Hi everyone,
Before we get into the New Moon in Leo letter & writing prompt horoscopes — which are, as always, at the end — a few business notes!
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Jeanna
A lot of big life events and anniversaries fall in the first two weeks of August, for me personally. Within a span of, roughly, the same ten days — over the last ten years — I’ve gotten engaged and married to my ex-husband, started and ended significant relationships with different women, decided to start a lingerie business, and gone or been on submission for the same book in back-to-back years.
This year, it turns out that I’m on track to finish that book within the next week or so. I’m also hosting a small, pandemic-delayed housewarming in the first apartment I’ve ever lived in alone (on my wedding anniversary, by happy accident). At this point, I look to early August with both anticipation and a certain wariness, knowing the skies will invariably drop something unexpected into my lap.
One of the many things I like about astrology is how it invites us to notice the cycles we are in, to notice the patterns that develop over time. What are the first two weeks of August? Leo season. Always Leo season. Warmth, courage, passion. But for me, what does Leo season specifically highlight? In my chart, Leo season puts the spotlight on my committed relationships — which, for a professional writer, also includes agents and editors, co-writers and creative collaborators.
I’m an Aquarius rising. Leo and Aquarius, as we’ve discussed, are on an axis which is very much about the self and the other, the individual and the community. Much as Leo is about the individual, for me, operating in the part of my chart that has to do with other people, it often ends up being about how I bring other people into my creative process in ways that don't sacrifice my own boundaries. This is a lifelong lesson for me.
The fact that I know what part of my chart Leo activates means that, when Leo season comes around, I can probably count on new and important people popping up, or on existing people in my life interacting with me and my work in new and vital ways. For example: I have plans to send the full manuscript out to some of my First Readers next week, in addition to my editor.
For me, this time of year is about maintaining the self in relationship to others. It’s about holding my own boundaries firm — but it’s also about accepting Leo’s warmth and generosity from others, because creativity doesn’t happen as an isolated genius locked in an ivory tower.
For you, Leo season is probably about something else entirely. Or maybe not. What is sure for all of us: The New Moon in Leo invites us to plant seeds in specific areas of life, as indicated by our natal charts. What this season also brings: a much-needed infusion of courage. A steady flame of focus. A desire to appreciate and be appreciated by those we love.
Leo is ruled by the Sun, after all. Consider the way a field of sunflowers collectively turn in the direction of the light. This time of year, we’re all craving connection — laying in the sun’s rays with our beloveds at a picnic in Prospect Park. Making our friends’ eyes light up when we tell a joke that actually lands. A phone call with a sweetheart. A hug from a tiny new human in your extended family. Leo often gets a bad rap for being about the ego, but have you ever thought about how the courage we find when we show up for ourselves is ultimately infectious?
Creativity is another hallmark of this season, and y’all, creativity isn’t birthed from isolation, from having it all together. It comes from vulnerability, from the heart, from being in relationship with others. “Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity, and change,” Brene Brown reminds us.
The seeds of this new moon start with connection.
Writing Prompt Horoscopes for the New Moon in Leo
The New Moon is at 16* of Leo at 9:50a ET today, Sunday August 8th, 2021. Reminder: The horoscopes for your rising sign most accurately reflect where and how this moon is transiting your chart.
Aries & Aries Rising
What seeds are you planting with your creative projects? What gardens are you watering? What is your vision for the next six months?
What feels particularly fertile and inspiring to you right now? Conversely, if you’re feeling burned out, where does the pressure to feel “inspired” come from in this moment? Where can you find the permission to just bathe in the sun like a cat?
Taurus & Taurus Rising
What are you beginning in the arena of home and family? What corners of your personal space need some brightening up? What relationships are you tending — or weeding out?
What parts of your roots or heritage are you shining the limelight on in new and perhaps even healing ways? On the flip side, what aspects of being seen feel profoundly uncomfortable?
Gemini & Gemini Rising
What are you initiating when it comes to communication and the daily routine of how you manage it all? What isn’t working for you anymore, and how can you use this New Moon to reset?
What new writing projects — or stages of their development — are you particularly excited about? Are you willing to just let these projects be themselves, or are you preemptively psyching yourself out about optics and visibility?
Cancer & Cancer Rising
What are you beginning and committing to when it comes to your personal finances? How does this connect to new revelations or realizations around your values?
How does your discomfort around being seen or taking up space when it comes to what you do for money connect to how you self-sabotage?
Leo & Leo Rising
What are you initiating when it comes to how you are committing to yourself? What do you want? Who do you want to be? How do you want to grow as a person? This season is about prioritizing your needs. How can you make the space to do so?
What parts of your creative self do you sometimes hide? How do unnecessary apologies creep into your vocabulary? How have you been made to feel less than, or like the person you are is not deserving of space in this world? What parts of your courage and creativity are in need of healing and restoration?
Virgo & Virgo Rising
What seeds are you planting behind the scenes? Where are you quietly investing your time and attention right now, playing the long game? How is this satisfying — and, perhaps, where do you find yourself growing impatient, waiting for affirmation? How can you create space for that?
What parts of your ancestral lineage or the collective unconscious do you feel your creative work is tapping into right now?
Libra & Libra Rising
What are you beginning when it comes to your creative groups and communities? Now is an ideal time to start, join, or otherwise reinvest in a writer’s group, or start volunteering with an organization focused on literacy.
If you feel resistant to the idea of groups, why? What is the balance between you as an individual, one-to-one relationships, and “the group” that feels out of sync for you? Do you not feel recognized or appreciated? Are you sensitive to how others can get run over roughshod? Use this time to reflect on your history with groups, perhaps especially groups of creatives where ego is involved.
Scorpio & Scorpio Rising
What are you seeding right now that has to do with being recognized in your career? Is this something new and daring, or the start of a project that, perhaps, marks the culmination of many years of work?
You are deeply private, but for you, this moon is very public — or has to do with something that will be. How are you tending your boundaries around what you are comfortable sharing and not sharing, around what you are comfortable disclosing in your creative work and what you’d rather keep close to the vest?
Sagittarius & Sagittarius Rising
What seeds are you planting when it comes to publishing projects and new teaching opportunities? Are you planning on going back to school? What courage are you digging deep for right now?
In a more philosophical sense, what wisdom traditions, ideas, or beliefs are guiding your decisions, if any? Are you interested in seeking out spiritual traditions right now?
Capricorn & Capricorn Rising
What are you beginning to collectively invest your time and resources in with other people? What is being asked of you? What is being asked of others?
If you are processing grief or loss in this moment, what warmth or courage are you finding, in whatever small moments or corners? What is being offered to you? Are you accepting it? What feels safe or unsafe about this?
Aquarius & Aquarius Rising
What are you initiating or seeding in your committed partnerships — professional, personal, or romantic? What new opportunities are you finding to discover depths and intimacy in relationships that may otherwise be taken for granted?
What creativity is being birthed through connection with others, or through realizations about your connections with others?
Pisces & Pisces Rising
What are you beginning when it comes to your daily routines around work and wellness? What are you realizing requires more of your attention when it comes to your body, to how your physical wellness is connected to your emotional and spiritual wellness?
How are these realizations impacting your understanding of the creative work and the way you structure your time?