The New Moon in Leo takes place this evening at 7:41pm PDT at 26-degrees of the sign that connects us to a powerful sense of sovereignty, personal creative expression, and all the ways we step into leadership in our lives, both privately and publicly. This is where we learn to roar, and it is interesting that Mercury, the seat of our voice, is all over this New Moon. We are all being powerfully transformed this year, and the Great Eliminator angle that this New Moon is generating with Jupiter, Pluto and Saturn in Capricorn is creating a very sharp fork in the road. We are setting intentions right now that are deeply personal and directly connected to helping us step up into a sense of self-empowerment, at a moment when it is easy to feel disempowered and, in fact, at the effect of a world gone mad.

There are a number of factors that make this a very important New Moon, and one of them involves the Superior Conjunction of the Sun and Mercury. When Mercury and the Sun come together, it is a powerful guidance mechanism. The Sun is our conscious awareness, and you can think of Mercury as sitting shotgun, acting as navigator and narrator of our journey. When they come together, it is like getting an upgrade on the plan, a revising of the directions, new marching orders, and/or an enhancement of purpose. This clarity of direction is built directly into this New Moon.

New Moons are not typically a time where we consider the release that happens in the Full Moon, but this New Moon does indeed have a leave-behind mechanism built right into it. And so, this moment of looking forward into the future must also include a glance backward at all the things we have to accept are either gone, lost, destroyed, and changed irrevocably. In a year of so much disappointment, grief, and fear, this New Moon may offer a tether into the hope for the future, sparked by a renewed sense of personal power, and sovereignty with your journey, in the way that Leo invented.

The geometry between the Sun/Moon/Mercury in Leo, forms an exact 150-degree angle with Saturn in Capricorn. This Great Eliminator angle between the consciousness of our intentions on the one hand, and all of the challenges of this year of reckoning on the other, is powerful and important. Those three heavy hitters – Saturn, Jupiter and Pluto – are now officially inching closer and closer together between now and the first half of November, so we are not nearly out of the woods with all of the wild amount of breakdown that is happening on the planet at this time. We move through this New Moon with the opportunity to set new intentions for ourselves that are quite specifically designed to help us pivot in new directions, in direct response to all that is changing and transforming as we go.

There is also a Kite Formation as part of this New Moon, that starts with a Grand Fire Trine created by the Sun, Moon and Mercury in Leo, Mars in Aries, and the South Node in Sagittarius. Grand Fire Trines are a manifestation vortex, and that creative power is dialed into this New Moon, and so intentions set now have a lot of mojo to rise up as big waves of movement down the line. That South Node in Sagittarius also brings the North Node into this pattern, and this is what turns it into a Kite. And this is important because, after all, what do kites do; they fly. If that’s too much astro-lingo for you, just know that this New Moon is direct dialed right into our collective movement. This New Moon is like turning on the outboard motor, offering a swell of momentum, helping many of us bring our vision to the next level of manifestation.

That said, there are some distinctions that we also have to be aware of, as this moment is not quite as simple as all that. Firstly, the South Node is part of this equation, so we absolutely must have some clarity about what we are moving away from, and not just what we are moving toward. Secondly, Mars in Aries is part of this Trine and that is a good news/bad news aspect. On the one hand, it is fortuitous that the planet of action is dialed in to what we intend at this moment. However, he will retrograde between now and the beginning of next year, so anything that we begin now will likely have some delays, circuitous movement forward, and require some more personal reinvention as the rest of the year unfolds.

There is a little side bar in this New Moon, a beautiful Sextile between Venus and Uranus, so our heart chakra is wide open. This brings a sense of anything being possible into the mix. Uranus is forward thinking, and filled with inspiration. It is through the Great Awakener that we understand that anything is possible. I like to say when Uranus is favorably aspect in any lunation, you can expect a miracle. And while this electrifying stimulation of what our hearts may desire at this moment isn’t directly connected to the New Moon in a geometrical fashion, this energy is absolutely in the mix. So, if you need a miracle, trust that there can be one, though it may be months before you can truly see that miracle unfold.

The time for setting intentions is in the hours before the lunation is exact, so all day up till 7:42pm PDT is a powerful time to create a ritual for this important New Moon. Leo is all about honoring the Self, and this is that moment to reach in and truly spell out all that you desire for your life now, and into the future. Try not to focus on things outside of yourself, for this moment should be all about you. We are fully in the Age of Aquarius now, where we must serve the collective with everything we do. But today’s New Moon is all about your individual journey. Ask yourself, “Who do I need to be in order to create the new world I am imagining in my heart?” Put that idea into some powerful personal intentions for the immediate and long rage future, and let this powerful lunation send you more potently toward the new world we are all birthing.