The New Moon occurs in Leo on August 9th at 11:08 pm (Eastern time).  The lunation itself (the Sun/Moon conjunction) makes no aspects to any other planet, which suggests that the power of self-expression can act forcefully, unencumbered by any other influence. This is a wonderful time to start a new creative venture, or a program to market your business. Anything that puts YOU on center stage is appropriate with this New Moon.

Leo is about celebration and joy, but there is a dark side as well.  On the Astrodynamics Facebook page, when the Moon went into Leo I wrote “It’s all about ME now.”  A reader responded, “”You’d think, with leo sun, leo asc, leo mars, leo uranus & leo in my 2nd house I’d love it when it’s all about me. But I don’t. This whole day has had me feeling trancelike, lost, sad and sort of pointless.”  Reading this I pondered the way in which Leo’s focus on Self can make us self-involved and cause us to lose sight of the Flow, and sure enough this reader later added:   After thinking about it some more last night, it seems to me I actually WAS making it all about me, even if it wasn’t positive/power/confident thinking, I still was pointedly aware of myself all day ;)”

Everything astrological has both a positive and negative manifestation.  We like to think of Leo as representing the celebration of life; the Divine Child whose innocence and joy lights up the path of everyone that surrounds him or her.  But the dark side of Leo is Self-involvement and egocentricity.   In this New Moon the power of the conscious mind (Sun) and the instinctive emotions (Moon) combine with the full force of Leo’s potential.  You can make this experience exactly what you want it to be!

Venus has just entered Libra and is currently sandwiched between Saturn and Mars, not the friendliest of planets!  Venus governs relationships between people and shows the way that we connect with each other, and Venus is happiest in its own sign of Libra where it can balance and harmonize and keep everyone happy.  But the limitation and restriction of Saturn can be lonely for Venus, and the irritation of Mars can be very uncomfortable for the Venusian urge for peace and serenity.

Our personal relationships may become somewhat more difficult from the 7th to the 9th of August when Venus is challenged by Uranus (rebellion), Saturn (isolation), Pluto (rejection or obsession) and Jupiter (freedom) at the time of the New Moon. These stressful Venus aspects only last for a day or so, but with the New Moon being in the self-oriented sign of Leo, any interactions we have with others that limit our self-expression will be felt as problematic at that time.

The alignment of cardinal planets is embedded in the chart of the New Moon, so this is not a time of easy success. That New Moon in Leo is determined to shine, but before we can get there we have to walk a tightrope between the force of change and the necessity for discipline and creative intelligence!