This week’s First Quarter Moon in Leo is calling you to take the lead — to make the first move toward what you want, not just what’s expected.

It’s not about waiting for the perfect moment. It’s about showing the universe what matters to you — and taking action that reflects your truth.

In this episode of The Moon Method, I’ll guide you through:

• What a First Quarter Moon actually means and why it’s the best time to take outward, intentional action

• How to uncover what you need to act on by looking back to the August 4, 2024 New Moon in Leo

• Why this week’s Leo energy is asking you to tune into what makes your heart sing — and then move that forward

• How current astrology, including Venus conjunct Neptune, Pluto retrograde, and Mercury sextile Jupiter, are giving you opportunities to dream, dig deep, and grow

• The specific date (📅 February 6, 2026) to keep in mind for a potential culmination point if you’re planning something big

✨ If you haven’t yet, grab your Free Moon Phase Compass — it’s a 3-step guide that shows you exactly how to align your energy and intentions with each Moon phase.
👉 Download it here

🌙 Want to know what area of your life this Leo Moon is activating?
Join Moon Chat to receive your personalized Moon Phase Map and custom email notifications.
👉 Join Moon Chat here

This is the moment to choose yourself. Take the step. Trust that everything else will fall into place around it.

FULL TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] Sometimes you have to make the first move. So let me ask you, what would make your heart sing? Move that forward. Because when we move ourselves forward, sometimes that’s what’s needed to get everything else to fall into place. That’s your message from the moon this week.

Hi, I’m Laura Kusto and I’m The Moon Phase Astrologer and this is The Moon Method. Each week I break down what the moon phase is doing and I tell you how you can best use it so that you can confidently slow life down, find your focus and claim your power. If you haven’t, go ahead and hit that subscribe button so you never miss your weekly message from the moon.

Alright, this is the week of May 2nd. We’re starting out on Friday here, and this week we have a first quarter that’s happening in Fiery Leo. It is happening on Sunday, May 4th at 7:52 AM Mountain Standard Time. Now this energy is going to be active all week from [00:01:00] Friday to Friday, but of course, the closer you get to the fourth for when you take your first quarter action, the more powerful and supportive the moon’s energy will be.

Now, first quarters are when we show the moon what we want, and we do that by taking action. Outward external action. Now,, if you want a guide, a simple guide, a straightforward guide, a no fluff guide that shows you how to work with the phases of the moon, go ahead and grab your free moon phase compass.

This is a guide that I put together where I share three simple steps to work with each phase of the moon. These are the exact three steps that I personally use as well to work with the moon phases. So I’ll drop a link for that in the show notes. But now let’s dig in a little bit more to this first quarter.

So the first quarter is the second phase in the complete moon cycle. Now, when we get to the first quarter, we always look back to the first phase, which is the New Moon. To see what [00:02:00] needs acting upon. That’s our clue. You know? It’s like, okay, first quarter, let’s take action. Well, oh, action on what? And the new moon that last happened in this case, it’d be the last time we had a new moon in Leo, is going to give us our clues.

Okay. Now the date of that new moon that happened in Leo was August 4th, 2024. So as you look back to that, you want to see, first of all, did you keep a journal? If you keep a New Moon journal, great, you would’ve written down some intentions. So go back, look at that. If you are new to this and you weren’t doing that, that’s no big deal.

And quite honestly, I think that it’s almost better because what you really want to hone in on is, you know, how was I feeling then? What was my energy? Because the energy that you have is sending an energetic signal out, and that’s what the moon hears. And so as you, if you download that moon phase compass, we’re going to talk a lot about how to set intentions and how to write them down.

But I talk a lot about energy and [00:03:00] the energy that you’re in as you set those intentions. You know, you can say, you know, I have a, you know, I’m the VP of sales making 500,000 a year. But if you don’t feel that, then it’s sort of misaligned and you’re not giving the moon a clear message. So on this first quarter, if you can go back and look at that week of August 4th, 2024, and unearth through, say your emails through your calendar, through your camera roll, maybe even social media posts.

You know, what was I feeling? Was I in a really good mood, a good energy life was in flow? Or was I struggling with something? Good or bad, you want the truth, okay? You want the truth because this first quarter, now is the time to take that (action.) Nurture it forward. And if you don’t like what you saw back on that week, you can course correct.

Okay. You can totally course correct. It’s great. And so now if you also want to know, again, this is very general. We’re just looking back at a date, what’s going on? [00:04:00] But the moon as it’s going around the zodiac, and right now on this first quarter, it’s in Leo. Well, Leo will oversee a specific area of life for you.

We have 12 of them, okay? And so if you want to know what area of life Leo represents for you, that’s where the Moon Chat membership comes in. So in that, I get your chart and I give you custom guidance on each of the moon phases. So my members get a custom moon phase map, not just a compass. They receive personal guidance and of course they get inbox alerts on each moon phase telling them, Hey, it’s a first quarter, it’s impacting your finances or your relationships, et cetera.

So that’s the membership you can join anytime and I will drop a link for that in the show notes as well. So, last point on the first quarter as far as logistics. Okay? If you are planning something big, so maybe again, you set some intentions around something and now you’re going to take some action towards something.

It could be, [00:05:00] say, getting married, could be moving, buying a house, getting a new job, perhaps trying to have a baby… there’s a culmination point that you’re going to want to keep in mind, and that will be the next time that we have a full moon in Leo, and that’s going to be February 6th, 2026. And again, it’s gonna be a full moon in Leo at around the same degree.

So February 6th, 2026. That’s your date. Alright, now let’s dig into the energies and why this message this week is all about you focusing on you, as you take action, okay? Sometimes, again, we need to make the first move.

We need to be the leaders in our own lives to go after what we really want. Okay? So Friday, May 2nd, what we have happening that day. Venus meets up with Neptune in Aries, okay? Venus has been moving around and it’s been retrograde and so it’s met up with Neptune a couple times actually in the last few months.

And, but now it’s making its final [00:06:00] pass, it’s moved direct. It’s gonna be moving direct in the sky, you know, for the foreseeable future right now. But. Venus and Neptune joining up is always a moment to sink into pleasure and to dream. And so there are a couple of days where this join up has already happened.

And if you want to look for themes, ’cause usually when we have these passes where they have, there’s a conjunction, then a planet goes retrograde and they meet up with another planet again, and now they have the final pass. There’s usually some themes there. So the dates you wanna look at are this year, February 1st.

And then the next date would be March 27th. But now we have this final pass, those first two dates, February 1st, March 27th- were happening in Pisces. This last and final pass is happening in Aries at the one degree mark of Aries. So. Again, this is great energy to take some time to dream into what you want and what would please you.

It can also present some confusion around love, romance, and pleasure. These [00:07:00] Venusian themes and Neptune can create some fogginess, as well as, Venus also represents relationships to women and with the feminine. But now we’re in Aries and that tells me that we now have a spotlight that has zeroed in onto the self.

So you’re gonna be compelled, or you’re really being called to look at your SELF and your role and how you have played a role in creating this situation around these themes of love, romance, pleasure, the feminine, feminine relationship. So this is the last pass, and, you know, observe what’s coming up for you.

Is it, are you getting a resolution to something that’s been going on, or is it just time to make an acceptance of something or, or does something need to change? You know, maybe it hasn’t yet. You know, you’ve got this first quarter here. So again, if it’s time to course correct, you can, ’cause this is the outward external action that needs to be taken.

Alright, so that is on the second, Friday the second. Then we move to Sunday the fourth, where we have [00:08:00] that first quarter. So all things considered, this is what I got when I see this. It’s in Leo. Leo is ruled by the sun and the self. So it – it’s what makes you happy, what makes your heart happy? And, and again, sometimes we, we have to make that first move.

And especially coming off of this final pass of Venus and Neptune, hopefully you’ll find some clarity there. And if you don’t, what you really need to do, you’re being called, – maybe you can’t please everybody, but, what is best for you? Maybe you need to lead this. Okay. You need to step into, this is what’s best for me.

And then everything else sort of falls into place. Okay. So on that same day, Pluto is stationing retrograde. And it’s going to be retrograde… This is the outermost planet, right? It moves very slow. It’s going to be retrograde through October 14th. Now, a Pluto retrograde is not the same as say, [00:09:00] a Mercury or venous retrograde.

Those are Mercury, Venus, Mars, those are more personal planets. They impact us personally. Pluto is far out there. It’s more of a collective planet. Still we can work with this energy. And when Pluto is retrograde, it’s a time to look within. It’s a time to look at what’s hidden. It’s a time, really great time to do self-reflection ’cause Pluto represents control and power struggles.

It also represents rebirth and renewal. So it’s a really good time to again look at all these themes and decide if you wanna do some self transformation, okay. And with all of the things happening this year, astrologically again, all the outer planets are changing signs. The collective themes and the collective energy here on earth is changing and shifting.

So if you’re being called to look at some personal transformation, it’s totally normal. You’re really- you’re in with the flow, right? It’s the perfect time to be doing that from now through October. Alright then. [00:10:00] We move into Monday the fifth, and we’ve got Monday and Tuesday some, I’m gonna call them opportunity energies that really are going to help with this first quarter.

Again, if that Venus Neptune didn’t give you some clues, if something’s not coming up for you yet, give yourself Monday, Tuesday, and maybe even on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday – you’ve got the whole week, like I said, to really figure out what to take action on. I gotta be honest, I love the first quarter because I’m all about personal accountability, how do we shape our own lives? How are we co-creating with the universe? Right? In the first quarter and the last quarter are actually those times in the moon phases where we are called to do something outwardly. We are called to interact with the world outwardly. On the New Moon and the full moon, there’s not a lot of outward things that we are being called to do, but the first quarter -especially- is this time to [00:11:00] figure it out. Like, okay, how I’m gonna move this area of my life along, or what’s not going well in this area of my life and how can I course correct? And so again, we, if you haven’t quite figured it out, and sometimes even for me, I have a really hard time trying to figure out, hmm, what should I do?

I’m not quite sure. So I wanna tell you about these opportunity energies Monday, May 5th, mercury, the planet of communication and analysis makes a sextile with Jupiter. Sextile is what gives you the opportunity. This isn’t going to be something that just happens for you, but you’re going to be given an opportunity to use some energy.

Mercury sextile Jupiter- this energy is combining our communication and analysis with Mercury there, along with Jupiter, which is growth and expansion. So it’s the opportunity to expand your horizon. So something might be put in front of you to perhaps examine or consider, but your ability to handle things that are more complex, again, bigger, broader, maybe out of your current comfort zone, but handle things are more [00:12:00] complex, higher mind or advanced thinking. Your ability to deal with it will be heightened. And so it represents this opportunity for growth. So again, your opportunity to take action here might be something a little bit out of your comfort zone, but you can take an opportunity to explore it, learn it, and see what happens. Okay. Maybe even just learning it. Your is your action. Okay? Then on Tuesday. More opportunity, energy this time between Venus and Pluto. So this is the opportunity to explore love and pleasure more deeply. So I think about that Neptune Venus conjunction that we have, well now Venus has moved on and it’s making the Sextile with Pluto.

So maybe you had some fogginess around love and pleasure, and now you are thinking about digging a little deeper into that. Or maybe you had some dreamy, really higher mind, amazing revelation and now you’re going to look at that more deeply. But this is looking more deeply, so looking at into the shadows.

[00:13:00] Looking at what’s hidden. It takes some courage sometimes, because you know, you don’t always wanna look at those things, but eventually you dig a little deeper and allows for the possibility of a deeper connection. Okay, so this is favorable energy, both of these sextiles, to go deeper. With this Venus, Pluto. So strengthen love, strengthen your appreciation, et cetera. So, alright, well that is the week. It’s a pretty simple week ’cause there’s not a lot of planetary energies muddying the waters from Wednesday through Friday. So again, you can really use those days to think about these planetary energies that are happening.

And then maybe Wednesday through Friday, get clear on the first quarter action that you want to take. So awesome- all right- but again. Remember, this is probably going to come down to you making the first move and taking a leadership role in your life. And again, it’s in Leo. The first quarter in Leo- it’s about the self.

So go after that. Alright? Take that first move, go [00:14:00] after what you want so that you’re- it’s signaling. Signaling something that’s really true for you and trust that everything else will fall into place around it. Alright? Okay. Thank you so much for being here and I hope this has been helpful.

If it was, please leave a review or drop a thumbs up. And also, if you think that someone else would benefit from this message, please share it. I’m on a mission to make the moon’s practical wisdom accessible to all. Alright, until next time, take care.