A rare four-planet formation has just broken apart, the lunar nodes swapped signs this week, and eclipse season starts in a fortnight. Astrologer Jetteke van Lexmond on why this one lands harder than most.
The full moon peaks on Wednesday 29 July at roughly 3.35pm, in Aquarius. On paper that reads like any other full moon. It isn’t.
Jetteke van Lexmond, who founded the lifestyle brand Moonsisters and produces its lunar calendars, has had July circled for a while. Her reason: between 15 and 24 July, four of the heaviest planets in the chart — Pluto, Neptune, Uranus and Jupiter — settled into a formation known as Barbault’s Basket. “Such a thing has never existed in our lifetime,” she says.
Her read on the last few years is blunt. A long stretch of upheaval and inner work, a lot given up, a lot of karmic housekeeping done whether you volunteered for it or not. Astrologically, she says, that phase is finishing. “July 2026 is the turning point we have been waiting for.”
The nodes have already changed signs
Two smaller shifts came first: the sun moved into Leo at the end of July, and Mercury in Cancer finally turned direct. Then, on 26 and 27 July, the North Node moved into Aquarius and the South Node into Leo, setting up an axis that stays in place until 28 March 2028.
Van Lexmond describes the North Node as your life path and soul purpose, the potential still waiting to unfold. The South Node is the luggage: old karmic patterns, familiar habits, experiences you can build on but shouldn’t keep circling.
“While the North Node in Aquarius invites you to let go of old expectations and remain true to your own unique vision, the South Node in Leo allows you to recognise that true change begins in the heart,” she says. Leo is the connection to your own fire, your creativity, the nerve to show up as yourself.
The two need each other. Without Leo’s warmth, Aquarian innovation turns cold and abstract. Without Aquarius pulling it forward, Leo calcifies into wanting to be seen. The work, she says, is holding both at once.
The full moon lands on the same axis
Days after the nodes shift, the full moon arrives in Aquarius, with the sun and the South Node both in Leo. The whole axis is lit up.
“This gives the full moon a particularly powerful, intense and profound energy,” van Lexmond says. The South Node in Leo shows you the patterns worth dropping; the North Node in Aquarius points at a more honest version of what comes next. Why are you here, and why do you do what you do. Her line on it: this one “touches your soul, your deepest being, like almost no other before it.” Anything out of step with your actual purpose gets progressively harder to keep propping up.
Aquarius is an air sign and would much rather think its way through this. Van Lexmond says the moon is asking for something else — feeling it, sitting with it, releasing what isn’t yours. The more you’re willing to put down, the clearer the path looks.
Eclipse season is right behind it
We’re heading into the second and final eclipse phase of 2026: a total solar eclipse with a new moon on 12 August, then a partial lunar eclipse with a full moon on 28 August.
“These energies will continue to build up in the coming weeks,” van Lexmond says. “At the moment, so much energy is being released that you may experience insomnia, restlessness and vivid dreams.” If you’ve been sleeping badly for no obvious reason, there’s your excuse.
What to do with it
Stop waiting to be given permission. “Don’t wait for the right moment to present itself to you — take the lead,” she says. Expect the urge to redesign large parts of your life, and expect the sense that something long and difficult is genuinely winding down.
If you want a date to work with, Wednesday afternoon is it. August will keep the pressure on either way.
