Love (and sex) in the Age of Collapse with the Full Moon in Leo
PLUS: Buy SEX AND YOUR STARS for V-Day and get a free mini-reading
In all my years of identifying as a pleasure activist, I’ve never felt the need for this orientation as deeply as I do now. It’s gonna be a WEEK, folks, and I know it’s challenging to get into the spirit of Valentine’s Day as we navigate fascism and what feels like the end of the world, but my message is simple: love and sex (with yourself or others) is self-care, solidarity, and succor for the revolution.
Sex begins with your relationship to your own body, and when you understand the archetypes of your own astrology, you can soften into what feels good, and peel off layers of shame that have kept you from the pleasure you deserve. That’s the offering of SEX AND YOUR STARS.
If you want a quick, easy way to celebrate yourself (or a lover), I’m re-upping my summer offer, hearkening back to when the Sun was in glorious Leo. HELL YES: I’m giving mini-readings to anyone who buys a copy of SEX AND YOUR STARS: A SEXOLOGIST’S GUIDE TO THE EROTIC ENERGY OF THE ZODIAC in any format and sends me their receipt. To redeem the mini-reading, message me a receipt of your purchase and we’ll set up a free 15-minute phone reading redeemable any time between now and the end of Venus Retrograde on April 12th.
If you order today you’ll have it before Venus Day, the 14th, the big VD, so you can gift it to a lover or bestie or read it for yourself for your very own pleasure. Message me through the Substack chat, on my Instagram, or email me: stefanieiris at me dot com.
And trust me: with Venus Retrograde coming up in just a few weeks, you’ve never wanted this book in your hot little hands more. Not only does the Venus chapter explain how to make the most of what I call the “desire crucible” of Venus Retrograde, but every chapter from Aries through Pisces has a juicy, sexy exercise that you can do alone or with a lover based on the astrological season and the makeup of your chart(s). I wrote chapter 14, Venus: The Pleasure of Receiving, the last time Venus was retrograde (in Leo) during the summer of 2023 (AKA Barbie Summer) and all the goddesses that share the appellation of Venus were whispering in my ears at the time: I consider myself their translator.
On the Full Moon in Leo
A Full Moon in Leo should feel intensely pleasurable and freeing, like a big ol’ loving party and a heart-opening exercise built into one, but this lunation, coming on the heels of Mercury and the Sun squaring Uranus, feels like having your entire wet hand plunged into an electrical socket over and over. And you know what? That might turn some people on. But most of us are gonna feel overly anxious and stressed out this week. The comedown begins after the lunation peaks at 8:53 am ET on the 12th. Because the moon is square to Uranus an hour before the Full Moon is exact, Tuesday night could be when we feel these surges the most.
Valentine’s Day features a moon in Virgo and Mercury’s shift into Pisces. We’re deep in the Venus Retrograde shadow by now, so we’re already getting messages about what it might mean for us (you can pull up a map for this by rewinding back to the late winter and early spring of 2017, the last time Venus Retrograde traced through Aries and Pisces). Mercury’s new presence in Pisces can be murky yet steeped in metaphor, so even if a lover or crush or long-time partner’s messages are completely unclear, or you feel wholly inarticulate, know that there’s a method to this madness.
The moon moves into Libra by Saturday, so that evening is looking a bit sweeter and sexier than Valentine’s Day itself. If you can shift plans or date night or your Galentine’s gathering 24-hours forward, that could solve many problems and help you recoup a lot of pleasure.
Much love,
Stefanie