New Moon in Leo. 8.4.24.
Happy New Moon in Leo, friends.
As you might have noticed, it’s been a minute since I’ve been able to do one of these Practical Woo newsletters.
(The tl;dr for those of you who don’t know me personally, or whom I haven’t caught up with in a while: I said yes to a new job leading an organization that’s close to my heart, and the transition has taken pretty much all of my energy and attention. But as the dust begins to settle, carving out the time to engage with astrology in this way—and reopening my books for more than just here-and-there readings—feels like coming home to a part of myself that I’ve been missing in a big way.)
And what better time to (re)start a creative project than a New Moon in Leo? 😉
So, first: the astrology. Tomorrow at 7:13am ET, we’ll mark a New Moon at 12 degrees of Leo (12 degrees and 34 minutes, to be exact, with 1+2+3+4 adding up to 10, which is numerically associated with manifestation).
Adding to the magic of this leonine New Moon, a potent cosmic portal called the Lion’s Gate is open. (More on that in a bit.) Meanwhile, Mercury is in the process of stationing retrograde. (More on that in a bit, too.)
This is a powerful energy combination! Particularly for manifestation and giving a boost to whatever we’re looking to birth with our creative projects, and for shedding whatever holds us back from shining our full light without apology.
So let’s get into how to work with it all. 🦁
New Moon in Leo. New Moons are when we plant the seeds we’ll harvest at the Full Moon in the same sign, roughly 6 months later. So, in the case of this weekend’s New Moon, the intentions we set now will be what we harvest at the Full Moon in Leo on or around February 2025.
Ruled by the Sun, at its highest vibrations, Leo is associated with leadership, courage, creativity, radiance, warmth, open-heartedness, generosity, charisma, performing, and pride. Bodily, it governs the heart and the spine.
Esoterically, the Sun within the birth chart embodies our core spiritual essence. The deepest, truest part of you that shines through once you cut through the layers of conditioning, fear, self-doubt, resistance, etc. etc. that block you from radiating the part of you that is light. Some call this “inner gold.” (Lindsey Stirling has a song that carries this vibration beautifully—it’s been part of my morning playlist for a while and is absolutely perfect for this New Moon.)
Enter Mercury retrograde. Mercury has been slowing down for the past couple of weeks, and will finally station retrograde a little after midnight ET on August 4th/5th. (Calendar check: It will be retrograde for most of August, stationing direct on August 28th.)
Side note: As I say pretty much every time the winged messenger stations retrograde, Mercury retrograde gets an unfairly bad rap. Retrograde stretches are a normal part of Mercury’s orbital patterning, taking place roughly 3-4 times per year. Sure, we can expect technology, travel, and communications to get wonky. (And it’s helpful to plan for that by backing up our tech, building in buffer time for missed flights, etc. etc.).
But/and: Leaning into the energy at its highest vibration, I like to work with Mercury retrogrades as pre-scheduled spiritual review periods, when we’re invited to review, revisit, and revise how we’re working with our Mercury functions (i.e. our concrete minds and how we communicate); how we’re working with a particular type of energy (associated with whichever sign it’s retrograde in); and how we’re operating in a particular area of life (associated with whichever house of the birth chart is activated).
When Mercury retrogrades in Virgo, I like to work with the energy as an invitation to review our inner self-critic. Perfectionist tendencies. Limiting beliefs. Self-doubt. Detrimental thought patterns and what triggers them. As I write this I have astrologer Darby Costello’s words ringing in my ears—she calls Mercury retrogrades an opportunity to “redecorate our mental realm,” which I love.
So how does this play into the energy of this New Moon? I read the combo of these energies as an invitation to work with this August Mercury retrograde period to review, revisit, and revise whatever ways our lower/concrete/ logical minds might be hindering us from unapologetically shining our full light. From being our full, authentic selves without holding back, and without fear of what others might think. And especially in the realms of creative projects and leadership.
Welcome to the Lion’s Gate portal. But wait, there’s more. . . I mentioned that this New Moon falls while a powerful portal is open. Ruled by the Egyptian goddess Isis, the Lion’s Gate portal opens every year from late July through mid-August, when the Sun comes into alignment with the star Sirius. It peaks every year on August 8th, i.e. 8/8—bringing us back numerologically to the theme of inner gold, and of letting go of whatever holds us back from embodying and expressing it. Dialing up the 8 energy even further, this year’s Lion’s Gate portal falls during an 8 year (2+0+2+4=8).
Various astrologers will describe the Lion’s Gate portal in various ways. Personally in my own practice, I consider it an initiatory portal. A powerful opportunity to tune into your inner radiance; to clear whatever debris, limiting beliefs, self-doubt, fear, or self-defeating thought patterns are holding you back; and to allow yourself to be initiated into the next chapter of your light work, as an even more powerful, aligned, and uninhibited channel for the radiant light within that is you.
And for those of you inclined towards working with rituals, August 8th is a powerful day to work with in whatever way aligns with your practice. This might be carving out some time for meditation and journaling. It might be pulling some cards. It might be lighting a candle. And however feels right, it’s an extra potent time to revisit and visualize whatever intentions you set with tomorrow’s New Moon to give them an extra boost.
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I’m sending you all good wishes and many blessings in this beautiful New Moon weekend—and without further ado, scroll on down for the 5-card tarot spread/journal prompts I crafted to work with the New Moon energy at its highest vibrations. As always, take only what resonates, and leave the rest. <3
XOXO,
Rebecca
New Moon in Leo prompts.🦁♌️📝
Here are the prompts for the 5-card tarot spread I crafted to work with this week’s New Moon in Leo energy at its highest vibration. As always, feel free to use any/all of these as journal prompts and to skip the cards—and to work only with whichever of these resonate.
What wishes, dreams, intentions do I want to speak into the universe now when it comes to my creative projects?
What intentions do I want to set now when it comes to any leadership roles I play or am being asked to step into?
What next step(s) am I ready to take to show up even more unapologetically as my true self?
What limiting belief(s) am I ready to release that have been holding me back from my full radiance?
What is one thing I can do to bring more fun, play, and childlike wonder into the way I engage with my creative projects?
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BONUS: Where is Leo in your chart? If you’re familiar with the 12 houses in astrology, you can go even deeper with New Moon intention-setting by knowing which house Leo occupies in your chart. Whichever house Leo occupies is the area of life that’s up for review—and where you’re being invited to set intentions for the next 6 months.
Here’s a cheat sheet of keywords associated with the 12 houses:
1st house: the self, approach to life, body, appearance, personality, self-development, self-mastery
2nd house: livelihood, money and how you make it, material resources, self-esteem/self-worth, grounding
3rd house: teaching, communicating, siblings/extended/chosen family, daily routines and schedules, lower mind, integrating into 3D
4th house: home, family, foundation, roots, ancestry, history, self-care, base of operations, your private life
5th house: creative projects, play, pleasure, children, actualization of the higher self through creativity
6th house: work, service, health/healing, mentoring, be here now
7th house: the other, committed relationships and partnerships
8th house: other people’s money, shared resources, spiritual rebirth, regeneration, letting go
9th house: higher ed, politics/policy/law, long-distance travel, foreign languages/cultures, religion, astrology, Akashic Records, spiritual law, higher mind
10th house: career, vocation/calling, what you’re known for publicly
11th house: groups, networks, humanitarian work, hopes and dreams, the gifts you’re here to share with the collective
12th house: the unconscious mind, shadow, dreams, spirituality, soul liberation, all types of liberation work, at-onement
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Much love to you all in this extra-magical New Moon weekend, and feel free to holler with any questions this sparked for you. <3
