Roaring Lion’s Gate New Moon at 16 degrees and 14 minutes of Leo on August 8 at 6:49am in Tucson, Arizona.
*If you know your birth chart and would like to understand how this New Moon cycle might affect you personally over the coming month, check out the free supplementary report HERE.* For the general collective report, keep reading below.
Where do sunflower seeds come from? Neither could my mind figure out nor my eyes see in my own backyard where crafty Nature seemed to be hiding these things until a dear farmer enlightened me on the matter. What a mesmerizing geometric sight it is. We think of Leo energy, linked to the Sun, as being self-centered, radiant, and bold like an aptly named sunflower; this confident sunflower is actually composed of oodles of little flowers each holding a seed. This New Moon has a lot of planetary aspects going on, but the general message from all those different angles and perspectives is pretty unified.
If you think about it, perceived celebrities and (in)famous individuals are nothing without the countless people who give a little of their own power, energy, and attention away to acknowledge them. Love or hate any public figure—they are nothing without your energy. Fitting that the opposing sign to Leo (the ego) is Aquarius (the people); both sides need the other to exist, so they share the same zodiacal axis.
Are you blaming anyone public or private in your life right now for what you’re experiencing in the world? Are you hiding your light? Now, under this New Moon in Leo, is a great time to be reborn and take your personal power back. Get on that karaoke stage and sing that song you’ve been belting out alone in the shower for years. You’re not likely to be pitch perfect, but you won’t be as bad as you think, and you certainly won’t regret it.
In other news, it’s the New Age vague High Holy Day of Lion’s Gate. If you are more interested in what that might mean, pop a new tab and learn more on that here. For more details about this New Moon, do continue reading below.
The Leo Moon is throwing a lavish party and nearly every planet seems to be invited, ie, is in aspect to this lunation. Typically, the Sun and the Moon conjoin on a specific degree of the zodiacal wheel, and we get a New Moon, or a lunar cycle reset, that tends to be thematically linked to the meaning of the location. The other planets are doing their own thing, moving at their own individual speeds, but if they are connected by special, specific degrees to the lunar position, they make “an aspect” and are interpreted as directly contributing by adding an extra layer to the New Moon’s energy and meaning. So what I’m saying is, this New Moon is very extra.
Extroverted Leo, the lion, the heart, the Sun, is fixed fire, the middle of the summer season; it follows emotionally sensitive, intuitive, homebody Cancer. Leo is the desire to get out there, play, enjoy, perform, feel good and share. It is the exemplar, the figurehead, the role model and affiliated with the fifth house of children and creative offspring, or what you put out there. The fire element is associated with activity and inspiration; as fixed fire, there is a degree of stability, dependability, and reliability over volatility or risk-taking.
If a stereotypical Leo takes you out to dinner, it’s likely to be the posh place everyone knows about where they’ve been countless times before and are chummy with the host. Be mindful though that Leo energy generally plays best when there is an audience to entertain, or people to share with. The proud and regal lion can tend toward style over substance or go all fame-whorey or dramatic when ego demands are not met, so watch yourself here. Remember, everyone has Leo somewhere in their birth chart, and the house it governs for you is likely where you will adopt this attitude, even if you don’t have any planets in the sign.
ASPECTS:
This New Moon is conjunct both Mercury (applying) and asteroid Psyche (loosely separating), all in Leo. If you haven’t noticed, I tend to orient my posts toward encouraging authenticity and healing anything in the way of that, so, when relevant, I mention more obscure asteroids like Psyche (soul, sometimes soulmate, energy). There is a call and opportunity with this bold energy to put oneself out there publicly in a more genuine, soulful way, or align with those who help you do that.
Let the real you shine, and especially with Mercury in Leo, express yourself in that fashion as well. With Mercury so close to the Sun (“under the beams”), it’s easy to get a little too caught up in the sound of one’s own voice or point of view and forget to listen, so just be mindful of that. Psyche’s involvement is likely to call forth people or opportunities that, for better or worse, illuminate or test how real you’re being with yourself and others, so that you can go forth and shine confidently in the right direction.
This theme is further specified by Psyche’s trine to the South Node and Juno (now freshly direct) in fiery, larger-than-life Sagittarius. As you radiate your magical you-ness, there is a supportive flow of releasing old belief attachments, paradigms or obsolete religious, institutional, or cultural assumptions that held you back. Maybe it was something an authority figure said in the past that you took to be so absolute you never questioned it or looked outside of it for an alternative. Those water wings helped you float while you couldn’t swim, but now you’re ready to take them off.
Juno, named after the wife of the philandering king of the gods, is the asteroid of commitment; betrayal; and give-and-take, especially in partnerships of any kind. She had been in retrograde in Sagittarius since April 11 and traveling dangerously close to the South Node (the cosmic release point) for a bit too long. This combination is not very fun, as it tends to dredge up past relationship problems and patterns, experienced or inherited, for grueling review or even, at times, since we’re talking Sagittarius, re-enactment.
With Juno now direct, lessons have been integrated, understanding is more likely to be mutual, and new commitments or agreements about the rules of engagement are easier made and viewed eye-to-eye. This Leo New Moon is quite widely trine to Juno’s current position, so it’s possible that a final pop quiz from the Universe might drop in the next week or so, but it’s one that you’re likely to pass if you’ve done the work. Leo energy is like that kind of teacher that doesn’t want to give anyone lower than a B+ because they must be the favorite.
We’ve got an inspiring and healing fire trine happening among the New Moon in Leo, asteroid Eros in Sagittarius and retrograde Chiron in Aries. Chiron retrograde is incredibly useful for finding support, tending to points of deep pain around issues of self-assertion, “masculinity”, willful actions, general vitality and leadership. The New Moon may seed a chance happening for this, and Eros (both erotic love but also general passion for anything, also freshly direct) might provide the motivation, optimistic adventuring spirit or opportunity to finally give it a go and make it all happen. Similarly, if channeled appropriately, this combination can easily manifest an event or actions whereby changes and work that has already been done internally are now proven so externally for all to see.
Let it be known that this planetary party does have stern Saturn in Aquarius as chaperone, loosely opposing the New Moon and in a challenging T-square with Uranus in Taurus. Saturn is retrograde, so he’s likely to be a little more lenient than usual unless you’ve really been screwing up and making the same mistake too many times, in which case, you are likely to face the music and possibly in a public or dramatic way. Even so, this is likely to feel more like a strict and amplified warning rather than a cage dropping over you.
Saturn rewards hard work and has a painfully slow way of calling out things you thought you were getting away with, so that you actually learn the lesson. No one ever stops learning, and Saturn has been testing everyone this year, so this applies to all. Saturn is not here to crush your dreams; he is actually here to make sure you put in the necessary steps to achieve them. Benevolent, expansive Jupiter in retrograde is now back in technological Aquarius, too, so there’s this feeling like, even if you’ve made some errors and everyone knows it or there is digital evidence to prove it (it’s the age we live in, after all), there’s likely to be the chance to resolve it for good.
The focus may be on collective or technological accountability, the grand vision, hopes and dreams for the future. If your behavior is sabotaging your commitment to any of these things or harmful to your reputation, now is the time to acknowledge missteps and make those corrections that will set you on a more fruitful long-term trajectory. Are you walking the talk? Time to find out.
Tests might come through in a shocking way or the repercussions might involve having to suddenly change one’s customary habits and lifestyle, experience challenges to one’s values, or adjust one’s normal pacing (thanks to Uranus), but it may be worth embracing this or stepping out of the comfort zone to try a new approach to an old problem. Mars in Virgo squaring the Nodes of the Moon is reflecting the same general message and helping put some attention toward perfecting the steps and details required.
Venus, also in Virgo, trine to Pluto retrograde in Capricorn and opposed by Neptune retrograde in Pisces, is cheerfully helping clean up any big messes that might have felt too daunting to tackle in the past. Where have you been too lenient with boundaries, excessive behavior, escapism, idealism, fantasy, or spiritual bypassing? Areas that felt confusing or impossible to understand are now under a productive magnifying glass, and there is cosmic support to deal with it all, so hang in there. Creative projects or dreams that seemed too overwhelming can finally materialize with baby steps. In due time, you’ll see it was all worth the effort.
