really matters: love! She’s 38 and she’s tired of fucking around. She wants to find out. Likewise, this Full Moon in Leo is for committing to a big change and accepting whatever comes with it.
Every year, the Full Moon in Leo arrives in full splendor as a showy antidote to the general “don’t look at me” vibes of Aquarius Season. There’s something reactionary about this Full Moon. No one puts Leo in the corner or makes them feel shame about showing love. When a Leo is hurt, it’s something you know about. You hear it in surround sound. This lunation is for taking a risk that vulnerably sets us apart.
As this Full Moon goes exact, there’s another vibrant aspect happening in the sky. Mars and Venus, after weeks of cosmic edging, make their first exact conjunction in Capricorn on 2/16 at 9:48 am ET, just a couple hours before the Full Moon. There’s a deviant energy to Venus/Mars conjunctions. Horny on main, if you will. Capricorn is underrated in how open it is about sexuality. This aspect is erotic and experimental, meant to reset relationships of all kinds. The energy is dominating, luxurious and expensive. Our motivations are amorous but that doesn’t mean they’re frivolous.
We’re also now exactly halfway between eclipse seasons. The Lunar Eclipse in Taurus on 11/19/2021 opened up a can of worms. The grief we feel as a collective over what we’ve lost in the pandemic and beyond, is undeniable. There’s no going back to before. Our world has been irreversibly changed and I know I’m not alone in wishing that some of the mutations of this time went in a different direction or at least moved a bit faster. We have the chance to totally reset but instead of feeling the freedom of radical compassion, everything feels stuck in a place of eternal rebooting. Somehow, we’re still so resistant to the most important kinds of change. If November’s Lunar Eclipse was a howl of collective pain, tonight’s Full Moon is the courageous roar that comes in response. We’re down but we’re not out. There’s still time to rally and save the day. Or at least save the party.
Taking her big risk, Carrie arrives in Paris and she’s full of hope. But she all too soon realizes that her romanticized version of reality is swiftly deflating. She’s a stranger in a strange land. She cannot speak French and on her first night in town, Petrovsky leaves her stranded at the hotel, all dressed up in a Versace gown with nowhere to go. This is only the beginning of a series of slights that leave Carrie feeling less than. Petrovsky loves Carrie, but he loves his work more. His grand romantic gestures are a thing of the past. What he needs is an emotional support animal to get him through the process of birthing his next “masterpiece.” Carrie followed him to Paris to ensure she’d have love but instead, she realizes that she left all of her loves in New York.
In their final confrontation, Carrie says this—what is essentially the closing argument of Sex and the City—to Petrovsky,
“I am someone who is looking for love. Real love.
Ridiculous, inconvenient, consuming, can’t live without each other love.
And I don’t think that love is here in … in this expensive suite—in this lovely hotel— in Paris. It’s not your fault. It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have come here.”
Of course as soon as she rushes away from Petrovsky, Carrie runs right into Mr. Big who, on his own fuck around and find out journey, has come to Paris to sweep her off her feet. We, the viewer, get our rom com ending filled with a wild chase up many flights of fancy stairs and some making out on a bridge. This whole thing should have been a disaster for Carrie. But somehow in the end, she gets what she wants.
On some level, the mess of Sex and the City being neatly wrapped up in a bow is a cop out (the finale and what it implies for the “anti-hero” Carrie Bradshaw is masterfully challenged in this glorious New Yorker article by Emily Nussbaum). The finale, at least for Carrie, feels unearned. It’s true that when you want something that badly (in Carrie’s case: love), you’re forced to let the universe take the wheel and sometimes miracles do happen. But watching it recently, I couldn’t help but feel unsettled, like Carrie should still be in some kind of limbo, or at least in ongoing negotiations. Instead, she finally gets the guy and that’s that. Most “real life” endings are more like Miranda’s. Our epiphanies come while we’re stuck giving our mother-in-law a sponge bath. But to be real, IRL, we’re usually just giving our mother in law a sponge bath and there are no epiphanies. This Full Moon is a launching pad but we probably won’t get our dangling plot threads and character arcs so effortlessly resolved. It’s an honor just to be caught up in our own mess though. Getting our hands dirty in the chaos of life is what’s beautiful.
Tomorrow’s Full Moon is rushed and surreal. Our motivations for doing what we’re doing right now are likely “ridiculous, inconvenient and consuming.” But does that necessarily make them bad? With Venus and Mars remaining close together for another month (and conjoining for a second time at 0º Aquarius on 3/6), it’s obvious that there’s still a lot of work to be done as far as aligning our desires with our actions. Nevertheless, I still think that these are risks worth taking. If for no other reason than the undeniable passion of it all. It’s romantic! So what if everything turns into a disaster? That disaster might just be the first step to our happy ending.
Horoscopes follow for each sign. If you know your rising sign, read for that! Tbh, reading any/all of the signs will give you something. As you may have noticed, this newsletter is now on Substack! Paid subscriptions support this creation for $7/month or $77/year. It’s truly my greatest joy to write these musings for you. Also! My books are open! Use code LIBRA for 10% off when you book any 90 minute reading until 3/1 (Natal Portrait Session, Solar Return or The Future/The Past).
Leo
In theory this is your moment to shine but an endless slog of work is getting in the way of your self expression. You can’t push all of your responsibilities aside but you can refuse to do any more pointless drudgery. Consider what’s part of the plan and what’s just getting in the way of your success. Now’s the time for playing hooky and pursuing all the crushes you’ve drawn in the margins of your notebook. If November’s eclipse cracked you open, tomorrow’s full moon is for reclaiming your frenzied entirety.
Virgo
Start taking your dream life seriously. Chronicle those nightly visions and translate your reveries into epic poems for mass consumption. Tomorrow’s Full Moon finds you on retreat. Phone on silent. Heart on alert. You’re not resting here but searching for buried treasure. What happens after you check yourself into the void? What if falling down the rabbit hole is what you always wanted after all? It’s one thing to write about it and yet another thing to experience it.
Libra
Tomorrow’s Full Moon is for fully embracing your inner fan girl. You’ll better serve your own audience when you remember what it feels like to be raptured by someone else’s artistry. You’re already at the show so get the limited edition vinyl and the rare tour t shirt from 2012. Shameless curation is key. Show up to the gallery with flowers and toss them across the floor. Roses make a splash but maybe carnations are this season’s thing. In any case, the muse can’t wait to meet you.
Scorpio
You say that you crave validation but maybe it’s more than that. You want be seen and heard, of course. But really what you want is to be adored. We all do. Mundane compromise won’t cut it when it comes to the love that you deserve. If they’re not shouting it from the rooftops then they aren’t meant to stay. Taking time to love yourself everyday, making care into a devotion isn’t a cure all, but it’s a start. Your body will remember every tender moment.
Sagittarius
What would you be doing if there was nothing to worry about instead? No money problems. No guilt about taking time off from work. No stress about burning out. November’s eclipse found you hitting a wall and coming up against your limits and today’s Full Moon says “just take the goddamn leap.” What comes next is probably going to feel like a gut-wrenching free fall, but I won’t be surprised when I hear you laughing for joy all along the way.
Capricorn
It’s sometimes difficult to understand why we associate the part of the chart that deals with credit cards and taxes also with grief, death and the occult. But these are all topics where we must submit to the inevitability which some call fate. These are all things that ask us to believe in something that we can’t exactly identify. The underworld. The IRS. Today’s Full Moon falls in this part of your chart forcing you to consider what’s worth going into debt. Not every relationship leaves you with a loss. In fact after today, you have a lot more to gain.
Aquarius
Sacrifice is the word that comes to mind when I think of how this Full Moon is staging its 11 o’clock number in your chart. While you’re paying so much attention to others, part of you is sneaking out the back door. How can you hold space for both things? The thing that reflects your greatest desires and the other thing that makes you feel like the edges are getting blurry. The solution is boundaries. What those are depends on how attuned you are to these competing desires.
Pisces
Let the mundane seduce you, baby. The morning coffee, the afternoon stretch and the nighttime simmering tomato sauce are here to sweep you off your feet. There’s a lot of work to do in the collective, and even more work to do to establish your place in it. That’s why you need to so boastfully sing out your own melody. Your days are sacred. Your chores are divine. Lay your body on the floor and breathe into the ground. This Full Moon is for reclaiming your gentle footprint.
Aries
Tomorrow’s Full Moon is for admitting that, at their core, your desires are silly. That’s what makes them so seductive. You want to soak up all the affection that you can get at this lunation, hungry for more sex, more art and more foot massages. All the effort you’ve put into proving yourself is about to collapse into sacred lava. It’s not that you’ve accomplished everything you’ve set out to accomplish. It’s that you’ve finally realized that the joy of success isn’t worth it until you carve a path for peace.
Taurus
This Full Moon as a moment between eclipses is particularly potent for you, Taurus. More than most, you’re at a crossroads between worlds. You’re taking on the role of who you are while letting go of all the parts you were never meant to play. In between this becoming and unbecoming is a place of rest and grounding. Your home is your salvation. It both resolves the matter and provides the circumstances for everything to occur. Reset in splendor.
Gemini
Pleasure arrives at your doorstep at the stroke of this Full Moon. Spray that magical Hydrosol before you leave the house. You never know who you might meet on your afternoon run. Seriously. The flowers at your park are more beautiful than they were last week. Your barista pours your oat milk latte with a beguiling smirk. Your heart beats for this wonderful familiarity. When you’re busy, nothing holds you quite like the enchanted neighborhood you call home.
Cancer
As a child of the moon, you’re the most sensitive to the lunar ebbs and flows. Today’s full moon is an eruption for your self esteem. You look expensive and you feel expensive too but that doesn’t mean you aren’t embarrassed. Remember: as much as you’ve lost yourself and your assets in relationships, you’ve found a way to build yourself back up. This moon is anything but subtle but let it be a gentle reminder of your personal resilience. Have some pride in how much you’ve won.