August 2020’s New Moon takes us back to the Egyptian themes that began to constellate during the Lion’s Gate Portal, particularly the circular journey of the solar barque carrying the Egyptian Sun god, Ra/Re around the earth during the course of a day. After journeying through the Underworld attempting to purge all the old traumas and wounds triggered by the Mercury oppositions and Mars squares, the Sun finally rises and a new day begins. Fittingly, the Sabian symbol for this particular New Moon is ‘Daybreak’, which for me, conjures up all the wonderful alchemical images associated with sunrise one sees in manuscripts such as Aurora consurgens and the Splendor Solis.
One may not reach the dawn save by the path of the night.
Kahlil Gibran
Unlike the last few lunar phases, this New Moon will have an optimistic, hopeful feel to it – a feature amplified by a series of positive aspects between the luminaries, Mars and the nodes. Coming fast on the heels of an exciting Venus-Uranus sextile, it’s possible that the next two weeks could bring with it some unexpectedly positive developments in the arena of love, finances and creativity.
New Moons are all about beginnings, fresh starts, new cycles and incoming energy. The monthly equivalent of the solar New Year. Use this energy to set intentions or goals that you want to build on during the following month. This begins the two week period of the waxing moon phase, which is a associated with fertility and growth. As a result, New Moons are great for setting intentions, planting seeds (either literally or figuratively), manifestation visualisations, and starting new initiatives or projects.
With Uranus having recently turned retrograde, we may also find ourselves focused on similar issues to those raised by February’s Leo Supermoon – how to radiate self-confidence and live an authentic, heart-based and empowered life without falling into the trap of what Matias de Stefano (a Leo) calls ‘hereditary communism’ – the tyranny of social conformity that often results in people pleasing, swallowing our feelings or wearing a mask in order to be liked or gain approval from others. He argues that before we can be of service to humanity (a very Aquarian calling), we first need to work on coming into what he calls ‘vertical coherence’ – aligning with our soul’s individual truth (a very Leo calling). . On that score, you may find his blog post on this subject insightful (just change the language settings so that you can read it in English).
MAJOR THEMES
Sign
I suspect that one of the major themes we will be working with is how to deal with our passions or emotions. On the one hand, emotions provide the energy that fuels the movement of energy through our auras and chakras, and so is vital to inner vitality. On the other hand, a bit like fire, the element which rules Leo, if we let our emotions burn out of control, then we risk becoming a slave to our passions and desires, making it difficult to find inner peace or balance.
Here, it seems fitting to mention that in the sky, there are actually two lion constellations – the one we know as Leo (Leo Major), and another smaller one known as Leo minor. It is also sometimes referred to as the lynx.
According to the Constellation Guide:
Leo Minor is a relatively new constellation, and has no myths associated with it. It was first depicted in 1687 in Johannes Hevelius’ Catalogus Stellarum Fixarum. In 1845, the catalogue was revised by Francis Baily, who assigned Greek letters to stars that were brighter than magnitude 4.5, but he did not give the constellation’s brightest star the designation Alpha in his British Association Catalogue.
In 1870, the English astronomer Richard A. Proctor renamed the constellation to Leaena, or the Lioness, in an attempt to shorten constellation names in order to make them easier to manage on star charts, but the name was not widely adopted.
Constellation Guide
Perhaps, instead, we could refer to these two constellations as being Leo the younger vs Leo the elder? The former (Leo minor) could represent the ‘green’ lion, knight or crown prince, who is still a little immature – and so makes ‘rookie’ mistakes. This lion is focused on ego strokes, attention seeking behaviour and indulging his passions, and so can be overly concerned about optics, status and standing out.
On the other hand, the more mature Leo (Leo major) might be considered to be like a king who has learnt to tame (but not dull) his passions, channel his creativity and protect his inner child so that it feels safe enough to be playful and retain its sense of youthful vitality and spontaneity without becoming a brat or developing an overly sensitive ego. Here, I can’t help thinking of all those messages about returning to one’s ‘pristine state’ or ‘original nature’ that were channelled via the Lion’s Gate Portal I Ching divination – I think I even mentioned the Sun card in the tarot which shows a child with its arms outstretched on the back of a white horse, which has strong resonances with the image in Hexagram 16 of the child riding the elephant – all very relevant now as we head into this two week waxing phase of the Moon.
This is a lion that knows how to stand in his/her sovereignty, behave confidently, but not aggressively/overbearingly; and who also understands that to lead is to serve – and not behave like a temperamental diva making unreasonable demands on those around him.
True strength then, is less Heracles killing the Nemean lion with brute force and violence, and more perhaps like the woman in the Strength card of the tarot trumps (who some see as the Empress) that is associated with Leo – someone who has learnt to tame (but not suppress) the powers of the sacral and solar plexus chakras; to balance divine masculine and feminine energies, and channel their passions into constructive activities like creativity. How fitting then, that we contemplate this during the time of the ‘chymical marriage’ – the conjunction of the Sun (masculine) and Moon (feminine) that constitutes New Moon…
Sabian Symbol
In so many respects, this particular lunar phase is very solar in nature. New Moons are all about beginnings, and the image we have here of dawn – the sun rising above the eastern horizon – reinforces the idea of a fresh start – of new cycles beginning, and of hope returning after a period of darkness and suffering.
All life is cyclical holds the promise of renewal and joy in the hope of a better tomorrow.
James Burgess – Full Circle: 360 degrees of wisdom
I find it interesting that at this point, we are reaching the halfway point in the six month solar eclipse cycle, and so much like the March equinox, having spent a month working through the purging phases activated by the Capricorn lunar eclipse, we have cleared the path to manifest and grow the seeds we planted at the June solstice and the solar eclipse in Cancer.
Interestingly, this particular set of degrees is, according to some astrologers, associated with Starseed markings – something to be aware of, given the recent closing of the Lion’s Gate Portal (and all its Sirian activations), which many people are still processing on an energetic level. I also did not realize it at the time, but the Cancer New Moon that we experience din July, also activated many Procyon Starseeds. To find out more about their qualities and mission, visit The Starseed Compass.
Key Aspects
Unlike the last few lunar phases, the luminaries will make a series of positive aspects to Mercury and Mars at the Leo New Moon, which should help us to integrate the difficult issues and situations these two planets have been drawing our attention to over the last few weeks. In general, these aspects are designed to spur us into action after a period of frustration or stagnation. Let’s find out more…
Sun-Moon-Mercury conjunction
The Sun and Moon in Leo will be making a conjunction to swift-moving Mercury, which should quicken the pace of events set into motion by this waxing moon phase. Mercury is moving very fast right now, so expect intentions, decisions or discussions to quickly progress from the realm of ideas/maybes into physical reality. Excellent for Moon Manifesting and practising the Law of Attraction! This is also a great aspect for creative endeavours, as well as marketing, PR and the performing arts.
Sextile/Trine to the Nodes
These three planets will also be making some positive aspects to the lunar nodes, which are currently retrograding through the Gemini-Sagittarius sectors of the zodiac. This is likely enhance collective cooperation centered around coordinated activities/united efforts, such as soul tribes who have a similar mission here on the Earth plane right now. It is also likely to coincide with seemingly fated events or developments that help us to move into alignment with our soul mission or purpose. The unseen hand of destiny will be seen via media reports, written or verbal communications, downloads from spirit guides or access to knowledge or wisdom from past lives. So, if you are seeing signs in the news media or via billboards, or a new teacher comes into your life, don’t be surprised.
Fire trine to Mars
Both the luminaries and Mercury will make a series of harmonious trines to Mars, planet of physicality, progress and strategy, at this New Moon – excellent energy for building momentum ad taking action towards realising your goals and dreams. This will serve to aid the swift transition from idea to reality that I mentioned earlier, so be clear about what you want to happen and where you are headed so that you can use Mars in Aries to your advantage and not let it cause mischief in the form of an excess of physical energy, verbosity or pep that can the lead to arguments. Any form of exercise regimen should go particularly well now. This is also a good aspect for taking in new information quickly and using it in a pragmatic way to make creative changes to the way you do things. It is also great for building up enthusiasm: rallying the troops should involve expending a lot less effort than usual – great for bosses and employers, as well as personal trainers and dancers.
Videos
ZODIAC GEOSCOPES – Personalised geomancy-style New Moon video forecasts for all 12 signs
RECAP: SIX MONTH ECLIPSE VIDEOSCOPES – June-Nov 2020 – You may want to refresh your memories bout the themes and situations begun at the June Solar Eclipse, which set in motion a brand new six month cycle for the collective at the sosltice. A really in-depth personalised look at the astrological themes and energies likely to be prominent over the next six months for EACH of the 12 zodiac signs.
