New Moon in Leo – the article

On Aug. 18th, at 10:42pm EDT, the Moon aligns with the Sun in 26.5 degree of Leo — in other words, the New Moon will be exact. To watch my New Moon video click here.

The New Moon in fun-loving, extroverted, expressive Leo has us looking for heartfelt experiences. It’s important for us to express ourselves, to learn about love — and in particular, to learn about how those things work together to help us create from the heart and from a place of joy.

Think about the keywords for this self-expressed fire sign: “proud, generous, hospitable, caring, warm, authoritative, active, open, fun-loving”… How could you live into those words?

Leo is ruled by the Sun, symbol of consciousness and the unique light we came to shine in this lifetime — this is what we were born to explore and express — so ask yourself: Where could I shine my unique light more brightly? What brings me joy? Not just in general… but in this very moment?

Leo also represents our creativity: there are as many ways to be creative and self-expressed as there are “selves” — indeed, we are all creators — we create with every thought, word, and action.

Creativity requires innocence, curiosity, courage, and play. To live it out, we must tap into the unique spark inside of us in a joyful way — and allow ourselves the freedom to make mistakes — creativity thrives on love and permission and is stifled by judgment and fear.

Take a moment to contact your “free inner child” — that place inside that is ready to play and create. What might encourage that inner child to come out and play? If you aren’t sure, there’s no need to guess: Try asking it gently and directly…

Mercury currently also moving through Leo, adding more weight to the Leo-energies; as Mercury closely aligns with the New Moon in Leo, it encourages us to…

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As Mercury closely aligns with the New Moon in Leo, it encourages us to be more aware of our thoughts and exchanges with others.

All those planets in Leo encourage us to align with our heart and be playful and joyous; we also get an opportunity to connect to our ”inner child”, and to children in general.

You might say this builds on an earlier question: What brings me joy? Not just in general… but in this very “moment of now”? What drains my vitality? What energizes me?

What have I always wanted to say? Who have I always wanted to be? What if, just for right now, just as an experiment, I met life with a courageously open heart and mind?

Now here are some aspects connected to this New Moon chart:

The New Moon/Mercury alignment in Leo trines Mars in Aries and the South Node in Sagittarius: Healthy Fire is fed by joy, authenticity, and self-determination. The Trine brings optimism, enthusiasm, and expansion to our personal goals, creative projects, and explorations. Our positive attitude helps us take risks that get us unstuck — and we have the vigor to blast through challenges.

Ask yourself: What could I tackle right now that seemed impossible in the past? What am I passionate about? What lights my fire?

However, our fire could be extinguished in these ways:

It could be blown out by too much Air, should we start over-analyzing things… It could get downed by an excess of Water if we become emotionally blocked… And finally, it could get buried under too much Earth, if we resist going beyond traditional values or comforts. The latter leads me in to the next aspect:

Even though we have this beautiful Grand Fire Trine, Mars in Aries (who is part of this Grand Trine) also squares Saturn & Pluto in Capricorn.

Saturn and Capricorn are both associated with the element “Earth”. Pluto on the other hand is connected to the “Water” element, and in particular associated with emotional Fire, sometimes darkly emotional.

Mars in Aries is pure Fire; at its best, it is courageous, enthusiastic, and passionate. It is direct in its approach and wants to move fast. It represents our personal assertiveness that we need to make things happen, our ability to “fight” for what we need and want.

Saturn in Capricorn is pure Earth; at its best, it is responsible, cautious, masterful, deliberate, practical. It wants to take it one step at a time. It is about our social structures and society as a whole. How can we co-exist? What practical rules or regulations are needed to live together and support each other?

Pluto in Capricorn is a mix of Water, Fire, and Earth; at its best, it seeks empowerment and authentic emotional connections for society. It wants to bring to the surface (i.e. make conscious) all the dark aspects (shadow parts, or not yet integrated parts) of society. These parts may ultimately bring disempowerment to the collective if they fail to be integrated in a healthy way.

Pluto brings conscious awareness to those parts, so we can start to integrate them — and by doing so, we can create a healthier, more integrated, and deeply passionate society, with social structures in place that function long-term and empower us.

As we can see here, Mars in Aries carries a very different vibration from Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn — so how do we work with these energies?

This is an especially important question, given we will need to engage with this combo for the pretty much the rest of the year (due to Mars’s Retrograde phase and Saturn and Pluto’s Stations and Direct phases in September-October).

As best you can, start with your inner Mars: voice your opinion and state your needs in the present moment — in other words, assert yourself, be courageous, and direct — especially whenever something comes up that needs your input. Don’t stop there, though: give yourself permission to stay open and take responsibility for your current situation… in other words, access your inner Saturn.

If you find yourself in a situation where your inner Mars feels ineffective, do your best to stay open and trusting, remove yourself, and/or only focus on what you actually have control over. In other words: access your inner Pluto.

Ask yourself: What would it look like if I expressed myself unapologetically, directly, and passionately? What if I also decided to bring maturity and self-responsibility to the table when moving ahead with my own passions and goals… no matter what?

Could I surrender my fears about those things that I lack any control over at this time? Could I elevate my understanding of the anger or irritation that arises when I feel “out of control”? Could I focus on what is mine to change or do… and give the rest over to my Higher Self or Source?

This last question of course reminds me of the Serenity prayer: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference!”

Please know that we talked about all the Mars Transits, in connection with our own birth charts, in our last Forecasting Forum. You can purchase this 110 minute webinar, here; we will also relate the upcoming Mars Retrograde phase in Aries to our own birth charts in my next Forecasting Forum on August 30th.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Forum, it’s a 90+min. webinar that I conduct every month. To join live or register for the mp4-video presentation, click here. As always, there will be an Early Bird Special… available until Aug. 27th at midnight!

As a reminder to all Star Members of my online community: you are automatically registered, and will receive emails the day before and the day of the webinar, inviting you to join live. You’ll receive another email with a link to the video replay of the Forum within 24 hours of the live event.

In the spirit of 6 degrees of separation…  Saturn in Capricorn also quincunxes the New Moon in Leo & the North Node in Gemini:

These Quincunxes create a Yod-aspect, with Saturn as the Focus planet; this means we are being invited to take a serious look at our long-term goals, social structures, and accomplishments to this point (again, Saturn represents the principle of responsibility, caution, healthy boundaries, maturity, masterful approaches, building structures that can last, etc.).

Ask yourself: Where am I in regards to my long-term goals and achievements? Where would I like to be? How realistic is my approach to get there? What’s my next step? If I divided the distance from “here to there” into small little action steps, what might those look like?

Am I honest with myself about my human limitations? Am I taking the time to practice the skills I have yet to master? Have I learned to say “no” to people, situations, and things that do not further my goals? If I am still having a hard time with this, could I practice saying “no” to at least one thing in my life that simply does not work for me in the long-run?

Now let’s talk about Uranus for a moment. Why? Because it is exalted at the time of the New Moon… let me explain: Uranus is still moving more slowly after starting its Retrograde phase, which begins on Aug. 15th, only three days before this New Moon becomes exact.

Actually, this New Moon chart is unique in my experience, in that we have six retrograde planets (bear in mind that there are only 9 planets that can even go retrograde)! This means that we have a chance to be more in tune with all of these planet’s energies. So which ones are they? They are: Jupiter, Saturn, Chiron, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto

We are accessing the energies of these 6 planets from the inside out right now, turning our attention towards what is no longer in alignment with our innermost Selves — in other words, it’s an inside job 🙂

Ask yourself: Is the outside world aligned with my inner world? If the answer is “no”, ask yourself: Where are the gaps? Where might I start to close some of those gaps?

Back to Uranus: this planet highlights where we are being called to break old patterns and make radical shifts, both collectively and individually speaking.

Ask yourself: What is confronting me at this time around financial freedom or practical, yet unique approaches to being comfortable and enjoying life? What might need to break down for me to have a breakthrough? Is there anything in my life that I need to approach with “progress” in mind?

Remember, doing the inner work is just as important as making progress in the outer world — the “Inner Universe” informs the outer — one cannot happen without the other 😉

We have 6 months to take a look inside at whatever has been thwarting our progress or sense of freedom, so ask yourself: Where are inner roadblocks popping up? Could I give myself some introspective time to receive some practical insights and ideas to help me go around those roadblocks and journey into the next phase of my life?

Since Uranus is currently in Taurus, it answers to Venus, currently in Cancer. Venus in Cancer sextiles Uranus in Taurus (almost exactly), and she also squares Chiron in Aries — let’s unpack that:

Venus’s Sextile to Uranus gives us the opportunity to connect to family (or our “found family”) in new and unusual ways. Ask yourself: What if, just for right now, I allowed myself 5% more time and energy to experiment with honoring my own unique talents and what I have to offer? How might that impact my relationship to the people I share my life or home with?

Might a practical, yet unique (or at least unusual) approach to my resources support me in feeling physically and emotionally safe in my own skin, and in my home? What might such an approach look like?

Venus’s Square to Chiron provides an opportunity to learn from one another; ironically however, social insecurities can be magnified over the next two weeks. As best as you can, use this time to learn about your sore spots — nobody is perfect — we all have our flaws and idiosyncrasies… It’s ok.

Ask yourself: Could I inspire others even if I let them see that I am a “feeling being”? Or maybe even because I allow them to see that I have vulnerabilities and am human? What might become possible if I allowed myself to be both vulnerable and courageous?

To sum it all up: This New Moon invites us to reconnect to what lights us up, to what we love, and to how we want to express that in the world. It also wants us to consider working within the framework of what is realistic at this time, staying grounded in reality and conscious about what we can and cannot do.

It also invites us to tap into our healthy masculine by acting from a courageous place — ask yourself: What might it feel like to be myself without apology? Without needing anyone’s permission or approval? Yet taking responsibility for all that I am being?

For the next four weeks, I also invite you to pause occasionally and ask yourself these questions: What am I grateful for in my life? How could I express that gratitude? To whom? Could I express my joy directly and honestly? How could I go about engaging others in a joyful dialog that aligns with my inner truth?

If you’d like to explore this more, I recommend you watch my New Moon video for a fuller discussion on the subject 🙂
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Do you have your Ascendant (or any personal planets) in 24-29 degrees of Leo, Aquarius, Taurus, or Scorpio? Or do your Ascendant or Sun-sign in Leo or Cancer? This New Moon may feel stronger to you…

And last, but definitely not least: the New Moon is also the best time to set some powerful intentions for this month’s Moon cycle; the best time for the intention-setting process is soon after the New Moon becomes exact, and definitely not during a Moon void of course phase.

That means the best time to set intentions this month would be during the almost three hour period between 10:42pm on Aug. 18th and 1:38am on Aug. 19th — or during the next slot (which is much longer), between 4:20am on Aug. 19th and 10:42pm on Aug. 20th (as always, all times are in EDT — the New York timezone).

For more info about Setting Intentions, click here.

If you live in a timezone other than EDT (US East Coast-time), I recommend you join my Facebook Fan-page or follow me on twitter, as I will be posting reminders on Aug. 18th, 19th and 20th to let you know when is the best time to set your intentions 😉