Leo Full Moon: I’ll Follow the Sun

The Full Moon in warm, open-hearted, playful Leo stands in kittenish contrast to the Sun in Aquarius’ more impersonal brand of friendliness. Ruled by the Sun, Leo seems custom-made to shine brightly and joyfully.

But while I was born with the Sun in this extravagant sign, I’m something of a failed Leo. My mother used to tell me that I started out as the sunniest, happiest child she’d ever seen. Perhaps it’s true. Certainly I’ve seen pictures of myself as a little girl, looking incandescently cheerful.

The thing is, I don’t remember ever feeling as happy as I looked. In every one of my earliest memories, I am shy, irritable, and moody. Throughout school, my musical and secretarial careers, and even becoming an astrologer, I can remember moments of satisfaction – but full-on, unbridled happiness?

Not much. Mostly, it’s been a matter of gauging where things stood in relation to my life’s “to do” list, and feeling either self-flagellating disgust or the satisfaction of checking another goal off the list.

But I’ve reached the age now when a woman begins to long for change, and to wish to some extent that she could live her life over, or at least do things a bit differently going forward. And so, having exhausted all that moodiness and dissatisfaction have to offer, it’s time for me to give happiness a try. And to seek happiness, I’ve decided – like any good Leo – to follow the Sun.

FOLLOWING THE SUN

Once we’ve made it past Saturn’s first return at age 28 or 29, we’ve usually learned that happiness is something more than simply being in a good mood. It’s about living in integrity, keeping perspective, and making an effort to be our best selves. And while astrologically you could make the argument that it’s all pieces of the birth chart working together in harmony and balance that results in happiness, there is a lot to be said for focusing on a single symbol: the Sun. The Sun symbolizes the unchanging core of who you are, the nucleus around which all of your other qualities revolve.

It’s easy to trivialize the Sun’s transiting cycle because it moves so quickly. Whereas guys like Neptune or Pluto take a house of your chart hostage for decades, the Sun moves along at a fast clip, covering an entire zodiac sign and probably about one house of your birth chart in a single month. Nevertheless, he makes his presence felt.

The Sun moving through the houses of your chart is like The Man Who Came to Dinner. In the George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart play, an overbearing radio celebrity comes to dinner at the home of a prominent businessman, slips on the ice outside their house, and moves in for the duration. In very short order he comes to dominate the entire household.

The Sun can be sort of an overbearing celebrity himself, and when he enters a new house of your chart he has a way of making all your furniture seem a little shabby and your conversation a bit dull. At worst, he dominates part of your life with his ego, his demands, his tantrums, and his theatrics. But at best, he motivates you to bring your “A” game – to want a little more from life, to get a better haircut, to mind your posture. In short, to make your life a bit better – and potentially, a whole lot happier.

MY ASTROLOGICAL HAPPINESS PROJECT

I was thinking about this recently when I read Gretchen Rubin’s bestseller, The Happiness Project. Each month, Rubin picked a different area of life, read what great thinkers and philosophers and self-help gurus had to say on these topics, and tried to follow their advice to see if she could become happier.

Intrigued, I wondered whether such a project could be transformed into something astrological, with the transiting Sun as its organizing principle. So over the past year, I’ve taken Rubin’s topics and rearranged them a bit to fit with the Sun moving through the houses of the birthchart, to create an astrological happiness project that builds month by month through the entire year.

There is a lot more to be said about each of these, and I’ll be working on a new project over the next couple of months that will do just that. But briefly, my astrological happiness project is laid out like this: When the Sun is in your…

• 1st house (self, body, personality) – Gather Strength
• 2nd House (money, possessions) – Enjoy What You Have
• 3rd House (perception, thinking, communication) – Be Mindful
• 4th House (family, home) – Lighten Your Heart
• 5th House (play, creativity, fun) – Take Fun Seriously
• 6th House (work, routines, health) – Perform Practical Magic
• 7th House (relationships) – Love the One You’re With
• 8th House (intimacy, shared resources) – Lose Yourself
• 9th House (adventure, religion, learning) – Gaze at Unfamiliar Skies
• 10th House (ambition, career) – Reach for the Stars
• 11th House (future, friendships) – Build a Legacy
• 12th House (spirituality, hidden matters) – Be Here Now

It’s been more than a year since I began this project, long enough to watch the Sun move through each of the houses of my chart. Some months have been better than others, but this simple mandala has given me focus and a way to think about getting more happiness out of my year. When the Sun enters a new house of my chart, I know I’ll begin by feeling a little embarrassed at how the place looks. Like a lovable relative, the Sun will boss me around and ask why I’m standing in the way of my own happiness. And I’ll be forced to come up with some solutions instead of endless excuses.

At this Full Moon in Leo, think about what your own astrological happiness project would look like. How can your light shine a bit brighter, and your heart beat a little stronger? And how can you finish 2013 happier than you began? Astrologically, it might be as simple as following the Sun.

When will the Sun be in each house of your birth chart this year? Here’s a video to help you find out.

© 2012, 2013 by April Elliott Kent

Painting by Claudia Fernety. See more of Claudia’s work at her website, www.ClaudiaFernety.com.