Invocation to the Egyptian Sun God, RA: Hail, thou Disk, thou lord of rays who risest on the horizon day by day”Homage to thee”who art the self-created; when thou risest on the horizon and sheddest thy beams of light upon the land of the North and of the South thou art beautiful, yea beautiful, and all the gods rejoice when they behold thee, the King of Heaven.1
Where the sign of Cancer exemplifies the feminine powers of the Moon and the Night, Leo shines out with the power of the Sun and masculine solar consciousness. The Sun symbolizes not only Spirit, but our individuality. When a culture is based primarily on masculine solar principles and denigrates and rejects the mysterious lunar powers of the unconscious realms, Sun-consciousness turns deadly, scorching the Earth and drying up all the moisture of life. This one-sided reliance on solar consciousness and rugged individualism has left us in the Wasteland.
Picture Alchemical Union by anonomous
Yet when we bring both our solar and lunar natures into balance, our daylight consciousness gets renewed and revived. This Leo New Moon brings the Sun and Moon together to start a new cycle of self-awareness based on the sacred marriage of masculine and feminine consciousness. Out of this new marriage, new life and creativity is born.
Leo: The Sun. Light. Lion and Lioness. King and Queen. Splendour. Majesty. Glory. Consciousness. Strength. Pride. Power. Self-confidence.
These symbols and virtues exemplify the energies of the sign of Leo; strong energies that shape the way we live our lives. As with all energy, how we use it is up to us. Do you use your self-confidence with grace and kindness or do you use it to dominate others? Do you cultivate a balanced expression of your strength, pride and power or do you need to be the center of attention? Do you light up a room when you walk in or do you hide your light under a bushel? Each sign has power to shape our destiny, but Leo, as the sign of the first harvest, shows the world who we are and what we’ve cultivated.
Like the Lion and Lioness who exemplify these virtues, we all need their courage and pride to become “the best that we can be’. The great Leo initiation involves taming the strong emotional reactions of our nature through skill and self-mastery, willpower and courage. Too often in the past, men have done this by killing the lion within and then wearing the dead lion-skin to prove their worth. (Perhaps that’s why they need Viagra — they’ve killed their passion.) A better way lies in the Strength Tarot Card, where the Lady firmly controls the lion without killing it. Leo asks us to channel our passions and control our energies, not kill it and then live a half-life of looking to the outer world for confirmation of who we are.
Picture Sekhmet Temple by Cathy Pagano
Leo powers our creativity, so whatever way we incarnate our Leo nature, you can bet it will be big, dramatic and demanding, fun, playful and creative. This is the fire power of a bonfire, a sustained burn that keeps us fascinated all night. When I was young, we had bonfires on the beach, with the stars overhead and the ocean pulsing on the shore. We gathered round the fires just as people have gathered through the centuries around fires to celebrate life, as well as for warmth and security it provides to keep out the dark of the night.
The Light in the Dark. A good image for our Leo energy. Here is the Light that was born at the darkest hour at Winter Solstice, grown to its fullest potential. Leo’s ruling “planet’ is the Sun, our very own light in the vast darkness of the Universe. Leo’s light within us is also the light of our individual spark of Divinity. Ruling the 3rd chakra — our solar plexus — our individual Sun and our Leo self-awareness can either cater to our ego desires (shaped by patriarchy’s twisted sense of things) or it can dive into the darkness of our inner psyche and take the path of Individuation to true originality. All it takes is Heart — another symbol for the Leo experience.
Our creative impulse comes from being in touch with our Self, this inner spark of divinity. So every summer as the Sun journeys through Leo, we get to see the first fruits what we’ve created for the year. What have you created? Are you happy with it or does it need refining? Leo’s journey asks us to express our deepest essence, to be generous with our vitality and warmth, and to exalt in the blessing of being alive!
Just as the Sun’s life-force blesses us with light and warmth and growth, Leo blesses us with our unique vision of ourselves. At this New Moon, plant the seed of your own glorious fire of creativity and vision. What were you born to Be? What talents are you here to contribute to the world? We need everyone’s input if we’re going to make a conscious leap in evolution and shift out of patriarchy into partnership, with each other and with the Earth.
The Leo New Moon
The Leo New Moon occurs on Friday, August 17th at 8:54am PDT/ 11:54am EDT/ 3:54pm GMT.
Picture Leo New Moon 2012 by Cathy Pagano/Kepler
The Sabian Symbol for the Sun and Moon at 26* Leo is: As light breaks through the clouds, a perfect rainbow forms. This image promises that once we have weathered the storm (last month’s Cancer New Moon: A violent storm in a canyon filled with expensive homes) we will find the promise of a deep connection between heaven and earth. With the knowledge that Spirit is all around us in the material world, we can begin to live out of our own spiritual essence, no matter what our culture expects or demands of us. We can choose from all the rainbow colors of possibilities our spirit has to offer. We discover our true Worth — not in terms of patriarchy’s sole reliance on money, but in terms of our inner gold.
This New Moon opposes Neptune in Pisces, reminding us that we’re all in this stew together. Selfishness is out of the question. Our gifts must be given freely now. Trust is Pisces’ addition to the mix. Neptune in Pisces is exactly squaring the lunar nodes in Sagittarius and Gemini, enchanting us to recognize the magic of life and add that to our belief systems. Remember, belief becomes reality.
Saturn and Mars in Libra are in a harmonious sextile to the New Moon, which opens up opportunities to work with others to our mutual benefit. The Uranus/Pluto square is working to open our Venus nature, to open our hearts to courage, vision and transformation now. Uranus, Pluto and Venus nudge this New Moon, reminding us that change is here, whether we like it or not.
Mercury, which turned direct about a week ago, trines Uranus in Aries and inconjuncts Pluto in Capricorn, telling us: Say what you mean to say! So know your mind and speak your truth and find out how that works for you.
Wednesday, August 15 brings in some intense energies right before this New Moon. With the Moon in Cancer at the end of her cycle, we can finish up old business and release old patterns of self-protection, self-nurturing and creative sensitivity. These background energies are the soil we’ll plant our seeds in at New Moon.
The Mars/Saturn conjunction at 25*Libra on Wednesday can feel frustrating if we haven’t taken care of our relationship energies. If we have, this planetary combination can add the determination, discipline and patience we need to deal fairly with all our relationships. The symbol for 25* Libra is: The sight of an autumn leaf brings to a pilgrim the sudden revelation of the mystery of life and death. We can find cosmic meaning in every experience; we just have to tune in to the deeper “in-sights’ that our souls offer us. Each person we relate to has something to offer us — we just have to remember to honor it.
Also on Wednesday, Venus first opposes Pluto and then squares Uranus. This deepens the impact of the powerful image of Venus transiting over the face of the Sun in June. The divine feminine must take its place as part of our cultural transformation. Venus’ role in the cosmic challenge of our times, part of the ongoing 60s energy, is that we have to re-engage the patriarchy over women’s rights. Let get it right this time!
The Sabian symbol for Pluto at 8*Capricorn is: In a sunlit home, domesticated birds sing joyously. Open yourself to your inner light, make yourself at home. You’ll be open to the spiritual messages coming your way. Be joyful!
The Sabian symbol for Uranus at 9*Aries is: A crystal gazer. Open your third eye and see the future YOU. Then become it.
The Sabian symbol for Venus at 10*Cancer is: A large diamond in the first stages of the cutting process. The diamond body of light is what’s important now. Give priority to shaping yourself to what is immortal and enduring. Diamonds are the highest adornment. Wear yours with pride.
Enjoy the end of the summer.
Blessed Be!
Cathy
1. Quoted from “Papyrus of Nekht” in E.A. Wallis-Budge, Gods of the Egyptians, V.I, page 337.
http://www.opednews.com link to original article
Lucas 2012 Infos 