On Thursday, July 24 at 3:11 pm EST, the Moon will conjoin with the Sun in the sign of Leo in the 3rd degree. This conjugal event in the Kingdom of the Sun will occur with some very strong and tight angles to many of the outer planets: the royal luminary couple will experience an opposition to Pluto in Aquarius, a very tight trine to Neptune and Saturn in Aries, and a very tight sextile to Uranus in Gemini. The communications amongst these celestial heavy hitters may land decisively on the earthly plane, especially for people with important placements in the early degrees of Leo, Aquarius, Aries and Gemini. This is not all bad, by any means. It is worth the time to look closely and carefully at this chart to avoid unnecessary stress from this pivotal time period.
The first decan (10 degree section) of Leo is ruled by the Sun and Saturn. This pairing is difficult for both archetypes: the Sun gives us a spotlight where we can present ourselves to the world, our best and most authentic self, fearless, unfettered and free, while Saturn gives us the eye of scrutiny, the bar of established performance quality that coldly sees imperfections and faults. Can we maintain our composure and perform knowing we are being judged? Or will we shy away from the limelight and let the opportunity pass us by, for fear of harsh judgment?
We all know how this applies to performing artists who hone their skills in front of live audiences. Some naturally find great challenge and thrill in this sort of situation; others become sick to their stomachs and want to hide under their bed. A rarified few start in the latter camp rise to the occasion and challenge themselves over and over, and eventually overcome their initial fears.
This dynamic depends on authority figures being relatively unbiased, and knowing their own limitations. Anyone who presumes to sit in that throne of judgment risks being a bold-faced hypocrite, a prejudiced bigot, or an ideological shill if they can’t identify their personal biases and leave them at the door.
Many well-meaning people are using the digital space to seize the day and step out in the spotlight to make statements about what they feel to be right, politically. In principle, this is a beautiful thing, the world needs more people speaking out without fear of repercussion. This should be part of a process of debate and dialogue which provides feedback, negative or positive; an opportunity to receive and ruminate on differing opinions, offered without bullying. Unfortunately, many people passionately regurgitate divisive, skewed and ill-informed points of view in front of their iPhone to TikTok while the digital echo chambers provide them a confirming safety net, insulating them from the opportunity to engage with people who don’t agree. Too often, opinions take the form of rank partisanship, ad hominem attacks, dehumanizing bullying or abuse. Pushback reinforces their initial point of view, as if disagreement with their ideas made them a victim. The prevalent paradigm still elevates the (self-identified) victim to an exalted state.
Victimhood will never equate to wisdom or virtue.
Clearly the Sun is comfortable functioning within this dynamic. The Moon, however, may want to hide under her bed, especially under Saturn’s eye.
And Saturn will be watching from a very tight superior trine, in the early degrees of Aries. A trine is an agreeable angle, as the 2 signs, Leo and Aries, both hold the same elemental basis- Fire. Saturn is at home in Air signs and in Fire signs: these elements afford the Titan King the chance to make them colder and drier, and to limit their expansive tendencies.
However, Saturn is in his Fall in Aries. He cannot easily manage the boisterous and emergent Martial territory. The chance of Saturn making poor or hypocritical judgments is particularly acute. Neptune in Aries (in nearly exact trine to the conjoined luminaries) undermines any solid territory that Saturn might find, and blurs the boundaries Saturn may want to put in place.
Saturn is hard on both the Moon and the Sun, as is evidenced by his rulership of the signs opposing the Sun and the Moon’s domains- Aquarius and Capricorn.
Neptune is particularly hard on the Sun, who needs clarity and direct relationships to provide leadership (and to keep a grasp on reality); Neptune exerts a deep seated emotional pull that colors and distorts clear communications and leads us into a fantasy world, which could be anything from a heroic epic to a delightful romantic comedy, to a slasher film… in Aries, the heroic epic is likely, but it may have little to do with reality.
The Moon loves to be entertained and lulled into a hypnotic stupor, which is Neptune’s specialty: a return to a briny womb. Neptune really represents a specific subset of the Moon’s archetypal presence. A new Moon is allegorical to a fire ritual, and in Leo this becomes more intense than anywhere else in the Zodiac. The fire ritual burns away the accumulated impurities and adhesions that the Moon holds from her monthly trip, so we might conclude that the Moon is protected from any malefic influence in this time- except for that of the Sun itself.
Pluto opposes the luminary couple from Aquarius, a decan ruled by Saturn and Venus. Pluto is the chthonic god of the Underworld, a masculine figure who rules in the feminine dark. He is the tempter and captor of Persephone: the occulted structure of the Zodiac tells the Persephone myth in no uncertain terms. This opposition recalls the sorrow of Demeter as she wept for Persephone during her months of captivity in the Underworld, awaiting her return to the fertile and fecund upper world.
Scorpio 23 will be ascending in the chart for the Eastern US, a decan focused on the psychology of desire, especially desires lost or twisted into obsession. As in the last lunation, Scorpio rising draws attention to Mars as the ruler of the ascendant, this time in the last decan of Virgo.
The story of the last decan of Virgo deals with endings: each season has a spirit or god which embodies and lives for the season, and that god or spirit must die for the next season to begin. Here, the Summer’s spirit is extinguished, metaphorically. This decan is ruled by Venus and Mercury, and the theme is death, and end of life planning: all beautiful things (Venus) eventually decay and return to the earth. And we need a plan (Mercury) to make sure that what we create here is passed on to our heirs, familial or otherwise.
Mars will be conjoining the eclipse point known as the South Node or Ketu for this lunation, which actually intensifies this focus on endings and release of karmic entanglements. Ketu is a spiritual fire that burns away things that we don’t need, to make way for transcendence: it is very gnostic, often in the worst way, having a disdain for the body, yearning for release from its confinement. Traditionally, the South Node has more affinity to Saturn than to Mars; it can serve to diminish and extinguish the Martial fire. Remember that Mars is exalted in Capricorn: Mars can be enlisted in to Saturn’s causes, and may actually be at his strongest there. The South Node is not Saturn, but it certainly carries some of the vibe.
Mars can be constructive in Virgo, but the lunation happens during the day. According to Hellenistic tradition, Mars is generally more troublesome in a day chart than at night.
Please see my recent piece on Uranus here. Uranus is in a tight sextile to the luminaries, and Uranus is in the 8th house, not in a powerful position in this lunation.
While many gurus of the astro sphere are busy inflaming the collective amygdala with prognostications of doom and darkness, the planets continue to do what they always do. I urge the reader to see black-pilled or ideologically-tainted astrology for what it is: not helpful.
Interesting about the first decan of Leo (Sun/Saturn) self-expression, spotlight and scrutuny — I'll be halfway through a performance arts and clowning school at that exact time!
I have a very bland way of communicating, hence why I don’t …. 😉😆 yes I’m loving this article … Ahh Saturn 🪐….will continue stepping up to the plate … yes “New Moon” gotta be good ( As good as you make it 🔥)