What to know about the August 2025 Full Sturgeon Moon in Aquarius

There’s a full moon rising in the sign of the water bearer this weekend, and it’s one of the most powerful of 2025.

The Full Sturgeon Moon will directly oppose the sun in Leo on August 9th, 2025, at 3:55 am EDT AT 16°59 of Aquarius.

In a recent edition of Nick Cave’s “Red Hand Files,” a fan questions, “Is changing your mind about things a sign of weakness? Sometimes, it feels that way.”

In his response, Cave, who has been a vocal opponent of AI in the arts, admits that he was stunned to receive as a gift a video that featured a series of AI-animated photographs of Elvis set to the score of Cave’s song “Tupelo.”

August 2025 Full Moon

“I believe that the ability to change one’s mind is the very definition of strength,” Cave writes.

“We pursue the truth wherever it may lead, remaining flexible and humble enough to adjust our views as new evidence emerges, regardless of how uncomfortable that may feel. It is ultimately a form of resilience, not a sign of weakness. Rigidity breaks; flexibility endures.”

Rigidity breaks, flexibility endures.

To me this is the crux of the Aquarius archetype and of fixed air, to hold both conviction and possibility at once. Aquarius is co-ruled by Saturn (rigidity, endurance) and Uranus (flexibility, what can rise from what fractures) and the sign governs social systems, intellect, clarity, chaos and the collective.

In effect, Aquarius both holds the line and cuts it loose.

Meaning of the Full Moon in Aquarius

Full moons are cumulative, heightened affairs but in the sign of the water bearer, emotion is tempered with reason making it a fine time to gain perspective, evaluate the scope of the long term and discern whether our individual visions for the future are in accordance with or against the principles of humanity.

Aquarius reminds us that humanity is both the totality of human beings and the totality of our capacity for generosity and radical compassion. Our number and the sum of our potential.

Aquarius rules the eleventh house of community and, by extension, utopian ideals. Are we daring to dream the dream and flexible enough to edit it? How can our singularity serve the communities we are born from and build into? How can the power of our own weird translate into shared wealth?

This moon coincides with the Lion’s Gate Portal, an alignment that not only supports but demands we deliver our wildest wants and boldest projections for the future that awaits us.

To that end, the Leo/Aquarius axis in which this moon falls is that of the heart and the head, love and logic.

Spiritual Meaning of the Full Sturgeon Moon

Both of these signs can over-identify with “I” at the expense of “we.” Leo in its pursuit of validation and, also Aquarius in its quest for individuation. Yet, both the lion and the water bearer possess an unparalleled capacity to galvanize and organize on behalf of their communities.

Where the beating heart and the brilliant mind intersect, policy changes and progress are made.

Aquarian energy is often described as detached, but I think of it more as vantage than separation. From a heightened view, a fuller, more inclusive picture emerges, one that understands the traditions that got us this far and seeks the expansion required to take us further.

Other question to consider while the rebel moon is reigning; what parts of our ego developed as a defense strategy? Who were we protecting ourselves from? Leo wants to be loved and Aquarius wants to be who they are. The beauty of this axis and this lunation is the understanding that neither that we don’t have to sacrifice either to have both.

To understand how this lunation will impact you, identify where Aquarius falls in your birth chart. For fixed signs or those with prominent placements in that modality, looking at you Leo, Taurus, Scorpio, and/or Aquarius, this moon will be particularly potent.

Meaning of the Full Sturgeon Moon

As per “The Old Farmer’s Almanac,” August’s full moon is known as the Sturgeon Moon, an homage to the prehistoric lake fish that once filled the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain.

Historically, these babies who range in size from a man’s arm to a Volkswagen Beetle, were caught most easily during the late summer.

Because humans are prone to being incorrigible trash monsters, the effects of overfishing and pollution have decimated the once-flourishing lake sturgeon population.

Interestingly, sturgeon are among the oldest aquatic life forms, with scientists suggesting they’ve been swimming for 136 million years, earning them the distinction of outliving the dinosaurs and the nickname living fossils.

We can apply the concept of the living fossil to this full moon and to Aquarius energy at large, a solid but never static aggregate of what has been and an ever-expanding, always evolving shape of what’s to come.

When is the next full moon?

The next Full Moon is also a lunar eclipse, binging the quake and the quiver on September 7th, 2025, at 2:08 pm ET at 15°22 of Pisces.

---

Astrologer Reda Wigle researches and irreverently reports on planetary configurations and their effect on each zodiac sign. Her horoscopes integrate history, poetry, pop culture, and personal experience. To book a reading, visit her website.