Standing in Your Own Place

Note: I know I said I was taking a break from writing about astrology, but this is too significant to pass over. So here it goes.

The shift is full on.

On February 20, when Saturn and Neptune met at 0° Aries, I wrote an article exploring why that conjunction marked the beginning of a new cycle. Looking back six months later, I find those observations even more relevant as the nodal axis shifts into Aquarius and Leo.

“Coherence is the internal harmony of all parts moving together without fragmentation, and alignment is the intentional positioning of that integrated system along a chosen axis of meaning, timing, and direction.”

From January 2025 until July 26, 2026, we had the North Node oriented toward surrendering, toward accepting. What were we accepting? The things we were discerning, editing out of our lives because they were no longer making sense. That was the main concept of the North Node in Pisces and the South Node in Virgo.

The nodal signs describe the collective evolutionary direction. They reveal the telos of the evolutionary process: what has become familiar and what now seeks development. The planetary rulers show how the process is being carried. They reveal the mechanics through which that evolutionary intent unfolds.

Now the nodes have turned. Until the spring of 2028, the North Node is in Aquarius and the South Node is in Leo. The last time this happened was from the end of 2007 through the spring of 2009.

We have to remember what was happening in our lives then and find the correlations between that time and now. Life is a spiral. We never repeat ourselves unless we fail to see the connections.

The Aquarius North Node can make you more aloof, more objective. It can make you disembodied, dissociated, disconnected. At the same time, it can make you capable of seeing across timelines because it sees the whole. The Leo South Node can make you more drama-driven, more self-centered, more tyrannical. It is about integrating both.

The Moon symbolizes the ego, our sense of identity. It describes the emotional lens through which we react to and eventually learn to respond to reality. Leo, ruled by the Sun, describes how identity validates itself through its own creativity simply by being the Sun. The Sun does not look at itself in the mirror. The Sun radiates life. It is about how you integrate your solar self, how you have been able to validate yourself through what you naturally create and what you genuinely do well.

When you come back into the collective, how can you be seen as yourself and not as a poor replica of someone else? How does your uniqueness contribute to the good of humankind? It is about finding that synthesis.

Saturn and Neptune in Aries work together with this nodal shift. Neptune dissolves the familiar identity. Saturn builds the structure through which a more authentic one can emerge. Carl Jung called this individuation.

The individual participates in the collective by enacting himself. Aquarius becomes the field of participation. Leo becomes the source of creative radiance.

Their synthesis allows individuality to become a conscious contribution to the whole.

Perhaps this is why we are witnessing so many ideological realignments. People gather around ideas, identities, and movements while the deeper work asks each person to stand in their own place.

The collective changes when individuals stand in their own place and contribute from their own center.

Last but not least, this week’s Full Moon at 6° Aquarius, where my Ascendant is 😊, becomes the first one under the new Aquarius–Leo nodal axis. It is the first clear expression of the cycle that has just begun, one that will reshape us both collectively and personally. It also falls on the very degree where the solar eclipse of January 26, 2028, will conjoin Pluto, making it one of the defining signatures of this entire cycle. The last time eclipses in Aquarius and Leo aligned with Pluto was in 1785. We are witnessing the beginning of a much larger chapter. Pay attention to what becomes visible now. These are the opening notes of a story that will continue unfolding over the next eighteen months.

The rulers of the Full Moon are also the rulers of the nodal axis. They carry the same evolutionary narrative, allowing us to glimpse where this cycle is leading.

This full Moon conjoins Pluto in Aquarius, illuminating the emotional patterns, psychic entanglements, and collective allegiances that have quietly shaped our perception of reality. Across the sky, the Sun conjoins Jupiter in Leo, expanding the invitation to stand in your own creative authority. Authority arises from knowing who you are and expressing it through your own nature.

Venus in Virgo forms its first-quarter square to Mars in Gemini, marking the first point of friction between discernment and action. New ideas ask to be tested. Intention and discernment ask for commitment.

This Full Moon reveals where your identity has been inherited and where your own nature is ready to emerge. Standing in your own place becomes the bridge between who you are and what you bring to the collective.

Saturn has also stationed retrograde in Aries, forming a square to Mercury, which has just turned direct in Cancer. Think back to your own Mercury retrograde. What emotional insight settled into place? Which conversation or realization reshaped your understanding? Saturn now asks you to give that realization structure. The first-quarter square marks the moment when understanding becomes embodied through action. Your life begins to reflect what you now know.

Uranus forms a harmonious trine to Pluto, the Moon, and Juno, supporting transformation. Its trine to the Sun and Jupiter encourages authenticity. Neptune sextiles the same configuration, bringing trust into the process. This is an extraordinary opportunity to step into a new timeline, aligning with the frequency that already belongs to you.

The astrology is an atmosphere. The real weather is inside.

Related Essay

This essay continues a conversation that began on February 20, 2026, when Saturn and Neptune met at 0° Aries. That article explores coherence, alignment, the nervous system, self-authorship, and why this conjunction marked the beginning of a new 36-year cycle. The Aquarius–Leo nodal axis builds on that foundation by asking how your individuality becomes a conscious contribution to the collective.

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