New Moon in Leo

My last post was about shifts and endings. Well we are in the thick of them now, heading up to the new moon in Leo on the 26th July. And I guess I underestimated just how heavy and dark these weeks would feel: how much revision they would entail of old issues.

I left out some important shifts and influences, because I didn't want to run on too long. Let's look at them now.

For one thing, Mercury moved from flighty Gemini to emotional Cancer on the 13th July, and he's now facing off against Pluto in Capricorn. This is a dark and brooding mental focus – intense thought, a preoccupation with the past, mental and emotional profundity.

And Venus left Gemini and entered Cancer on the 18th July, which deepens the general emotional tone. It's kinda mushy-gushy, dreamy, vulnerable (and defensive) weather out there, till mid-August.

Venus is moving into an opposition with Pluto in Capricorn as well: the opposition comes into full view two days after the new moon (28th July). Venus-Pluto aspects are about power plays in relationships, manipulation and control issues, love and money...also the ghosts of dead relationships coming back to haunt you and generally screw with you. Great fun.

And then we had Saturn going direct in Scorpio on the 21st, followed by another important shift: Uranus went retrograde the day after Saturn direct, in lockstep. One forward, one back. Very tight inconjunct aspect between them: Saturn at 16 degrees Scorpio; Uranus at 16 degrees Aries, exact almost to the minute.

So...karmic necessity (Saturn) grinds onward, while personal metamorphosis (Uranus) moves underground and inward.

All of it seems to me to signify a very tight, uncomfortable focus on personal psychological issues, blocks and blind spots – it's laser-like really. A painful sort of inwardness and inertia courtesy of Saturn direct and the Uranus retrograde. A sense of entrapment, whichever way you move. And the Mercury–Pluto and Venus–Pluto oppositions described above, swinging into place like lead doors. Nowhere left to look but into the heart of darkness.

Well you're supposed to look into it, that's the point. Think about what came up for you around the 21st July, as Saturn began moving forward again. What buried old muck did he churn up for you? What skeletons did you see grinning from the closet?

HI!!!

There's your focus: you know where the rot is. You can't move forward in your life without wrapping that stuff up and giving it a proper burial. The Uranus retrograde in Aries, sign of new beginnings, drives this point home. This is about a shift that has to happen at root level, deep beneath the surface.

And yeah, it is fucking uncomfortable, as signified by the exact inconjunct aspect between Saturn and Uranus. How do you move forward, when you are dealing with this level of psychic damage?

It's easy to minimise the difficulty involved...to talk glibly about the necessity of detaching from the past and moving on. But how do you move on with a ten-ton weight attached to your heels? How do you move at all?

--Well I guess you just do. Nothing else to be done. You have to.

You can easily get stuck in your own issues here, unable to move forward or back. But remember this is about regeneration and transformation. If you feel stuck, try to think of it as a kind of dormancy. Changes are at work: important underground ones, out of your conscious control.

A caterpillar encased in a chrysalis is in a stuck position as well, and to an outside observer it looks like nothing is happening.

Rest assured, there are deep changes afoot. You probably know that already. If your life hasn't been dramatically upended over the past few years, you're in a minority.

We are 5 squares into the series of 7 exact squares between Uranus and Pluto, which began in June of 2012 and will end in March of 2015. We are a little less than 2 years into Saturn's transit of Scorpio, which will end in December of this year (with a brief revision period between June and September of 2015). And nobody gets out of this period unscathed or unchanged.

Granted, change is always what's happening – but the hallmark of these years is the level of psychological depth and trauma involved. The difficulties and losses people are dealing with are profound – there's really no going back. The landscape will be permanently altered, coming out of this.

Uranus square Pluto machine - see here

Anyway, it may feel like we are stuck down in the trenches, struggling through the muck right now, but we have some hopeful, shiny stuff underway. 

For one, the sun moved into Leo yesterday evening (22nd July), straight into a conjunction with Jupiter. This is a big jolt of energy and enthusiasm, much needed. 

And then we have our new moon in Leo on the 26th July, around 11:30 pm GMT!!

It's a fiery portal and a new beginning. Sun and moon in Leo conjunct Jupiter: this is fun, exciting, full of drama and bravado. It's Jupiter in Leo's big opening night – you'll get a sense of what this energy will mean in your life over the next year. 

It'll be Saturday night in GMT-land, and it looks like a lot of fun. A big, glitzy, happy, trashy night. Are we gonna put on our bling and go out looking for trouble? Yes we are! 

SPARKLE JELLY SHOES!!

Except going out looking for trouble is really kind of a bad idea. You probably won't need to look. Staying out of trouble will be the achievement, on a night like this. 

Because Jupiter ('the great benefic') is involved, I am determined to see this new moon as a good thing, even though the sun-moon-Jupiter conjunction makes no easy aspects with other planets. In fact it makes a very tense aspect with Mars, which will have ingressed into Scorpio just ahead of the new moon. And yeah, this can go badly wrong.

Leo and Scorpio are both proud, fixed signs...hard to budge. Jupiter conjunct the sun and moon in Leo can mean inflated egos; squaring Mars in Scorpio we might see some OTT ego-driven drama and nastiness. A stupid fight where neither side will back down. 

(Leo smackdown mode)

Given the amount of political conflict going on around the world right now, the mood of this new moon doesn't bode well. On a more local level, it looks like a big bitch smackdown... or cokeheads fighting in a nightclub.

Don't be part of anything like that, if you can avoid it. If ever there was a night to STAY AWAY from the cocaine, this would be it. Saturn direct in Scorpio means - heavy consequences.

(Rick James providing some object lessons.)

Let's think our way a little deeper into Leo, because for the next year, this energy is a focus. 

Leo gets associated with pride, ego and exhibitionism...and these things have a bad rap. But on a deeper level, the sign is about individual personality as an expression of the divine. And in that light, there's nothing wrong with a bit of pride. If you, in your individual life, are actually a once-off expression of the divine, a never to be seen again work of art (and you are!) - well you ought to be holding your head up high.

Leo's ruling planet is the sun, which no one would ever accuse of being egotistical or an exhibitionist. It shines because that's its nature – it has to radiate its essence outward. Same as you, this year - you have to shine. Guilelessly, like a damn care bear.

AAARGH!!

Leo is about play, romance, children, innocence, fun...and art. What kind of art are you making of your life?

It doesn't have to be art in the traditional sense. Anything you do that is truly an expression of your own nature is a kind of art.

And you have to express your nature - that is your job on Planet Earth. To do you. No one else can, and no one else ever will. 

And really, the stakes couldn't be higher, with all this Uranus-Pluto and Saturn in Scorpio stuff going on. Being true to your own individuality and expressing yourself are actually matters of life or death now. No one profits from people's conformity to a rotten social order. No one profits from you keeping your mouth shut, your art hidden, your heart locked down.

This is about art and free expression as a means of personal and societal salvation. 

Come on baby won't you show me what you got / I want your salvation!

Some relevant quotes:

“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost.” --Martha Graham

“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.” --Gospel of St Thomas

--Well yes, it's heavy. But don't let it make you all grim. Jupiter's transit of Leo should be more fun than we've had in years, and this new moon will hopefully be the start of something fierce and adorable. Like kittens.

Obligatory cat pic time!!

(More Leo smackdown)

(kittens!!)

(smackdown.)