Insights for Leo
Mercury is Retrograde while the Sun is in Leo this month:
Get aligned!
July 22
Sun enters Leo 03:44 AM EDT
Ancient astrologers gave this sign the ultimate power, the power of the Sun. They saw that at the height of summer (in the north) the Sun could scorch and burn even as it caused plants to become food for beasts as well as humans (whose power was like a god but not quite). As they worshipped the Sun they fed the notion of its ultimate power for good and ill, investing it with their own inclinations for rewards and punishments. The notion of God as the monolithic Father arose out of awareness of the Sun’s power. His crown of gold imitated the gold of the Sun’s rays.
Other, more subtle awareness of the Sun, perhaps a vestige of a time before the precarious cultivation of crops and their vulnerability and dependency on summer’s warmth, was the understanding that in Leo, at the height of heat and light, when the Wheel of Time leans into the Sun one can notice the days getting shorter. Even at the height of summer we turn toward its end. This is the time when the Sun King begins to descend slowly but steadily toward dark, when vegetation is soon either harvested or withers on the vine. And so they celebrated the courage of the Sun king and his willingness to offer himself to the descent, to show us the way even at the height of his power. (Consider the US election…) toward the inevitability of our own descent, our own end. This is called Lughnasadh or Lammas.
This awareness of darkness in the heart of light encouraged people to align with the cyclical nature of existence. To trust love more than fear and appreciate Nature’s wise teachings in our dance of embodiment through time and in space.
To cower before the imagined power of the Sun, to believe it rewards and punishes is to create a god of dominance and to aspire to his abilities. To acknowledge the courage and the sacrifice required in life to ascend and descend within the Great Cycles of life and death is to empower the life of each living being. To be alive in the world is an amazing thing. Not just for you but for all.
Raging fires and deadly heat domes are not god’s punishments rather the consequences of actions. Leo’s best is the courage and will it takes to live truth in relation to power.
You already know its worst.
You can follow along with the Sun in Leo for the next month below. Pay special attention to events which occur near the Full Moon on August 19th.
July 23
Sun square Pluto
Do the lords of light and darkness hate each other? Or do they exist on a polarity which calls now more than ever for resolution? Everywhere you look and listen the sages on the stages of what passes for wisdom are telling us to eat the shadow, to integrate the unconscious, to do the hard work of withdrawing projections. To do this we must first unplug. Go within, find the heart and most importantly Fear Not! the power of the Sun God of patriarchy. It is time to re-member this god as the god of courage and love not greed and power.
July 25
Mercury enters Virgo
Sun sextile Mars
Imagine if only for a fleeting moment how it would feel to put all the wisdom you believe into action. Now, see what happens.
Mercury in the shadow of its retrograde period prompts us to live as if our living matters; the details of how we live and what we live for.
Meaning is found in doing.
July 26
Chiron stationery retrograde
Speaking of Earned Wisdoms now would be a great time to consider what you have learned since Chiron entered Aries in April of 2018. Such a time we have been having…
July 30
Venus trine Chiron
Wisdom doesn’t live in a box. It’s not static. It’s creative, a process. Let your passion for expression flow and wisdom flows with it. If you’re not the passionate type try supporting the passion of someone you love or believe in.
August 2
Venus square Uranus
Beauty and money are not such great bedfellows although they both have value. The difference is in the fact that money itself is not actually pleasing to the senses. Those who make beauty need to eat of course and all of us need what they make. The soul of the world is anchored in beauty, creativity, expression. Look west after sunset and find Venus, diamond in the sky, guardian of art and beauty; Goddess of all we value visible to all who turn to look.
August 4
New Moon: 12 degrees Leo: 07:13 AM EDT
Venus enters Virgo
What spontaneous expression of love has touched your heart of late? Music, art, dance and craft exist in many dimensions – more than what we see on the flat screen. To live an embodied life from the heart saves the world. Every time.
August 05
Mercury stationary retrograde: 4 degrees of Virgo
Once again the Trickster reminds us to look twice, to reflect. Consider the threshold where beauty, courage and expression meet real life. If you’re feeling panic as you watch the world seemingly losing its collective mind, look within. Notice the contours and content of the mind you call your own. You don’t have to offer this mind of yours on the altar of the algorithm. Your mind exists within the field which is the sacred trust of all minds. It is part of the Great Mind, the Big Mind; a flower in a Garden. How you tend it, matters… especially over these next few weeks.
August 07
Sun sextile Jupiter
Venus conjunct Mercury (retrograde)
How can we stand firm in faith, courage and love yet manage information? When information adds knowledge to wisdom, doors open. Otherwise it is mere distraction and we all know where that leads. Relax into some poetry, music or the beauty of the natural world and ease your thoughts toward humble participation in the work of the word.
August 08 - 13
A week of no mutual aspects between planets. Time to navigate by the Moon.
Libra: August 8th: 5:31 AM EDT
Void of course (V/C): August 9th 5:44 PM until
August 10th:
enters Scorpio: 6:33 PM EDT
V/C 5 AM EDT until
Enters Sagittarius: August 13th at 6 AM EDT
August 14
Mars conjunct Jupiter
Madly off – every which way. Stay as focused as you can on the thoughts, movements and gestures that aim you in the direction you want to go. Gemini is about eye/hand coordination as well as fast talk, sleight of hand, wonderful stories and the darting about of all manner of bugs, butterflies, birds, space junk, curiosity, humor as well as a sharp eye for detail. There will be a test on or about the 16th.
August 15
Sun trine Chiron
There is no experience that does not contain the potential for the getting of wisdom. None.
August 16
Mars square Saturn
Here is the promised test from August 14th: How hard are you willing to work at whatever it is you are curious, interested or inspired by? Not because you are sure of a successful outcome, rather for the sake of the effort which will undoubtedly build strength, muscle and will.
August 18
Mercury square Uranus
Mercury conjunct the Sun
The message of any Mercury retrograde is in the moment we call cazimi: the exact conjunction of Mercury and the Sun. This aspect is accentuated today, tomorrow and the day after by the Full Moon which squares Uranus. Hot time in the big city of the World. Nature and culture collide. Disruptions to be expected. But how can we expect the unexpected? Likely there are no ringside seats. We all live here – even those with the top of the pyramid stuck up their you-know-whats!
August 19
Full Moon: 27 degrees Aquarius: 02:45 PM EDT
Sun square Uranus
Venus square Jupiter
Venus opposite Saturn
Jupiter square Saturn
Lots going on in the heavens. Make no mistake. And of course there is always a lot going on down here beneath those starry skies. Most of us just want to get on with whatever we think of as our life: Food on the table, money in the bank, becoming a better person, relationships, learning or entertainment. Truth is, it’s like they said, we see the world through a glass, darkly. It’s never the full truth or a total lie. And most of us are never really at peace for more than a moment here and there. But what if we could? What if, amidst the disruptions and misinformation, the fear mongering and the dazzling possibilities, we could see the world as love alone and anchor our mind enough not to panic in the face of change that is moving so fast it only feels like chaos? It’s not the answers. It’s not even the questions. It’s the courage and the focus to live fully in the moment. This one.
A girl can dream…
These insights, are meant as contemplations. Astrology is a kind of sky writing which invites the muse. No two perceptions are exactly the same but any of us can find insight through the images if we look. These are mine, happily offered for you to reshape and fashion into something of your own. Follow the links, where you find them for further musings on the planetary aspects.