New Moon in Leo 2021

With a brief separation of Uranus and Saturn you may feel a bit of relief from economic tension, but this could be overshadowed by the large number of planets that are retrograde. When a planet goes retrograde it is as if it has lost it's force of will. To put this into a scientific perspective one must understand primary and secondary motion. The primary motion of the sky is what we recognize as the changing from day into night. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. When viewed from the perspective of the astrology chart this is seen as the sun and planets transitioning through all of the houses in a 24 hour day. At sunrise the sun sits on the ascendant, at noon on the midheaven or Medium Coeli, then at sunset the sun is conjunct the descendant and finally at midnight the sun is located at the IC (also known as the bottom of the sky).

Keeping the above motion in mind we now have to add in what is called secondary motion. This is the motion that the planets make around the zodiac wheel. This motion is in the opposite direction of the primary motion, going from west to east. This can be clearly viewed when one follows the astrology wheel. Planets move from Aries to Taurus, Taurus to Gemini, and so on. This secondary motion is the force of will of the planet charting it's own course through the sky. When a planet is retrograde it appears to be moving backwards through the zodiac, retracing it's steps. Both of these concepts are important in understanding exactly what a retrograde is, retracing of steps and a loss of will force.

If we observe ourselves closely during a retrograde of a planet, or especially now when we have four planets in retrograde, you often will find that old circumstances, events or memories tend to pop up. We can find ourselves dealing with a lot of stress and tension, almost as if we have lost our own will at times. The primary motion of the universe has taken over and we have to learn to go with the flow. That is what I find most helpful, to go with the flow. So when your water heater breaks, the basement floods, carbon monoxide is leaking in your home, and general chaos seems to have taken over, take a deep breath and know this too shall pass.

Now for this glorious New Moon in Leo. We must find a way to drudge through all the mire and muster up our best intentions and manifest them. We cannot allow the primary motion of life to sweep us away and we miss this glorious opportunity of a new moon in Leo, during the 8-8 Lion's Gate. This is the time to let your Leo self shine and even if you are not a Leo, you still have a lion heart so let it roar. Who do you want to be? What is your true self? How do you self-validate instead of needing outside validation? These are all legitimate questions to ask yourself under this new moon.

During our New Moon circle I asked all of the participants to review the new moons of the past five months. With all this retrogradation I thought it was a good time for everyone to reflect. So I took turns going around the circle giving a brief description of each of the new moons and asking participants to contemplate what they were manifesting during those cycles. It can be really helpful to look back over how you got to the point where you are now to see how we are truly the creators of our own reality. Certainly there are things outside of your control (like the hot water heater breaking), but there are many things that are within your control.

So now is the time to take control of your life and be the one in the driver's seat. Set realistic intentions, check your motivations, and shine on!