005: Leo New Moon - The World Needs You to Show Up Boldly

 Hello. Hello. Welcome back to Lunar Love Notes. Today we're talking about the New Moon in Leo. This new Moon takes place on Thursday, July 24th, 2025, and. New moons are always like this kind of fresh start energy and a lot of times the, it's, it's a personal fresh start. It is something that might not be visible to other people.

It's something very. Much within our own lives, but this New Moon actually has a ton of collective energy that we're going to get into. It's really an invitation for a fresh start for us to be showing up courageously and participating in a collective fresh start. So I'm very excited to get into this with you.

And I do wanna just mention that we are still in Mercury retrograde during this New Moon experience. And so things might feel a little confusing. It might not feel super clear how this is relevant to you or what your invitation is, but I invite you to stick with it and to take notes. If you feel called to take notes, maybe revisit it after the New Moon.

Because that Mercury retrograde energy is definitely playing a strong role in the energy of this week. It's not interacting directly with the New Moon, but it is influencing some of our other planets and. Just kind of like brain soup. Okay, so this new moon is taking place at two degrees of Leo.

So this is just, two days after the sun has entered Leo the sun and the moon meet. Together, that's what a new Moon is. And they're both at two degrees of Leo. So we can kind of think of this as like Baby Leo energy, just the very beginnings of it. And a new moon is a fresh start. It's this blank slate energy where over the last two weeks, the moon has shrunk from a full like luminescent globe down to nothing.

And then after this new Moon. It's going to grow again and it's going to be something else this time. I mean, it will still obviously be the moon, but our intention that grows with the moon over the next two weeks is going to be something completely different. And so a lot of the times with new moons, we wanna set intentions, we want to write down what we're calling in.

It's a really powerful like manifestation energy a lot of the time. However, with Mercury retrograde going on at the same time, in the same, most likely in the same part of our charts this is it's not, it's not a bad time to set intentions, but our intentions are likely going to evolve like what we want, what feels authentic to us.

Is shifting beneath our feet at this time. So we may set an intention to maybe like to commit to, like we really want to feel confident playing the piano and we wanna commit to playing the piano every single day and maybe throw this Mercury retrograde. In Leo, we realized that the only reason we were interested in piano is because at some point in our life we.

Experienced someone who was great at piano, receiving so much praise and attention, and we wanted that. And that this desire to learn how to be good at piano is not actually authentic to us. And so then this intention of practicing the piano every day and building this skill and having this grow over the next two weeks may not actually be authentic anymore.

So we're gonna hold the details loosely, you know, maybe our vision. What our heart was really asking for when we set that intention was simply to commit to something that feels like I'm expressing my soul's language. And maybe instead of piano, maybe that is writing, or maybe it's painting. It could be anything.

It could be, you know, gardening. Any, any way that feels more authentic to ourself and is not based on that external validation. So we wanna, as we set these intentions and sit with this new moon energy, I'm definitely not saying don't set intentions, but as you set the intentions, as you have that idea, come in, like practice the piano every day, try to.

Go a step deeper. Also, you can still set that intention and again, hold it loosely and go a step deeper and see why is my heart asking me to set this intention? Like what, what deep core part of me is having a need met by this intention? Like what do I think will happen if I'm able to do this, if I'm able to call this thing in and then make sure that you've written that down so that when.

If and when things begin to kind of slip and slide and it doesn't feel aligned anymore, you can come back to what was below that detail and what is another way that core need can be met that is perhaps a little bit more authentic. Okay, now. Yes, we've talked about the Mercury retrograde in Leo a bit, and that's ongoing, you know, for the rest of the month and into August.

This is a revision of how we express ourselves, of how we want to be seen. And it's a realignment back to what our heart wants. Leo is connected to the heart, but a lot of times we have disconnected our Leo energy from our heart, and we're instead placing, like we're sourcing that guidance from what other people want from us.

What. Receives praise, what receives attention, because Leo is a performer and every performer wants an audience, but our authentic expression will also be witnessed. We need to trust that it may be witnessed in a different way by different people. It may not be as sensational but the realignment back to that core heart.

Centered place is what this retrograde is about, and this new moon happening right in the middle of the retrograde or really near the beginning of the retrograde, is a good opportunity for us to decide. I am choosing to be motivated by like my heart rather than buy what other people want from me.

Okay. Now during the New Moon Mars is square Venus, and so this is always a tense aspect. Mars and Venus are these two parts of ourselves. That when they work together, it's really easy to make, to like move there's, it's easy to have movement towards what we want because what we want is Venus is aligned with Mars, which is how we get what we want.

That's our motivation. But when these are squaring each other, it's, it can be hard to make progress. There's this tension. We might feel like we want one thing, but we're feeling motivated or irritated or something in a different direction at the same time. And then to add another layer to this tension, both of these planets are in signs ruled by mercury.

So Venus is in Gemini and Mars is in Virgo. So both of these planets are under the influence of Mercury, which is retrograde right now. And so there, this can just bring up a lot of mental energy, but not really clarity. We're gonna be doing a lot of thinking, but not necessarily figuring things out.

It can be very like mentally taxing. Like exhausting, trying to figure things out, trying to solve problems. This is exactly that energy of like if you've ever had a conflict with a friend or a romantic partner, somebody that you're in close relationship with, you have a conflict with them. You're trying to resolve the conflict, and it just feels like you're talking in circles and neither one of you can understand the other.

That's like exactly how this energy can feel. And then again, another, a third layer is that Mars is conjunct the south node in Virgo. So the south node is an energy that can kind of bring out the worst in a sign. It's no, no. Virgo has many beautiful positive. Qualities. But when the south node is in a sign, it's kind of activating the more challenging qualities that we may like fall prey to when that energy is activated within us.

And it's like activating them and bringing them up so we can notice them and choose differently. And so when Mars is here, Mars can bring this irritation and anger. When it's in a challenging aspect. So right now it's both conjunct, the south node, which is a challenging aspect, and then it's also squaring Venus.

So there's gonna be some irritability and in the sign of Virgo that's gonna come up as judgment. Judgment of ourself or others, criticizing ourselves, criticizing others. And then there can also be perfectionism. And that perfectionism, I think is what is the main piece standing in the way of progress.

Because Venus is in Gemini, which is absolutely not a perfectionistic sign. It's let's try it and see what happens. Energy. But in Virgo, Mars is wanting to get it right the first time. So as we see these qualities of Virgo coming up, we can kind of choose Squares always give us this.

I wanna say, I almost said invitation, but it's not really an invitation. We kind of forced into choosing. That's why squares are hard aspects, because we can't both be in Virgo and in Gemini At the same time, these signs are kind of in conflict with each other, and so we have to kind of choose to lean one way or the other, and it would be very easy and tempting to slip into that Virgo side, especially with the south node there, because while the south node brings up those shadowy.

Less than ideal qualities. It's also a comfort zone. It's easier to be judging what people are doing than it is to be out there doing something right. So our invitation is gonna be instead to tap into Venus and Gemini. Gemini is curious, not judgemental, willing to try anything, at least a couple times.

It's very exploratory and it's willing to learn from others. A lot of times, virgo does like to learn, but it's more picky about who we'll learn from, you know? And Gemini knows that you could learn something from everyone. Okay, let's move on from that. That's kind of just going on in the background.

None of that is actually interacting with the New Moon, but that's the energy that's just going on early in the week and then also throughout next week. And so our New Moon is taking place within this kind of a larger. Not super comfy energy. Very easy to get into arguments, very easy to get confused, to lose clarity during this aspect, this little transition period.

Okay. We do have a humongous aspect to the New Moon, and that is Pluto in Aquarius is exactly opposite the New Moon. Now, Pluto moves very slowly. Pluto entered Aquarius earlier in the year, and it's still only at two degrees of Aquarius and Pluto, even though the astronomers have said that Pluto's not a planet because it's too small. Pluto represents massive energy. It's transformation, it's power, and it's easy when Pluto is making an opposition, especially to a personal planet like the Sun and Moon. Which I know are not technically planets either, but to feel overwhelmed because this power is opposite us. That means it's not ours. It is out there. Acting on us, influencing us, but we don't have control over it. That's why oppositions are so hard, because we don't have a way to access it really. It can feel like things are out of our control.

And so when this is happening, we have this massive thing happening out in the world, and Aquarius represents, community. It represents the people. This is like there is something big happening to people or by people in general, and it's so big and overwhelming. Then how does that matter whether or not I practice piano every day?

It can make us feel very small. It's like, like my creativity is so tiny compared to this massive shift that is happening in the world, but that's not necessarily true. That is what our, what we're, what is gonna pop up for a lot of us is that temptation to just allow ourselves to feel small, to feel powerless, but oppositions also provide an opportunity for perspective.

We may not be able to fully. Integrate that Pluto Energy during this new moon, but we can, you know, pop over there and look at things from that side. And so Pluto it opposite the New Moon. This is saying like your. Heart's mission. Your heart-centered creativity is essential to this massive change that's happening in the world.

It's a time to remind us that like being connected to our heart. Is revolutionary. Aquarius is a very revolutionary sign. This Pluto in Aquarius Transit has historically been associated with actual revolution, and right now to be a part of this massive change that's going on in the world, we need to be showing up.

Boldly, courageously and authentically. It's this call to say connect with that heart. Become fully integrated with what you know is right, because that's what this big, powerful thing that's happening in the world. That's what we need to in order to direct it in the right direction, down the right path.

We need people connected to their hearts so that this massive change that's happening goes in a, in a good direction. When we have people just connected to the shadowy sides of Leo, doing what is going to get them attention, doing what people will praise them for, that's where we get off of the correct path.

Right. And that's been going on for a long time. Now to kind of underline this collective significance, which we already are getting a taste of with that Pluto aspect, almost all of the other collective planets are also making an aspect to the New Moon. And so it really is. This invitation to participate actively in shaping the direction we want things to go because change is happening.

Whether or not we're comfortable with change. Change is happening and we can either watch it happen or participate in it and help direct it. So Neptune and Saturn are in. Kind of helping bring in this personal responsibility, this owning our power and, kind of believing in ourselves. Neptune is about like belief and faith, and when it's in Aries, we believe in our own power.

We believe that we are capable. And then when Saturn is in Aries, this brings in that layer of discipline. We are able to do hard things. We can do hard things and make these big changes, right? We can press right up against those comfort zones those edges. We can step outside a little bit, keep ourselves safe, you know, have our boundaries.

But our boundaries don't need to be so small that we are. In the house all the time. Okay. And then we have Uranus and Gemini. This is also supporting the New Moon, and this is bringing new ideas, shifts in thinking like new ways of doing things. This is a huge change. Transit. Uranus and Gemini. I do have another piece that I've been working on for a while on Uranus and Gemini that will come out.

I think it'll be written but I may end up doing a podcast for it. But Uranus and Gemini, historically has marked some of the biggest moments of change collectively. And then we have Chiron in the late degrees of Aries is making a square to the New Moon. And so that's a, that's another challenging aspect and this is where those like, why do I matter?

Like I'm too small to matter. Kind of wounds are gonna come up because this is about like identity being visible, um, believing in ourselves. Who am I? To lead, who am I to help instigate change? It can be really challenging to take that step to be that courageous, to be brave, to be willing to be seen in a different way than how you have been seen.

This is all really big energy. I know that this has been a lot but we still wanna check in with what is the heart of what you're wanting right now? And, you know, you can still set those intentions of things in your life, in your, in your. Regular daily life shifts and changes and things that you wanna call in in your life because that still is important.

And then also, you know, take that step to go a little bit deeper and see what is underneath that intention. What is the true heart of the change that I'm wanting? Am I wanting more connection? Am I wanting a way to express? And we witnessed, okay. We wanna check in and see are there ways that I am performing or showing up less than authentically?

And then let's all also take note of one bold action we could take that would feel very authentic and little bit scary. And then how are you being called to participate in collective change? Is there an idea that you've had or something that you've seen people talking about doing that has caught your attention and it might feel scary?

It probably does feel scary because, you know, we haven't been taught that it's good to participate in collective change. We have been taught that it's very important to only take care of ourselves. But is there something that you have been noticing that is sparking your interest, sparking your curiosity that you could do?

Because this is a time for courageous action right now. This new moon, this is a time to step into a courageous and brave and heart-centered version of self. Okay, so like we talked about at the beginning, we're gonna set intentions, but we're not gonna like write them in Sharpie on our mirrors.

We're gonna hold them very loosely. We're gonna allow them to change as they need to change. We're also going to connect to that Leo self-expression when we give ourselves. Space to create without expecting to be able to sell it or post it on Instagram or show it to anybody. We're able to tap back into that heart.

And if it's, if you're finding it difficult to identify the heart beneath your intention, then go do something that's really fun. That is simply purely for expression and playfulness because that is a really great way to realign with your heart. And then we wanna also spend time with people who are inspiring people that are, you know, taking those collective actions.

Or doing things that would be a little bit outside of our own comfort zones, because that's gonna kind of expand our belief in what we're capable of, which is really essential in still feeling safe when we're doing things that may have been outside our comfort zone before this new moon. Maybe they are still outside our comfort zone, but showing ourselves that those things are safe to do is really, really essential in.

Getting closer and closer to participating in collective change. Okay, now, as always, I do offer the personal lunar love notes to go with these new moons. I am traveling this week, so if you want a lunar love note, please get it in by the 23rd. Because on the 24th I'll be out of town.

I will not be sending out any personal lunar love notes on the actual day of the New Moon. Okay. And then also I am doing the personal retrograde readings to go along with the Mercury retrograde. So depending on which piece of it is feeling like the most activating or most challenging or most personally relevant for you, you could get either or.

Yeah. And then oh, I don't think I've announced this on the podcast, but I did recently start the, hearth Notes, reflections over on Substack. So that's every Friday, a much more personal reflection on the astrology of what I experienced that week with the astrology. And then you can also submit.

Like things that are going on in your own life, and I will reflect on those and kind of weave those into the, to the ongoing astrology. It's a lot of fun and yeah. Thank you guys so much for listening. Remember that. Like the world really needs your authentic heart. It's time to be seen, to participate, to show up, and yes, continue to be gentle with yourself.

Reflect take lots of notes in your journals and have a wonderful week.