nature's zodiac

Tonight the Moon is full in Leo, the sign of self-expression and love.

The Romantics saw beauty as central to life and to living well. At the heart of each person, they believed there lived what they called the “Romantic I”—a force that discovers hidden harmonies and makes life more beautiful and more true.

Beauty was not something superficial. It was part of a larger view of the cosmos. The universe itself was drawn into the reflective life of the individual and brought into harmony through these many Romantic I’s, each with the power to shape the shared world we live in.

In all aspects of life, beauty was encouraged. In discovery, simply looking was not enough. We had to, in Coleridge’s paraphrased words, “love as we look.” Only then could the mind’s shaping power fully emerge.

Without love, care, wonder, and appreciation, we only see half of what’s there. We continue to flounder in feelings of fragmentation. But when love is added, whatever we give our attention to begins to reveal more. It opens into question, nuance, and poetry.

Alexander Von Humboldt coined the term “poet-scientist” to describe Goethe’s way of working, where wonder and art were as important to discovery as technical skill.

While Goethe is primarily remembered as a poet and Humboldt as a scientist, both functioned as “poet-scientists” who believed that studying nature required both “thought and feeling.”

And the same tension exists for the individual today, living in a world far more technical than any before it, and far more flooded with information that lacks embodied substance. We begin to feel like stick figures floating through a paradigm shift we cannot yet name.

This has happened before. The Renaissance and the Enlightenment were also times of great change. Each stirred a restless need to better grasp human spirit and potential in the face of rigid systems and over-mechanization.

Remember, Venus was born from turbulence. Fresh as a daisy, she emerged with a role. Flowers sprang from her feet. She represents Libra and Taurus—beauty and taste, art and voice. On a deeper level, these are not separate things. They are all establishers of resonance. They are expressions of the Romantic I.

In cultivating beauty, we remember nature. Nature and culture are not opposed. The human mind is a precious tool in its ability to establish resonance, much like the voice does within the body. We are here to discover hidden harmonies and bring discord into relation. That is nature. That is also us, participating in it.

The Romantic I is alive in you, at your very center. One long, resonant hum can remind you of this. This is you. Where else are you using this capacity? In your home? Your work? Your vision for the future?

What are you shaping now, and what are you shaping over time? In what style? Where is your Venus placed? How do you step into this living center of the Romantic I? What order do you draw from chaos? How do you use turbulence itself to create wholeness?

Do you begin to feel more united with the world you live in? Do the hard edges of fragmentation start to soften?

Beauty is the way of nature. The reason is wholeness. In every moment of discord, and in every ordinary day, we are offered a chance to step more fully into the Romantic I; our voice, our taste, our rightful place in a living world.

Remember not just to look, but to love as you look. Love your voice and your capacity to establish resonance. Love your sense of beauty and your tastes. Stay open to the many other living centers around you, each with its own way of discovering hidden harmony.

Awaken to the quiet, unpretentious “art party” that is nature.

Happy Full Leo Moon!