Leo New Moon

August 12, 2007

7:03pm EDT

6:03pm CDT

5:03pm MDT

4:03pm PDT

Leo 19 Degrees 51 minutes

Sabian Symbol: The Zuni sun worshippers

From:http://www.amazon.com/Sabian-Symbols-Astrology-Symbol-Explained/dp/094335840X

What is a New Moon?

A new moon is when the moon is between the sun and the earth and the illuminated part of the moon is very small.   Technically, when you look up in the sky you only see a small, skinny section of moon.       

And the not so technical point of view?

Well, similar to farmers and indigenous people, who have used the different phases of the moon for eons, Astrologers also utilize the different phases of the moon.  Certainly on the New we know it is time to plant seeds.  But the other seven phases are equally important.

Where should my focus be during this next 28-day cycle?

When we draft a chart for the new moon we can get a sense of the energy that will be up for processing for the next 28 days. 

Okay, what is this cycle?

It is a smokin’ odd lunar cycle.  Leo is always ready for a party hat and good times but even Leo can’t make heads or tail of this cycle. We are getting ready for a strange trip full of joy and play and yes, some woe. But more than anything it feels like a jumping off point.  Let’s see what gets shaken up.

Look at me—please!

Do you know any Leos?  If you do, then you know that they are fun, loud, theatrical, glamorous and boisterous.   Sometimes daring for no other reason than to get all eyes on them.  They have a heat seeking missile which will always guide them to the most inflammatory thought in their brain and then of course, they will blurt it out at the most inopportune time (or opportune if you are the Leo) ---promptly pissing off half the room.  The other half of the room will either be amused or will shrug their shoulders as if to say, “What’s new with that?”  They are unabashed show offs.  In many ways, Leo is the first Party Animal.  At the same time they are very clear on their position in society.  And will always see himself or herself above someone.  The lion is not the court jester of the jungle he is the king…and so even though they may be silly and loud, they still sees themselves above others and can be a snob.   But for every off color, exaggerated comment or action they make, they are also, loving, generous, loyal and heroic.   Where other signs might be too afraid to do something, Leo often is the first one to get something going when the need is great. 

Usually during the Leo Lunar Cycle we can expect some fun and merriment and provocative actions by others or ourselves.  We will want to indulge and pamper and maybe treat ourselves like Kings and Queens.  However, this Leo Lunar cycle has got a few things in the mix that do mute the energy.

This cycle, the Sun Moon conjunction in Leo has three other planets close by.  Mercury the planet of communication is hanging out with the Sun and Moon and so are Saturn and Venus. That is quite a crowd.  And as much as Leo loves to be the center of attention and get all eyes on him, this cycle is clouded by the needs of the other planets---sharing must occur.  Ouch!  

One noisy road trip!

For the next 28 days we will be guided by the Leo stellium (three or more planets clumped together)—which will feel like a car full of loaded personalities on one crazy road trip. 

The Sun is the driver, the Moon the front seat passenger and in the back we have got Mercury, Saturn and Venus.  Each one yelling out their needs pretty much every three minutes.  Just imagining a trip across country with this car full of noisy planets is enough to understand why some people might drive off the cliff into the Grand Canyon.

With Mercury in Leo, our thoughts are going to be quick, fun and of course theatrical. We will all have snappy answers to stupid comments.   We will be drawn to the dramatic visuals and dramatic thinking.   Fiery thoughts will get our attention, even if we are given information that is more measured we will probably keep going back to the more dramatic/theatrical take.  And of course we might either experience someone embroider the truth or we will do it ourselves. 

At the same time nearby Saturn continues to send the message, “Straighten up and fly right.”  Which can be such a downer to our good Leo groove… “Who invited Dad here?”  Despite every desire to party like it is 1999 (does that line work anymore?) Saturn will push our guilt buttons and guide us back to the sensible choice.   We just can’t, in good consciousness, be completely frivolous.    Dang.

And then there is Venus, the planet of love and resources and all things good…hanging out right next to----- Saturn.  “Who is the hot chick with Dad?”  Again as much as we want to shower our loved ones with bangles and baubles and fat diamonds (all the things that Venus loves)…there goes Saturn and his guilt buttons ---. ‘Hmm, maybe I should save for a rainy day’ or at the very least – ‘Maybe I should skip some of the diamonds and buy emergency water for my loved ones.’     Oh, how glamorous.

 As you can see it is kind of hard for Leo to be all its unabashed self with that stellium of planets sending out vibes for their own needs.   There will be fun and joy and play but we can never completely relax into good ol’ Leo indulgence.   Sigh.

 

How did WE get the drunk Travel guide?

So, we have got five planets all very close to each other in the sign Leo.  We made peace with the fact that they are all very needy asking for this and that, in a nice fat Leo loud way.. okay, good enough.  But adding chaos to the situation is Neptune.  Neptune at 20 degrees Aquarius has positioned itself exactly opposite our car full of planets.   And Neptune of course is the town drunk or town mystic or both and.----and he will be our travel guide!   Get prepared for Neptune to take us to all kinds of weird places.  Similar to Uranus which last month added plain oddness to every situation, Neptune this month will take us to these unworldly out of body places for the purpose to find out inner humanitarian.     

The reason why Neptune rules booze and drugs is because it vibrates at a completely different level than any of the other planets. Part of the problem is that those people who have a pronounced Neptune are usually tapping into their own psychic energies. They truly see dead people. They hear odd things, they just know shit.  And it scares them thus they hide in bottled spirits or drugs or convents or the Red Cross. They love doing concrete stuff like helping others because it keeps them in their body.  And so for the next 28 days Neptune will be constantly dragging us from one weird area to another and constantly dissolving stuff along the way.  

For example, let’s say that we all agree (Sun/Moon/Mercury/Venus/Saturn) to have Thai Food for dinner tonight.  And everyone is starving.  Okay, great.  Neptune our guide will take us to a perfectly wonderful sounding Thai Restaurant.  However, when we get there we will find a homeless mother with her child asking for spare change.  At which point Venus will remember that there is a cute little blanket in the trunk of the car and Saturn will offer to go back and get it then Mercury will engage in a nice conversation with the homeless mom and offer up a clever idea that might help her situation…and then finally when everyone enters the restaurant they will find that their appetite is less.  Perhaps the knowledge of such a dire situation so close to their lives takes the edge off their appetite.   Perhaps Neptune knew this would be the result?

We will be challenged all this lunar cycle.  As much as we want to indulge ourselves in Leo activities, Neptune will remove us in some way.   We will be taken to some situation either physically or internally that is uncomfortable.  We will probably be angry or sad or just annoyed but what is happening is that we have a need to remember there are other people on the planet. People who need our help.  And as much fun and ego satisfying it is for Leo to own four Lear Jets and eight glorious mansions and wear nothing but high end labels ….it all feels tremendously shallow when there are real needs out there that need our efforts.  Remember, Leo when it is positive is hugely proactive and heroic.  When it is bad, it is thin-skinned ego driven and demanding.   Now, which side of Leo do you think Neptune in Aquarius approves of?   Yep, the latter.

And finally, if you don’t know how to meditate or know how to how to quiet your mind, then LEARN it quick.   This is the new moon to get our spiritual Asses in shape because at the Full Moon there could be a bump big enough and that will be one mean learning curve. 

A gift like no other---“From Pluto with love”

So we have all those planets in Leo crammed in the car and Neptune is our travel guide.  A pretty funky or funky pretty trip.  But while all that is going on, Pluto who is in its final days in Sag will send a wonderful Trine to Saturn and Venus (Dad and the Hottie) along with a nice trine to the Sun and Moon. (Identity and Emotions).   Whenever Pluto brings a gift you should take it. Even when it makes no sense and doesn’t seem like much of a gift.   If Pluto hands you a rope ladder, and you’re wondering, “What the heck is that for, I live on the ground floor?”  Don’t even bother to scratch your head because if you end up in your attic when another hurricane Katrina hits, well, you’ll know why you got that rope ladder.  

With this trine from Pluto we should expect some kind of information to enter our lives and because the trine involves Saturn there will be some gifts that involve our foundations and maybe our career or Dad.  Because the trine involves Venus we will get information that serves our love life and our relationships or our money.  And because the Trine involves the Sun, the information could involve our identity and because the Trine involves the Moon our emotions and diet or Mom.  As you can see those are a lot of areas of our lives, each one getting a ‘gift’ from Pluto.

How will you know if you are getting a gift from Pluto?  If it brings out your Obsessive Compulsiveness (a Pluto trait) then bingo---there is probably meat on that bone.   For example, during this cycle a friend mentions off handedly a wonderful website they found…and you keep thinking about their comment for the next couple of days.  And then you email the friend for the name of the sight.  It just can’t leave your mind.  That is probably Pluto talking to you.  We might not know right now the value of the website but as sure as Heinz has pickles..that website will benefit you later.  The same with an off-handed comment about a financial planner or therapist or soothsayer.  If you are feeling the OCD kick in…then follow it.

The Teeter Totter—Do as I say Versus Do as I believe..

Also during this cycle there is pressure between Jupiter in Sag, which is expanding our world opposite Mars in Gemini who is shooting off its mouth.  There will be a tendency to want to expand our world and beliefs during this cycle.  We will want to learn more about a situation or something outside of our own community but at the same time our daily actions are focused in our own backyards and neighbors.    We will want to finally take the time to read about the situation in some place like Darfur but at the same time we will want to gossip about the disastrous situation that our neighbors have gotten themselves into…and by the way, we will get sucked into both areas.  It could also be a case of feeling like, “what do I care about something way off in a foreign land, I’ve got my own issues here.”  Well, don’t get too comfortable with that thought because Jupiter in Sag may demand that you see how connected you really are to that far away land.  The key is of course to strike a balance.  Maybe we don’t need to learn everything about Darfur or sell the farm to help some village in the far way land.  And maybe we also don’t need to get lost in nitty gritty minutia that is our effed up neighborhood.  Perhaps, send some money to a charity you respect and share that information with your community.  

Saturn take me away---

In addition to the carload of planets on the mysterious guided tour and the teeter-totter between mars and Jupiter.  We have another important shift in energy.  After two and half years, Saturn will finally move out of Leo and into Virgo where it will stay for the next two and half years. There is a big change between Leo and Virgo. Saturn will move from fiery, intense, ego driven Leo into Earthy, practical, lover of details Virgo.  And frankly, not a minute too early.   Egos have been out of check for a long time.   Steroids in sports, socialites in jail, animal abusing quarter backers and hypocrite politicians in diapers.   ‘nuff said.

Saturn has been shaking the debris out of the carpet for a while.   Exactly who do we put up high on an ivory tower and why?  Well, none of it matters much because Saturn is moving into the mucho cautious Virgo.  Prudence and modesty will be the calling cards for the next two years.   Curious that the transition is happening during the Leo Lunar Phase.  It is as if we get one final party or parting blow depending on how you look at extravagances and hubris.    Either way, many of us will be looking at our houses and our lives in general and making a list and checking it twice –and then giving many items and people a ‘heave ho’.   Do we have time for that person in our date book?  You may have cut more slack during generous Leo but now that earthy Virgo is on the scene, it just simply won’t make sense to your life.   Buh-bye.

Houston we have lift off!

A couple days after Saturn unloads Leo (Sept 2) and moves into Virgo, Pluto will turn direct (Sept 7) and the next day (Sept 8)  Princess Venus straightens up and begins her own direct motion. This is a lot of action for three planets, all in one week!

Expect this to be the week where your energy moves so fast your body almost can’t catch up to you.   Truthfully it is great that Saturn makes the first move from Leo to Virgo because we will need the grounding.  Clearly we’ll need it to tether ourselves.  Especially since Pluto is heading for Capricorn and it is going to track through these final degrees of Sag like Sherman stormed through Atlanta.  It will take no hostages and you should watch the international scene and the American scene for plenty of action.  In the meantime Pluto will be energizing your own lives.   Is your walk matching your talk?  If not now, then when?   We all will pay a price for the little lies we tell each other and our selves.   The jig is up.  Yes, Pluto will go retrograde again next year and come back to visit Sag but you might as well get the lesson now…if you can.

And adding to it all is the betwixt and bemusing Venus.   Why this little missy decided to turn direct this week is beyond reasoning, but somehow she made it to the boat and is guiding us to higher ground through the things we love.  Isn’t it true we all learn our own strengths when the things we love are in trouble?  The mom who lifts the car to save her child?   How can that mom go back to work for an abusive employer after she exhibited that kind of strength?  She won’t. The same with all of us. Venus goes direct in heroic and generous Leo, we clearly are going to love with a passion and it will help us evolve ---which is exactly what Pluto wants us to do. 

Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Full Moon

The last total lunar eclipse was six months ago on March 3.  Do you remember it?  Yeah, maybe..well, it doesn’t matter because you sure as heck won’t forget this month’s full moon on August 28.  It will be a doozey.  If HBO could make it a Pay Per View Event they would.. ain’t  no fight in Vegas bigger than this full moon! Kapow!

How do I tackle this cycle?

First order of business is start looking at the lunar cycle in installments.  Approximately every three days we have a new phase.  There are 8 phases of the moon and inside those phases is added information.  Let’s take a look. (As always I use Eastern Daylight Time)

August 12,  7:03pm – August 16, 5:12pm

New moon: Plant seeds, make calls, activate, start projects.   Activate something that will ideally lead you to more.  This is the phase where INTENT is critical.  Even if the results are not immediate, the intent is there.  You may not have all the answers or road map but you should put out your Intent.  

Focus on: Where do you want to shine? Where do you want to be a star? Where is it time for you to be a hero?  Don’t know?  Liar.   You do know.   Look at the area of your life that is just too messy for words and that is probably the first place you should be a hero. And don’t be afraid to ask for help.   And how is your ego?  Is it out of whack?  Are you getting off on pushing little ones around?  Tsk tsk.  On this Leo moon reach out to the big players.  It is time to get with it and shine. 

August 16, 5:12pm -  August 20,  7:53pm

Crescent:  We will receive information, we will research a bit more, perhaps get feedback on stuff that we planted on new.  Perhaps get some information that will help down the road on a seed we planted a while ago.  We can collect some data now.  Even if you think you are not getting information, stop, and re-look at everything.  Who called you?  Even the silliest things, when they come up during Crescent are note worthy.  A parking ticket?  An argument with a spouse?  A refund check from the phone company?  All of it needs to be considered a message from the universe.  How can this information help you?

Focus on: communicating with relationships.   How are your partnerships?  Are they fair and balanced? Are you doing all the work? Or are they? Do you feel guilty about your part in this?  Fix it.  Start by communicating about it.   How about a little role reversal?   If you are still feeling confused, get some feedback from siblings or friends who feel like siblings. They might be able to offer some help as to how to get your relationship back on track.

August 19  9:01am

Mercury enters Virgo (until Sep 5)

August 20, 7:53pm – August 24, 5:52pm

First quarter: We do more actions based on the information that we just received.  Or we feel our instincts guide us on something.  We pursue again.  We make another call or we see someone. We mail something.  We stir the pot again.  This can be a time when we realize that the goals we planted on New need more action from us, perhaps actions that involve breaking away.   Are there people who say they have our best interest in heart but fear us growing away from them?  Maybe we need to get help from others not the usual suspects.  Some independence may need to be exerted.

Focus on: Resources and money, depth, death and taxes.  Rebirth.  Stock market (Yikes!)  Actions that we started on the new might need some support via cold hard cash.  Put your money where your intent was!  If it was good enough on the new it is good enough now for you to invest in it.  For example, some of you may have said on Leo New Moon: “That’s it. My body is a mess.”  And now for the last week you have been dicking around doing this and that…well, times up. Now on this first quarter you gotta lay out the cold hard cash and join Jenny Craig .  It is not good enough to think about it and come up with your own plan. Now you must invest.

August 23 8:07am

Sun Enters Virgo

—Buy those birthday cards for those diligent Virgo Friends…who ALWAYS remember your birthday.  You could show good form this year and Remember their Birthday---for once!

August 24, 5:52pm – August 28, 6:34am

Gibbous:  We refine our information.  We pick and choose, we discriminate, we organize, we tend to be ‘virgo’ like.  We sort through details.  Have we missed something?  How are we sifting through the information?  Go back and make sure something hasn’t been neglected.  Refine our actions. 

Focus on:  Our identity in the world at large.  Who are we in our community? Who are we in our work place.  Just how long do we sit in the last row of the classroom, knowing all the answers but unwilling to raise our hands and give the solution?  Stop it.   Now you must sift through your life and see how often you have known information but have not shared it.  Whatever reason you felt it was important to stay small and insignificant is not good enough. It is time to move out of the shadow.

August 28, 6:34am – August 31, 2:01 pm

Full Moon

Total Lunar Eclipse

4degrees 46 minutes Pisces

Visable from Africa, Eastern Asia, Europe and the Americas.  But felt by all!

Sabian symbol: A Church Bazaar

Full Moon:  We make the needed adjustments on the things we planted. Usually emotions are up and running and for those people who perhaps did not utilize the new moon and the rest of the waxing moon, this is when emotions can get the better of us.  There can often be a big emotional break, for no other reason than to get back on track.   Some partnership will offer up some balance.  The moon is bright and full and there is no room for shadows, what is reflecting on you? 

Focus on:  shoot---- what not to focus on is the bigger question!   This Full Moon is probably one of the more significant full moons of the whole year.  It is taking place in Pisces, which is true for every full moon this time of year. But remember our New Moon had a big opposition from Neptune…and Neptune’s sign is Pisces, so Neptune has been waiting for this Full Moon all year.  And remember Neptune was our drunk/mystic travel guide all cycle…so expect a lot of illusion or disillusion, beautiful humanitarian actions or horrible inhumanity to show up.  And if you are relying on someone in your life to be your hero …well, they will probably disappoint.  Keep your Gods in heaven and your humans down here on Earth.   Now would be the time to meditate so you can find your inner peace.   Gong the bell!

August 31, 2:01pm – September 3,  10:32pm

Disseminating: Share information, find a teacher or someone who has more knowledge. Perhaps there was a big ol’ blow out on the full and one feels in need of support and help, this is the phase to reach out to one who knows more. This is when we find a rabbi or a minister or therapist who gives us more insight.   And of course, you too may be ready to teach and share your own information. 

Focus on: Self and identity.  After that hum dinger of a full moon you are probably just sick of people.  All they do is cause so many problems.  Now on Disseminating you are interested in finding those people who you can share your real personality.  Not your career, not your family, not your history, not your health… the REAL you.   Your shrink may work or not..the deal is  you need to reach out, expand your world but only if it will help YOU!  Not anyone else.   You need the support.  

September 2 9:48am

Saturn enters Virgo (until 2009)

Well, what can we say besides--- Phew!  Now some of us are not that great with the sign Virgo but listen even us little Sag’s know that the party must end and actually we really want the party over.  Saturn has been in Leo for two and half years and the fanfare for the common man has just about broken all of our TVs. Can reality TV now end?  Attention hogs will now fade away.  Please. We can now work on important things, like our daytimers!  Who the hell is taking up so much time in our date book?  After today tick tock-- tick tock-- tick tock…who is staying and who is going?  The clock is on.  We will also get our diet together.  We will get our health together.  We will be focused on the details. It will not be enough for someone to tell us they will do blah, blah, blah… we need them to actually show the eff up.  Our patience will be short for those who just talk.  We need cold, hard ‘doing.”  We will be discipline and we will like order and routines.  Suddenly, a standing date feels ‘right’ before it might have seemed uninspired but now it seems like a respite.  We want to know where we are going every day.   Have you ever seen a dog have the freedom to roam all over the country or the city?  He goes everywhere but never gets anywhere.  The dog really benefits by a fenced yard.   And for the last two and half years we have broken from all the leashes and harnesses and longed to go where we wanted when we wanted.   Great. That is the old days. Now we want to have something and we inherently understand that bit by bit, with diligence we can accomplish anything we want---as long as we have a plan.   Boundaries make us safe.    We will finally have it together to organize every minute of every day.  Even if we write, “12- 4 Relax”.  How funny to organize our relax time.  That’s just the kind of cycle we are in.

September 3, 10:32pm – September 7, 12:23pm

Third Quarter moon:  Now we do the final adjustments to the seeds we planted on new. The final call, the final letters to send, we follow all the trails that came up that still make sense.  And we let the other parts lay fallow. It is a time of action but wise action.  It is a time for living  “The serenity prayer”

God, grant me the Serenity
    to accept the things
    I cannot change Courage to change the
    things I can, and the
    Wisdom to know the difference.

Focus on:  Intellect.  Thoughts, getting your communication in alignment.   You need to make the adjustments to the goals you had back on New Moon but this time your can at least articulate it.  A lot has transpired in the last three weeks and your probably are just a shell of what you were on August 12^th..but now you can move forward and actually talk again.  Don’t worry about offending anyone, you will probably only want to be light and airy anyway. 

September 5 8:02am

Mercury enters Libra (until sep 27)

Sep 7, 10:55am

Pluto Goes Direct

26 degrees 18 minutes Sag

Sabian symbol: A flag-bearer

Pluto is a generational planet. Meaning it is a planet that is associated with a wide age range.   For example those people born when Pluto was in Virgo were born between 1957 and 1971..pretty wide swath, right?  Well, the same is true for Pluto in Sag.  It started in 1995 and is wrapping up in 2008/09.  It actually will leave Sag in January of ’08, move into Capricorn then later in ‘08 go backwards for another last stab at Sag and then turn around again for a final move. It will then stay in Capricorn for the next 18 years.  So you can see it spends a long time in a sign. And therefore when it leaves a sign it is a pretty big deal.  On September 7, Pluto will be heading for the finish line.  So, the sprint is beginning.  We started this process with the OJ Trial and how it finishes up is anyone’s guess..but you gotta admit, Columbine, 9/11 and Iraq are not what one will call high water marks.  So, what are we going to do?  We are going to dig and get wise. We need to let go of the Inner Peter Pans. We need to release the yucky prejudices. And do we really need to remain the student?  Isn’t it time to finally be the professor?  What the hell are we waiting for?   Now would be the time to shift the immature side and replace it with hopefulness and focus.    Now is not the time to be fiddling while Rome burns.  Put down the fiddle and grab a hose!

September 7, 12:23pm – September 11, 8:44am

Balsamic:  We release.  We let go.  We prune, we discard, we ditch stuff. We house clean. The things that no longer work, we let them out of our life.  We release so we can clear our unconscious and dream.  We prepare our unconscious to be ready for the next New Moon. 

Focus on: Releasing emotions.  Well, if you are one of those people who never cries, consider this the week to buy Kleenex because the tears will be a shedding!  It has been a long (perhaps) hard month and you have been so good working through it all that now you need to release those pent up feelings.  The dam will burst.  Let it go. You will need to release in order to prepare for Virgo New Moon.  We are getting ready to do some hard work and it is better to let go of this stuff so you are ready to dig in. 

Oh, yeah.. chocolate helps!

Sep 8, 12:15pm

Venus  Direct

16 degrees 35 Leo

Sabian Symbol:  A nonvested church choir / communion

Thank god that is over!  Whenever Venus goes backwards we feel icky and are sure we look like a horses behind.  Our spouse bugs the heck out of us and the creative muse is lagging.   The things we value seem less valuable and we wonder how did we get all this junk in our life.   And sure in some cases that might include our partner. Ouch.  Well, if you survived the last six weeks and have not depleted your savings or filed divorce papers---congratulations you will probably make it!    At least to the next Venus retrograde in 2009.

Now, what is next?  Long term financial investments?  Second Honeymoon?  Painting class?  Make-over at the fanciest spa?  Sure, why not?  Indulgences get the green light.  You will also feel so much more loving to your partner.  Perhaps dinner at home with a 50 dollar bottle of wine is more than enough.   Smooch!

Get ready for….

Virgo New Moon September 11, 8:44am

LINKS to THINK during Leo

http://www.challengeday.org/bethechange/

http://www.philanthropy.com/

http://www.amazon.com/gp/music/wma-pop-up/B000002UR4004004/002-6921252-0004822

(funky pretty-b.boys)

http://celebrity.astrology.com/mickjagger.html