By Amanda Painter

This weekend’s astrology presents an interesting mix of the mental, emotional, visceral and philosophical. The inner landscape has shifted from last week, calling on you to embody your inner dragonfly.

Mercury left Leo for Virgo (a sign it rules) last weekend. Mars finally exited Scorpio on Tuesday, and is now retracing its early spring path in Sagittarius. As of 11:27 am EDT Friday (15:27 UTC), Venus will be in Virgo after three-and-a-half weeks in Leo.

All three planets have moved or are about to move from a fixed sign to a mutable sign, and from perhaps a more physically oriented sign to something a little more cerebral.

Along with Mercury and (soon) Venus, Jupiter is also in Virgo — as is the Moon until Saturday afternoon. So if you have practical details of a project to plan or organize, this is a great weekend for it.

Yet there are still planets in all three water signs, with a notable cluster in Pisces. That brings in some emotion to balance the intellectual, and some creativity to balance the practical. In Sagittarius, Mars and Saturn offer the complementary impulses of direction/propulsion and structure.

In fact, glancing at the chart just now, I saw the image of a dragonfly: two wings made of planets in Virgo and Pisces; Mars and Saturn as the rudder-like tail. Yet where the head should be — Gemini — is where you come in. You’re the one who needs to supply the omni-directional dragonfly eyes, consider all sides of any story, and make sense of all that you see.

Continue reading →

By Amanda Moreno

Writing here has been such a pleasure for many reasons. Sometimes, however, I have to do the highly responsible thing and turn to Facebook for crowd-sourced ideas of what to write about. Today, someone requested that I talk about how we can use the energy of the Sun in Leo to help overcome energetic blocks. Leo energy is pretty darned incredible — fun, playful, expressive, creative — so I figured I’d go that route.

In summary, I associate Leo with creative self-actualization and the celebration of self; fun, loyalty, romance, generosity and heart all come to mind. The free doling out — and receiving — of appreciation and love.

Leo also casts shadows, like anything else. The Leonine shadow of narcissism fascinates me, especially as I tune into the world stage and our collective social media frenzy, in a culture where so many of us portray ourselves as the perfectly crafted avatars and stars of our own social media shows.

Leo is ruled by the Sun and it is unique in that way. Although Cancer is also ruled by a luminary rather than a planet, the Sun is unique in that it is the center of our solar system. Wherever the Sun is in our chart tells us about our purpose for being here and about the spark we can cultivate to come into alignment with our purpose.

We can look at the astrological wheel as a developmental progression. Aries is the birth instinct and related impulses. Taurus relates to our internalized sense of security and resources based on how we’re held. Gemini is the phase where we begin to link together the perception, thought and speech processes to communicate about experience. Cancer is where we first begin to develop an ego identification based on the constructs of our blood tribe and our emotional self.

In that context, Leo can be seen as where we begin to express the ego identity. It’s akin to the phase of development occurring between four and five years old — coming into contact with other kids, moving into Kindergarten and expansion out of the home environment.

It is perhaps during this stage, when we’re learning to creatively express our ego identity from a place of joy and innocence, that we’re prone to the perils of being shut down by others and by internalized feelings of shame or inadequacy. We need validation in this stage. Our Sun needs to shine and be seen as we are. It’s during this phase that we need recognition for being unique, and there are so many ways — both subtle and not — that this need can be shut down.

In Leo, we have a need to be seen in a particular way. Narcissism is defined psychologically speaking as “extreme selfishness, with a grandiose view of one’s own talents and craving for recognition and admiration,” or diagnosed as a personality disorder that is characterized by “self-centeredness arising from a failure to distinguish the self from external objects, either in very young babies or as a feature of mental disorder.” Narcissism is a trait in which we might essentially choose our godly qualities over our human ones, privileging one role over another, typically in an inflated way.

Perhaps we all have areas of our life in which we inflate ourselves or become one-dimensional, clinging on to an identity that we think is better than another or that we feel a strong need to have recognized. We become overly identified with an image, perhaps to cover up something we are lacking or feel loathing about. We become consumed with proving our specialness, or denying the parts of ourselves we find painful, lacking or inadequate.

The narcissistic process, then, is perhaps trying to save something, or to cover up a wound. And what do we talk about here on Planet Waves over and over again? The need to hold space for people’s wounding to come out in non-judgmental settings. We greet wounding with compassion.

We’re all living right now during a time of incredible transformation and often turbulence. What this time period needs is for each of us to get in touch with the spark of genius inside of us, to rise to the occasion of cultivating that spark — while not getting lost in artificial facades that we can hide behind.

We need to express our identity while understanding it is fluid. Perhaps part of that is owning our need for validation and recognition — and doing a little digging to understand how those needs might have been shut down when we were young.

Through its trine to Aries, the spark of Leo sunlight in each of us can be accessed through the bravery and courage it takes to tap into our own mode of self-expression, to listen to what our heart is calling us to do. Leonine creative self-actualization calls on us to express the currents of the divine, of the mystery, as they flow through us in our own unique ways — while understanding that we are not the source of the spark, just the fortunate recipient.

How might we harness the bravery of the fire signs to wade into the mystery, knowing that it is not something to fear but to embrace in wonder? Is it about recognizing that, despite the fact that we are each unique manifestations of something greater, we are not alone here?

We have tribe and there are others on the earth who are as confused, frightened and unsure as we might be at any given point in time. Similarly, there are likely others who are ready to dance and sing and celebrate their way through the madness as well, heart to heart, hand in hand. Because love is the only sure medicine, and the heart is the true source and power of the divine.

Tearing down the walls we’ve built to protect the child in us that was shut down or unrecognized might be tender work, maybe even best done within the container of a therapeutic or other form of relationship; there is an innocence in that Leo function that can feel raw and vulnerable. But that innocence is also a gift. I believe it is often referred to as ‘divine child’ energy. That part of us that believes and that is untarnished by the world lives within us all the time and, I believe, can be a source of great healing…if we can only let it shine.

*Title inspired by Harvey Sid Fisher.

The three dimensions of space (height, width and length) function to define a lot of your reality. There is, for instance, only so much room in any given physical container. Contents are thus identified in part by both their proximity to each other and the nature of what holds them. You might say something of the same for any given amount of time.

Time is not amenable to the same static measurements as the three dimensions of space. Even so, you have no doubt experienced a given period being defined by what you can (or can’t) fit into it.

Additionally, the concept of fitting in goes beyond quantification of space and time to take other forms of identity. It is not unusual for you to be faced with the question of how or whether to fit in with a group of people, to cite just one example.

The same principles of how and whether or not things fit together is part of astrology’s way of understanding the world. It so happens today’s astrology combines representations of space, time and energy to indicate something of how you can affect the climate in which you are, and will be, living your life.

As regards to spatial considerations, the Sun and Moon come together in the same degree of Leo today shortly before 5 pm EDT (20:44:29 UTC) to define the prototypical conjunction aspect known as a New Moon.

When any two objects conjoin, they are essentially sharing the same space on the zodiac. In a way, then, the Sun and Moon become one today. Among other things, the two luminaries are astrologically emblematic of your conscious awareness (Sun) and unconscious understanding (Moon). Both exist alongside each other in your mind. Sometimes those two parts of your mind are not fully cognizant of each other, but when they are you can reasonably be said to have yourself together. That’s an especially pertinent theme for a New Moon in Leo, where issues regarding the self are emphasized.

In addition to having the nature of their merger today defined by its Leo container, the Sun and Moon are also initiating a temporal container. That’s because every New Moon is considered to be the end of one period called a lunation, and the beginning of the next one as well.

Lunations bequeathed the commonly used unit of time fittingly named after the Moon: a month. If you are at all typical, many of the cycles of your life complete and renew again on a monthly basis.

No two months are alike. Many of those differences can be traced to how each month begins. The same is true of lunations. Any events taking place at the same time or in spatial aspect to a New Moon are thus considered by astrologers to anticipate the array of possible environments defining the four or so weeks to come.

Today’s Leo New Moon is taking place at about the same time Mars is returning to Sagittarius after a retrograde foray that took it back to Scorpio. Additionally, the merged luminaries will today be in a trine aspect to Saturn, which is also in Sagittarius.

When any object changes signs, its role in the astrological order changes as well. Among other things, Mars is, as Robert Hand put it, “an energy planet.” It would be fair to say that the role of energy in your life is now subject to change precisely because Mars is changing signs. In addition, the concurrence of the Martian ingress to Sagittarius with today’s New Moon would appear to be saying that energy’s changing role could very well be a defining theme for you this month.

Saturn is the very essence of containers and definitions. Trine aspects are second only to conjunctions when it comes to representing things flowing together through the auspices of a common element. In the case of Leo (where the New Moon is) and Sagittarius (where both Mars and Saturn are), the common element is fire.

Fire is closely related to the energetic nature of Mars. The visible countenance of Mars is red like fire. In addition, Mars rules the third fire sign — Aries.

Combine the timing that today’s Leo New Moon has with Mars and the spatial aspect it also has with Saturn, and you might reasonably draw a few conclusions about the life conditions you may well be able to co-create during August.

First off, this new month is likely to be a defining time. It is probable that you will participate in defining yourself, as well as who and what you do or don’t fit in with.

The nature of your participation, in turn, will likely be determined by the amount, inclination and nature of energy you can bring to bear. Where, when and how you apply yourself will thus go a long way towards making not only this month, but you. The net result of today’s astrology is thus an implied practice.

On the whole, the protocol indicated by the astrology today is the practice of asking yourself aloud where you want to put your energy on a daily basis. Based on the principle that what you put in is what you will get out, you should be able to shape not only yourself but your environment with greater efficacy than usual. The final result, however, will not be a matter of destiny so much as a matter of choice followed by action.

So act with care. Combine a conscious awareness of your intent with an understanding of your desires in order to invest your energies wisely. In essence, the implied outcome will be a significant chapter in your further evolution, that of your life, and how both fit into the world.

Offered In Service