The sun moves into Leo on July 22, 2024
Welcome to Leo season!
The sun moves into its favorite sign, the gregarious and loyal fixed fire sign on July 22nd at 12:44 am and Leo season ends on August 22nd at 7:55 am when the sun moves into Virgo.
Overview:
Leo season is a stage, a time to proudly play the character of your most authentic self, and this season comes with some twists and turns—ripe for character and plot development. Nothing can shake the sun in Leo’s confidence, but there are some challenging transits and energies that might try to take a hit, but if we choose to change our perspective until we find one that actually helps us, we may find this Leo season to full of invitations to rise to the occasions of our lives.
By the time the sun moves from Cancer into Leo, Mercury, and Venus have already cleared the path, and found the first challenge: an immediate opposition to Pluto. By the time the sun does it we may already be wise to Pluto’s tricks, power games, and paranoia, but either way, this energy can dampen the start of, normally excited and energetic, Leo season.
As Leo season progresses, Mercury, newly in its home sign of Virgo, will station retrograde helping to slow us down and move into a state of review, reassessment, and reconsideration. In Virgo, Mercury is detail-oriented, well-resourced, and ready to do the work of parsing through the records of the past few weeks; but as it backs into Leo, Mercury is less predictable and possibly more chaotic.
As planets move through the 2nd decan of Leo they will come into a lovely trine with Chiron, giving a bit of healing or soothing balm to this otherwise challenging month. As Mercury, Venus, and the sun trine Chiron we may feel more comfortable in our senses of self and in our bodies; healing a possibly painful story around our identities.
As planets continue through Leo, they will move into a square with Uranus as they head out. This means Leo season holds Venus’ square to Uranus, the sun’s square to Uranus, and 2 out of 3 of Mercury’s squares to Uranus (including the Mercury cazimi, but the final square will come in Virgo season). This means that the upcoming month is full of twists and turns of the unexpected and possibly unsettling nature. These squares may feel harsh, particularly for fixed signs (3rd decan to be more exact) but they are also geared toward setting us up to make changes that make us feel more free, more authentic, and ultimately more aligned.
The last week of Leo season is marked by one of the larger transits of the year, caught up in a mutable storm of conjunctions, squares, and oppositions—forming a tense and drawn out t-square in the 2nd decan of Gemini, Pisces, and Virgo. While elements of this energy have been brewing since Jupiter moved into Gemini back in May, around the middle of August, Mars will conjoin Jupiter and begin a series of transits implicating Mars, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn that will continue into the early days of Virgo season. The collision of these energies might feel, at once invigorating and constricting, we may find ourselves coming to new realizations about our needs, our motivations, our connections, and our boundaries.
Lunations:
New moon in Leo (12°) on August 4th at 4:13 am
This month’s new moon, ruled by the sun in its home sign, has a little extra strength, as we set new intentions and step more firmly into the driver’s seat of our own lives. This new moon might feel somewhat encouraging and empowering, as it is egged on by an approaching Mars Jupiter conjunction in Gemini, and the north node in Aries. But we may find that we need to be flexible with this motivation when Mercury stations retrograde later on in the day. There’s work to be done, it’s just more likely to be review work rather than work that feels forward-moving.
Full moon in Aquarius (27°) on August 19th at 11:25 am
This month’s full moon in Aquarius may come with some prickly news or a surprising ending of some kind, as it forms a t-square with the unexpected and often shocking Uranus in Taurus. This full moon looks like a challenge of sorts, asking us what we need to change or providing us with a change we didn’t necessarily ask for. With this full moon opposite Mercury in Leo, this energy may come in the form of a conversation, an idea, or a piece of information, and with it sextile to Chiron in Aries, while this moment might sting, it might also help heal something along the way.
Leo season breakdown:
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The sun moves into Leo on Monday afternoon, excited to be at home in the fixed fire sign, but it’s immediately greeted with a cold opposition to the planet of power, control, and intensity by the evening. This takes an otherwise exuberant moment of summer and can add a level of complexity, obsession, and even paranoia. But this is the 3rd planet that has opposed Pluto in the last month (Venus and mercury already moved in Leo, before the sun) so we have had a little experience with this energy lately, and once it starts to clear, it may get easier to move with authenticity and self assuredness as we head more deeply into Leo season. On Thursday, Mercury moves into its home sing of Virgo, increasing our sense of our resources, and giving us a boost when it comes to details, communication, and moving through the world with dexterity. Eventually Mercury will station retrograde in Virgo, but for now it will likely feel comforting to have the quick moving planet of information in a sign that it's comfortable in. Later in the evening the sun in Leo sextiles Mars in Gemini, giving us a boost of motivation and energy, possibly making us feel more vitalized and excited than we did when the week began. Finally as the first weekend of Leo season comes around Chiron stations retrograde encouraging us to take the opportunity to review some of our wounds and reassess how we're feeling in our bodies, and how we feel expressing our autonomy, and our power.
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In the early part of our week, we may find ourselves experiencing some healing connections or some interactions that help us to feel more authentic and more comfortable being ourselves as Venus trines Chiron (which stationed retrograde last weekend), pulling focus to our healing journeys. As the middle of the week rolls around, we’ll get a boost to our vitality, possibly feeling more authority and more comfortable being seen, as the sun in Leo trines the north node in Aries while Mars is sextile to both the north node and the sun from its position in Gemini. This is a great time to get something done, make progress, and allow yourself to experience some momentum. But as the work week closes out, Venus forms a square to Uranus in Taurus bringing unexpected changes, an increased need for freedom, and possibly some surprises in the areas of our connections, our creative practices, and our values. The weekend brings the first lunation of Leo season, a new moon that asks us what we're committed to, what truly matters to us, and how we're willing to work for what we long for. This is a great time to set intentions around something you’re passionate about and something that helps you feel aligned with the truest version of yourself. Then Venus moves into Virgo, a sign it is less comfortable in, but a sign where it is great at piecing apart what truly matters and getting very specific and detail-oriented about what brings you joy, what you’re looking for in your connections, and how to move in alignment with your values. The week ends with Mercury stationing retrograde in Virgo, it will be retrograde for the remainder of Leo season, asking us to review the details of our lives and how we move through our lives energetically.
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This week offers a break from the heavy hitting transits that Leo season has brought so far, the only transit of note is a sun sextile to Jupiter in Gemini giving us a boost of confidence, energy, and capability as we move through the week. This is a week to rebuild your energy stores as Leo season will pick up in intensity and comes to a close on a bit of a challenging note, one that asks us to meet the moment with diligence and accountability. A sextile to Jupiter can feel like a small breath of fresh air, a little encouragement, or a little treat to rejuvenate you to go the distance.
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The week begins a little slowly but you might feel your energy, your motivation, and your drive building because on Wednesday Jupiter and mars conjoin in Gemini, boosting your conversations, your debates, and your flexibility as you move through the world. This conjunction is building in a square to Saturn in Pisces (which will exact before the end of Leo season) making it possible that we will feel restricted and challenged by something structural or immovable in some way. On the same day Mercury retrogrades its way back into Leo, adding some passion to the way we communicate and giving us the chance to review our thinking patterns from the end of July.on Thursday the sun trines Chiron giving us some support in seeing ourselves authentically and helping to heal a wound about our self-expression or self-determination, but later that night Mars squares Saturn challenging our desire to move forward with a need to hold ourselves accountable for the direction we are moving in. Just as those midweek transits begin to dissipate, on Sunday Mercury squares Uranus, brining unexpected, surprising and potentially distributing conversations and ideas to the forefront of your mind. This is the second time Mercury has squared Uranus because of its retrograde, so this might bring up, or continue a conversation from the very end of Cancer seasons (July 21st). On Sunday evening the sun conjoins Mercury, marking the midpoint of the Mercury retrograde, and providing us with a moment of clarity, and competence where mercurial tasks and topics are concerned. This is the best moment during the retrograde period to handle details, make plans, sign contracts, and generally do the things that astrologers warn against during Mercury retrogrades. Finally on Sunday night, Venus in Virgo squares Jupiter in Gemini, adding to the tension that mutable signs have been housing this week. The square, while not so difficult on it’s own necessarily, indicates a need to check yourself where pleasure, connection, and indulgence are concerned. This could be a day when we feel pulled toward excess but it's important not to fall too deeply into the hedonism, especially with Jupiter still conjunct to Mars and this square forming a t-square with Saturn in Pisces. We need to make sure that we are acting responsibly and remember that we can use our abundance, optimism and desire to have fun, to build a world for ourselves that helps us to sustain our desires, connections, and fertilize the soil we plant our intentions in.
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Monday carries the energy from Sunday night (and the middle of last week) into the final week of Leo season, as Venus moves from its square to Jupiter into an exact opposition to Saturn. We may feel an added need to set boundaries in our relationships, keep track of where our energy is going in our connections, and to ensure that our lives feel aligned with our values and what we want. This is wrapped up in the larger t-square in mutable signs, and later this evening Jupiter in Gemini squares Saturn in Pisces which is one of the more significant transits of the year and the climax of this mutable t-square energy in some ways. This is the underlying big picture conflict that everything else has been alluding to, poking at, and highlighting. This Saturn Jupiter square is asking us how we prioritize, how we grow things that matter to us, and how we keep our big picture ideal, philosophies on life, and the larger ways we want to live aligned with what we need to meet our goals, sustain ourselves, and provide our lifestyles with longevity, maturity, and structure. The first day of Virgo season will bring us Venus square Mars, but in some ways we might find that operates as a closer to the themes that have come up over the last week (and have been building possibly since Jupiter entered Gemini at the end of may). Monday has a lot going on, along with the mutable energy the sun in Leo squares Uranus in Taurus bringing unexpected shifts and changes which are then further highlighted by the full moon in Aquarius just before noon, which may feel a little explosive, unsettling, or else quite exciting. We get the final few days of Leo season to integrate some of these changes and then on Thursday the sun moves into Virgo.
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Full transit list:
July 22nd (12:44a) The sun enters Leo (0°)
July 22nd (10:37p) The sun in Leo opposes Pluto in Aquarius (0°)
July 25th (3:41p) Mercury enters Virgo (0°)
July 25th (7:32p) The sun in Leo sextiles Mars in Gemini (3°)
July 26th (6:58a) Chiron in Aries stations retrograde (23°)
July 30th (12:54p) Venus in Leo trines Chiron in Aries (23°)
July 31st (1:48a) The sun in Leo trines the north node in Aries (8°)
August 1st (8:18p) Mars in Gemini sextiles the north node in Aries (8°)
August 2nd (6:26a) Venus in Leo squares Uranus in Taurus (26°)
August 4th (4:13a) New moon in Leo (12°)
August 4th (7:22p) Venus enters virgo (0°)
August 4th (9:56p) Mercury stations retrograde in Virgo (4°)
August 7th (6:36a) The sun in Leo sextiles Jupiter in Gemini (15°)
August 14th (8:21a) Mars in Gemini conjoins Jupiter in Gemini (16°)
August 14th (5:15p) Mercury re-enters Leo (29°)
August 15th (10:12a) The sun in Leo trines Chiron in Aries (23°)
August 15th (10:30p) Mars in Gemini squares Saturn in Pisces (17°)
August 18th (2:46a) Mercury in Leo squares Uranus in Taurus (27°)
August 18th (6:58p) The sun in Leo conjoins Mercury in Leo (26°)
August 18th (10:52p) Venus in Virgo squares Jupiter in Gemini (17°)
August 19th (1:29a) Venus in Virgo opposes Saturn in Pisces (17°)
August 19th (9:45a) The sun in Leo squares Uranus in Taurus (27°)
August 19th (11:25a) Full moon in Aquarius (27°)
August 19th (2:46p) Jupiter in Gemini squares Saturn in Pisces (17°)
August 22nd (7:55a) The sun enters Virgo (0°)
Happy Leo season!
The sun moves into Leo on July 22nd at 12:44 am