New Moon in Leo
Friday, August 1, 2008
3:12amPDT
9º 32’
Total Solar Eclipse
3:21amPDT
9º 36’

©2008 Lisa Dale Miller
All rights reserved

This year the New Moon in Leo falls on a total solar eclipse which is talking a decidedly northern path, best seen from China. However, no matter where you are, NASA is setting up a live webcam broadcast of the eclipse! Here is the link to the NASA eclipse homepage for all the info: http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEmono/TSE2008/TSE2008.html

Astrologically, this eclipse is a metaphor for the personal ego at it’s most selfish, greedy and narcissistic, overshadowing the critical needs of the many. This is a New Moon to look deeply at the nature of desire and how it feeds the most destructive aspects of human life. So before we launch into the most negative aspects of Leo, let’s first relish in the positive.

Leo carries an inner vision sourced in a deep desire to powerfully express personal creativity. More than any other sign, Leo rules creative actualization of the self; the ego. Ego is the self, knowing and creatively actualizing itself, in all its complexity and beauty… yes, complexity and beauty. The more we know about who we are the more complex our view of self becomes and consequently we begin to become more adept at skillfully dealing with a wider rage of experience. This is what I call creative mindfulness: opening awareness to a deeper, yet broader experience of the ramifications of action.

This New Moon is conjunct Sun/Mercury/Venus/South Node in Leo. So almost all of the personal planets rest in the sign that rules personal power. In our world wielding personal power has meant a kind of power-over, which expresses itself in everything from caring only about personal gain and exerting excessive influence over others, to war mongering, exploitation and land grabbing. With Mars and Saturn in Virgo, the healer/humanitarian, this is the New Moon to redefine personal power as a means to engender communal empowerment, coexistence and upliftment; in other words, true leadership. Leo’s most evolved form is the inspirational, full-hearted teacher/leader.

Especially with the eclipse, this is the perfect New Moon to look deeply at how much of what you say and do, is done to appease an inner need for attention and recognition of specialness, rather than a selfless, heartfelt, compassionate desire to heal. True self-esteem is built by developing a calm center from which all decisions are made and all actions are undertaken. A real leader feels a tremendous responsibility to share their talent in an effort to make life better for everyone around us. Use this New Moon to look at how much of your time you share your talents to help others in need.

All the planets in Leo make this an especially good New Moon for artists. If there ever was a New Moon in Leo to deepen your artistic vision and increase your creativity, this is it. The New Moon in Leo is all about discovering your personal aesthetic and finding the right modus operandi for expressing it. Artists can use this New Moon to start a new project or initiate a new direction, build a stronger belief in your own vision, or bolster the ability to handle the vast amount of rejection most artists face at one time or another. The Venus/Mercury/Moon/Sun conjunction in Leo along with energetic, yet analytical and practical Mars/Saturn in Virgo, allow creativity and reality to feed upon each other making it easier to bring creative ideas to fruition. And by the way, creativity is freed up tremendously when the mind is calm and focused.

Pluto in Sagittarius trine Venus in Leo will provide a wonderful jumpstart for any of you that have had some creative project simmering on the back burner for the last couple of years. Take it out, dust it off and see if it still has juice for you. If so, start to work with it again during this New Moon cycle. The Full Moon in Aquarius, a Full Moon of radical change is a wonderful time to shift our creative direction, especially is the change means reinvigorating a something that has been simmering for a long time in the underworld of your psyche.

Leo wants us all to understand that our lives are one big canvas and we get to fill it with whatever we want. So dream a little…all right, dream a lot. The way of Leo is big, big, big! Think, “Big-budget Hollywood”. It might be a bit harder this year with Saturn and Mars in realistic/no-risk Virgo, but try to consider what your life would be like if you embraced the risk-taking romantic that lives inside of you, buried deep beneath the weight of all your worldly responsibilities. Pick one area of your life and give it over to this part of you. You’ll be amazed at what can happen!

Let’s not forget this is the New Moon for romance. When it comes to love, Leo loves romance; full-blown choreographed romance, especially with Mercury and Venus in Leo. But before you get the idea that this is romance without forethought, the realism of Saturn in Virgo and Jupiter in Capricorn may make that ultra-romantic dive into the arms of your lover happen only after a serious discussion about long-term commitment. If you are just not getting enough attention from your partner, or you are lonely and looking for love, this is the New Moon to create a powerful ritual to invoke and invite romance into your life. You might want to include your significant other in this New Moon ritual; especially if intimacy and romance is a big problem area in your relationship. If you tend to be very critical of your partner, Mars (sexuality) in Virgo (perfectionism) makes this a good time to look deeply at your own idealistic needs.

All of these placements make this is a New Moon to put some serious work into mindfully paying attention to how you love, who you love, and the quality of the love that gets exchanged. Make the ritual a love-fest and pull out all the stops: candles, wine, roses, anything to awaken the senses.

For those of you who wish to invite love into your lives, do the same while envisioning “Mr. or Ms. Right” being right there with you. You can invite love into your life with clear intention and a strong desire to love and be loved. If you tend toward the Leo drama-queen spectrum of emotional expression, you could use this Moon to do some powerful healing work with your inner “enfant terrible”. Mars and Saturn in Virgo makes this a very good New Moon cycle to take a hard look at your own emotional reactivity; especially if you suffer with mood swings. It is possible to love deeply, feel deeply, and create deeply, without wreaking havoc in your own life and the lives of those around you.

Leo often gets hooked into the importance of keeping up appearances (especially with Venus (beauty) in Leo; how we look, what we own, what we do, become, for many people, the definers of self. More than anything Leo wants to be noticed and appreciated. But the goal here is not to simulate a fashion model or movie star. The idea is to allow your appearance to reflect the beauty inside your heart, soul and mind. Healthy lifestyles are extremely important, and right now obesity is one of the greatest health problems in America. So if you need some inspiration to get in shape and feel better, this is the right New Moon start a diet and exercise program. Some of you may just want to experiment with a new hairstyle or try a new look. This is good time to indulge a little, by gifting yourself with healing treatments for your body. Live a little and treat yourself to something special. Leo rules our perception of physical beauty.

Most of us have a very unhealthy relationship with the process of aging. There is little acceptance of the beauty and wisdom inherent in growing older. Though this is an especially hard issue to tackle on a Leo New Moon, Saturn, the ruler of mortality, should lend seriousness to any consideration of what it means to age gracefully. Saturn calls up all kinds of fear around becoming old, ugly, frail and useless. This would be a good night to read myths and stories about older, wise women and men and then imagine yourself at 70, 80 or 90. What will you look like? What will you wear? How will you be spending your time? What will our world look like and how will it receive or reject you? What gifts will you be giving to the younger generations around you? Hopefully this exercise may inspire you to commit some of your time and talent to nurturing the elders in your family or community.

So enjoy this powerfully creative New Moon cycle!

©2008 Lisa Dale Miller
All rights reserved
PERMISSION MUST BE GRANTED BY THE AUTHOR FOR USE ON WEB SITES AND FOR OUTSIDE PUBLISHING