Full Moon In Aquarius: Embodied Leadership and the Collective

This is the true onset of the Age of Aquarius. It’s not a utopia, it’s not in the distant, illusory future. It is here and now.

When the Moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars
This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius

“Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” (1968). Performed by the Fifth Dimension, Lyrics by James Rado, Gerome Ragni, Galt MacDermot

Today, we celebrate the second Full Moon in Aquarius this summer, made extra potent by Luna’s conjunction with the Great Expander, Jupiter in Aquarius. The Moon shines in her final hair’s breadth of the sign of the Water Bearer, at 29 degrees 37 minutes. Just one hour later, and the Moon shifts signs, followed shortly by the Sun. What does it mean when a planet is in its final minutes of a sign, known as the anarectic degree? It potentizes the impact of change. It’s a karmic culmination, a big push, a cleaning house. With Aquarius at this degree, we’re called to get our heads on straight, our hearts oriented toward your true-human north. You’re starting to see how you’re stepping into a role, or part of the play, of “the future.”

Are you on the bus, or off the bus? Are you, as Michael Franti sings in “Stay Human” (2001), part of the solution or part of the pollution? This Aquarian calling per se isn’t going to be completed and done with today, this week, or even this month. You’ll see the first rumblings of the unfolding over the next six months.

Those following my recent posts will recall that I’ve been suggesting to raise your energetic vibration to assist in this unfolding and transition. To improve your spiritual and physical health any which way you can, enabling a much better chance to weather this storm of earth changes and hopefully giving you some comfort during the ride on Spaceship Mama Earth. Check out things like weight management, reducing inflammation, strengthening, nutritional changes, yoga and flexibility, breathwork, time in Nature, walks, hikes, and loads of high-quality rest, to mention just a few.

A Huichol culture yarn painting from Zacatecas, Mexico. Photo by Charles Mahaux/AGF/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Find Your People

Aquarius rules the traditional Eleventh House of astrology, the house of friendship, visions and ideals, groups, and communities, new and old. Speaking with many clients and groups at this time, it’s clear that the folks that are thriving and opening their hearts, finding peace among the rubble of Covid, vaccine polarities, war policies, and monstrous forest fires, are the people who are not going it alone. They speak to each other, they support each other and uplift each other, giving them succor through knowing that they are not in a vacuum. They are heard, they are human, they are a part of collective evolution itself.

Myself, I’m an introvert, and not much of a group person unless I’m teaching or facilitating. However, I have learned that when things get scary, unstable, and, well, the walls start melting (as they have been since 2020 began), it’s time to find your people. Maybe they’re your family of origin, perhaps friends you’ve had forever, maybe neighbors. But more than likely, the people you will be drawn to unite with at this time will be new. New to you. This is because relationships of all kinds are changing now. You are evolving and changing, so wouldn’t it be surprising if the folks you resonate most with will all be the same old crowd?

Aquarius is the sign of individuality, of freakiness, of freedom. Allow yourself to open up to the possibility that individuals you feel a kinship with, that you feel “safe” with, are a whole cavalcade of different, diverse, wild or wacky folks that Life has thrown you into the boat with, of all ages, shapes, sizes, walks of life. This Is, after all, the Age of Aquarius.

Now Lead!

Here, I wrote about the Lion’s Gate Portal of August 8, in which you were called to use your voice individually, to stand tall with Love for that which is important and true for you. Now, it is clear to me that the culmination of this portal is the call to Leadership. If you’re reading this, you are ready to Lead in some way, large or small; it will certainly be meaningful, and important. First, lead for yourself by taking care of your own body-mind-spirit, your inner child, your home, and your family – areas of self-preservation that are vital.

Next, step up to the plate and check what values and interests are most alive for you in present time. Not yesterday, not when you were in college, not what you think you should be aligned with. Rather, what is lighting you up – that’s your new true north. What do you feel you most need the most support in? There’s the rub! That is exactly where you are being called to show up. This is embodied leadership. It requires vulnerability, and participation, as well as soft Strength.

I particularly like the definition of Leadership that is offered in the rooms of twelve step recovery: “Our leaders are but trusted servants, they do not govern.” Embodied, awakened leadership does not mean to bully, ridicule, propagandize, coerce, blame, manipulate, dominate, threaten, or posture to enhance your image or brand. It does ask us to model, self-contain, guide, support, listen, inspire, accept. It does ask us to cultivate humility, flexibility, inner strength, spiritual fitness, joy, love, and the clarity of seeing things accurately and the courage to keep on keeping on.

So, Lead. Lead where you are at. Lead at the grocery store, at the dinner table. Form a group online or in person to meditate, study spiritual teachings, process feelings around a common issue, focus on the solution. If you’re homeschooling, working moms and dads may be able to take shifts in mending little ones, or carpooling, or leading learning. Ask for help, more than you think you should. Ask to swap houses so you can get out to a beach or a forest or get a break. Find a hiking buddy, a walking group.

Spiritual support groups, if you will, are needed especially. Perhaps you’ll meet up weekly, maybe twice a month, or monthly. You’ll find the right rhythm, and others to row the boat with you. But no one is coming to rescue you; you have everything you need inside of you, and you will find and attract like-minded or like-hearted folks. It’s time to take the leap, and Lead.

To be sure, one thing has become clear over the past month of the Lion’s Gate and the two illuminating, revelatory, evolutionary Aquarius Full Moons. That is, the way through our collective evolutionary crisis, is through the power of small, medium and large groups or pods or collectives. This is the true onset of the Age of Aquarius. It’s not a utopia, it’s not in the distant, illusory future. It is here and now. And you – and all you bring to this global party – are needed now, more than ever.

Erin Reese, M.S. is a contemporary non-dual spiritual teacher, author and guide. A modern mystic with over thirty years of experience, Erin Reese offers incisive, practical intuitive readings to her clients worldwide. She is a counselor, guide and mentor to those seeking an alternative to traditional psychotherapy or business coaching. Erin also offers non-dual meetings and retreats on embodied liberation and freedom from suffering. Visit erinreese.com for more information.