Full Moon in Leo – Feb. 16, 2022, 16:56 UT

Venus and Mars in Capricorn are in a long conjunction, which was already suitably valid for Valentine’s Day on Feb. 14. The Moon had opposed the conjunction from Cancer on Feb. 13. The exact conjunction of Venus and Mars took place just before the Full Moon in Leo on Feb. 16. These aspects can indicate passion and romance, but there are also more serious tones in the chart.

Full Moon in Leo
The Moon in Leo and the Sun in Aquarius are tightly square the lunar nodes. Sedna is at the North node of the Moon in Taurus. The Sun is in conjunction with Damocles.

Astronomer Mike Brown, the discoverer of Sedna, has described Sedna as the most scientifically important trans-Neptunian object found, because understanding its unusual orbit is likely to yield valuable information about the origin and early evolution of our Solar System. The astrology of Sedna and the myth behind its name may also help us understand the future of our planet and our own influence on it.

One orbit of Sedna around the Sun takes approximately 11,400 years. Because Sedna was the coldest and most distant body in the Solar System at the time of its discovery, it was named in honor of the Inuit goddess of the Arctic Ocean and the mother of all sea creatures, who rewards the Inuit with food from the sea. If Sedna is not happy, the people will starve. There are several variants of the Sedna myth, but in all of them Sedna’s father takes her out to sea in his kayak, throws her over the side, and chops off her frozen fingers when she tries to climb back into the kayak. Her fingers become the seals, whales, and other sea creatures. Sedna becomes the goddess of cold waters.

Myths tell symbolic stories. They rarely manifest literally in someone’s life. However, the Finnish astrologers were astonished when Mike Brown at the press conference on March 15, 2004, announced the discovery of mysterious Sedna and the name he had chosen for the object. At the time we in Finland were following the drama at the North Pole, namely the disappearance and search for Dominick Arduin, a French-Finnish wilderness guide and arctic adventurer from Lapland. The case had some striking similarity with the myth of Sedna.

Dominick Arduin was born in Paris (Feb. 7, 1960). She had moved to Finnish Lapland 15 years prior to her second attempt and subsequent disappearance, and wanted to become the first woman to ski alone to the North Pole. She reached the Magnetic North Pole in 2001. Her first attempt to reach the geographic North Pole in 2003 failed. She had fallen into freezing water and due to frostbite most of her toes had to be amputated.


On March 5, 2004, Arduin began her second attempt from the Arctic Cape, Russia. If the ocean had frozen well, it would have already been possible for Arduin to ski on ice at the beginning of the expedition. In 2004 it was not the case and there was a huge area of open water stretching out to sea from the cape. She had a satellite transmitter with her and a small kayak for crossing open waters. The next day her support team lost contact with her. The search for Arduin proved futile and ended on March 21, 2004.


Sedna was discovered at 17+ degrees of Taurus from images taken on Nov. 14, 2003. Five days earlier, on Nov. 9, 2003, a total lunar eclipse took place at 16+ Taurus at the North node of the Moon, and in tight conjunction with Sedna. The lunar eclipse and the transiting Sedna fell square to Dominick Arduin’s natal Sun at 17+ Aquarius. Her natal Sedna at 26+ Aries has an exact aspect to many of her natal planets: sextile to Mercury and Chiron in Aquarius, trine Jupiter in Sagittarius, and quincunx the North node in Virgo. When she disappeared on March 6, 2004, the transiting Damocles was at 16+ Aquarius conjunct her natal Sun, and the slowly moving Sedna still at 17+ Taurus squaring her Sun. Arduin’s solar arc directed Damocles at 26+ Pisces was in aspect to all her natal placements at 26+ degrees of their signs. Her solar arc directed Sun was at the Aries Point. Although Arduin did not achieve the world record as the first woman to ski solo to the North Pole, she got fame, sadly through her disappearance.

Even today, a woman has not reached the North Pole alone, and perhaps one never will. The British adventurer Rosie Stancer got close in 2007. She was only 89 nautical miles short of reaching the goal. It was too risky to land the helicopter on the melting ice to pick her up later, and she didn’t want to risk the lives of the pilots. Ambition probably drove Dominick Arduin to her second attempt so soon after her failed one, but I’m sure she also understood how the worsening ice conditions at the Pole due to climate change would soon decrease possibilities for success.

The effects of climate change are not the same everywhere. The polar regions, however, are warming faster than other places. According to climate forecasts, the total disappearance of summer sea ice in the Arctic is possible by 2040. The ice-dependent species are more in danger than ever. I also read recently that the highest glacier on Mount Everest is melting rapidly. It has lost more than 50 meters of thickness in last 25 years, and the ice that took 2000 years to form has now melted away.

We suffer from the effects of pollution, too. Chemical pollution has passed safe limits for humanity and microplastics threaten the health of children. The total mass of plastics now exceeds the total mass of all living mammals.

Astrologically Sedna is linked to climate change. Damocles at the halfway of the lunar nodes is like a symbol of the current situation, when things can slip in either direction. Sedna’s warnings are not subtle anymore; she wants us to notice our bad situation. The Full Moon at the Leo-Aquarius axis emphasizes the responsibility of both individuals as well as communities in the endeavor for the better future.

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