Everything You Need To Know About The New Moon In Leo

This week, last month’s Cancerian new moon cycle ends and a fresh dark moon cycle begins, this time, drenched Leo’s swanky, generous golden energy. On August 2, a new moon in Leo delivers a clean slate to work with, beaming its magnanimous (though sometimes dramatic) vibes to those craving a more exciting love life. Leo’s bold, bright new moon energy is also ideal for expanding creativity of all kinds. No matter your favorite medium or outlet, this lunation has “creative breakthrough” written all over it. Overall, this lunation’s great strength will be revealing our true value to ourselves, helping us cultivate powerful self-confidence and a healthy sense of pride.

Each of us—but especially fire signs, like Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius—will feel compelled to lead with our hearts during this time. There’s a regal air to everything we do in this phase, and the strategic strings we are able to pull behind the scenes will have a lasting effect. Social circulation is especially fruitful now, and many will find it a cinch to take the lead in any social setting (Aquarius, Gemini, Libra, Taurus, Aries, Leo, and Sag will feel this pull). Consider hosting a get-together or throwing a party during this time and your guests will likely be bowled over by your graceful ability to pull out all the stops to orchestrate a good time.

Looking to network or forge some alliances? Look no further than this lunation, which provides the perfect storm of magnetic charm and social stamina necessary to fan the flames of interpersonal enthusiasm. The shadow side of this new moon, however, is that we may offer too much of ourselves in exchange for said relationships, overindulging those we seek to impress by laying on excessive compliments, gifts, and flattery too thick, making us appear shallow, disingenuous, or desperate.

The Leo new moon connects strongly to paternalistic relationships and protecting children, as well as being a beacon for the arts. Still, there is a shadow side to everything: The aspects that bring out our generosity will also irritate haters, and those that are jealous or envious of these persuasive, softhearted types will rear their ugly heads. 

Saturn, Father of Time and dealer of lessons steeped in tough love, will be trine (aka an aspect between the position of planets in astrology and how they're moving in relation to each other) the Leo new moon, as well, balancing our dramatic shift in intuition with a heaping dose of sobering realism. Likely, you’ll feel a strong urge to beef up your defenses and protect yourself from negative barbs. This aspect makes for a very regimented lunation, delivering a boost in our willpower to stay the course, following a strict timetable or task list and putting off pleasure and gratification until you’re confident you’ve completed a job well done. Of course, this will push work ethic into overdrive, but our mental (and physical) stamina will be able to match any obstacles we may come across. 

The sun, which is also in Leo, will trine with Saturn, too, which could inspire insecurity in some or enhance appetites for fame and notoriety. This aspect is extremely beneficial to anyone struggling with social anxiety, shyness, or awkwardness, allowing these personality types to step into the sun—literally. Once the initial social hurdles are cleared, a sweeping air of authority will strike their presence, and it’s off to the races! Confidence will be high and very little will be able to stop our charging progress towards success. The shadow side of this aspect is undue domination or overbearing bossiness, making power-hungry types obnoxious and egotistical at best, tyrannical and domineering at worst.  

On August 2, Mars, the red-hot planet associated with action, progress, and forward movement, will move into truth-seeking fire sign Sagittarius—a major boon for all fire and air signs. When Mars is in Sag, all 12 signs are driven by idealism. Some may find routine to be a huge turn-off, though it will be necessary as Saturn is in trine with the sun and moon. Our sense of adventure is highlighted, and if we don’t give ourselves enough space to run around and explore, we will no doubt feel confined and restless. Spontaneous travel is likely when Mars is in Sagittarius, tickling our wanderlust. Beginning exciting, new projects and ventures with enthusiasm will come naturally—but we might have trouble staying interested long enough to finish what we begin. Make sure you’re tempering your big ideas with realism.

Venus, lovely and beautiful, will slide into detail-motivated earth sign Virgo on August 5, compelling us to take a more practical approach to matters of the heart. Our language of love will focus on helpful gestures and provide pragmatic, loving support to our partners and sweethearts. When Venus is in Virgo, love is sensual, physical, and earthy, but it also needs to make sense and have a clear purpose, shrugging off madcap drama and pinpointing unavailable prospects. Similarly, how we spend our money and what we indulge in financially must also make sense and have a clear purpose, as Venus rules money and luxury as well as love. We may feel pangs of guilt if we indulge ourselves frivolously. Similarly, many may also make the mistake of becoming overly critical, picky worrywarts in their relationships. 

The more tense aspects of this dark moon lunation will illuminate triangulated relationships and intensely uncomfortable “third wheel” dynamics. It’s possible some of us may be forced to decide between two relationships, or choose “sides” (think: Your mom decides she hates your partner and adopts an overbearing “my way or the highway” attitude, pressuring you to dump your boo to keep the peace). Unreasonable demands may be leveraged that could ultimately alienate us from our loved ones or family. A surefire way to avoid this level of dramatic stress and broken hearts is by recognizing your needs and desires as priority. Feed your own happiness before tending to others—we can’t always please everyone. 

Overall, this will be a strong-willed, feisty lunation that could inspire some courageous revelations about dark, gritty corners of our lives as well as the world at large. Many may feel the unstoppable urge to speak out publicly about disturbing elements, like abuse, trauma, and coercion. The intensity of this darkness may frighten those that are less brave and unaware, but the tension derived from a simmering, constant underlying rage from rejection or disrespect will be so thick, you will not be able to keep your mouth shut. (And you shouldn’t!) Subversive action in the theater of protest is likely during this time, as are fairly brazen acts of passive aggression. Everyone will be on edge, but processing past anger openly will be absolutely necessary to move forward towards the bubbly Aquarius full moon and lunar eclipse on August 18.