By Kirsti Melto with Eric Francis | Lunations


New Moon in Leo -- August 12, 2007, 23:02:28 UT. Chart by Solar Fire.
THE LEO NEW MOON occurs at 19+ degrees Leo. The sign of Leo is currently a full house of planets and asteroids, which will make way for the two luminaries.
 
Sun and the Moon are in close conjunction with centaur planet Okyrhoe -- named for the daughter of Chiron and Chariklo. She is definitely the "daughter of the centaurs," and has the shortest orbital period of any of them (24 years). When a lunation is closely conjunct a planet, we pick up the themes of that planet.

Mark Andrew Holmes, one of the more astute observers of new planets, writes, "In Greek mythology, Okyrhoe (in Greek, 'swift running' or 'fast flowing') was the daughter of Chiron and Chariklo. A prophet, she was changed into a mare by the gods as punishment for revealing their plans to humankind. Astrologically, Okyrhoe seems to indicate being criticized or attacked, being able to cope with attacks or unpopularity, ability to stand up for one's beliefs or principles."

In this respect, she takes after her father, Chiron, whose first keyword (given to him by an astronomer) was MAVERICK.

The New Moon is also close to the asteroids Arachne and Isis. Arachne turns up where there are conspiracies, networks of people and the stories of our lives that we weave.

When she is present, there is always a web of intrigue and an interesting story. Isis on the simplest level is about putting puzzles together (including the human puzzle), and on the more complex ones, about the "black goddess," who we like to think does not exist, or who is not a goddess; she's supposedly just an idol. Not only does she exist, she can reign supreme, so we have something here of the conspiracy of the goddess made available to anyone who is willing to be initiated, and the goddess intervening in any conspiracies that may be afoot.

This whole configuration in Leo opposes asteroid Achilles at 18+ degrees and Neptune at 20+ degrees Aquarius. This casts an aura of insecurity over the whole program. Achilles is about a compromised sense of one's adequacy, particularly in women, that is most often not based in reality. It typically represents the mother's projections onto the daughter, which are picked up by the child and end up in an adult woman feeling a sense of personal lack or limitation that is simply not true.

Neptune in this configuration says be clear in your relationships, and don't let your own or anyone else's sense that you are "less than" lead you to believe the same thing. You don't have to accept the insecurities of others as your own. This picks up on the Okyrhoe/Chiron theme of being willing to stand up for your beliefs, and stand out with them. You don't need to accept the illusion of others, about you, or about the world. This is an excellent message: you think for yourself, I'll think for myself. You speak for yourself, I will speak for myself.

Neptune, Achilles and also Chiron are in Aquarius. This represents the crisis of groups and individuals meeting one another. It is easy to take several very smart people and have it become a very stupid group.

The Sun and Neptune are in exact contraparallel aspect (planets are in opposite declinations, which can represent two opposing or complementary viewpoints). Ceres and Sedna at 19+ and 20+ degrees Taurus form the apex of a T-square -- planets at three points of a cross. So the setup is the Sun/Moon/Okyrhoe configuration in Leo; squared by Ceres and Sedna in Taurus; and opposed by Neptune and Achilles in Aquarius.

Both Ceres and Sedna talk about food and nutrition among other themes vital to our world. Ceres was the Roman goddess of harvest, agriculture and growing plants, particularly cereals. But she is also holding the energy of the grief of mothers at this time in history, because of her daughter Persephone, who was "lost" to the underworld. Really, she became the queen of the underworld. Sedna is a similar myth about a beautiful girl who is first lost to marriage, then becomes the queen of the undersea world.
 
This conjunction is saying go within, beneath, and toward our interior landscape or seascape. It is suggesting that we consider the nature of the personal hell that many of our children are in, and consider ways they make the most of that situation. On a global level, Sedna and Ceres are both about food, because Sedna is the goddess of the abundance of the oceans, and Ceres is about the abundance of the land.
 
Sun and the Moon in Leo trine Eris at 21+ degrees Aries. Here, we have a way out of the interesting psychic puzzles presented in this chart. How much of what we experience in life is really the reflection of our own fragmented minds? How willing are we to enter the crisis of that broken self-image? How much of the unfolding disaster of the world is really the product of the simple fact that we feel broken?

Is there any way to repair ourselves, except to begin to pick up the pieces? Or are we missing something else, something more useful: the underlying truth of our wholeness?


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