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Leo New Moon: July 30, 2011
Lammas: August 1st to August 7th
"The Welfare of the People is the chief Law." Cicero
The Sun enters its own sign of Leo on Friday, July 22 at
9:12pm Pacific time and Saturday, July 23 at 12:12am Eastern time. We celebrate this time of the Sun's rulership
at the next turning of the Wheel of the Year on August 1st, the
Celtic festival of Lammas or Lughnasad, the festival of the first harvest. Another cross-quarter holiday, originally
marking the power gate at 15* Leo, Lammas celebrates the King who is willing to
sacrifice himself for the good of his people.
Ancient peoples always put aside an offering of the first fruits of
their harvest for the gods and goddesses to ensure the continued fertility of
the land. At this turn of the Wheel, we
look at our lives and see what we have to offer to our people, not for money or
power, but for the good of all.
Lammas by Elana Gibeault
The Irish Lughnasad celebrated the great Celtic sun-god, Lugh of the Long Arm, mighty king and bringer of civilization. Lugh was a member of the Tuatha De Danann, and his name means, "The Shining One." He was skilled in all crafts, and possessed a marvelous spear. He is the good king, willing to face malevolent otherworldly beings for the sake of his people. And so Lammas is truly the festival in which we commemorate the King or Queen, the possible human, within us all.
Lammas is a fire festival celebrating the time when the Sun burns its' fiercest, for fires are destructive, as we have seen in Arizona this summer. But fire is also creative, and if we can let the spiritual fires burn away all that is inessential within us, we are left with what is eternal and true. That is Leo's purpose in our lives -- to express our essential Self.
Leo's fire is a bonfire, a strong steady fire that illuminates and warms us. The lion who symbolizes Leo is proud and fierce, beautiful and expressive, roaring to let us know he's the King! For Leo is the sign of the King and the Queen, as well as the Divine Child within each of us who expresses its unique Self through its creations. So during this month of Leo, explore your creativity (playfully as only a Leo can) because the world most definitely needs our creative genius to flourish.
All of us are artists of one kind or another. Whether we express ourselves through art, dance, music, writing, cooking, gardening, sculpting, making, sewing or storytelling, we all have something within us that pushes us to express ourselves in some way. And it is more crucial now than ever before that we allow ourselves to create and express what we see and feel. Jean Houston calls it "social artistry', the artist as a culture bringer, the culture bringer as artist. Just like Lugh of the Long Arm, who was a master of many crafts! Artists are leaders, just like Leo's are. Artists lead the way by allowing themselves to go into the unknown, where there are no rules or boundaries. Through play and experimentation, they work with the creative imagination, the eternal fires of life, and bring something new into the world.
We are living in a time of chaos and change. While politicians argue over the economy, our culture is dying. We cannot look to political leaders for answers -- they are too caught up in trying to resuscitate a dying patriarchal paradigm that has brought us to the brink of extinction. It is up to each of us to become social artists and come up with the blueprint for a new society, a new paradigm that is global in scope, peaceful in intent and co-creative at best. We are seeing the beginnings of a global revolution in values and outlook, where masculine and feminine consciousness are balanced and each person becomes responsible for all. Starting in the next years, we have to bring on the revolution so we can evolve to the next stage of global unity, with new possibilities for humanity and for the world. This is our mission this lifetime!
Leo New Moon
The Leo New Moon occurs on Saturday July
30th at 11:40am PDT/ 2:40pm EDT/ 6:40pm GMT. New Moons mark new beginnings, and so use
this time to envision what unique creative expression you want to manifest in
the coming years.
Leo New Moon 2011 by Cathy Pagano/Kepler
The Sabian symbol for the Sun and Moon at 8*Leo is: A communist activist spreading his revolutionary ideals . This symbol expresses the idea of the patriarchy being confronted by a desire for a new way of life and a new sense of values, a new paradigm in which all people are equal in all ways. While we can say that these "communist' ideals have not worked out in reality, the ideals of freedom and equality can be achieved if we throw off the yoke of corporate control and take up our personal responsibility to own and create democracy around the world. It's all about being inspired by a vision to bring about change.
Venus, which moves into Leo on July 28th, is very close to this new Moon, and so she adds her Wisdom, Creativity and Love to the mix. The Sabian symbol for Venus at 3*Leo is: A middle-aged woman, her long hair flowing over her shoulders and in a bra-less youthful garment. This symbolizes emotional independence from cultural expectations, giving rise to a youthful attitude, regardless of age. The hippie woman is back, "making love not war' and singing "all you need is love'. Express what's in your heart and soul and create something!
This new Moon is also in a very supportive relationship (a trine) to Uranus and Ceres in Aries, nurturing our independence, our uniqueness, our genius and our awakening to cosmic realities. Uranus is still at 5* Aries: A triangle with wings. Uranus will help us envision the new possibilities of a co-creative life, which in turn can mobilize our creativity and our strength.
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