The Moon will begin a new phase with the Sun at 2 Leo on July 24 at 12:11 p.m. on the West Coast. The Sun is in Leo from July 22 until August 22.
Leo is our fixed fire sign. Its totem animal is its namesake, the lion. Its glyph looks a little like a long-haired mane.
Signs in each of the four elements have a different quality depending on which of the three modes they’re in: cardinal, fixed or mutable. The fixed fire of Leo is different than the quick spark of cardinal Aries and the expansiveness of mutable Sagittarian fire. Leo’s fire is more like a hot, smoldering ember.
Leo personality traits are expectedly warm, generous, courageous, dramatic. A Leonine person is known as someone who relishes approval from others. They may be a rock star on a world stage, like Mick Jagger or Madonna, or in a smaller kingdom of their own making. What Leo seeks is limelight, the ability to shine, like Leo’s ruling planet, the Sun, the center of the universe.
This year’s Leo New Moon distinguishes itself by a few of its transiting aspects, including the Moon’s opposition with Pluto, now at 2 Aquarius. The Moon represents emotional needs and security. Pluto is about power, both inner power and outer power. An opposition between the Moon and Pluto may manifest as emotional power struggles but also, with the Moon in Leo, as empowerment in the expression of one’s unique individuality.
At each New Moon, it’s time to contemplate one’s intentions for the coming month. At this New Moon, Mercury, the planet of ideas, is in Leo, too, and it’s in one of its thrice yearly periods of retrograde motion. With Mercury retrograde in Leo, there’s an invitation to rethink and revise one’s own creative processes.
As Mercury’s orbit moves backwards by zodiacal degree, it will make a conjunction “in the heart of the Sun” on July 31. Mercury’s conjunction with the Sun is called cazimi. Symbolically, Mercury’s fire will be infused with solar power. For creative writers and thinkers, it may feel like plugging into a light socket!
While Mercury is in this current period of retrograde motion, Saturn and Neptune, now together in Aries, are also in a retrograde period, and Pluto is retrograde in Aquarius. This isn’t unusual, as the planets far out from the Sun spend about 40% of their time in retrograde motion. With lots of planets in retrograde periods at the same time, that just means that on some level for each of us, it’s good to slow down. There’s no need to quit a job or not leave the house! It just means that a more introspective approach to things is optimal.
What’s extra-ordinary about the July 24 lunation is that the Sun and Moon are in the mix of a larger, long-running outer planet transit heralding future breakthroughs for the world at large. I’ll explain.
On July 24, the Leo Moon opposite Pluto in Aquarius is also making a facilitating sextile (60-degree aspect) with Uranus at 0 degrees of Gemini and a trine (120-degree aspect) with Neptune in fiery Aries. That’s a brief alignment as the Sun and Moon will move on from these aspects by July 25.
What’s in motion now and over the next several years is a rare transit of the three major outer planets: Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. These three are called “transpersonal” planets because they carry symbolism for the whole of humanity. On very rare occasions, these three outer planets make harmonious aspects with each other. Uranus is currently sextile to Neptune, which has been in a sextile with Pluto for decades, now nearly exact. Uranus is also now trine to Pluto.
This three-part aspect is called a “minor triangle,” though there’s nothing minor about it. Outer planet transits are long-lasting. Their symbolic resonances are enduring and correlate with broad sweeps of history. Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto have been traveling together in this triangle formation since 2024 and will continue to do so until 2028.
For a deep dive into how the cycles of Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto have manifested in major world events, I recommend a ½ hour video, The Double Sextile of Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, produced and posted on YouTube this month by renowned mundane astrologer Kenneth Bowser (and his also renown wife Colleen Mauro). Ken tracks how pivotal points in the Uranus/Neptune/Pluto cycle have correlated with ground-breaking inventions and events in religion, science, and culture. These include the Copernican revolution, the beginning of the mass production of books and mass literacy, the development of the steam engine, to the first time a human set foot on the Moon. Ken predicts that the 2030s will see unimaginable technological breakthroughs such as inter-dimensional time travel and possible extensions of the human lifespan—things that sound like science fiction. But who knows?
What’s striking about the July 24 New Moon at 2 Leo is that it’s in tight aspect with Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, which are all now traveling together harmoniously. It’s as if this Leo New Moon is pointing to the creativity inherent in our unknown future, the limelight that is yet to be seen.
Blessings for the Leo New Moon!
Sara
Sara R. Diamond, an astrologer based in the San Francisco Bay Area, is a life-long student and practitioner in several esoteric paths. Her style of astrology combines modern-psychological astrology with insights from traditional astrology. Sara is also an estate planning attorney. In addition, she has published four books on right-wing movements in the United States and earned her Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. You are invited to contact Sara via her website at www.SaraDiamondAstrology.com.
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