The Leo New Moon is upon us – the Heart of the Sun!  Both the Sun and
the Heart are Leo’s special interests.  The sun is the center of our
solar system, the source of life.  Leo is all about being at the center
of life, in both a literal and a symbolic sense.  Leos love to be the
center of attention, both in love and in life.  And Leo’s journey is
the quest to find the true center of his/her life – the quest of
Individuation, the process where a person becomes whole.  

Leos do this – and all of us have Leo in our charts – by remembering that we each have a Divine Child within. The Tarot card “The Sun” symbolizes this Divine Child who radiates the joy and love that Leos crave.  The Child always thinks with his/her heart – the seat of the intuitive mind.  This Child mind is open to new possibilities, new visions, new life.  This Divine Child has a natural self-confidence, because children naturally feel love. They live in their intuitive hearts.  It is the Child mind – the thought of the heart – which must be called forth this month and listened to if we are to find our true purpose in Life.  Find Leo in your chart to see where this new life (a new moon is always a fresh start) is knocking at your door!  And then Roar!

Leo is a dynamic, dramatic fire sign.  And like the Tarot card
“Strength” Leo’s quest is also about the Self-Control of the Emotions –
the self-mastery that brings success and fulfillment.  Leo represents
the path of conscious awareness.   Success in the outer world needs
Leo’s willpower, courage, skill and perseverance.  And Leo’s need for
fulfillment comes from the inner quest to find the SELF – through
personal meaning, value, and heart’s love.  It is through Leo’s
children – physical, mental, emotional or spiritual – that Leo comes
into self-empowerment.  In the ancient Mithrus cult, one of the
initiations had to do with taming the Lion.  Leo is at its best when we
can bring under control the inner lion of strong emotional reactions,
so we can use this controlled emotional energy to empower our acts of
Creation.

One of the ancient images for Leo is Sekhmet, the Lion-headed Goddess
of Ancient Egypt.  (See below for information about the Sekhmet
Festival this weekend here in Las Vegas.)  Sekhmet was the goddess of
Healing as well as Destruction. Since Mercury is now showing-off in
Leo, in his role as NAMER, let him tell you a few of her names:

Sekhmet, Great one of Magic
 Mother of the Gods
 Lady of the Place of the Beginning of Time
 Beloved of Ra, her father
 Beloved of Bast, her sister
 Beloved of Ptah, her husband-brother
 At whose wish the arts were born
 Beautiful eye which giveth life to the two lands
 Beautiful face, image most beloved by art
 Flaming one
 Sovereign of Ra, her father
 Protectress of the Gods
 Lady of the Scarlet-colored garment
 Pure One
 Eye of Ra
 Eye of Horus
 Roamer of deserts
 Wanderer in the wastes
 Self-contained
 Only one
 Awakener
 Lady of Enchantments
 Opener of Ways
 Lady of Transformations
 Lady of the many faces
 Enrapturing one
 Giver of Ecstasies
 Satisfier of desires
 Victorious one in battles
[For more of Sekhmet’s 100 names, see
http://www.sekhmettemple.com/Namespage.htm]


Another myth that sheds light on Leo’s quest is the medieval legend of
Parzival and the Quest for the Holy Grail.  It is a story of innocence
and high ideals, which are shattered and then reclaimed by an older and
wiser seeker.  It is a story about asking the right questions.  In many
ways, we in our culture do not ask the Right questions.  Instead we ask
about what we are doing wrong, rather than asking, What are we doing
right?  Where do my Strengths lie?  What is my intuition telling me?
For Leo, the questions are always about the SELF:  Who am I?  What does
my life mean?  What was I born to do?  How am I unique? How can I help?

All Leo myths speak of love and creativity, strength and fulfillment.
Spirit and destiny.  Power and destruction.  For Leos, the power of the
Sun – and in Egypt it was very destructive in the heat of the summer –
beats in their blood.

As with all New Moons, we have an opportunity to begin something new.
This time we are being called to our soul’s destiny.  The child born
under the Cancer New Moon now wants to live out its divine plan.  Isn’t
it interesting that the baby boomers (we were born with Pluto in Leo
which is being given a reality check by Saturn’s transit through Leo
for the past two and a half years) especially are receiving a wake up
call again?  Like Parzival when he returns to the Grail Castle for the
second time, older and wiser, the Baby Boomers are being given another
chance to “Get ourselves back to the Garden”.

The Leo Sun/Moon New Moon is being supercharged by Uranus in Pisces
sending out an SOS from the Anima Mundi – the World Soul.  She needs us
to respond in a more mature, focused way than in the ‘60s.  We are back
at the Grail Castle for our second chance at transforming the
Wasteland.  This is also a prelude to the first square (really a
T-Square) of the new cycle of the planets (Uranus and Pluto, with
Saturn added in) that brought us the ‘60’s revolutions. More about this in 2008.,

This New Moon we are given our instructions:
The Sabian Symbol for 20 Leo: Zuni Indians perform a ritual to the Sun.
 This is a reversal of our socialized activity and opens up the way to
the deepest release of our long-denied root energies.  Natural man
links himself consciously to the source of all life on Earth.  And this
means ‘Identification through worship’ and the sanctification of
creative power.

So Create! like crazy and remember, Everything we do is an act of
worship.  (And go out and let the Sun shine on you without fear,
because that fear echoes a fear of life.)

With the New Moon in Leo opposite Neptune and Chiron in Aquarius, and conjoined with Saturn, Venus retrograde and Mercury in Leo, the cosmos is asking us to open up our hearts and listen to our wildest dreams.  You know, the ones we used to long for, and which we abandoned to the ‘reality’ of life. This New Moon reinforces the Saturn-Neptune opposition that just finished, bringing it to conscious awareness.  BRING YOUR SOUL DREAMS INTO REALITY.

Then, on Monday, August 13th, we have the second of three conjunctions
(coming together) of Venus, the planet of Love, Beauty and Values, and
Saturn, the planet of Time and Reality.  A conjunction means that two
planets come together, like the New Moon, and one cycle ends while
another begins.  The Venus/Saturn cycle asks us to clarify what’s
important to us: our values, love, creativity, resources, art, relationships, feelings.  Saturn wants us to Be Truthful about what we Love, what we want, and what we have to offer the world.  Since Venus is traveling backwards through Leo, it is important to remember that the Feminine is sexy, fun, dramatic, and intuitive as well as Wise.  We have to take back Venus from the unreal Fashion world and Hollywood hype that airbrushes our sex goddesses and demands that they starve themselves so they look like boys!  Venus in Leo recalls the famous courtesans of old who not only were sexy and round, but who had a lasting influence on the arts and culture through their influence on their Kings and noblemen.

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SKY ALERT:  WATCH THE PERSEID METEOR SHOWERS on Sunday night (all
weekend really) – with the New Moon that night, it will be easy to see
the over 100 ‘shooting stars’ an hour.

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We gather from sunset to sunrise at the Cross-quarter day between
Summer and Fall to honor Her.

Festivities start at 7:00 pm                                                               Potluck Dinner at 7:30 pm – bring a dish to share                            Procession of Sekhmet to Sacred Circle
– all night ritual begins  9:30 pm

Bring your good vibes, drums, percussions toys, comfortable festive
wear to dance (if it is your will), water, and a warm coat for the late
night.

DRUGS, ALCOHOL AND PETS ARE NOT ALLOWED.

For directions and information, please go to www.sekhmettemple.com or
call Kaya @ 683-2871



I will be in Los Angeles next week.  You can reach me at 310-741-7013.


Blessed Be.


Cathy Pagano
www.9muses.biz
www.wisdom-of-astrology.com