The Sun enters its own sign of Leo on Friday, July 22-23.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, the festival of the first harvest. 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!

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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.

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.

        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.

The dwarf planet Ceres, Earth Mother and Great Goddess of the Harvest, just peeked into Aries this month, probably not liking what she sees, and so giving us a preview of a new understanding of our relationship to the Earth. Perhaps our inner rage at what's happening in the world does start outer fires in Arizona and wars in Afganistan!   Who is to say?   Perhaps we really are the mediators of how the creative cosmic forces manifest on Earth.   The Sabian symbol for 1* Aries says that something new is arising: A woman just risen from the sea.   A seal is embracing her.   This image calls each of us to our destiny, if we can hold onto the new consciousness without regressing to back into unconsciousness.

Thank goodness Ceres will retrograde back into Pisces, spending a year in the sign of our collective heart instead of its' usual 2 months.   In Pisces, she can nurture our collective longing for a peaceful world, our compassion that unites us in our struggles and our absolute trust in the workings of Spirit.    Open your hearts and listen to her stories.   You'll hear the voice of the good but stern Mother, telling us to awake up and take care of our home!   Many of us have come through our own devastating yet transformative crisis, so use that memory to envision a fruitful outcome for our collective future.

        While Jupiter in Taurus and Pluto in Capricorn are both in Earth signs and so support each other with their demolishing and rebuilding projects, they form hard angles to this New Moon.     Hard aspects advise caution.   Hard aspects constrain us.   The Leo New Moon is challenged by Jupiter in Taurus and constrained by Pluto in Capricorn.    Both these planets pressure the creative and expansive Leo New Moon to acknowledge the practicalities of the situation and adjust the imagined needs to the world's changing realities.   We have to face what is to help us reshape our response to the world.   If we succeed, the art we create in these next years can awaken the world.   That is the artist's mission -- to awaken people to unseen realities.

        Jupiter in Taurus wants us to sink deeply into the essence of our physicality, to awaken our senses so we can smell the messages on the wind, see the future in the fire, taste the joy of communion, touch the meaning of Beauty and hear the intention of Spirit.   Let your senses tell you a story -- Jupiter loves a good story.   The consequences of cutting ourselves off from our senses arise from Jupiter's extravagant side: expanding our tendency to addiction and depression, obsession and repression, unconsciousness and insecurity.   These in turn give rise to the rampant dysfunction of our society, which is addicted to things that don't nurture our souls.   A good relationship with Jupiter in Taurus can help us realign with Earth's intentions and so center ourselves in the laws of Nature.   With Jupiter in Taurus, let us build something worthwhile.

        So how does Jupiter in Taurus challenge the Leo New Moon?   If we really want to create something personally and collectively meaningful, we have to use our senses and pick up on the energies around us.   We need to channel those energies through our senses, our intelligence, our hearts and our spirits if we want to create a culture-changing art like in the 60s.   That's where the real revolution takes place!   We have to inspire our people with a better vision of life.   We can all walk away from this dying paradigm and establish something new that incorporates the best of the old and the new.   But we have to be able to imagine it!   That's the work of our artists. Then we have to create it.   That's the work of the makers.   Jupiter in Taurus is a builder and maker.

        Pluto is inconjunct (150*) this Leo New Moon.   The inconjunct is an aspect that demands analysis to improve on, rebalance and make adjustments to the New Moon energies.   It constrains us to become more discerning and organized, more disciplined and observant.   It breaks down old ineffective patterns of behavior.   Remember, these astrological aspects align with cosmic law.   This is how life evolves and works!   The Cosmic Story is telling you to fine-tune your creative energies.

Remember Pluto's 3-step energetic process of decline, death and rebirth.   First, we have to recognize the decay. Second, everything inessential must to be burned away. Third, a new paradigm arises out of the ashes like the Phoenix.    Pluto in Capricorn, the sign of our social structures, is busy pointing out toxic structures, exposing the stench of hypocrisy and greed, and amazingly shining his dark light on our Shadows.   It's getting harder NOT to see it.  

        How does Pluto affect this Leo New Moon?   Moon-Pluto aspects are often associated with the negative mother complex, the devouring mother archetype that separates, alienates and traumatizes us. That's what patriarchy has done to us.   But the inconjunct demands that we analyze the situation and if we can make the necessary adjustments, this aspect can    offer us empowerment and regeneration, giving us the strength to fearlessly face whatever is to come.    Because we have looked at the raging Mother and understand her agony!   We understand what it feels like to be dispossessed, to have our self-confidence ripped away, to feel powerless in the face of power.      

        So our Leo creativity and leadership needs to be tempered with an incisive, indepth analysis of what our society needs.   And our creativity is also challenged to open up to the information coming to us from our senses.   Extreme weather, a still dangerous nuclear disaster, a genetically modified food supply that lacks nutrition, the pollution of our waters and our skies cannot be ignored once our senses are activated.   As artists, we need to translate what we sense and feel into something that inspires people to wake up and do something about it.      Our strength is in numbers.   As more minds awaken to new possibilities, our united group consciousness can create and energize a new structure of reality.   That's what the music of the 60s did for us.   It shaped a new reality that we all engaged in, and while the 60s was a disruptive time (the birth of a new evolutionary revolution), the new spiritual, psychological and practical growth that came out of that time will help us change the world now.

Mercury, the Mind, is about to go retrograde on August 2nd at 2*Virgo, retrograding back to 19*Leo, and turning direct again on August 26th.   As always, Mercury retrograde is a time to reflect, re-organize, re-do, re-member. This doubles Mercury's stay in Leo to almost two months, activating our creative mind. Mercury stations very near the royal star, Regulas, the heart of the Lion, reminding us to let our hearts lead the way. Watch out for those inspiring ideas.   Write them down so you can see where they're leading you. Mercury is opposed by Neptune and Chiron in Pisces, heightening our imagination and inspiring us to work together to heal the world.   This is also a great time to write down your dreams.   The dream messages will be important, indicating a direction you need to pay attention to.   If you don't know what your dreams are telling you, get in touch with me.   Dream interpretation is my healing gift!

  The Sabian symbol for Mercury at   2* Virgo is: A large white cross dominates the landscape.   The Mind is focused on the mystical path, the path of initiation, and the "crucifixion' tests us to give up our ego-centric emotional life and learn detachment.   This white cross reminds us that we are here to "suffer' on the world tree and become conscious of our spiritual heritage so our life here on Earth can become magnificent!   We are spiritual beings having a human experience.   And so crucifixion becomes a liberating experience.   This makes sense with Neptune, the planet of spirituality and imagination, opposing Mercury three times in the next two months.

Mars enters Cancer on August 4th, once again triggering the Cardinal T-square and filling in the 4th leg.   It will square Uranus in Aries on August 9th, oppose Pluto in Capricorn on August 10-11, and square Saturn in Libra on August 25th.   Mars activates this cardinal energy, so watch for the transformations to unfold.   The world might get wild this next month, so hold onto your spirits and use everything that comes your way to create, create, create.   Go boldly into the future!

Bright Blessings of the First Harvest to all of You!

Cathy

Authors Website: http://www.cathypagano.com

Authors Bio:

Cathy Pagano is a spiritual advisor and Jungian psychotherapist, storyteller, author and teacher.

She is the author of a book on the return of the Goddess, "Wisdom's Daughters: How Women Can Change the World".

Cathy trained at the C. G. Jung Institut-Zurich in dream interpretation, has an M.A. in Counseling Psychology in Feminine Spirituality, and is a certified Life Coach.

As an astrologer and storyteller, she weaves the Cosmic Stories written in the stars. From The Bard's Grove, she writes about emerging archetypal themes in movies and books.

Cathy works with the tools of the imagination - dreams, alchemy, myths, astrology, symbolic language, storytelling, ritual - to awaken the Soul's wisdom.



I believe that Americans are called to a higher consciousness at this point in our history. We are called on to live up to our ideals and create the country our forefathers imagined. Inner consciousness needs to be acted upon for social justice.



Cathy believes that our writers and artists must take up our responsibility to create art that inspires, teaches and heals our humanity.



Cathy writes about political, psychological/spiritual, and cultural issues.