New Moon in Leo | July 23rd - start something new, be careful what you wish for ... part II

star wars tcg luke skywalker by anthony foti

In astrology-speak the Moon is essentially regressive in nature. It is always pulling us back to the past, to the mother-child bond, to our basic security needs, to our core. 

The stuff the Moon rules does not really change much over the course of our lifetime. The sign our Moon is in, the house our Moon is in, the sign on the cusp of our 4th house, planets in our 4th house, the degree of our IC - the very bottom of our chart, if our chart were a clock face it would be at 6:00 - Cancer's placement in our chart - all tell the story of our very essence. What we need to feel nurtured at 2 won't be that different from what we need to feel nurtured at 82.

The Sun is different. The Sun is progressive in nature. It changes. It is active and productive and unfolds over the course of our lifetime. It gives us - our "hero story".

You have probably at some time read something about the work of Joseph Campbell (maybe most famous these days with inspiring George Lucas's Star Wars hero journey) and something he calls the "mono-myth" - which is basically the "hero story" that is told in every culture's mythology. This is our solar story. It's the story of the Sun in our natal chart.

Now in every story the hero isn't born a hero. Even if he is born a prince, he has to earn the right to be a hero.

This earning comes in the form of tests and quests.

If we think about pretty much every movie we have ever seen - there is a hero who starts out looking much like you and me (well maybe not so much like you and me if we are not a white man or boy, but you get the idea - so excited to see the promos for a Wrinkle in Time!), there is a journey, there are some dangers and conflicts so we can muck things up a bit, there is adventure, there are tears and fears, there is joy, finally there is a reward and then the hero returns home (to his family, to his home, to his God), maybe to a hero's welcome.

Sometimes the hero will shirk his duties the first time he is called into service - this often happens and it is often then that he meets some kind of mentor or guide. And of course it is even possible to refuse the call of our Sun totally, in which case it comes back around in a different form, with harder tests and more dragons. Trying to escape the destiny of our Sun during important chart movements and we will likely pay dearly on another level for our refusal to become ourselves.

Sometimes the burden is passed on to our children. And we all carry some unfinished solar business from our ancestors.

Now, our Sun (think movie hero/heroine) starts out with everything it needs to fulfill its journey. It has all the right planets in all the right places for what it needs to do (strengths, weaknesses, upcoming transits representing challenges and opportunities). It has the Moon, which although it can give voice to that part of ourselves that can feel wronged and sorry for itself when we dragged away from our comforts, but can also be depended upon, in times of crisis, because it shows us how to look after ourselves. We have many helpers in our chart that are the energies we carry within us to attract what we need - just what/who/where we need at just the right time.

Now maybe the most important thing to remember about the hero's journey is that although it looks like we are doing what we are doing for ourselves - because the journey is really about becoming who we really are - we are doing this 'becoming' for the collective. The actual thing we are doing though must be pressed into us by some inner necessity - if we do it so other people will be happy, or so other people will love us or because we don't want to rock other people's boats by properly manning our own - we wind up in a whole lot of trouble because we won't be true to ourselves, which is, in a nutshell, what our journey is all about.

Test failed. Quest mucked up. It's tricky and a paradox.

There is a reason the Sun rules the 5th house of our chart - creativity, children, fun, enjoyment, romance - the things that give life meaning! So, the sign our Sun is in, the house our Sun is in, the sign on the cusp of our 5th house, planets in our 5th house, planets talking to the Sun, Leo's placement in our chart - all tell the unfolding story of the hero/heroine within us. The role we are called upon to play.

And just like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz who had a life before and after her journey through Oz that likely involved milking the cows and walking Toto - we have other aspects of our life, too. Life is not all witches and wizards and yellow brick roads.

But we enact the hero's journey (our Sun story) in many different chapters of our life story - some of them so short they come to completion in a week, some maybe even a day. And as soon as we have made any step forward in consciousness and self-unfolding, another call comes in and we are off again. 

The Sun is progressive - it is never finished with us (until we draw our final breath and it is).

So what does all this have to do with next week's New Moon in Leo, well we'll talk about that in part III.  xo all enjoy the day!

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