The new moon in 23°17’ of Leo on Aug 16 (4:38 a.m. CDT) ignites the courage to be radically honest so that we can follow our unique path.
This new moon in Leo marks a new beginning that calls us back into our heart center to tune into what lights us up and brings us joy.
By reconnecting to our childlike nature, we can once again experience the awe and wonder of the divine spark that runs through all of life.
We may either need to rediscover what brings us joy or we might long for something that brought us joy in the past. We can start to make space for what we love and nurture what we need to feel alive.
“Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.”
Henri Nouwen
The intentions that we plant now ignite a new cycle of growth over the next 18 months, particularly in the zone of authentic creative expression and following what lights up our hearts. We will see this vision in full bloom near the Full Moon in Leo on Feb 12, 2025.
This cycle evokes immense creative potential when we learn to be adaptable, maintain our playful spirit and follow our true inspiration.
We’ve Reached the Midpoint of Venus Retrograde
We have been in the process of inner reflection around our relationships, creative expression and values. These themes are activated again as this lunation occurs just a few days after the Sun conjoins Venus Retrograde in Leo.
We confront our notion of desire so that we can discern between the attachments and roles of the ego from the deep longing of our hearts.
Something new wishes to be birthed through us; perhaps we have dreamed about it or spent some time working with this idea behind the scenes. For this next part of our journey, what is required is a willingness to be seen and to share more fully. We must risk believing in an idea and taking a brave step forward.
This lunation is also a call for shadow inquiry. We are asked to make space for every part of ourselves and to trust our creative process and timing for what is emerging.
We are invited to face what we have kept hidden and under the radar so we can observe how our fear of being seen keeps us from accessing our power.
Leo as an Archetype
Leo represents our passion and the pulsing energy of our hearts.
We act on inspiration. We engage in play and discovery through our willingness to meet life as an experiment.
Leo plays full-on, bringing life to the party.
They inspire others to be more completely themselves by embodying their own expression.
Leo teaches us to explore what it means to be creative and discover our individuality. We unlock more access to our singular beauty and creativity as we notice, share and create it.
In their highest expression, Leo skillfully champions the potential in others. They have the ability to recognize what is extraordinary about us and offer greater understanding of our special gifts.
When we feel their warmth and heart cheering for us, we feel held, witnessed and seen. By radiating their inimitable light, they ignite the divine spark within us.
“As we let our own Light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Brené Brown
In Leo, we explore our relationship to being seen and the vulnerability that comes with it. We are tasked with staying true to ourselves and sharing authentically, regardless of how life responds.
When we anchor into this sense of self, we deepen our capacity to trust our vision. We learn how to hold ourselves with dignity and regard.
This is a necessary time to explore our conditioning around creative expression and visibility and observe the stories we tell ourselves to protect our hearts. Do we feel safe enough to let our guard down? Where is life asking us to be more courageous? Can we stand in our own vision, even if others don’t understand it? How do we champion the light and vision of others? How would we show up to life if we understood that our soul mission and our ability to impact the world required us to be seen? How do we honor our own path of self-actualization and continue to shine our light?
When we don’t have our imaginative process and our gifts witnessed or affirmed, it creates insecurity and hinders our self-confidence. This may cause us to over-inflate our dreams or embellish our stories. We may struggle to see what is unique about us or connect to our creative essence.
The shadow in Leo is over-dramatic, seeking attention from a wounded or unbalanced part of ourselves. We gear up for performances instead of being present to meet life and authentically share. We may try to become invisible, as being seen feels too dangerous or threatening. We can bully others who radiate a power we cannot connect to within ourselves.
We can feel eclipsed by the brilliance of others and feel inadequate next to them. In a culture that values fame, competition and a “go big or go home” mentality, we can underestimate the immense power and healing capacity of an open heart.
“Fear can be one of the most destructive emotions. It is, of course, also very important, in that fear sometimes stops you from doing stupid things. But it can also stop you from doing creative or exciting or experimental things. It can cloud your judgement of others, and lead to all kinds of evil. The control and understanding of our personal fears is one of the most important undertakings of our lives.”
Helen Mirren
When Leo energy is unbalanced, we become self-absorbed and fail to consider others. We are unable to fully see ourselves, which impedes us from taking responsibility for our actions. We may need to learn that not everything revolves around us and that there is beauty in connecting, laughing and sharing our journey with those who nurture our light, and to nurture the light of others.
This lunation impels us to share who we are and live with an open heart. We are evolving past the need to be seen in specific roles so we can open to be a conduit of divine light that will guide us forward.
This New Moon Asks Where Our Hearts Are
On this journey of awakening to the wisdom of our heart, we are tuning in to a profound transmission of our heart’s frequency and becoming more conscious of what we wish to emanate. We connect to a higher purpose and flow with life force.
When we radiate our unique essence into the world, we can awaken and inspire.
“Everything changes when you start to emit your own frequency rather than absorbing the frequencies around you. When you start imprinting your intent on the universe rather than receiving an imprint from existence.”
Pema Chödrön
It takes courage to be seen and to live from the heart, but we can become visible in service to divine love and use our influence for the highest good.
Through this process, we are becoming more aware of where our heart is and isn’t invested. This realization is robust, intuitive information. We may discover we are disenchanted with what we are doing and sense that there is no animation there anymore. We may unearth roles we are in that weigh heavily on our hearts. We may observe that we have been doing what has been expected of us and feel we have lost agency over our creative fire. We may require space to honor what has run its course or reconnect to the big why that ignited our path. It is time to deeply reflect on where our heart is guiding us.
This lunation guides us into the clear knowing of our heart so we can move from an inner trust of our desire and cultivate the courage to bring our inspired ideas to life.
“You wanna fly, you got to give up the thing that weighs you down.”
Toni Morrison
We Connect to What We Have Been Suppressing
This new moon is not only aligned with the Sun and Venus but also the Black Moon Lilith and Kali—all in the sign of Leo. The presence of these powerful goddesses in this new moon chart reminds us of three aspects of ourselves in love and relating that we are called to bring into right relationship.
With Venus in Retrograde, we connect to past feelings where we felt cherished, appreciated or desired. We long to feel fully seen through love’s eyes. What is brought into our awareness through our synchronicity in the present now teaches us where we are called to live from our values. We reconnect to our heart’s longing, clarifying what we wish to co-create. Our perspective, however, may be distorted.
Black Moon Lilith guides us to confront the part of ourselves that keeps us from evolving. Working with this energy, we must face where we have been giving our power away in relationships and connect to what we have been suppressing. This may put us in touch with some intense and uncomfortable emotions that we may wish to avoid, but we need to be willing to make space for a greater awareness of our true nature.
Kali cuts through the illusion of who we think we are, so we remember our unique fingerprint, that song of our soul that was alive and well before we incarnated into ego identity.
We remember who we are and all that comes through us into form is in service of divine love.
This lunation also ignites our fierce feminine roar and reconnects us to our wildness, which is where our raw imaginative power flows.
Art lives where absolute freedom is because when it is not, there can be no creativity.
Bruce Lee
We are each called to blaze our own trail; we must be willing to break from convention in order to follow our own voice.
We find liberation through our creative expression and need to create the space to honor what wants to be birthed through us.
Cosmic Weather
The sun and moon in Leo square Uranus in Taurus, bringing volatility and disruption that can be both surprising and liberating. This square awakens us to an unconscious part of ourselves and connects us to a profound longing that has been suppressed. We are asked to flow with changes and to bring innovative solutions toward a new idea or project. This aspect brings clarity in acknowledging how we feel and ultimately guides us to ways in which we can sustain our creative essence.
Mercury is conjunct Mars in Virgo and makes a trine to Uranus in Taurus, supporting us in bringing organization to chaos and creating a strategy to integrate our innovative ideas. This aspect can quickly discern where there is animation that requires our careful attention and offers the ability to think holistically about what we are tending to.
Venus is trine Chiron in Aries, supporting us in releasing our attachments so that we can be rooted in our self-awareness and our values. This cosmic alignment supports our ability to bring compassion and self-acceptance to where we feel most vulnerable.
We hold a greater capacity to heal and transcend where we have been stagnant and include space for all parts of ourselves.
The new moon is trine Eris and the North Node in Aries, opening us to a higher frequency of love that holds space for us to face the truth so that we can grow and honor the evolutionary intention of our soul. Disruption can be a powerful catalyst that guides us towards what we have been unwilling to recognize as fact. It is essential to pay close attention to the message rather than the messenger, and to remember that the path of destiny is found through the heart.
The Invitation
This cycle invites us to embody our authentic desires regardless of how many feathers we may ruffle. We were not born to fit a mold or be convenient to others. We were born to be unapologetically and explicitly ourselves.
“Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself.”
Coco Chanel
We are meant to continually evolve and to break new ground while cultivating the courage to claim our place on stage when we are divinely called to shine.
This new moon reminds us of our true nature. We awaken to the places where we have lost creative agency by trying to fit ourselves into a particular role, or we may have lost our way by seeking accolades. Cosmic fire bursts through what can no longer be suppressed or contained.
This cycle teaches us, through fierce feminine power, the importance of reclaiming our agency and embodying the wildness that longs to be expressed through us.
We surrender to the rebirth activating new inspiration, clarity and a call for an expanded presence in the world. As we become aware of these lessons, we uncover more bandwidth to share our hearts, champion others’ potential, and shine our light. We now take the needed steps to begin something new and trust in our ability to create and integrate.