Leo New Moon Horoscopes
These horoscopes are meant to guide you through the New Moon in Leo on Sunday, July 23rd. This lunar event takes place less than one degree into Leo, and is the first of two New Moons in Leo, the second being a Solar Eclipse! New Moons are apt for setting small intentions, and to orient ourselves toward stuff that feels ready to be dealt with. Sometimes we don’t navigate our lunar cycles all that clearly or rationally, but can use this time to check in with ourselves about where our hearts are going, where they have been, and where they keep coming back to.
You can read for your sun sign, but if you know your rising sign, you should read that one, too. Take these as offerings, not predictions. Part of the agency you possess is the agency to interpret in ways that help you most, as you navigate the world and make sense of your place in it.
Because the New Moon takes place in Leo, the Leo horoscope speaks to the dominant theme of the lunar cycle, so I encourage all to read it first as a lens for their own sign. For that reason, the Leo horoscope is placed first, but the rest is in the standard zodiac order.
LEO
no matter how far you fall or how dark it gets, you are still the hero of your own story. and yes, you are probably the hero of somebody else’s. heroes can be protectors or they can be disrupters, they can be warriors or they can be diplomats. heroes can be brutes and they can be femmes. and even if they fall short of radical or revolutionary, as most of us usually do, heroes inspire us with their resilience. this is a lunar cycle for figuring out what being a hero means to you. on our heroic journey, new moons help us align what we seek with what we need. this new moon opens up the space to appreciate resilience, and all of the power that we preserve by thriving when we shouldn’t. leo, you are the emblem of this power, and you have a great deal to teach the rest of us about it. take this space to reinvigorate that power for yourself first. take notice of the resilience built into your own bones, your skin, your blood and the heart that pumps it. take space to sit with that heart, and appreciate how it has endured.
aries
playtime is here! leo season allows you to return to your own element of fire, and all of the passion and excitement and activity that feel so natural to you. with the new moon conjoined to mars (your ruling planet), you’re bound to feel especially empowered to take on the world, and inspired to get really creative. the trick with leo season, though, is to take care not to get overambitious and burn out. leo is about sustaining the fire, not just sparking it. it might be worthwhile to reflect on projects you started or wanted to start earlier in the year and use this energy to push them forward. but on a deeper level, this new moon invites you to combine your drive to fight with your drive to play, to demonstrate who you are through how you excite others. it will be hard to sit still and meditate on this, so it may just be a matter of remembering to laugh at yourself, to pace yourself, and to give yourself the space to cool off.
taurus
taurus is at her most heroic building a home, carving out spaces of comfort for herself and her kin. this isn’t something you love to do all the time, but when it’s for a worthwhile cause, you’re down to play the role of provider or protector — and you play it well. the new moon in leo offers opportunities to engage more deeply with this maternal hero. because leo and taurus are both “fixed” signs (signs that sustain their respective seasons), you are likely to face some tension related to your home and family life. family can be chosen, biological, or it can be spatial. this tension is likely to take place at a verbal or intellectual level, with your ruling planet venus moving through gemini. however, this is a lunar cycle, not a saturn return, so i’m talking about the small tensions that keep life interesting, not a big breakdown. you can use this new moon to locate that tension, or to appreciate how you’ve worked through past tensions in this sector of your life.
gemini
as summer progresses into leo season, you should feel some easing up of energy toward a sign that is similarly active and social. this is a new moon that will highlight our heroic sides, where we feel a sense of valor, where we figure out what is worth fighting for. for gemini, that heroic drive happens communicatively. this should be familiar feedback, and probably a little grating for the more introverted gemini. but the gemini hero is more just chatty. gemini heroism involves an intuition for when to hold space for silence, for other voices, and for your own. this is an intuition you possess naturally, it can just take some processing to arrive at a secure place in the conversation. part of where you draw that heroic strength from, that boldness, is your willingness to do that processing out loud, to show your work, to stay open to new conclusions. set an intention for this leo lunar cycle that has to do with learning something new, something that feels good to figure out. enjoy a flow
cancer
as the sun moves out of cancer, you move forward in a new annual cycle. cancer is a “cardinal” sign, a sign that kicks off a season, and so the following sign asks that you sustain the energy of cancer and begin to build momentum. leo season challenges you to take your renewed self-knowledge, and use it to pursue the things you need. conjoined to mars, the new moon in leo asks us about our inner hero. for somebody inclined toward self-sufficiency, it can be bold and brave to ask for what you need in order to stay resilient. cancer’s heroic side, especially cancer rising’s, burns brightest when you’re securing your survival. in other words, it’s manifesting time. take this new moon to set intentions for what you can and will manifest for yourself. don’t rip anybody off, of course, but ask yourself what things you have lacked for too long, what things value most. it’s okay to be a material girl for a little while, to stock up on resources while they are available to you.
virgo
you don’t always have to hide what hurts you. you don’t need to dramatize it or make a joke of it either, just to have it seen. virgo loves to point out the chips and cracks in the wood, but keeps terribly quiet about the splinter in her own paw. the new moon in leo, conjoined to mars, puts an emphasis on how we play the hero. virgo is averse to heroism, and astrology books will often tell you to step aside and be the supportive sidekick. but virgo’s yearning for recognition runs too deep to dismiss. that yearning is valid, and the virgo hero often appears to us as the martyr, whose pain is made very apparent, but only through symbol and metaphor. it is hard to put plainly and undramatically what hurts. as the sun inches closer to your sign, it’s often helpful to identify closures and cliffhangers to the processes that began last september. use this new moon to begin to locate the lingering splinters and wounds. some might stay hidden for now, and that’s okay. this is only a moon, in a lifetime of cycles.
libra
take a moment to consider all of the people you have brought together. consider the webs of support you have helped weave. and consider the boldness it takes to mediate the differences and disparities for the sake of building a community. the new moon takes place in your house of community, so it places an emphasis on the social and professional networks to which you belong. but it also offers space to relieve yourself of the pressure of holding these networks together, something you’re brave to take on but not always responsible for. your ruling planet venus stands in opposition to saturn this week, as well, which means you may struggle to strike a balance between the pleasure of being social and the work of your own higher pursuits. use the new moon in leo to locate yourself within your community. recognize the brave, heroic quality of maintaining a network of support, but make sure you are still giving yourself space to pursue your goals.
scorpio
i think you know better than to try to play hero. you know that things aren’t as simple as bad guys and good guys. but it’s still fair to yearn for recognition of all the heroic work you strive to do: challenging people, loving them, hearing them. the new moon in leo places emphasis on your career, your reputation, where your light shines most highly. it is also conjoined to your ruling planet, the war-god mars. this moon has a lot to do with the dissonance between seeing people and needing to be seen yourself. it has to do with being treated like a villain just because you’re impassioned, and channeling that earnest desire to impact the world with that passion. keep in mind that a new moon is a moment of pause between subtle cycles, not urgent action. this moon that holds little space for seriousness. it asks you not to play hero, but simply to play.
sagittarius
adventure awaits! you have a special relationship to fellow fire sign leo, whose knack for performance and play can inspire you to stay put for a moment and appreciate the view. leo season signals an easy flow of energy for you, because it welcomes the adventurous spirit at the heart of sagittarius. this week, you get a special assist from ruling planet jupiter, as well, who is forming an easy angle to pleasure planet venus. this new moon activates your house of higher knowledge, spirituality, and travel. it opens space for brave decisions and braver actions, even if they take you far away from your comfort zone. if you’re finding friction in your life this week, it may be coming from a less obvious place of ‘too much’ going on rather than too little. use this new moon in leo to retreat for a moment, and either recognize or prioritize the adventures before you.
capricorn
capricorn is an expert at reduction, at the practical magic of downsizing, minimizing, lifehacking. the new moon in leo asks you about excess — what is it time to get rid of? to let go of? the flip side of this talent is an intense familiarity with loss. part of the natural bravery of capricorn is the bravery of letting things go. it can be easy for you to get place great value in material things, because these help anchor your progress in something physical and real. i’m not gonna tell you to reject that. but this new moon might ask you to hold space for the emotional side of loss and letting go, what it means for other people, where it has taken you. with your ruling planet (saturn) opposed to venus this week, whatever you are up against may have to do with the time and energy you can dedicate to close friends and siblings. compromise colors your chart during this new moon, so pay close attention to what you ask of the people closest to you, and what you have already received.
aquarius
when the sun enters the sign opposite our own, we tend to lose our balance. for aquarius sun, leo season is the night to your day; for aquarius rising, it’s the west to your east. in either case, this time of year invokes some doubt about who or what you are, and by extension, how you can affect others. that doubt may put some strain on your love life, especially with saturn (your traditional ruling planet) opposing venus. oppositions like these don’t usually break us, but push us to find compromises. the new moon in leo is about heroes, and that’s a concept that seems way too juvenile and self-involved for the aquarian mind. but as much as you might scoff at hero worship, this moon opens space to reflect on your own heroic desire to save people from themselves. it opens space to ask for the input of others, and to be authentically receptive to it. but most of all, it asks you to balance the people you love the most against your own ego, and to forgive yourself for having one.
pisces
pisces and leo have little in common, astrologically. where pisces loves to synthesize her surroundings to inform who they are, leo often contrasts or contradicts their surroundings to stand out. where pisces is comfortable giving space to others, leo is adamant about taking it up (often to the entertainment of others!) because of this, this lunar cycle can either make you feel disoriented, or it can slip right by. leo is still part of your chart, though, and it usually indicates where we are our most bold or most eager to be recognized. and where you shine the most is also where you ask for the least, sweet pisces. the new moon in leo opens up your house of work, routine, and service. it invites you to ask for recognition for your service and labor to other people’s causes, something you rarely ask for. but this is often where you are at your bravest, and perhaps already more loved and appreciated than you realize. dedicate this new moon to accounting for the work you do for others, and taking more rest than you think you deserve.
XO
KELS
