Leo New Moon

Leo New Moon - Intuitive Individual Vision

"In order to carry a positive action we must develop here a positive vision."

—Dalai Lama

The powerful shifts that are underway are unmistakable this week. Thursday's Leo New Moon (12:10 PM PDT 2° Leo) powerfully connects with Uranus (now) in Gemini, Pluto in Aquarius, and the Saturn/Neptune conjunction in Aries. This is Fire and Air, action-oriented, forceful will-power-driven, inspired intellectual determination. The intuitive elements of Gemini are also highlighted at the beginning of the week. The dual nature of Gemini does suggests that balancing between intellect and intuition creates challenges to offering a clear, complete message or a fully developed 'plan of action'. But Mercury's retrograde motion in Leo is encouraging us to balance our intellectual insights with the powerfully activated intuitive insights offered by the Saturn/Neptune conjunction — which is within 13 minutes of an exact conjunction at the beginning of this week. The Saturn-Neptune dynamic can sometimes stifle intuition but also offers extremely powerful capacities to translate our intuitive vision into tangible accomplishments. As Mercury moves retrograde in Leo, our intuitive abilities are given a confident 'mouthpiece' this week — especially once the Sun arrives in Leo on Tuesday — helping us to communicate what we intuitively see coming and what we want to do about it. The inferior Sun-Mercury conjunction, on July 31, will provide an extremely potent opportunity to show how well we have balanced the intuitive/intellectual elements and allow us to demonstrate our capabilities. Leo energy can sometimes become hampered by distracting ego-involvement and deep feelings of inadequacy. But this week's Leo New Moon, with Mercury retrograde in Leo, helps us set aside the usual ego demands of Leo, allowing us to make the most of the will-power, creativity, and determination of the Leo energy. Venus and Mars complete a rather contentious square on the day before the New Moon. Mars is emerging from a conjunction with the South Node this week, which has briefly drained some of our 'resolve to action'. The subsequent square from Venus certainly indicates chaos and confusion surrounding the information we're trying to use in order to enlist cooperative support for our plans, aims, and goals. But the square is still activating and, since the Moon is waning in light, the Venus-Mars square disruptions are likely short-lived. The retrograding Mercury in Leo is helping us to find our individual voice and, ruling Mars in Virgo and Venus in Gemini, is encouraging cooperation and compromise when common goals can be identified. Even so, the New Moon's opposition to Pluto won't allow us to escape the distinct Power Struggles between individuals and larger 'power structures' (e.g. government and major corporate entities). The power dynamics are certainly a major factor this week but the excited Fire/Air, electrified energy is full of determined, inspired, visionary activity that is offering us the ability to manifest an entirely new vision. Both the extraordinary challenge and the determined resolve are on display this week.

Intuition is highlighted on Sunday but needs to be balanced with increased intellectual activity. There are challenges to offering a clear, complete message or a fully developed 'plan of action'. There are some relationship disruptions on Monday. There is a sharp drop in what little support we might have had on Sunday for clearly communicating our insights, leaving us with conflicting ideas, confusing data, and drifting arguments. The Cancer Moon on Tuesday puts us in a highly materialistic frame of mind, encouraging us to seek safety rather than objectively assessing our position and our overall situation. Extraordinary caution is called for but the aspects suggest anything but (caution). We have helpful support for clearing away debris on Wednesday. There is likely quite a bit going on behind the scenes as well as in our subconscious. The individual, intellectual capacity to recognize and execute best actions is strikingly determined on Thursday. Endurance is extraordinary but can be undercut by tempting distractions. Although we may feel some distinct challenges on Friday, cooperation and compromise are encouraged when common goals can be identified. Our approach is generally 'forward looking'. We begin to see ways to 'hone' our individual message and pare away overblown rhetoric on Saturday. We can set our sights on getting to a clear set of facts, building solid evidence, and setting definitive goals.