After the latest turbulent times, we have the New Moon in Leo, full of positive promise and enjoyment. It opposes Neptune in Aquarius as if the pleasure and warmth of the individual needs to be expressed, in spite of our sensitivity to the suffering of humanity in various situations in the world. Let your heart celebrate the gifts you do have, and share your pleasure with those around you. In that way humanity benefits from each individual’s enjoyment of life.

Saturn has just completed its connection with Pluto: the big changes are on pause for the moment, and we can breathe. Jupiter is moving forward again, and Mars is now in Gemini till the end of September, so we may feel a push to say and do many things all at once, but first we need to take care of our relationships (from 27 July Venus is retrograde, now conjunct Saturn).

Since 27 July, all manner of relationship issues from the past may have been revealed, and need to be brought up to date. Saturn with Venus suggests that we address these issues with responsibility, kindness and respect for each other, if we want to work things out positively.

Re-establishing balance after a turbulent time.

The problem that may have shown up is the wounding of our sense of personal value. The thing to remember is that it’s not being devalued by another person that hurts so much, but our own lack of inner support necessary to empower our personal expression. To feel good in ourselves, we need to respect our feelings, and let people know what they are when appropriate. Most people need to be told how we feel, or they are reduced to guessing. Their responses will be to what they think we feel, and natually will often be different from what we wanted.

In rebalancing the situation, we need to allow the adjustments to be made on both sides: firstly, standing up for ourself allows the other person to recognise who we are, so that they can adjust their responses. And then, we need to receive those new responses and consider them fairly, because they will be based on our truth, rather than previous misunderstandings.

Self-image: ‘be what you wish to see’

At the moment, not only is the New Moon in Leo, but also Mercury and Saturn. Leo is about expressing our true creative nature, rather than being an ego-run personality. So, as Saturn completes its two years in Leo on 2 September, now is a good time to actively upgrade our self-image to one worthy and capable of expressing our spirit. This involves every aspect of the life we surround ourselves with including our home, our relationships, our work, our pets, our possessions, because all of it reflects us. But really of course, it’s what we think of ourselves that matters most.

How we speak to ourselves on a daily basis is a giveaway to how we see ourselves. It doesn’t matter how wonderful your life style is, or how much you tell yourself you deserve the best; if you keep putting yourself down inside, you’ll see yourself as not good enough. It doesn’t matter how much other people tell you you’re fine and they love you, if you are not loving yourself, you will think you’re unlovable and they just haven’t realised yet, or they’re ‘being nice’.

Again, there are two sides to the adjustment: the first is to talk to yourself gently and kindly, as you would any worried and suffering person. The second necessity is to change the behaviour you really can’t accept. If you want to keep it, then accept it and let it show; either adjust your ideals to include it, or let it go out of your life. We are working at becoming more sensitive and intuitive, connecting with the truth of those around us. It is a contradiction to want to hide something of ourselves. The more open and clear we are, the better we ‘see’.

If, when you speak to yourself, you feel authoritative, judging negatively or positively, critical, preaching, even moral, you are nowhere near feeling your spirit. The sound of spirit, if it were to speak, would be gentle, kind, loving, all-inclusive, understanding, peaceful, accepting, allowing, tender. So always try to speak to yourself in a way that your spirit would speak. You will also feel more kindly towards everyone else.

a last thought . . .

At the Full Moon on 28 August, the Earth will be exactly between the Sun and Moon so that our shadow falls across the Moon in a total eclipse. As the Moon will be in Pisces, this is likely to be a very emotional time – good to remember that what you are feeling, probably many others are feeling too. The Full Moon in Pisces is shining onto us from the principle of spiritual connectedness, and the shadow of earth, blocking the light of the Sun in Virgo, could feel like not knowing how to help the rest of the world. We need to remember that it’s up to us to ground our principles in practice, to find ways to help rather than just feeling caring. It’s about backing your words with your resources, walking your talk. Not forgetting to take care of yourself, in order to continue helping effectively.

You might like to watch a 5 minute video via this connection http://theshiftmovie.com/index2.html