Waning Moon, Void of Course ... Heading Toward Leo!

Monday's New Moon in Leo offers a time to plant new seeds in Leonine soil ... connecting with our passions, playfulness, creativity, confidence, and leadership. Connecting to our heart, stepping into our power, and bringing our light to the world. The House in which the New Moon appears in our birth charts can point to areas of life where we will feel Leo's fire, or perhaps where we most need to light things up. Planets in strong aspect to the New Moon will show which areas of our psyche will be highlighted, and how.

Today we are in the waning Moon phase; for most of today, the Moon will also be void of course. This is not the time to plant seeds for the cycle to come. Instead, we finish work we've begun to release whatever holds us back. This Leo New Moon will call us to stand in the spotlight and embody who we truly are. Now is the time to release whatever thoughts, feelings, memories, concepts, anything that keeps tripping us up, getting in our own way, and blocking our time to shine.

In Simone Butler's post Dancing With Fire, she places the New Moon in the context of the Cardinal Cross and other key sky events, and recommends Sariah Mikaels' Fire Breath for burning away whatever we need to release. This breathing with visualization allows us to anticipate the Leo New Moon and bring its fire into this waning, void of course time.

Today, astrologically, is Lughnasadh, third of the four great fire festivals in the ancient Celtic calendar. During the waning time in the Moon's cycle, we reap what we have sown, gaining understanding and perspective, and sharing our experience with the world. Lughnasadh is marked by the sacrifice of the first fruits, the offering of the first sheaves of ripening grain and the first succulent berries to be sanctified.

Letting go is not easy for the Cancer Moon. And yet the deeply held tradition of sacrifice to acknowledge the gods, goddesses and ancestors and ask their protection for the home, family and tribe, is something tradition-loving Cancer can honor. To sacrifice is to make sacred. In her description of the Fire Breath, Sariah Mikaels reminds us that as we burn whatever it is we need to release, we create light.

Think of the release work you are doing not as rejecting, denying or burying but as offering. Today we celebrate our willingness to let go of what we no longer need, and give the energy we've had locked up back to the universe. We live in an evolving, growing cosmos. Maintaining old forms can move from honoring tradition into a kind of frozen inability to flow with the currents of life.

Today as we are suspended with the Moon in her time between times, we move toward completion of this cycle of experience, insight, sharing and release. Breathe. And as you breathe, dance.

Today's images are of the solar storm that erupted on the Sun on August 1, from NASA, and an image of the aurora borealis that was WikiMedia's picture of the year in 2006.

Waning Moon Moving from Gemini to Cancer

Today's Moon notes cover Friday and Saturday, because the Moon's key patterns will play out over these next two days.

The Moon traverse some difficult terrain today (Friday) as she enters the last degrees of bright Gemini, moves through a brief void of course time, and opens the door into her own home sign of Cancer. Usually, the Moon takes a deep breath and relaxes in Cancer, but now Cancer's early degrees place the Moon in the hot seat of completing the Cardinal Cross, changing that challenging T-square into Grand Cross.

Today is also a peak time for the Cardinal Cross, because retrograding Uranus will soon slip out of Aries and back into Pisces, shifting his energy away from fierce impulsive Aries fire and into cooler waters.

Over the last few days, I've written about this particular waning Moon cycle as a time to release, release, release anything and everything that no longer serves your highest good. Over the next few days, this energy could become especially intense as the Moon moves into traditional, protective Cancer. And yet, approached with an open heart, this could be a truly powerful time to clean house in every sense of the word and ready ourselves for the initiating fire of the Leo New Moon.

The Moon now flows energy in trine with the Neptune-Chiron conjunction in Aquarius, gathering deep intuitive messages from the cosmos (exact at 1:51pm EDT). As the Moon continues in curious Gemini, we may gather startling insights into past wounding and how to transform any lingering hurts into sources of love and compassion. Listening to what Neptune and Chiron have to tell us can provide the motivation to move through possibly painful memories, shining Gemini's light of clarity and connection into some dark corners.

The late Gemini Moon is already moving into the Grand Cross position, squaring Venus today as she moves through late Virgo (exact at 5:22pm EDT). Since Venus is conjunct Saturn and Mars at the tradition-and-stability end of the Cardinal Cross opposition, she pulls the Moon's energy into the dance with all the other planets.

The square with Venus signals the beginning of the Moon's void of course time, which lasts until 5:50pm when the Moon enters Cancer. She then begins the official cascade of aspects to the Cardinal Cross planets: square to Uranus at 6:09pm, square to Saturn at 8:17pm, square to Jupiter at 11:01pm, opposite Pluto at 11:10pm, square Mars at 2:36am Saturday.

How will the Cancer Moon respond to her confrontation with these powerful forces for change? The Cancer Moon often wants to batten down the hatches and pull up the drawbridge (to mix metaphors), lowering the portcullis, loading the cannons, and preparing to repel all boarders. Cancer wants to protect home and family, is deeply respectful of tradition, and generally speaking, does not like change.

This is where today's intuitive flow with Neptune and Chiron becomes, potentially, vitally important. Clarity is not a natural strength of Cancer, so consciously bringing Gemini's bright thought into this transition may prove very helpful. Revisiting my mixed metaphor, our home in these turbulent times is not a castle, but an ark. Our ship needs to navigate shifting currents and stormy seas to reach a new safe harbor on a far shore.

One of the Cancer Moon's prime concerns is the safety of home, family, tribe and tradition. At this time, it is vital for the Cancer Moon to discern when holding on to the past is a help, and when it becomes a danger. Yes, we need to save the seed corn for the next planting. And still, there are long-held traditions that will drag us down if we keep them now. We need to choose which are which, and most likely can't do that alone. Relying on the support of allies and teachers reached today through Neptune and Chiron may offer a map. We are cosmic sailors, navigating strange waters.

After her confrontation with Mars, the Moon has a time of clear sailing before flowing energy with Mercury in sextile on Saturday (exact at 2:46pm EDT). Then something curious happens: As if exhausted by running the gauntlet of the Cardinal Cross, the Moon seeks refuge in an unusually long void of course time. The sextile with Mercury is her last aspect in Cancer, and so she enters a time-between-times that lasts until she steps onto the Leo stage at 7:23pm Sunday.

Yes, you read that right, the Moon is void of course from Saturday afternoon through Sunday evening. Since the Moon was Cancer when she entered the void, and her final aspect was a bright flow of energy with Mercury, there will be a bit of a Gemini-Cancer flavor to this time of refuge for the Moon, a chance to continue thinking, connecting and exploring the recesses of home, to prepare for the New Moon to come.

The dictionary page from the 1895 Webster's and the photo of sails are both in the public domain and available through WikiMedia Commons.

Waning Moon in Gemini

Today, our search for meaning and connection continues as the Gemini Moon thinks, writes and communicates about what we've experienced and what it means for us.

The Moon squares Mercury this morning, which could feel like a challenge between head and heart, intellect and emotion. With the Moon in Mercury's home sign of Gemini and Mercury in careful, analytical Virgo, the emphasis will be on thought and communication. The focus might shift from head vs. heart to how our thought can help us find emotional balance.

For example, on Gemini Moon days, I sometimes find my thoughts racing, cycling through old situations or jumping from topic to topic without focus. This morning's square to Mercury in Virgo offers a chance for me to analyze that pattern, notice its details, and figure out how to move in directions that feel more productive. Mercury in Gemini is all about connection; perhaps what my Gemini Moon wants is a felt experience of connecting ... to my ancestors, perhaps, or to family, or among ideas close to the bone for me. Hmmm ... I'm thinking already ...

At midday, the Sun and Moon flow energy in sextile. This point in the waning lunar cycle is associated with moments of clarity, even illumination, as we work through our experiences. Today's sextile of the Sun in passionate, expressive Leo and Moon in bright, communicative Gemini could fuel a creative breakthrough, or put something we need to understand in the spotlight.

With Venus also in careful Virgo, conjunct Saturn and Mars in Venus' home sign of Libra, we have another focus in the sky around creative expression, balance, taking action, and working through issues. Taking time this afternoon to sketch, paint, sculpt or any other form of active, emotive, direct expression could lead to insights. A new pattern or a deeper understanding might emerge from your work, creating bright connections and new paths.

Today's image of the Alergoría de la Poesía and photo titled Rainbow Bridge Illumination are available through WikiMedia Commons.