Leo New Moon

Leo New Moon - Realignment

"One has a responsibility to clean up one's space and make it livable as far as one's own resources go. That includes not only material resources, but psychological resources: the commitment of time and a portion of your mind to something when you'd rather be doing something else."

— Wole Soyinka

This Wednesday's Leo New Moon (2:37 AM PDT 23° Leo) is strikingly potent, although it won't play out all at once. In fact, the first few days just after the New Moon seem quite subdued and tentative. Nonetheless, the New Moon is in a tight square to a powerful, stationing Uranus — which is also trining Mars. We should expect surprising shifts to play out over the course of the entire lunar cycle. There is a profound reordering that is prompted by the New Moon. The ongoing work on our self-esteem, our self-image, and individual self-determination enters a clean-up phase — clearing away old ideas about ourselves and the world around us so that we can more clearly see who we really are. Over the course of this 'clean-up' we can begin to develop self-acceptance which, in turn, helps us to more easily accept and appreciate those around us — flaws and all. Uranus is nearly stationed to go retrograde on August 28th. As well, Jupiter reaches the degree of it's station this week, where it will turn retrograde on September 4th — just one day after Venus stations direct. Mercury is already in the shadow phase of it's retrograde period in Virgo (August 23 - September 15) and doesn't quite reach the trine to Uranus or the conjunction with Mars before turning back. There are strong wills and considerable stubbornness, with some degree of desire to just 'get on with it'. But the devil is in the details and Mercury's backward motion through Virgo will require a process of clarification and delineation that gives 'credit where credit is due' along with a requirement for accountability. All of these retrograde shifts are pointing toward expanding the scope of our review beyond simple self-esteem and self-image issues into a full determination of our overall place in this 'New World Order' that is taking shape. Pluto won't get back into Aquarius again until early next year but this is the time when we can prepare ourselves by clearing away old habits and old attitudes. The retrograde Venus makes an inferior conjunction with the Sun and a trine to Chiron at the beginning of the week, prior to the New Moon. The retrograding Venus has been scouring away some of our most prized rosy illusions leaving us rather sensitive and vulnerable. We are much more likely to feel the willingness to open up about our feelings before the New Moon. Once we pass the New Moon, we are likely to prefer staying at least somewhat under the radar or working behind the scenes. We may not feel inclined to share much of the wisdom or insights that we are feeling and communication seems complicated. Conflicts and disputes seem to be muted, especially at the end of the week under the Libra Moon. Essentially, we are mainly feeling our way through this significant period of adjustments and realignments. Intuition plays an important role in our activity. Apart from the beginning of the week under the Venus-Sun conjunction trining Chiron, we aren't generally inclined to open up and process how we're feeling. In fact, openly articulating exactly what's going on with us 'internally' won't be very easy or clear until after the direct station of Mercury next month.

Sunday's atmosphere encourages us to replace some of our lost illusions with a comforting connection to others. A Moon-Neptune trine softens our hesitance to open up and share our feelings. We feel a fresh burst of energy on Monday. Our intuition is beginning to whisper that there are important shifts just around the corner. We aren't inclined to let anyone just roll over us on Tuesday. Significant conflicts may surface if we aren't willing to compromise. Wednesday's Leo New Moon spurs a new round of shifts and adjustments. We embark on a new round of self-image 'clean-up'. We are more comfortable working behind the scenes on Thursday. It isn't easy to clearly articulate our perspective, but we aren't really inspired to try, either. While we may want to just get on with it on Friday, there is no easy way to just move ahead. We may struggle to clear away unworkable, ego-driven, stubbornness. Opinions are 'dug in' on Saturday. However, disputes are muted and we generally prefer to smooth over any conflicts.