The New Moon in Leo on August 16th brings opportunities to make effective, lasting changes, particularly in relationships and our creative endeavors. It is a sensuous, artistic, and dramatic chart that offers to shake up our senses, hopefully with the result of enhancing creativity and empowering magick.

But we’ll need to pay attention to our inner landscape to make the most of the opportunities offered. Discernment and flexibility will be our friends over the next month, as well as an openness to healing relationships and untying some of our own emotional knots.

I’ll take a few paragraphs for the astrologers (skip over the italics if you don’t speak the language) and then look at how we can best handle the upcoming astro-weather.

(Astrologers: Cast the chart for August 16, 5:38 AM EDT. I have placed it in Washington, DC, which gives a chart that is predictive for the USA.

The New Moon is at 23° 17’ Leo, in a separating conjunction with Venus retrograde and tightly square Uranus.

Venus, having passed her inferior conjunction with the Sun, is now in her Morning Star phase, rising before the Sun, though still not visible until late August. She is square Jupiter and Uranus, trine the North Node and Chiron.

Mercury, strong in Virgo, is conjunct and rules Mars. The bounds here are also worth noting if you work with them. Mercury in the bound of Jupiter, Mars in its own heats up this conjunction, which, combined with the trine to Jupiter and Uranus, gives this normally grounded placement a volcanic vibe. Both planets oppose Neptune.

The Mars-Uranus trine is very tight — only 7 arc minutes from partile.

Saturn, under Jupiter’s rulership, makes no Ptolemaic aspects. Also note that there are 5 planets in Earth, 3 in Fire, and two in Water. The lack of Air is an issue.)

Emotions will be running high this month, events may be triggering and communications confusing. We need our perceptions of reality to be as clear as possible, which will involve letting our emotions bring awareness without overwhelming our reasoning mind.

First, let’s dispense with the too-common misapprehension that emotions are somehow low on the scale of spiritual development. In fact, emotions are part of our communication equipment with the world of Spirit. They are sourced in the deep well of our subconscious. They are a normal and natural part of the human, and even the animal psyche.

We do not need to reject or suppress them in order to become more spiritually aware. To the contrary, they are a guide on our path, a means of connection with others, and a source of creativity. We do, however, need to learn to shift and manage them.

This month would be a good time to invest some time and thought in your own emotional health and flexibility. There’s likely to be a lot of drama swirling around, and demands for attention.

The drama may be unavoidable, and the demands perfectly justified. But be discerning about where you put your mental and emotional energy.

All too often drama is manufactured in a bid for attention. The unconscious needs that drive these displays are usually deeply rooted in the person’s psyche, and you getting caught up in the drama is more likely to fuel the fire than help heal underlying psychological wounds.

Even if the drama is authentic and not a bid for attention, is there anything you can do to help, or are you just getting sucked in as an observer? You can react to these situations with compassion while still keeping in mind the sacred mantra “Not my circus, not my monkeys”. (Repeat frequently for best effect.)

It’s too easy to go into emotional overload in our highly connected culture. Stay aware of your emotional states over the next few weeks. Experience and appreciate them. Don’t beat yourself up for having “wrong” emotions. Become aware of them, investigate what triggers them, and try to sense their source.

Celebrate the ones that carry you to a place of joy, or contentment, or awe, or simple happiness. Practice shifting the ones that drag you (or others) down. You can usually do this by paying attention to and shifting your thoughts. (Meditation helps with this.) If that’s not working, take some slow, deep breaths and ask for help from whatever spirits/deities you turn to for guidance.

Magical practitioners will find it particularly helpful to begin spells or magical workings over the next month by first taking a few moments to identify the emotions they are feeling. Invariably, there are more than one, some of them floating just below the level of conscious awareness. Try to bring them to awareness, so you can identify and shift any that are not in line with the work you are doing. You know that emotions fuel magic. Make sure the fuel is clean. Breathwork will be particularly helpful now.

One more thing — discernment and critical thinking skills will be important this month. Don’t rush into consequential actions before fully engaging your brain. And double-check the details of any plans or projects. Ignoring the small stuff could seriously trip you up.

These are broad strokes of the month ahead. If you’d like to look at how the current sky is/will be affecting you personally, contact me for a consultation.

OK, now onto the bigger picture.

On the National Stage

(Astrologers: I’m looking at both the NM chart itself and in a bi-wheel with the equal house Sibley chart.
Check out the focus on Venus [women’s issues, art, money, emotional connection]. I’ve noted her aspects to other planets in the NM chart above, but she rules the MC and is on the AS of the DC chart. We also have solar arc Venus square Sibley Uranus and conjunct Ceres, and solar arc Pluto tightly square Sibley Venus.

In a bi-wheel, the New Moon and Venus fall in the 9th Sibley house, and NM Mars is tightly conjunct Sibley Neptune. The Sun [leaders, executive branch, and celebrities] is also particularly powerful in this NM chart for reasons that should be obvious. With Moon and Venus, female leadership — political or cultural — will be a focus.)

You need a scorecard to keep up with all the litigation going on these days to protect voting rights, bodily autonomy for women, and address corruption in government. The spotlight this month is definitely going to be on various legal issues — not only active litigation, but the legal standards we live by (or don’t).

(If you’re trying to keep up, Democracy Docket keeps a scorecard for voting rights litigation, and the ACLU keeps tabs on abortion rights cases here. The Jack Smith account on Xwitter — @7Veritas4 — is a goldmine of information about January 6 and classified documents litigation. It’s supposedly a parody account, but whoever is behind it clearly has a hotline to the inner circle of the investigations, and also a fine sense of humor.)

President Biden and Vice-President Harris will also be front and center in the public eye — more so than usual for this normally low-key partnership. Scandal seems inevitable, but quite possibly beneficial in the long run by exposing the truth. (Aside from Venus Rx conjunct the NM and Uranus square it, look at the Mars-Mercury conjunction in the Sibley 10th conjunct Sibley Neptune, and T Jupiter sextile Sibley Sun).

There’s also a focus on women’s and trans rights — not just a right to bodily autonomy, but issues of safety in a misogynistic culture (keep in mind that almost every trans person was either born female (trans men) or became female (trans women), so they all experience misogyny at some point in their lives, as well as transphobia. Both of which often express themselves through violence.)

Environmental problems for this month are likely to focus on heat — hot water, fires, air temperatures, and I am concerned about unexpected events that impact agricultural crops. Additionally, there are indications of possible explosions. Serious storms are likely, and the fires are probably not done yet.

(And I’m going to invite you to stop right here and take stock of your thoughts and emotions in this moment. Are you feeling fearful? Are your thoughts going towards how bad it might get? It’s important to have strategies to manage fear and anxiety in place.
There’s no escaping the fact that we live in challenging times. But if we are approaching life from a place of fear and paralyzed by anxiety, we won’t be able to help ourselves or others. We also can’t do much if we stick our heads in the sand and ignore all the bad news.

The best place to go for both helpful strategies and a solid sense of safety is into your spiritual practices and community. You can also work with a therapist, and/or google “books on managing fear” and let your intuition guide you to the right book for you now. OK, moving on…)

There is some possibly amusing, probably annoying, but maybe even dangerous mischief afoot. Stay aware, and listen to your instincts so you don’t get caught up in it. Look for epic levels of chatter and scandal used to mislead and deceive in service of personal agendas (and not only from the Much-Indicted One and his henchfolk). I suspect there may be news about deepfakes.

Fortunately, we’ll also get inspiring, impassioned speech that comes honestly from the heart with good intent, giving hope, and pointing us in new directions There are also possibilities of encouraging scientific breakthroughs.

Overall, expect dramatic, sudden and/or surprising events that shake up the status quo. Keep in mind that it can be easier to create needed changes when things are already being shaken up. But when people are shaken up, they need help and support. Give what you can, and maybe a little bit more.

My homegrown peaches, guarded by Rascal Cat.

As we head into the season of the harvest, remember where your food comes from — the fertility of the Earth and the light of the Sun. Life gives generously of its blessings. Are you grateful?

There are some misconceptions about gratitude. Gratitude does not make you subservient. It does not drain you of power or agency. If it’s real, it is freely given and never demanded. Gratitude forms connections that sparkle with love and joy. And we need more of both in our world.

Blessings of the season to you,