Welcome to the Leo New Moon, the time of the year when we turn our attention to the spark and passion of life, the desire to be ourselves, and to shine our light. Leo is the sign of the Sun, after all. It’s a new moon to also share our talents, gifts, and abilities. The new moon is exact on August 16, 2023 at 5:39 am ET, 23 degrees Leo. That’s 2:39 am Los Angeles, 10:39 am London, 11:39 am Johannesburg, 7:39 pm Sydney, 9:39 pm Auckland.
New moons are new beginnings. They turn the page and open up a new chapter. Over the coming days and weeks, until the end of the lunar month, we are living life through the lens of Leo, a sign that invites us to come back to life, especially if we are burnt out.
This isn’t just any new moon. It makes a direct square to Uranus in Taurus and to understand that square, we need to go back a few years, to May 2018 and March 2019, the two months that Uranus arrived in Taurus for a seven year stay.
First, what is Uranus. It’s an evolutionary planet. Its job is to get us to grow and evolve by any means possible. It does that by waking us up, shaking up the status quo, giving us the permission — or the push — to step out of something that was never in alignment or holding back our growth.
In Taurus, Uranus has been at odds with the sign, whose instinct is to keep things the same, to preserve the status quo so that life can keep running along. All you have to do is look at the world and look at your own lives to see how much has changed since 2018.
So, whatever shakes up in the coming days and weeks isn’t an isolated event. It’s part of a greater chain of events that reaches back five years, typically working through the new and full moons of April-May and October-November as well as stations of January and August. For some, those months have coincided with powerful events or pivot points.
Then there’s Venus. It’s the “boss”, aka the ruler of Taurus, so there’s a stronger tension between this square, yet at the same time the retrograde invokes the past — perhaps past experiences with this energy that has dotted our lives in 2018 … 2019 … 2020 … 2021 … 2022.
Plus, Jupiter in Taurus is in the mix, a planet that has been known to make things larger, to grow our awareness, and to push us to open up to the world around us.
Not all shake ups are bad. This new moon and the period that follows could be the necessary breakthrough or a recognition of talent or an opportunity for greater success. Similarly, if something is stuck, this could be the force to get unstuck or out of our own way.
Saturn is a little on the sidelines with this new moon. What’s going to pump the breaks if we’re doing things a bit extra? Thankfully both Mercury and Mars are in Virgo, reminding us to stay grounded and to take the spark of Leo and the transformation of Uranus and make it livable and everyday.