New Moon in Leo – Thursday 28th July, 6.54 PM (BST)

A new, or dark, moon is the first phase of the lunar cycle. Although invisible to the eye, the energy of a new moon is extremely potent. It is the ideal time to plant seeds and set intentions for what we want to bring into our lives. The energy of the moon – new or full – speaks to our inner world. The new moon in particular helps us connect to the deeper, secret, subterranean parts of our psyche. Connect to them, commune with them, find out what we want and make those things manifest. Translating inner to outer.

The sign of Leo is ruled by the sun; the brightest of all the stars. In astrology, the sun represents our core identity and how we move through the world. It is very yang; it is about making things happen in the world. During a new moon, both sun and moon inhabit the same zodiac sign (at a full moon the sun inhabits the sign of the season and the moon its opposite), which bring our inner and outer worlds into alignment – this is why new moons are THE time for manifesting. So, what the new moon Leo is inviting us to do is come tap into our hearts – our innate sense of self – and bring those core desires into existence over the next lunar cycle (29.5 days) and beyond.

The magic of the new moon lies in its ability to support us in connecting to our heart’s desire. To our truest selves. And this is where this new moon in Leo is particularly powerful. Leoine energy is bold, courageous and heart-aligned. It has the self-possessed energy of both leader and child. Leo is a fixed fire sign, and is represented by the lion. In its shadow form (in scarcity), this energy can be imperious, overly dramatic and competitive but, in its higher state, has a brave and brilliant “main character” energy. A “main character” archetype – inspired by Ashley Ward’s TikTok video of 2020 – is defined by this concise declaration from the video:

“You have to start romanticising your life. You have to start thinking of yourself as the main character. ‘Cause, if you don’t, life will continue to pass you by.”

The erudite visionary and Leo, Kate Bush, puts it like this: “The only person with you all your life is you. Your parents die. Things inside you die — illusions, gushes of personality. Only you can sort yourself out. Yourself may not be all you need, but it’s all you’ve got.”

Thinking of ourselves as the main character in our lives can help us recentre and realign to what’s truly important. It can support us in feeling into what we really want, as opposed to what we think we’re supposed to want. And, because positive leonine energy radiates self-worth, abundance and optimism, connecting to healthy main character energy during this new moon, can assist us in connecting to our hearts – to become heart-led – and then acting from that place. But, to access healthy main character energy, we need to access our hearts.

For over thirty years, an organisation called the HeartMath Institute has been scientifically researching the heart; particularly the “physiological mechanisms by which the heart and brain communicate and how the activity of the heart influences our perceptions, emotions, intuition and health.” The HMI say that:

“We now have a much deeper scientific understanding of many of our original questions that explains how and why heart activity affects mental clarity, creativity, emotional balance, intuition and personal effectiveness. Our and others’ research indicates the heart is far more than a simple pump. The heart is, in fact, a highly complex information-processing center with its own functional brain, commonly called the heart brain, that communicates with and influences the cranial brain via the nervous system, hormonal system and other pathways. These influences affect brain function and most of the body’s major organs and play an important role in mental and emotional experience and the quality of our lives.”

The HMI talk about heart coherence and incoherence. Coherent states are positive emotions, such as appreciation, love and care, and incoherent states are defined as emotions such as frustration, anxiety and worry. Not only do these states feel different when mapped, they look different too. The heart-rhythm pattern (as recorded by an ECG, for example) for the experience of negative emotions look jagged. During the experience of positive emotions, a smooth, sine-wavelike pattern emerges. If we can connect to our hearts, we can bring our systems into coherence and experience our true selves. We can access our core. By doing that we can much more readily identify what it is that we want in our lives, that is, what we want to manifest. The meditation below is a quick and powerful way to do this.

This new moon in Leo forms a supportive trine to Jupiter in Aries. Jupiter has been, if not the main character, then one of them, in our astrological journey of late. Jupiter is about expansion, growth and abundance. Aries (also a fire sign like Leo) is about the self; about “I am”. Trines are auspicious aspects and this one is helping us feel into the expansiveness and abundance of our heart spaces, and ourselves. Jupiter will go retrograde on the day of the new moon, so this may mean that we experience this more in our inner landscapes than outer.

HeartMath Institute extracts from: https://www.heartmath.org/research/science-of-the-heart/

Image credit: Ingo Stiller