New Moon in Leo Squaring the Nodes: Opening Into A New, Alchemically-Charged Creative Cycle

Photos: Willow

The New Moon at 14 degrees Leo on August 6 (4:51 p.m. CST) conjuncts asteroid Vesta and squares the Scorpio North Node and Taurus South Node.

This New Moon indicates a dynamic new creative cycle is opening with a mix of participants that starts to gel around fall equinox. The house where 14 degrees Leo falls in your birth chart is the area where this new creative cycle is getting underway.

The influence of "hearth and home" asteroid Vesta, exactly conjunct the New Moon at 14 degrees Leo, indicates that we're invested in our own creative output and in the power of our personalities. We've kept our creative flames stoked through trial and tribulation. We've put time, effort, and energy into expressing the love, style, and passion in our hearts - even when it was hard, even when it was devalued, even when it seemed pointless. An investment has been made in pure human creativity, joy, and play. We've banked on the power of our personal artistry and creativity. Now we start to see what that investment is going to reap.

With a transiting Scorpio North Node, we are challenged to address energy shortfalls now by coming together with others in creative/working partnership. We are seeking true win-win partnerships where we accomplish more together than we could alone.

But with the Sun and Moon coming together in Leo, the sign of the diva, the celebrity, the star, there is friction possible within these partnerships that must be addressed.

Big personalities, big egos, and big creative power are coming together, with a particular gel point this fall under the Saturn-North Node-Venus conjunction at 8 degrees Scorpio.

This requires a careful understanding and distribution of power. It also requires the careful, proactive honing of our personalities and egos. We have to drop a whole lot in order to achieve the things we need to achieve, in order to fit through the slim doorway to Aquarius. Coming out of this Leo New Moon, square the Scorpio North Node, we're determining the essentials of our personalities from the non-essentials, the benefits of a strong ego versus the pitfalls of an oversized one.

We're purging any potentially detrimental ego bloat coming out of this Leo New Moon with an eye toward long-term gains. The more honest we can be with ourselves, the better, though this will not necessarily be easy. We can expect some ego burns and bruising around this New Moon as we are stripped down, charged up, and positioned for the long term.

We may not get the attention we were expecting, but the attention we do get is meaningful.

Coming out of this Leo New Moon, our big, bold personalities and our creative output must be harnessed to the pure and golden light of our hearts.

Attention-seeking ploys are beneath us.

The universe is singing through us - how could we ask for more?

We're required to hold out for our full value now - energetic and monetary - withdrawing from those people and situations that hold us in a "less than" position.

A new pecking order is being established with Saturn transiting Scorpio in mutual reception to Pluto in Capricorn, and it is being established in the energetic, alchemical, unseen realms.

The Big Personalities at the top of the tail-end Piscean-era heap will more than likely not be the ones at the top of the Aquarian-era heap. At the very least, those Big Personalities are going to have some company...

Don't accept the same old ego demands from others coming out of this Leo New Moon. We're back at square one now, and we all need to earn every last bit of our egoic sense of ourselves and our status.

Soul mate asteroid Juno is retrograde in Aquarius, opposite this Leo New Moon and square the nodes. The New Moon is also trine Uranus in Aries - another new era indicator. Bring a breath of egalitarian Aquarian fresh air to any hot, frustrated ego messes - but do it subtly. There is some wounded pride around this Leo New Moon, some hits to our self-esteem. Some sadness that we're not being fully seen or appreciated for who and what we are. All this could make for some power struggles and prickly exchanges as people try to assimilate the ego hits.

Some are not going to be happy with the new, more egalitarian pecking order unfolding...

Love yourself and be your own biggest fan, your own cheerleader, as we head through this Leo New Moon portal. Celebrate your achievements, no matter how small they might seem to others. Be as free with genuine praise as possible. Remember: everyone is looking for a little attention and recognition of their special-ness when the Sun is in Leo, as it is until August 22. With Earth Mama dwarf planet Ceres also in Leo, we nurture others by paying attention to and encouraging them, enjoying what they have to offer. Leave space so everybody gets a little sunshine this Leo season. A sad and neglected lion is a terrible thing, indeed. (The Pluto in Leos, in particular, could use a little love right about now.)

Many are deserving of a shot in the arm under these aspects. The more unsung heroes are likely the most deserving, rather than those constantly clamouring for attention, compliments, and praise. Keep in mind, though, that it is often the loudest, proudest, and most arrogant who have the most fragile and sensitive egos.

Saturn is currently in early Scorpio, forming a loose conjunction to the North Node, which is activated at the New Moon. On September 18, 2013, Saturn will conjunct the North Node exactly, an event that occurs about once every 11 years. The North Node indicates our successful, soul-driven path forward, while Saturn relates to maturation, responsibility, structure, commitment, the achievement of concrete goals, and sometimes grueling tests of our mettle. With Saturn forming a conjunction to the Scorpio North Node (in effect now through November 2013), we are being tested. Can we shoulder the weight of our deep, dark, soul-directed paths? Have we earned our advancement? Can we be fully trusted in positions of responsibility and authority that affect others? Do we have the growth, the strength, the maturity, and the awareness it takes to hold a position of leadership in these times?

Saturn and the North Node will also be conjunct Venus in Scorpio on September 18, increasing the influence of other people and relationships - particularly relationships that have a charge or an edge. The ability to interact while honouring the different motivations and allegiances of others, without screwing ourselves or them over, is important now. Knowing who to join forces with, how to join forces, and how long to join forces with them are all part of the intricate manoeuvres.

If creative/working mergers are not handled in just the right ways, sparks will fly, personalities will clash, and partnerships will be severed before they even get off the ground.

We know in our guts the people and combinations that will get the job done - though even these have to be tested and tested and tested again. We also know in our guts which people or groups we should be staying the hell away from.

From a previous post:

"People with specific metaphysical skill sets are being drawn together for the purpose of deep structural change on this planet. Power meets power and sets new rules for authority through the alchemy of the contacts...

Scorpio relates to motivation and allegiances. Those compatible on this front can work together under merged circumstances, but there is still difficulty. Combining energy and resources, whether as lovers, marriage partners, or business associates, requires intricate work and careful testing of waters - now more than ever.

As people, energy, and resources are drawn together over this upcoming year, the motivations and allegiances of those coming into contact with each other cannot cross, or there will be immediate and energetically-violent severing of ties."

With Venus so strongly involved in the Saturn-North Node conjunction this September, situations involving money will be particularly volatile, requiring our careful attention. Be very cautious with endeavours using other people's money and resources. Also be cautious about putting your own money into a joint or group situation.

In these times of hyper-inflation and currency manipulation, the money system makes little sense. People are not being properly compensated for their work, energy, or effort. The way we value things has to change, and this starts with our own personalities and creative contributions at the Leo New Moon.

Scorpio is a demanding sign, and the slow conjunction of Saturn and the North Node in Scorpio concentrates the themes.

Scorpio is a sign that goes to the root. It leaves not one stone unturned. It demands that we penetrate and drive and dig and tunnel through layers of gloss to the real core of the matter. It demands that we treat root causes, not surface symptoms.

Scorpio is an extreme sign. It's a do-or-die sign. It's a sign that will drag you through hell and have you wishing for sweet, sweet death - all in the name of growth, awareness, efficacy, potency, and an understanding of what's really poisoning us, underneath it all.

It's not a sign for pussies.

Either you want to know what's really going on, beneath the surface reality, or you stay in maya.

Either you want to see the real, down and dirty situation and will do what it takes to achieve that energetic X-ray vision, or you maintain your blinders.

Either you want to see and understand the underlying energy dynamics, the power dynamics, the control dynamics, or you want to just bob along on the surface currents. The surface views. The surface consensus. Nothing too risky or challenging.

With Saturn and the North Node conjunct in the sign of sex, death, darkness, regenerative healing, X-ray vision, and hardcore soul drives, we are being tested and challenged on every last point. Our soul-level commitment is being tested. Our willingness to trust and then act upon our deepest intuition is being tested.

Whatever comes together this fall has to be structurally sound for the long term.

"In order to find the energy to complete what we have to complete, we'll need mergers of just the right energy, resources, talent, people, and motivations - and for limited amounts of time. These are Aquarian-flavoured mergers: brilliant, erratic, irregular, unpredictable, splitting apart as soon as the exchange has been made.

This is about trading and fusing fuel sources under transparent and mutually-beneficial temporary contract. Catalyzing new actions and reactions in order to get us where we need to go.

And it's about keeping our own fuel sources carefully guarded and protected from marauders.

Everyone will be looking for new vitality and energy under the weight, depression, and constriction of Saturn in Scorpio, and many won't hold any qualms about tapping what isn't theirs."

The Saturn-North Node-Venus conjunction will form an exact sextile to stationing Pluto at 8 degrees Capricorn on September 18. The potency of these aspects is extreme. The potential for real, concrete progress via real, alchemical and social magic is strong. But so is the possibility of calamity through the mixing of the wrong elements at the wrong times.

Our utmost personal responsibility and level-headedness will be required to successfully navigate the time around fall equinox in the northern hemisphere. There will be plenty of sticky dramas and charged scenarios trying to put us off course.

As we move through this Leo New Moon, activating the Saturn-North Node conjunction in Scorpio, understand the strain people may be under on a personality level. Understand that these aspects will be laying waste to many a comfy ego construct - including our own. Give people (and yourself) time to adjust to the shifting sands, and cut everyone some ego slack - just not too much.

I hope it's a warm and sunshiny Leo New Moon for you!


Previous Saturn-North Node conjunctions:

June 2002 at 17 degrees Gemini
January 1991 at 28 degrees Capricorn
July 1979 at 9 degrees Virgo
April 1968 at 18 degrees Aries
October 1956 at 29 degrees Scorpio
May 1945 at 9 degrees Cancer (the degree of the upcoming July 1 NM eclipse)
February 1934 at 19 degrees Aquarius
July 1922 at 2 degrees Libra
May 1911 at 10 degrees Taurus

All Saturn in Scorpio posts from Willow's Web: Saturn in Scorpio