Astro Notes for New Moon in Leo Cycle (Aug 4-Sept 2 2024)
For the first few months of this year, almost all the planets were moving forward, resulting in an exciting if hectic sense of fast-paced flow and forward progress. Since the end of May, the pace has been slowing down as first Pluto, then Saturn, then Neptune moved retrograde, shifting the focus gradually from outer action to more inward reflection and review. This month promises a rich stew of expansive opportunities amidst reality checks that will require us to enter more deeply into reflective space. At the very end of this month’s cycle, Pluto moves back into Capricorn for its final visit, one last reckoning with the old structures within ourselves and our world that need to die in order allow the new Aquarian ways that are coming to be born.
The month’s cycle begins on August 4 with a new moon in Leo in a sextile with Mars and Jupiter in Gemini. Leo is an expressive, playful energy that gives us permission to let our inner light sparkle and to connect with others in fun and creative ways. With Mars and Jupiter in harmonious alignment, the new moon offers us the courage and confidence to take advantage of this extraverted energy and connect with others in new and playful ways. If you have a choice, take a risk at this time, especially socially or romantically, and you will likely be rewarded.
On August 14, Mars is conjunct Jupiter in Gemini, initiating a 2 year cycle of growth and expansion in a new direction. When Mars, the principle of action, meets Jupiter, the principle of expansion, we have an opportunity to take action in a way that supports us to grow toward our deeper potential. It is a time to ask ourselves where we may have been underestimating our capacities and to say yes to opportunities that call us into the best version of ourselves. With this conjunction occurring in the mental sign of Gemini, these may be opportunities to expand our minds, to learn something new, or to exchange ideas with others in new and exciting ways.
Yet these expansive possibilities will first have to pass through an important reality test, since when Mars and Jupiter meet they will also be in a tight square with Saturn.
The Jupiter-Saturn square, which will be exact on August 20 but in effect throughout this month’s cycle, is one of the most significant transits of the year. It is best understood in the context of the Jupiter-Saturn synodic cycle, which began with the conjunction between these planets in December 2020. A synodic cycle is the period from one conjunction between two planetary bodies and the next one. The Jupiter-Saturn cycle could be said to represent the process of constructing new structures of belief and meaning, both in ourselves and society, to better serve our evolving reality. In December 2020 that process began anew, with seeds being planted in ourselves and our world for the creation of new systems based on new ideals and worldviews.
Now, with Jupiter and Saturn meeting in the opening square of the cycle, those new systems based on our new beliefs and worldviews will face their first serious test. We may have to experience something that humbles us, that confronts us with a limit, and that thereby requires us to enter into a more reflective place to figure out what we need to change. Saturn is always an initiation into greater maturity. We are forced to realize the gap between our ideals and how reality works and make the necessary adaptation — or not, in which case we kick the can down the road for a harsher lesson the next time around.
Saturn is often hard and disappointing in the beginning, yet satisfying in the end. If we can adapt to the challenge and meet reality as it is, we feel more secure, more grown up. We are grounded in reality and reality holds us.
We have a full moon in Aquarius August 19 in an exact square to Uranus and opposite Mercury. This is a highly visionary, mental energy where exciting insights and downloads that disrupt everything could drop in from nowhere. While we may initially resist the implications of whatever new ideas come in because of their shock factor, we can trust that they are giving us a nudge toward a future that is ultimately more aligned with who we are.
On August 23, the Sun enters Virgo. We move into that annual time of year when we return from our summer play and make preparations for the big push until the end of the year. The thing is, in Virgo season it usually feels good to take care of all the little practical things that make our life work.
On September 2, right at the end of the cycle, Pluto moves back into Capricorn. This is the last time Pluto will be in Capricorn for the foreseeable future. In November, Pluto will move into Aquarius and stay there for the next twenty years. So this is the final sweep of Pluto through any old and outdated structures in ourselves and our world that we cannot take with us as we enter into this emerging Aquarian Age. Don’t miss this final opportunity to release this burden from your soul.
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