Life isn’t about finding yourself.
Life is about creating yourself.
George Bernard Shaw
The New Moon August 4, 2024, at 12 Leo opens our heart and ignites creativity.
We are encouraged to initiate a new endeavor or communication this month that quickens our passion and vibrancy. We have the courage to express what lives in our heart, prioritize time with those who make us smile, and engage in activities that bring out the kid in us.
After the New Moon, we are to give attention to working out the details of a plan that the New Moon inspires (Mercury Retrograde 8/5 - 8/27) while also being willing to adjust the plan in response to new input or circumstances (Jupiter square Saturn).
New Moon Ruler: The Sun
The Mars/ Jupiter conjunction:
at apex of small grand trine
sextile The North Node
sextile New Moon
Venus is
conjunct Mercury stationing Retrograde
at apex of a yod with Neptune and Pluto
square Uranus
Jupiter square Saturn
Within 24 hours after the New Moon is the optimal time each month to set an intention for what we will initiate and grow in the coming month within. Look to the house in our natal charts where 12 Leo resides for clues as to the area of life primed for a new beginning, and a new expression of ourselves in life.
Given the same amount of intelligence,
timidity will do a thousand times
more damage than audacity.
Let our Heart Radiate like the Sun
New Moon Ruler: The Sun
The Sun and Leo rule the Heart. The New Moon warms the heart, inspiring an outpouring of confidence, creativity and playfulness. Rather than just do what is practical, we are looking to engage in what makes us happy. There may be a hobby or activity that we have sidelined that is time to pick back up. Or there may be something we have been building up the courage to begin. We are to validate what gives us joy and to have the courage to express our love through what lights us up.
Speak what Gives us Joy
Small Grand Trine: Mars & Jupiter at the apex, sextile the New Moon and North Node
For the next weeks as Mars approaches and then conjoins Jupiter in Gemini on August 14, Mars is fueling our desire for growth in the area of communications. We are to talk about what is on our mind and in our heart. It may be something we have been waiting the right to time to discuss. It is an excellent time to network or reach out to someone we admire whose input we would respect. It is potentially a great time to work through plans with loved ones so that everyone feels heard and everyone can come onto the same page. There is an emphasis on the rational, on information and on learning something new. Valuable insights can result from clear and forthright communication. The one thing to be mindful of is that there can be a tendency to exaggerate details or to make assumptions about facts that we haven’t checked out.
The New Moon sextile Mars/Jupiter opens the channel between our heart and our tongue. We can put words to feelings, to passion, to our love, to what we want to create. We can discover new collaborations. Others may share information or ideas with us that inspire us even further. Within projects we are currently working on, we may find the creative juices flowing. It is an excellent time to write the business plan or resume, craft a proposal or create the copy for a website. The language we generate at this time is likely to be clear, bold and inspired.
The North Node trine the New Moon and sextile Mars/Jupiter lets us know that communications engage in now are supporting future developments. In Aries, the North Node has been prodding us to find the courage to put ourselves out there. And not just to do it halfway, but in a way where we do not edit ourselves based on what we think will please or not please another. We are ready to live life more on our own terms and less on what others expect of us. We feel the courage to invest in our own potential and align ourselves with a dream, an invitation or an instinct that feels correct. Opportunities can open for us when we do this.
I have found that if you love life,
life will love you back.
Arthur Rubinstein
Openly Express Love and Let it Go
Venus challenged to grow by Uranus, Neptune and Pluto
Venus is our values and self-value, which is reflected in our relationships and possessions. With Venus at the last degree of Leo, we want nothing to thwart inhibit the pleasure of having of fully expressing our values. Yet, how we do this may feel different, more authentic; there is a retooling of how we relate to others (Venus in a provocative dynamic with Uranus, Neptune, Pluto).
Venus square Uranus. In the days leading up to the New Moon, we may be breaking free from some habitual way we relate to others. We are waking up to areas in a relationship that have become deadened or hollow. Relationships can be re-enlivened just by introducing a new activity or new way of relating. It may happen through initiating a conversation that we have been reticent about having or suggesting going someplace different to introduce a new dimension to the relationship. Or we may get an unexpected phone call, email or piece of information that cracks our heart open. It is also a good time to go through our possessions and let go of things we are not using.
Venus at Apex with Pluto and Neptune. The impetus to give ourselves to creating and nurturing what gives us joy is further accentuated with Venus in Leo. There is a tension between our personal creative urge and how it interfaces with the large-scale endings and beginnings occurring in human society (Neptune and Pluto). We are getting clear on what we want and don’t want but now also need to do this in rhythm with the collective movement. The tension is not easily resolved. We are wanting to hold our ground and yet what is happening in the world around us may push or demand us to yield in some way. While we assert what we desire, we must also cultivate a spirit of surrender so that we can adjust and flow with what is beyond ours to influence.
Venus Conjunct Mercury. We are reminded to engage others in conversation, let them in on what we have been pondering in our heart. We can trust that ourselves to speak the right words and welcome what others want to contribute to a conversation, plan or project. Conversation yields beneficial results. Because Mercury is stationing retrograde, it is more about keeping the conversation open and not rushing to a decision or making an agreement.
Mercury is stationing readying to turn retrograde August 5 - 27. We are readying to take a sober look at what is lighting us up and the creative surge that the New Moon inspires. We are to take time in August to evaluate what is needed to accomplish what we want, make sure we have our facts straight and that the details are worked out. The first part of the Retrograde, we will be applying our critical mind to analyzing the viability and what we can do to ensure success (Mercury in Virgo). The latter half of the Retrograde, Mercury will return to Leo, and we will then be evaluating if the plan itself inspires us and what we can do to have more confidence in ourselves to accomplish it.
The shadow side of the Mercury Retrograde is the tendency to overthink things and getting stuck obsessing about some detail. Decisions may wish to be made before the end of the Retrograde, so it is not about delaying a decision, but about making it from a clear, centered and informed place.
All life is an experiment.
The more experiments you make, the better.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Incorporate What the Universe Wishes to Contribute
Jupiter square Saturn
Throughout August, the planet of Growth and Expansion (Jupiter) is in a stressful relationship with the planet of restraint and stability (Saturn). We may experience a reality check around some plan. We are being shown what is viable and what may never be viable. We may realize that we are looking to bite off more than we can actually chew. We are ready to grow something, but also ready to reduce something. It may take time to get clear on which is which.
We are to be open to how life wants to help shape our plan. Our job is to have a workable plan in place and then be open to adjusting it in response to unexpected developments. We are to control the outcome of our endeavors but to practice flexibility and a willingness to adjust our concepts in response to new information or circumstances. We are to slow down enough to ground our enthusiasm, give it some riverbanks so that our love can flow - trusting that its flow will then create something joyful and vibrant in the world.
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