New Moon in Leo

Note: Anyone needing the New Moon Ritual pattern explained, please see the start of the Capricorn New Moon entry. Also note that i aim to put up a new post on or just before the Full Moon - so mark your calendar or send me an email and i can put you on the notification list.

Leo New Moon, 8 August 2021 (Australia Eastern Standard Time)

The New Moon in Leo will be a potent one given the aspects it makes to other heavenly bodies (Uranus, Chiron, Mercury, Saturn and Jupiter to be specific) and I will say a bit about that at the end, but first, let’s unpack the Leo archetype.

Leo is fixed Fire. We have already discussed fixity in previous posts – so remember that this means a kind of stability, just as it sounds. It is that resting modality that comes between initiation and change. The fixed modality is often what gives the fixed signs (Taurus, Aquarius, Scorpio & Leo) their tendency towards stubbornness or immovability. These energies do not change their minds easily. Fire, we have already spoken of as well. This is the element associated with our spiritual self. And just as fire transforms what it contacts, it is the part of ourselves that seeks transformation. Here already we begin to get a bit of a different picture into Leo energy than what is found in mainstream astrology, where Leo is often painted in really base colors of a drama queen or an egoic, over proud and over bearing energy – and sure those shadow expressions are available. Every energy has high and low expressions. So what is Leo’s high expression? It helps to consider the Sun, its ruling ‘planet’. The Sun, the center of our galaxy, effusive in light and heat and energy, is the giver of life on this planet. Here we can feel into some of that shadow, for who amongst us have not wilted and hidden from an overbearingly hot summer Sun? But what about the feeling we get watching the Sun rise, or the feeling that opens inside of us when the Sun finally comes out after a week of rain? This too is the feeling inspired when Leo is in right relationship. We also can consider the purview of the 5th house, which Leo naturally rules. This house governs creativity, children, pets, love affairs/romance, joy & play, among other things – but you get the gist. Don’t these things have a similar ‘feeling’ to that Sun coming out after a long rain? It is in the 5th house arena that we soften, we open, we rejoice and allow ourselves to be pulled into the immediate moment. Leo when in right relationship, it is an energy that anchors us in our hearts (which it also rules). That small child screaming “Look at me! Look at me!” as they discover something for the first time something that they can do, like ride a bike or climb a tall tree. You have to be quite a grump to not get caught up in their enthusiasm, to withhold attention and applause. And herein we come to a fundamental root in understanding Leo energy – it REQUIRES attention and approval to fully manifest and be transformative. Leo energy for this reason is often highly tuned towards its audience; it can sense both the connection and the disconnect - the interest and the boredom - as any really good performer would. Leo energy stumbles easily into something of a tyrant (just like that child can) when it makes approval and applause its goal however. This is when the drama queen rears its head, over loud and overbearing and relentless. If we go back to the Sun or 5th house descriptions, what we know is that creativity while it can be done for its own sake becomes hugely transformative when it is received. The Sun feels pretty generous. And there is a quality in both of those ideas of kinda getting out of the way and just ‘being’. You often hear about the creative Muse or being in the Zone. Artists and performers talk about it as though they were not really there, but rather are channeling something. And here we see the second fundamental root in understanding Leo energy – forcing is not the path. Leo energy in its highest expression is mostly about learning to trust its own integral inspiration and ride that fire out into the world unashamedly. If it is not received, it is not a judgment on its internal beingness, but rather more one of timing and audience. The key for Leo energy is always to trust its own heart and find its right audience. Then the applause comes, then its light can be received, then its fire can transform. Leo energy requires a boldness of spirit and that only comes authentically when it trusts own heart.

From the Kabbalist perspective, the Sun corresponds to the 6^th sephirah in the Tree of Life, also called Tiphareth. Tiphareth is linked to the archangel Raphael - the angel of divine healing. Tiphareth is seen as the place where polarized energy comes into balance, most particularly that of Chesed (Jupiter – mercy, service to others & loving kindness) and Gevurah (Mars – might, justice & severity). Tiphareth walks the path between and balances energies to bring about beauty and healing.

So this New Moon, think about what you want to transform in your life and how you might lean in and trust yourself more, allowing your own inner vision to guide you and not pay so much heed to what others will think and say. How can you embody your own heart-space? Where in your life have you been dancing for all you are worth and still not gaining approval/success? This is a really good time to re-examine what it is you are doing and why. Who is it that you are trying to win approval from? Is what you are putting your energy to, in full alignment with the integrity of your spirit – does it come from your heart? If not, this New Moon is a really powerful time to reconnect with your authentic self and make some new commitments that center on being true to yourself. Some courage will be required – courage, from the Latin root “cor”, meaning heart, used to mean “to tell your heart”, to act from a place of personal authority (and personal integrity), to feel empowered because actions and words were rooted in your own heart.

Things to do: try sticking your neck out a bit more. Share something of your heart. Get up on ‘stage’ and let people actually see YOU. Dare to expose your true nature. Get creative, contact your Muse. Be generous. Shine. If what you are sharing is authentic and not being received, practice just finding a new audience – don’t squander your time or give away your power by getting down on yourself OR THEM. Be magnanimous and in our own authority. Speak from your heart. If you want something more practical, practice yoga Sun Salutations, spend time with children, study them and see what you can learn about being in the moment. Play more. Make love more.

Intentions to set: try to move from the perspective of being in love… try to generate that sensation in your body, allow it to inform you. Alternatively try to cultivate that sensation of being in wonder with the world and yourself that we had as children. Check in regularly with your own heart – your own sense of self. Where are you actually at? Practice not with being polite or nice or whatever, but rather practice being exactly where you are at and share from that place. Also practice being in the moment and detaching from outcome. Learn to listen to your own intuition and allow it to guide you this month. Notice what messages you are receiving back and see what happens when rather than stepping away and abandoning yourself in anyway when the messages are ones of judgment/disinterest, you simply drop that ‘venue’ and try to see who or what might benefit from what you actually have to offer from your authentic heart-space. If its true, don’t change the message, practice on changing the audience. Think outside the box here, get creative – perhaps its a child or a non-human person. It could be a dog or a tree. It could be a spirit guide or it could be ‘god’. It could just be you. Are you your own best cheerleader? If not, work on that these next 2 weeks. Use this time to have the intention of finding your right audience and sharing yourself authentically – from your heart.

Rituals to do: I really like Gratitude Practice when it comes to Leo energy. There is something about activating that principal which brings us directly into the moment, directly into our hearts. It opens and enlivens us, awakening us to the interconnectedness of all things, which in turn helps us to become even more expansive and generous. Here is one form of Gratitude Practice that is both simple and incredibly potent. Take some time each morning over the next 2 weeks (starting on the New Moon) to go outside – facing the east or the rising Sun, place your hands on your heart and open up your senses – both to the outside of you and also to the inside of you. Start saying “Good Morning” one by one to each thing that rises into your awareness. Take time to smile and breathe between greetings. Really greet that thing and wish it well. “Good Morning Sun. Good Morning cold. Good Morning sky. Good Morning birds. Good Morning car. Good Morning sleepy. Good Morning trees. Good Morning wind. Good Morning motor. Good Morning anxious. Good Morning doubt. Good morning coffee. Good Morning dog. Good Morning neighbor....” on and on. Do this until you notice a stillness arising in you. Breathe in that place. Open your heart to it. Allow whatever emotions or thoughts to rise and just breath. Bow and continue on your day.

Now before I quit, I wanted just to say that this New Moon, given all its aspectual conditions with the different astrological bodies I mentioned earlier is really a time of contact with our own wounded natures and how that translates and manifests on the collective level. We can be in contact with our wounds in all kinds of ways – both consciously and unconsciously; as both victim or healer. The choice is always ours to make. New Moons are powerful times of beginning energy and cycles, they are times of becoming. Leo energy is really about embodiment and expression. This square with Uranus and Saturn that is active for us all year is about learning how to individuate while retaining our connection (and duty) to the collective. For all of us and for our societies as a whole its about breaking down old structures of power that no longer serve us and not only daring to step into a new paradigm of possibility that makes room for authenticity, but of doing the hard work of changing our habits, changing our systems and owning our internal authority to do so. Chiron is in the mix with this New Moon and sure it always has the option of giving its power away and becoming its pain – we can throw a big pity party and be the queens of our own drama, but what a waste. Haven’t we all had enough of where that brings us? Look around… do you see the suffering? Do you see the environmental catastrophes unfolding all around? Do you see the injustices, the pain, the violence? Its only getting worse. Everyone knows this. We’ve all been taught to give our power away –to our social media platforms, to our governments, to our jobs, to our institutions, to religion, to astrology, to gurus and guides and teachers, lovers, friends – that invisible They, who should do something about X. Its time for every one of us to do what IS ours to do and it starts by owning our own individual power. Own our individual authority; take responsibility for healing this mess by being in our hearts and moving from that place. There is no time but now. Its not going to get any better until each of us steps up by stepping into ourselves. If you like the world you experience and feel fed in your heart, then by all means keep on keeping on, but if the likes on social media simply aren’t cutting it, if there isn’t enough distraction from the pain and fear, if you are bored with the same old story - then maybe its time to find your courage, to live from your authentic heart and seek out your right audience. When we do this, we heal. Everything has a better chance to heal. You don't have to fix everything, or even one thing. Its not about fixing, its about shifting the current pattern one teensy bit. The easiest way to do that is to fall into your true nature by anchoring in your own heart. So step into your power - not by denying your pain or making it bigger than it is. Be honest and leave off falling into divisiveness by choosing one side or the other of a polarity. Reality is just way more complicated than that. This time is not about right or wrong - that is a very old story of a binary reality of separation. So channel that Leo energy. Be the Sun, be the light - be like Tiphareth, that which walks between polarities to foster wholeness and healing. Be in your power and transform the moment through your own authenticity and courage.