Dear Friends,

                My diary for August has filled itself, surely that wasn’t me!  September is still looking fairly clear.  Perhaps for the whole of this month, the Sun/Moon cycle, starting in Leo, is about enjoyment, fun, and optimistic self-expression.  I hope your August is filled with good things!

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New Moon in Leo  -  1 August 2008

A total eclipse of the Sun seen from the Arctic Circle,

seen partially in the UK around 11-11:30am BST.

 Space Weather News for July 31, 2008

http://spaceweather.com

 SOLAR ECLIPSE:  On Friday, August 1st, the Moon will pass directly in front of the Sun producing a total solar eclipse.  The narrow path of totality stretches from arctic Canada through Greenland, Siberia, and Mongolia, and comes to an end in China, where millions of people will witness the event.  Even more people will see the partial eclipse, visible from almost all of Europe, the Middle East, India, Asia and a corner of North America.  The action begins at approximately 09:20 UT (5:20 am EDT) when the Moon's shadow first hits Earth in northern Canada and begins its rapid sweep toward China.

Visit http://spaceweather.com for photos, webcasts, timetables and full coverage of the eclipse.

Using the New Moon moment as a birth chart for the following month, my comments

are meant to provide an attitude that maximises our ease and growth during that time.

Please don’t worry about understanding the astrology - just go for the drift.

                Leo! - the vision of the lion standing, front feet on a rock, raising it’s face to the sun, to roar until the air vibrates with the sun’s creative force!  A statement of equality with the gods, the fierce joy of spiritual connection expressed. 

                The Sun represents the heart of each person’s being, and Leo is that part of the Zodiac where humanity most naturally expresses its creative drive out in the world.  This could lead to anything this month, from an expression of one’s spiritual truth, to the roaring of the ungoverned ‘little ego’ – not so little in Leo! 

                Bearing in mind that we are human, not lion, if that self-expression is criticised, or any creation is attacked, the Leo person is more likely to be crushed than attack back.  The heart is a tender place, and Leo comes from their heart, usually with the best of intentions.  Rather than crushing their noise and drama, we need to support their courage, and appreciate the warmth and authenticity of their expression.

Eclipses

                On the 1 August, the Moon, representing our unconscious drives, covering the light of the Sun in an eclipse, could find us behaving in wild and unconsidered ways.  In dramatic Leo, this is more likely to be fun than frightful, but we may see a lot of hype in the media about whatever’s going on this month.  The suggestion is that you listen carefully, take out the emotion from what you hear, and divide the reported facts in half, in order to get nearer what really happened!  And take care if you are involved in any demonstrations because passions are likely to be running high, obscuring the truth by exaggerating, and possibly getting violent to ‘put their point across.’

                There will also be a partial lunar eclipse on 16 August, where facts and situations (Earth) will tend to take precedence over what the people may want (Moon).  If we want to stay calm while those about us are getting upset, both these situations give us plenty of practice in accepting what is.

Receiving feedback

                The New Moon in Leo gives us an opportunity, when we make a stand or argue over a principle, to check where we are coming in that spectrum between true self and ego.  Where are we rooted in ourselves?  What voice are we listening to?  Is this my deep reality speaking, or my early training, or my defiant inner child?  This New Moon is lead by Mercury, so it is likely to be through our communications that we discover the extent of our authenticity.  That means, we will realise what we are really expressing from the feedback of others’ reactions to us. 

                Normally we tend to assume that we said what we meant to say, and other people are being obtuse if they don’t get it!  But do we always understand others immediately?   Leo tends to have a spot of bother receiving feedback without collapsing totally.  But there is no fault when communication is difficult – it’s just the gap between egos, all struggling to survive and be loved, and we need to observe what’s going on.  It is the wise ones who learn from the responses to their expression.  Of course, our own emotional response to that feedback is a giveaway to the expectations, hopes and fears that prompted our expression in the first place.

Self expression versus sensitivity to others

                Venus has been going through Leo since 13 July, offering fun and optimism in relating.  On Sunday 27 July, she went across the South Node, the past, bringing the history of our relationships to light.  You may have experienced a recurring situation that trips you up in life, or perhaps met a person who felt strangely familiar.  Everyone we meet from a past life is not necessarily someone we need to fall headlong in partnership with.  Just because there’s a sense of having been together before, it does not mean you need to be together again.  Sometimes they come to remind us of priorities we’d forgotten, and sometimes to heal or teach us by giving us a hard time!  Like friends meeting on the path, we reassure each other that we are known, and then we can go our separate ways strengthened. 

                On 28 July, Venus opposed Chiron revealing our relationship wounds, and offering to heal them, and 31 July, she opposed Neptune lifting our understanding from these events to a more humanitarian or spiritual level.  The flavour of this month is likely to be that tussle between the bouncily optimistic Leo Venus, and Neptune’s call to be sensitive to the needs of other human beings.

                There is still liable to be confusion in relationships, though, until Venus moves into Virgo on 6 August.  Then we are more likely to find ourselves sorting out ways our relationships can work better.  One of the hardest things is personal boundaries: knowing where they are, and staying within them when relating to others. 

We need space – but not too much

                Close personal relationships through the rest of August may well be put on hold, while we deal with whoever we meet in the course of organised activities.  If these activities involve health and well-being, the results should be surprisingly healing.  Although we may need a certain amount of space from others, to disentangle the emotional threads, there’s a caution against cutting ourselves off for too long – this month, shared pain brings healing to everyone (Mars in Virgo opposite Uranus in Pisces, but also quincunx North Node and Chiron).   From 19 August, our motivation is more likely to include relating as part of feeling good about ourselves (Mars into Libra).

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Contemplation for this New Moon in Leo

Be still and breathe quietly.

Allow a feeling that your heart is expanding your ribcage

lifting your breast-bone like the Lion’s chest.

Imagine life’s energy entering your back

and breathe its glory out like a roar

up, out, and around you.

Allow that you are part of life’s glorious expression

make a sound, a note, like a singing bowl, three times

Then wait, and accept what you receive,

loving the many ways life expresses itself,

finding the humour in what you don’t understand

and reconnecting at last with your own humanness

kindly and with a smile – ‘Well, there it is.’

With love,

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Margaret

Margaret Koolman

margaret@soulastrology.com

Flat 3, 3 Whitehall

Stroud, GL5 1HA, UK

+44 (0) 1453-762937

www.soulastrology.com