Leo Full Moon / Borage
Full Moons carry the tension of opposition.
When we consider that the birth chart is a web of energies created by multiple viewpoints and perspectives, we understand that this tension is not only appropriate - it’s essential to ‘holding the whole thing together’. When two planets stand opposite to each other in the birth chart, or during a transit {when the Sun and Moon are opposed to each other in the sky creating a Full Moon} it’s a conversation between two points on a single spectrum. Like the anecdote of two men arguing on either end of an elephant ~ they’re both looking at the Same Thing, they’re just describing it from differing perspectives. One sees the head of the elephant, the other - its tail. Part of remediating and understanding this tension during transits or in our own natal make-up is finding that damn elephant! How is each side describing the single spectrum they BOTH reside within? They have a goal, a need, a desire, a purpose and a way of going about it that is almost always aggressive and rather ironic. We often get fixated on the feeling of tension rather than listening and finding the elephant.
The elephant for this full Moon is Standing Out, or Our Individuality. Leo expresses this by radiating warmth and creative energy. Security of the Individual by means of Immortalizing Creation. It reminds me of a crabapple tree - rabidly flowering with all of its might then producing fruit and shedding it without a care. Its seed is safely carried by its creative outpouring, ensuring its genetic survival. Leo is the Sun - it is the center of our celestial neighborhood, the Hub of our years’ wheel. It stands apart and we live in its Light. Aquarius expresses its individuality with a Saturnian edge and often represents more of the isolating qualities of Standing Out {like a sore thumb}. Challenging the system, being alienated from the pull of its orbit. We need BOTH perspectives in order to see both ends of our existence as Individuals.
“Borage for courage.”
We don’t need courage when we Glow, Sun-like, in the center of our small systems.
What does this contented housecat of a Moon see when it looks across the sky? A Sun in exile. The Sun, which loves to Stand Out as the heartbeat and hub of our years’ wheel, is far from its home in the rather frigid outer realm of Aquarius. This isn’t ‘standing out’ as much as ‘standing apart’. There is something of isolation in these signs that bookend the spectrum of our Individuality; the Sun in Leo is singular in its Centralness, the Sun in Aquarius is singular in its Apartness. It feels Outside, it can see the cracks in the systems it wants to be in the midst of, it is forced to reckon with the realities of what is and isn’t “working”. It’s pulled towards revolution in a completely different context than it is used to. Existence revolves around the Sun, but sometimes the Sun must break its own heart in order to create revolution in the spaces where it is desperately needed. This is a Sun acquainted with the persecution offered to What Comes Next. It feels weird rather than unique, gawked at rather than celebrated, and isolated rather than centralized within a group. It is far from what it craves and feels it needs. This is a call for courage.
We need Borage to help us understand and embody this tension involved in what it means to be an Individual. What is our responsibility not only to the other Individuals in the System, but to the System itself? Where are we called to push and provoke and stand out in the ‘ugliest’ of ways. In ways that aren’t pleasurable and easy and ‘normal’? We need boldness for this. We need courage. There is somewhere in *your* life where you Stand Out and it isn’t for us to shrink into coldness - it’s the goddamn SUN, it’s still going to shine and produce fruit there, even if it’s Hard. The fruit we produce in exile feeds a weird and weary world full of Individuals who suffer at the hands of Systems not centralized around a common Heart.
*Specifically* as a flower essence, Borage has a unique ability to allow us to move with authenticity, sincerity, compassion and JOY. We nourish ourselves deeply with Joy and Presence. We find ways to playfully revolt, to creatively deconstruct, to rebel with *gusto*, to reimagine through every artistic means available. The exiled Sun sees its home FULL of Light and is emboldened.
*Borage {Borago officinalis}
*Also known as: Bee Bush, Starflower, or Bee Bread
*The floral essence is created with the striking and brilliantly blue or blueish-lavender flowers of this feral Plant folk.
*Supports shifting through feelings of: timidity; coldness of heart, "apathy"; a lack of confidence or courage; discouragement in the face of tribulation or trials; weakness or frailty; pain or distress when standing up or standing out; lack of access to joy or sincerity
*Helps us to access: creative problem solving; humor as nourishment for courage; resilience when faced with less-than-ideal odds; confidence to move and act with integrity; spaces of joy and curiosity during troubled times; boldness and warmth of heart; play as a means of release and connection