New Moon, New Era, New Opportunities.
The new moon is in Leo, which is masculine sign of extraordinary strength and power. There are more planets in feminine signs than masculine, which forces us to integrate that strength with love, compassion and fairness. There are currently five planets, Chiron, and the North node in retrograde, which force us to slow down, review our intentions and actions, and choose more carefully. We are well into the Harvest Season, which is always a time of reflection, leading to more appropriate self-expression and then even more reflection. We are navigating a global pandemic, major economic changes, and a national election. The stellium involving Saturn, Jupiter and Pluto has us awakening to our deepest wounds: as individuals, as families and as a nation. This is a time of reckoning.
Are you ready for that?
Not sure?
I can help.
It starts with your dreams and visions
and then you chart a course from there.
Here are some helpful insights...
The Spirit of Leo
Welcome to the Leo new moon: may you be infused with and empowered by the pride and passion it brings. You will need it, if you don’t already. It takes great fortitude to hold a clear vision, to appropriately articulate that vision, and to work with your community towards reaching it—but it takes even more effort during this time of year, harvest season. Harvesting requires great physical and emotional strength, but this year you will need it more than ever before. An unholy amount of external circumstances—including the virus, our leaders’ choices around it, and the consequences of those choices—are forcing each of us to figure out how to determine our roles, rights, and responsibilities in the great reckoning that is now upon us, in all senses of the word.
In navigation, reckoning is something that must be done regularly in order to stay on course. Normally that involves calculating your position (where you are in time and space) based on the amount of distance covered according to various headings since the last precisely observed position. This is done with as accurate allowance as possible being made for wind and water, as well as the equipment and humans involved. In accounting, reckoning is balancing the proverbial scales, settling up: paying your accounts due and collecting accounts owed. In faith, reckoning is the deep and honest soul searching that is required to do an accurate appraisal of your actions, to humbly own and acknowledge your strengths and grace, and to be able to take responsibility for the behaviors that have harmed yourself and others.
Reckoning is a big, big word. As individuals and communities, as a nation and as a species, we are doing a lot of all of it right now. And we’re feeling it: as well we should. The consequences of the choices we make now will be felt for generations. All new moons represent opportunities for fresh starts and new beginnings, the key is knowing which ones are yours to take, and, of those, which ones are right for you. Leo has a tendency to be impulsive, to move like a brush fire, to be a gambler and a speculator. Because of that, it imperative that we take the time to weigh our options, and to choose carefully in a way that integrates our passion with logic, our strengths with the softness of our loving hearts, and that has the highest good of all involved as its only goal.
Leo’s constellation is the Lion, which is a male, fire sign. Ruled by the Sun, Leo is shining and bright, strong and powerful. It has the capacity to be ebullient, enthusiastic, and goal oriented, in even the darkest of moments and the direst of circumstances. On a good day, Leo is extraordinarily spontaneous and creative, in that enchanting way that young children are. Leo has the magical ability to imbue and endow every moment with playfulness and joy. On a good day, like Mary Poppins, Leo will be the one you can count on to find the spoonful of sugar that makes the medicine go down.
As a fixed sign, on a good day, Leo will be the one to keep both the sunny attitude and the focus on the issues at hand. Like Mary Poppins, Leo will be the one to come up with a funny song to sing while you tidy up the proverbial nursery. On a less good day, Leo will default to willfulness, short-sighted selfishness, oppression, and domination. While Lions are definitely tribal creatures—they desperately need to belong to a pride of like-minded individuals—they also want what they want. Lion challenges are generally met with a frightening amount of force, and woe betides the fool who gets in the way.
So let’s make it a good day.
When there is a lot of emphasis in the sign of Leo, as there is now, you absolutely must address the life lessons the sign presents: balancing the needs, goals, and will of the individual with the needs, goals, and will of the family, pack, and tribe to which it belongs—literally and figuratively. The tricky part is it that is easier said than done. Leo, after all, represents the developmental ages of 8 to 10 years old, a time when little humans are learning how to relate to peers, adjust to social rules, and evolve from free play to more elaborately structured interactions and expectations. Ordinarily, this time of year there are always going to be ways and places where we have to grow up, on both micro and macro levels. This year, there is just so much more at stake, the consequences are so much more lethal.
Not sure where to start? Here’s an idea. Focus on the harvest. At the harvest, we are reaping what we have sown, on every conceivable level. Yes, it can be confrontational at times; sometimes even unpleasant and disappointing. Try not to dwell on perceived failures, obstacles, and setbacks. Don’t take it personally. This is all part of your role in the reckoning. Downshift into some serious Buddhism. Add in some Taoism for good measure. And ask your version of God, your guides, and your ancestors for the eyes to see the grace and divinity in this moment of your life and of our shared history. Reset your head, make that the new normal, and operate from that higher vibrational frequency. Do only what is yours to do, and do it with intentionality and mastery. If you and your pack can do this in a calm, somewhat consistent, rational, adult way, then you can begin to figure out how to work together to fill in the weak spots and the outright holes in your harvest.
Everyone has Leo somewhere in their natal chart. If you don't already know where yours is, now is a good time to find out. And here's why. The harvest season always begins in the sign of Leo: the golden one, the anointed king, the superhero, the savior. Because of this, there is always some late-summer drama that requires us to become bigger, better, more. There is always some event or series of them that provides us with an invitation to unleash our inner superhero. Or at least begin to think about looking for him or her. And this year, with all the other astrological and spiritual influences and activities going on, it is looking and feeling a lot less like a polite request and a lot more like a demand from a force to be reckoned with.
Mural by Chris Schilling
Where Leo is in your natal chart is where you are an undeniable, unequivocal superhero. This is the part of you that may stagger a bit under the weight of the existential horror of being in a human body on the planet right now, but it is also where you are most likely to be able to stretch and grow and surpass both your own expectations and those of others. Keep in mind that Leo rules aspects of love, it all stems from love. Even the cowardly lion found his courage. Even the incredible hulk found love. And while both were awesome in and of themselves, they were far better as part of a team.
Leo rules teams and teamwork. Ordinarily, at the Leo new moon I tend to focus on dynamics of balancing the needs of the individual with the needs of the greater whole in order to be a functioning team. But this year, we are far and away from the usual dramas of late summer and early fall—we are living in a particularly hellish moment in time, a time of reckoning. Things that have been out of balance are being brought back into balance. And that is a complicated process. Think about it—one of the hardest things to teach children is sharing. Historically, moments like this, when we are asking those who have had too much power for too long to surrender some of it, to make amends, to make things right, are times of great emotional and economic turmoil.
But we have choice. It doesn’t have to be a violent slaughter. Look at the lessons of history. What did we learn from Gandhi, from Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis? Yes, they were brilliant in and of themselves, but they were far better as part of a team of superheroes united by their passionate devotion to change and with the same sense of focus and commitment. We learned there is more power and strength in unity. We learned it takes more strength, courage and love to bring change through peace than it does through violence.
Virgo’s righteousness is looming just around the corner, and an election and both a Mars and Mercury retrogrades are just ahead. Your best move is to take some time to figure your own stuff out. What is your vision for this reckoning? What is your superpower, what do you want your part of the reckoning to look like, and on what team of superheroes do you belong? Go inward: visualize the transition happening with joy and ease and grace. Feel that feeling with every cell in your body and every fiber in your soul. Then get off the couch. Put your mask on, because that’s what superheroes wear. Go out into your corner of the world with your team of superheroes and do your part. And if you get stuck, call me. We’ll figure it out.
Calendar
Below are some of the dates where your opportunities for wizardry, magic and alchemy will be the greatest, and some generic wisdom about them:
August 15–Uranus retrogrades in Taurus
August 18–New Moon in Leo
August 19–Mercury moves into Virgo; Islamic New Year begins at sunset
August 22–Sun enters Virgo
September 2–Full Moon in Pisces, also known as the Corn or Harvest Moon
September 5–Mercury moves into Libra
September 6–Venus moves into Leo
September 7–Labor Day
September 9–Mars retrogrades in Aries
September 12–Jupiter goes direct in Capricorn
September 17–New Moon in Virgo
September 18–Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown
September 21–International Day of Peace
September 22–Sun moves into Libra; Fall Equinox
September 27–Mercury moves into Scorpio; Yom Kippur begins at sundown
Everybody’s natal (birth) chart is different. These differences reflect our individual souls: their journeys and evolution, their triumphs and their tragic flaws. As such, the specific impact of each of the following dates will hit each person differently. But there are some general themes.
Holy days, holidays, and astrological transits are opportunities for us to experience grace. But remember how grace happens: sometimes it comes through discomfort. The gifts aren’t always immediately apparent. All of the days on this list ask you to be more compassionate with yourself and others, to try and be more awake, and to be more open to synchronicity and messages from Spirit. On days when more than one astrological event, holiday or holy day occurs, know that the power of that day will be even more profound. The more events in a day, the more powerful that day is, and the more intentional you should be.
Again, in general, Full Moons are a good time for ending things, wrapping things up, conclusions and closure. New Moons are opportune times for new beginnings: starting a new chapter of some aspect of your life, tackling a new project, or launching something new. Retrogrades are always about slowing down and paying more attention to aspects of your creative, spiritual, and social lives. The eclipses always reveal: sometimes it is something others have hidden from you, sometimes it is things you have hidden from yourself, usually it is a little bit of both. To go a level deeper, look to the planetary signs, the houses they fall in, and, of course, to your natal chart. Or give me a call. I can help you with that.
Retreats, rituals, services, ceremonies and journeys: As always, choosing the best day or days is a very personal thing. You have to feel your way into it. But there are some generic rules that can help you in your decision-making process. Full moons and new moons are considered the best. Holidays and holy days are as well. Full moons and new moons that occur during or over a period of holidays and holy days are extraordinarily powerful.
Factor in a retrograde or two and you pretty much cannot avoid leveling up and becoming a much more masterful magician. Especially around anything that has to do with your faith, your trust in it, your ability to serve your faith, and serve with it. Seriously.
With that in mind, in the next month, the best days for deep, transformational experiences are these: August 18th - 19th, August 22nd, September 1st, September 9th, September 12th, September 17th - 28th.
The Mystery School Guidebooks
For as long as humans have traveled the earth, we have turned to the cycles and movements of the natural world and celestial bodies to guide us. Over time and across cultures, the art and science of navigation has provided powerful tools to ensure safe passage through the mysterious currents of life's more difficult moments. Now, by combining ancient practices with modern modalities, you can chart smooth and successful routes through the most important journeys of all: the integration of your internal landscapes, your relationships, your spiritual and professional paths.
The Mystery School Guidebooks are the culmination of my 30 years of dedicated research and practice as a business consultant, astrologer and intuitive. There are currently four, with more in the works: each one is a magical combination of information and experiential exercises. They provide you with an extraordinary method and set of tools that can mean the difference between falling prey to your innermost demons - fears, outdated behaviors and belief systems, and long-buried traumas - and discovering, perhaps for the first time, greater joy in relationships, success in career, and increased self-confidence, access and flow in your personal and spiritual life.