SUN ENTERS 0º LEO
Lughnasadh Season 2023 – Sun Enters Leo
-6:50PM 07.22.2023 PST
-Pluto RX at 29º Capricorn
-North Node at 29º Aries
-South Node at 29º Libra
-Neptune RX at 27º Pisces
-Sextile Moon at 27º Virgo
WHAT ELSE IS IN LEO?
MERCURY 21º
VENUS RX 28º
Bust out your natal chart and let’s ground into this moment.
We are entering the heart of Summer. Summer is a 3 month season focused on committing to, and bring to fruition, some of the experiments we started in Spring. For me, magically, Summer is the season of claiming our Power, and the responsibility that comes with that power, to foster, nourish, protect, and glorify whatever we have planted in Spring. Thinking on the garden metaphor, this is the garden, bursting with plants coming into their prime. What will we do with all this abundance?
Summer contains the Sabbats Litha and Lughnasadh. Here, we will pass through the signs of Cancer, Leo, and Virgo. These Sabbats get us focused on the process of continuing, maintaining, and taking responsibility for the effects of the stuff we kicked off in Spring.
In Lughnasadh, we begin to engage the Harvest of our efforts so far.
We also come back to the spiritual noblesse we all contain, and regally proclaim what and who we want to hold up for presentation to the Gods. Leo, a fixed sign dedicated to maintaining the spiritual fire, oversees this work and welcomes us back to magnanimous gestures, whether in our local social realms or the world stage. Taking a virtuous, big-hearted approach may be more helpful now as well as experiences that push us out onto the stage and into the spotlight. So as we step into the leadership roles Lughnasadh and Summer may call for, we hopefully don’t lose sight of the real human needs behind the overt gestures.
Every year the Sun will pass through Leo.
Every year (with occasional exceptions) we will have a New Moon in Leo at some point, and a Full Moon in Aquarius. Look at your natal chart and find Leo. Look at the house or houses connected to this sign. The house/s the Sun is passing through is where, in your life, you might experience the themes of the Leo portion of Lughnasadh season. And this will be true for you every year.
–The Sun represents our fundamental sense of self, our central purpose, and our creative potential.
–Leo represents our need and capacity to creatively express ourselves and be appreciated and seen by others
So, in general everyone may find themselves more dynamic, majestic, and creative during Lughnasadh season. The New Moon in Leo will help initiate some part of our Lughnasadh work by stirring up a desire for a more grand and generous attitude in leadership roles, and the Full Moon in Aquarius will help us resolve some part of our Lughnasadh work by lending us a more revolutionary and philanthropic viewpoint.
So, what’s happening in 2023 Lughnasadh astrology?…
This year, the Sun is opposed Pluto in Capricorn as it enters Leo. The funky astrology we saw on the horizon when we entered Litha and Summer has now arrived. Oppositions can feel like we have come to a stand-still or a power struggle between two forces, and no one wants to budge or compromise. But the outcome of any opposition can be developing balance and integration of the opposing concepts.
I say can be, because like all the aspects we encounter in astrology, it’s on us to do the work and make something out of what is coming up for us.
-The Sun represents our fundamental sense of self, our central purpose, and our creative potential.
–Pluto represents our capacity to transform and renew ourselves, regeneration, and penetrating the secrets of life.
Sounds chill, right? It’s just that Pluto often represents experiences that take us “through hell and back” or feel like “death and rebirth” which is distinctly not chill.
On a fundamental level, Lughnasadh season is starting off with a stark death/rebirth/transformation theme. Very appropriate actually when we think about the archetypes we work with in this Sabbat.
Complementing(? enforcing?) this intensity, the Sun is square North Node in Aries and square South Node in Libra as it enters Leo.
Squares point out places where stuff is not working, but, with some effort could be amazing. The Nodes can represent a lot of stuff in astrology, but as a generic guide:
–North Node represents our attitudes towards future growth and what we “deserve.”
–South Node represents our reservations and regressive behaviors that feel so justified we might not question them.
–Aries represents our need for independence and our development of self-awareness.
–Libra represents need to cooperate with others, intimate partnerships, and our desires for harmony, diplomacy, and beauty.
This year’s pass through Lughnasadh may feel like we are coming up against big forces in the world (and/or ourself). The Nodes add to this pressure, and there may be a sense for some of us that we must step into leadership roles where work must be done but may also put us in harm’s way, existentially or literally. And that “The Gods” have decreed it must be so. If we “fail” here, we fail our “destiny.” Heavy stuff…