This Lunar cycle begins on August 8th, 2021 at 16º of Leo, zodiac sign of the lion

You may not know that in some of the oldest cave paintings on our planet, there are drawings of lions.

In the deepest cave of Chauvet in France, Venus is depicted in detail in charcoal, as a black triangle – a yoni – and she’s flanked by lions as her protectors and guardians.

This may come as a surprise in amongst the bison, stags, and wild goat! Yet many of the oldest depictions of the Goddess (especially those in the middle east) show her either accompanied by lions, leading a carriage drawn by lions, or even sitting astride a lion’s back.

Yes – the Lion and the Sacred Feminine are actually very close companions.

✶ In ancient Sumer, Inanna the “Queen of Heaven” was usually depicted with a lion, sometimes a serpent too.

✶ Sekhmet, the powerful Egyptian lion Goddess of War and Eye of Ra (the Sun God) had a feline face and all of the fierceness of a lioness.

✶ Cybele of Phrygia (now Asian Turkey) was a very old and primal Mother Goddess and Mistress of many orgiastic rites, who was well known to ride on the back of a lion.

There are many, many more myths of lions and Goddesses all over the globe – their histories are undoubtedly intertwined.

It’s not hard to sense both a deep reverence for the lion and kind of kindship too. The strength and protective spirit of this beast were easily offered in service to the feminine principle and perhaps to the Great Mother herself.

In our modern, western astrology, Leo is a masculine sign ruled by the Sun… And of course, la Luna is feminine.

So what these old stories and pictures – rooted in our most ancient cultures – show us is a beautiful dance of the masculine and the feminine; the solar and the lunar; the strength and the power; the giving and receiving. The blueprint of polarity as it benefits all… before it became something out of balance.

This same interdependent, interconnected thread has woven its way forward in time too, to today. To this lunar cycle – beginning on August 8th, in Leo. The Moon as her youngest, most vulnerable self is New in this solar sign of the Lion. And with that vulnerability, she invites us all to be vulnerable too, and sow a seed to be carried through the cycle, carried on the wave of this feline energy for a full four weeks (and beyond).

How will you use this thread of promise?

This thread with such deep roots that are tied to something so very old: A sacred companionship of masculine and feminine that is so far from what we know in the world today?

I think the trick is to draw out Leo’s very best qualities. The qualities of this archetype that are ALL heart – and use those to nurture that seed of intention, sown in the lunar soil.

Here are 3 ways I will be using:

1. Think creatively

I think there is a very big and current risk of creativity getting boxed in.

I watched an interview recently where Mark Zuckerberg, Chief Exec of Facebook spoke of his desire to provide a platform for all the creatives out there in the world, to, well, be creative.

And my whole being contracted at his words because creativity isn’t about fitting ourselves and our work onto the tiny screens we all carry around in our pockets.

✶ Creativity is boundless.
✶ Creativity doesn’t have straight edges and four corners.
✶ Creativity is without an end goal.
✶ Creativity doesn’t have an agenda.
✶ Creativity is expanding thought and possibility and making something new while being okay with making a mess that‘s entirely un-sharable because it doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks!

Will you use this lunar cycle to tease out your creative impulse, in ways that are entirely unhindered by the corporate forces of the world?

That, to me, feels like the kind of heart-driven creativity of this Moon, in this sign. THIS is the manifestation of the ancient relationship between masculine and feminine, Moon and Lion that this lunar cycle is inviting us to live.

2. Be devoted

As a fixed sign, Leo is one of our zodiac’s archetypes that least likes change.

Initiating things can be hard work under a Leo sky.
Transitions between things can also be tricky under a Leo sky.
But focus is this Moon’s superpower... Meaning that sticking with it, and doubling down into the work – whatever it is in that moment – is a more natural state.

Will you commit?

Will you stick with yourself during the course of this cycle?
Will you be unwavering?
Will you resist the distractions and the doubts, to honour YOUR inner fire and fan those flames?

3. Radiate

The Sun shines through Leo.

And one particular flavour of solar medicine, is that of radiating.
This means cultivating a sense of self that doesn’t need defending. It doesn’t need explaining. It simply IS.
It’s not arrogance… this Moon cycle’s energy carries a sureness that just does not need to anchor into anyone else to be strong, and it’s closely connected to the idea of sovereignty.

To be sovereign is to be the Master or Mistress of yourself and your life – your emotions, motivations, time, body, attention, truth.

It’s easy to describe, but a tall order in reality – the modern world is a matrix of carefully curated mechanisms to separate us from our sovereignty (or convince us we don’t deserve it).

So instead, it becomes a practice.

A personal practice to reclaim little pieces at a time, as we also balance those twin threads of lunar and solar strands, that weave through our lives.

This lunar cycle can be a window of opportunity.

A time to try. An exercise in what personal sovereignty could be, for you.

Let me know if you’re willing to step UP and allow this energy through your life this month!

SO many New Moon blessings,

Kat