Happy New Moon in Leo! This New Moon becomes exact on the 8/8 Lion's Gate Portal Day: Sunday, August 8 at 9:50 a.m. New York time (13:50 GMT).
The Lion's Gate is the annual portal between approximately July 28 and August 12 when the sun aligns with Sirius-A, the brightest star in the sky, also known as our spiritual sun. August 8 is considered the day when the alignment is most exact and the Sirian energetic portal is most active.
On this day, With the Leo New Moon falling exactly on the Lion's Gate day this year, it makes it an extra potent portal! The numerology of 8 is very active on this New Moon. The date is 8/8 and the New Moon occurs at 16 degrees of Leo. 16 is of course a multiple of 8!
8 in numerology is associated with abundance, prosperity, manifestation, and success. This New Moon & Lion's Gate portal provides the opportunity for these things! By harnessing these energies well, you can set yourself up for a fortunate, flourishing conclusion to your 2021.
More on the significance of the Lion's Gate later in this article.
We have a stellium in Leo on this New Moon, with the sun and moon loosely conjunct Mercury in Leo. The sign of Leo is ruled by the sun and represented by a male lion. During Leo season, the sun is at home, so people are feeling comfortable in their own skin. Leo signifies the ego, charisma, and being seen in 'all our light' (being fully illuminated by the sun). Leo is also associated with abundance and 'all things gold' (as the sun appears gold in the sky).
If you've been feeling like things haven't been going your way and you're in need of a 'hard reset', this New Moon could provide exactly that for you, especially if you are a Leo Rising (like myself) or if this New Moon lies in your 1st house.
This New Moon sings new beginnings and optimism, no matter which house the moon falls in in your natal chart. However, be aware that with the sun and moon squaring Uranus, change can come unexpectedly or even harshly. Know that whatever changes come over the next 28 days are only for your Highest Good. The Universe in its infinite wisdom knows exactly what you need and will make things happen for you, even if the things aren't expected or initially comfortable.
This is the time to 'go with the flow' and 'roll with the punches'. If you live by the mantra that Everything happens for my Highest Good, you will be just fine.
It's a time to be optimistic and to dream big. The sign of Leo supports the manifestation of our biggest dreams. During Leo season, it's the time to let go of any fear of being seen in all your glory! Let go of any fears on how you are perceived. Be the unique you and bring out the most positive aspects of your personality!
Let's have a discussion on ego and personality.
BRINGING OUT YOUR HIGHEST PERSONALTY
The ego is not inherently bad. The ego is much more complex than that. The truth is, the ego (actually a better term for this is the ego-personality) is the vehicle that is necessary for the experience of being almost any type of physically incarnate being.
If you've ever played or seen someone play the computer game The Sims, you'll recognize this example. The soul is the gameplayer who creates the Sim, and the Sim is the ego-personality. You can't experience the 'Sim World' as the gameplayer (soul/consciousness) unless you create an avatar to experience the 'Sim World'. This avatar is the ego-personality.
I believe that the exact time that you are born is predetermined by your soul, meaning that your astrology is also predetermined. Your natal chart pretty well determines your personality.
Your soul chooses a particular predetermined personality that will allow the soul to experience life from a particular individuated perspective. That particular individuated perspective forms a balance with another particular individuated perspective from another lifetime that represents the polar opposite; and together, the hundreds (or thousands) of unique individuated perspectives that your soul experiences in human form on earth—in different timelines, time periods, and geographic locations; and in different types of bodies, with different ethnic backgrounds, families/upbringings, cultures, economic climates, and geographic climates, etc.--form a complete 'wheel of experience' (to simplify, think of it as your soul experiencing the unique perspectives of all 12 signs of the Zodiac wheel, over and over again, so that it can experience the totality of the Zodiac wheel).
So your soul wants to experience life through your unique perspective. Your unique ego-personality is not a barrier to Ascension; rather, it is the vehicle through which you are meant to experience Ascension.
Now, as you go through your Ascension process, your personality will inevitably shift. Some of the Shadow aspects of your personality that show up in your birth chart—the negative, immature, and unhealthy tendencies and aspects of ego—will dissolve away and you will embody more and more of the most positive, healthy, and Spiritually mature aspects of your particular ego-personality.
I would argue that Eckhart Tolle, Sadghuru, and Matt Kahn are three examples of humans who are probably pretty darn near totally Ascended while in the human vessel. All three of them have distinctly different personalities (yet they're all pretty hilarious). This is proof that the ego-personality doesn't go away as one Ascends—it merely transforms (for a good example of this, read Eckhart Tolle's story of his spontaneous transformation in the early pages of The Power of Now).
In fact, as one Ascends, what is really happening is that the aspects of the personality that come directly from the soul are starting to shine through. I really believe that in the three examples of highly-Ascended humans that I mentioned above, the soul-selves are really just shining through the eyes, voices, and mannerisms of the respective human selves.
Yes, it's true. The soul has a unique personality too! And it's likely that if the soul has a personality, so does the oversoul and the monad. I believe it's likely that all individuated aspects of the All-That-Is have a unique personality. Perhaps it's a logical given, considering all individuated aspects of the All-That-Is have a unique perspective due to having a unique experience of existence.
So we shan't be ashamed of our egos! We only should strive to transmute any of the negative, unhealthy, immature aspects of ego. I did an entire webinar called Dissolving the Ego that contains 12 energetic activation to assist in transmuting the negative aspects of ego. You can find it here.
One of the best ways to bring out that Highest Personality is to focus on purity. As empaths, we tend to sponge up 'stuff' from others, and if we don't know how to set boundaries with others and shield or cleanse ourselves spiritually, we won't be able to experience our Highest Personalities coming to life. You can't be fully YOU if you're expressing all sorts of 'crap' from others!
To experience more purity, it is important to spend occasional time in sacred solitude, and plenty of time in nature. Man is a social creature, yes, and that truth is illuminated during Leo season; however along the spiritual journey the importance of alone time cannot be understated.
It is also crucial to practice spiritual hygiene: take cleansing baths, use palo santo or sage, and use visualization and sound frequencies to keep yourself clear. Cut negative cords with people in your life. Also, exercise daily--it moves stuck energy out of your energy field.
I have a course called Spiritual Hygiene, Grounding & Cord Cutting 101 that is very helpful in assisting you in understanding the types of negativity that can infiltrate your field, and how to clean and protect yourself.
Leo season is the time to highlight the most positive and charismatic aspects of your ego-personality. I feel like as a Leo Rising I need to be an ambassador for this point. Don't be afraid to let yourself loose, to let yourself shine! You deserve it!
I feel I have a pretty good sense of humor. Without my sense of humor, I think my life would be pretty boring and depressing, and I wouldn't be able to meet so many cool people. So I consider my sense of humor one of those 'soul' aspects of my personality.
Here are some questions of self-inquiry to help you figure out which aspects of the ego-personality might be from the soul-self and which aspects you still might need to transmute:
Which aspects of my personality am I most proud of?
Which aspects of my personality serve others best?
Which aspects of my personality feel most associated with Love?
Do I have a tendency to hide these most positive aspects of my personality?
Could I allow myself to shine more?
Am I afraid to be seen? Why might I have this fear? Could it come from childhood? Teenage years? Past lives?
Which aspects of my personality are toxic, manipulative, codependent, or martyrish?
What do I know deep down that I need to do better in order to transmute these negative patterns into healthier ones?
How would my Highest Possible Self act in this body of mine? How would they speak?
Leo is also associated with the Inner Child. Now in the heat of the summer in the Northern Hemisphere, what better time could there be to get reacquainted with the Inner Child?
HONORING THE INNER CHILD
Leo is the most childlike sign of the Zodiac, bringing with it an air of freedom, play and unabashedness. It is an aspect that we all carry within, though unfortunately most of us forget it is there as we journey from childhood to our teen years and into various stages of adulthood.
As adults, we can become so disconnected with how it feels to be a child. Lately, I have found myself recalling how amazing and adventurous everything was when I was a kid. How my friends and I would spend from after school until sundown playing sports and games in my backyard, taking breaks to drink my mother's delicious fruit punch. My yard was the biggest in the neighborhood, so all the kids would congregate there.
I am so grateful for my dogs, as they bring me into that childlike consciousness constantly. Everything is exciting to a dog! My beloved dog Sebastian adores running outside in circles, chasing squirrels and then barking at them when they run up the trees. He has so much fun! One of the many irreplaceable gifts that dogs give to humans is helping us adults to learn to play again, to be present, and to ground to the Earth.
Most adults in today's Western world have become disconnected from their Inner Children. Society is structured in a way that most people don't have time to connect with their Inner Child, as they are too busy just trying to earn enough money to survive. And many of those who do make more than enough to survive end up finding themselves lost in illusions/addictions like gambling, alcohol, drugs, pornography or sexual obsession.
In fact, one of the reasons that so many teens and adults find themselves so enamored with those things is that it gives them an outlet to play. (Note: I'm not saying there's anything inherently wrong with gambling; alcohol; substances that are classified as drugs; pornography; or sex; it's all about how they are used—is it a healthy experience of play/pleasure or is it addiction/obsession/escapism?)
But we can find ways to play in more innocent ways. We can dance. We can make silly faces. We can make jokes. We can go for a barefoot walk in the woods. We can take a family adventure to the ocean. We can play catch with a Nerf ball. We can go camping, put away our phones, and play board games. We can sing silly songs.
Doing an Inner Child meditation would be a great idea around this New Moon. I like to take myself in my mind to a beautiful forest scene and really sink into this setting. I then imagine my Inner Child approaching from a distance, and I ask him what is it he needs from me that I haven't been giving him?
I embrace him, I hug him, and I make sure he feels like I am there for him and I am listening to him. If you've never done an Inner Child meditation before, you may find that your Inner Child shows up at the age that you feel like you experienced the most trauma and abuse. This is because whatever basic physical or emotional needs that weren't met by your caretakers at that age are what you then spend the rest of your lifetime healing.
The things that people say or do that trigger you most directly relate to those unmet needs of your Inner Child. As an awakening being, you now have the opportunity to heal your Inner Child and experience the liberation of being a fully integrated sovereign adult consciousness. To do this, we first must get to know the voice of the Inner Child and identify what needs he or she has.
When the Inner Child's needs haven't been met and then are continuously ignored during adulthood, the Inner Child must find a way to get the conscious attention of the operator of the consciousness. So, the Inner Child will put on a scary mask, so to speak, and become the Shadow. The Shadow Self can trigger you to act out in the darkest of ways, or even to attract people to treat you in nasty ways. The Shadow Self may sabotage your dreams and make it difficult for you to move forward.
The good news is that by listening to the voice of the Inner Child, the Inner Child feels seen, heard, and acknowledged, and thus doesn't need to morph into the Shadow to get your attention. When we consciously make the choice to honor those needs that the Inner Child has let us know he or she has, we can make rapid leaps forward in our spiritual development.
Here are some questions to ask yourself to help you get into deeper communion with your Inner Child:
- If I had to guess, what would my Inner Child say about my life as it is now? Would (s)he be happy about it?
- If I had to guess, what would my Inner Child say about my current living environment? Would (s)he be happy about it?
- If I had to guess, what would my Inner Child say about my current job/career? Would (s)he be happy about it?
- If I had to guess, what kind of things have I been neglecting to give my Inner Child that (s)he needs?
- Which activities or creative endeavors from my childhood have I neglected lately?
- Have I been taking life too seriously?
- Do I let myself fall into the trap of the seriousness of those around me?
- In what ways am I still mean or nasty to myself? How can I stop being mean or nasty to myself?
- Am I OK with failing? How could I learn to be OK and forgive myself when I fail or mess up?
- Do I forgive myself instantly or do I tend to hold things against myself?
- How could I practice instant self-forgiveness?
- Do I tend to let others' negative emotions take me over? How could I avoid this pitfall?
- Am I OK looking silly or stupid to others? Does what others think of me actually really matter?
- Am I truly honoring my deepest desires?
CREATING THE HIGHEST POSSIBILITY FOR YOUR ABUNDANCE
The Lion's Gate is the perfect time to anchor in Abundance on all levels for your life and for the world. I would recommend spending some time visualizing your Highest Possible Timeline of Abundance on or around this day. What is it that you want to manifest for your life? What kind of life do you truly want to live? What kind of world do you really want to live in? Spend some time visualizing Abundance of all types for yourself (e.g. financial riches, friendships, partnership(s), business endeavors, travel, your dream home, etc.) and for the world (e.g. peace, affluence and comfort for all). Surround yourself and the planet in a lot of golden light (gold is the color of Abundance). In order to place yourself on the timeline where you will manifest your Highest Possible Abundance, it is necessary to let go of any beliefs about money that won't serve that possibility. Let's discuss.
The truth is that money is not the root of all evil. Money is simply numbers on a computer screen, pieces of paper and pieces of metal. The evil part of the current economic system is the power structure behind it. The money itself is simply a tool to enforce and perpetuate that power structure, but is not the root of the problem. Money is neutral. It is a tool for consciousnesses to interact with one another in a physical plane, and it has neither a positive nor negative charge. Money is unlimited, which is clearly proven by the fact that the Federal Reserve in the United States of America prints exorbitant amount of paper bills at will, which are backed by nothing. Yes, I know this causes inflation. But can you still use the pieces of paper in your wallet and the numbers in your bank account to buy stuff? Money is inherently unlimited, because Abundance is inherently unlimited. (And by the way, this is the essence of the 8 vibration in numerology: Abundance is unlimited.) What is your relationship with money? Do you have enough to support yourself and your family in spite of everything that has been going on? This pandemic has put tremendous pressure on many people due to certain sectors of the economy in many countries completely or partially closing down for periods of time. But many lower/middle class people are still doing OK or pretty well. If you're someone who experienced job/career upheaval over the past 18 months, you may be worried that you won't be able to support yourself or your family into the future. It is important to remember that the Law of Attraction isn't suspended during the pandemic. You still have the power to manifest everything you need to survive and much more by using the power of your thoughts, beliefs, words and actions. It's crucial to examine your beliefs around money, especially if it's been a struggle for you. There is a whole spectrum on which people can fall into different categories based on the nature of their dysfunctional relationships with money. Some people are stuck in poverty consciousness and believe that money is evil and because of the system they will never have enough to thrive. On the other end of the spectrum, there are people who are in reality very wealthy and yet they are everlastingly on an obsessive, harried chase to acquire more money based on a subconscious (or even conscious) fear that they still don't have enough yet to feel safe.
In between these two extremes we find a middle road of a healthy relationship with money. On this middle road, money is neither a source of stress nor greed.
As a Lightworker, your Service Work may be very much tied into your financial health. As you step more fully and committedly into your Service Work—whether that is tied in with your career or not—you will energetically align yourself with the vibration of Abundance, and if your career is your Service Work, it will support you fully.
The essence of Service Work is giving back. You are giving back to yourself, to your family, to others, and to the world. Giving back puts you into the vibration of Abundance, because when you are giving back, you are affirming that you have enough to allow yourself to give back (whether it be your time, money, effort, or all three). So as you activate your Service Work, you will naturally activate your Maximum Abundance (and you get to choose what your Maximum Abundance looks like).
It's a good time right now to harness the energies of this Lion's Gate Portal and come up with a clear picture of what you'd like your Maximum Abundance to look like. Here are some questions you can ask yourself and journal on:
- How much money would I ultimately like to earn (or a better word: create) per year?
- What kind of home would I ultimately like to live in?
- What kind of environment would I ultimately like to live in?
- What kind of romantic relationship would I ultimately like to have?
- What kind of circle of friends would I ultimately like to have?
- What kind of schedule would I ultimately like to have?
- Which other possessions or luxuries would I ultimately like to have?
- What kind of health and vitality would I ultimately like to have?
There are no right or wrong answers here. One person may desire to earn $5 million per year, own several mansions around the world, have a large group of wealthy and active friends, and work 6 days a week for 12 hours a day with a few months off per year. Another may prefer to earn $15,000 a year, live in a tiny home off-grid, grow their own food, have abundant free time, and have few friends and few possessions.
The truth is that neither lifestyle is more or less spiritual than the other. There are no absolutes in this game. You can Ascend as a solitary monk with few possessions or as a wealthy businessman. It is a matter of personal choice and which type of lifestyle would be more aligned with your Life Plan.
The soul situates your life circumstances based on what it knows would be the ideal set of conditions that will be most likely to give you the greatest opportunity to negotiate the lessons you need to move through in this lifetime, in order to balance your toroidal field and move into the next stage of your evolution.
So, if growing up in poverty is going to give you the best opportunity to move through your specific Lessons, that's exactly what will happen; if growing up wealthy will give you the best opportunity to move through your specific lessons, then that will be what happens. Neither situation is more or less spiritual than the other, and regardless of how you were raised, once you access the teachings of the Law of Attraction you are able to shift into wealth, if you so desire.
You do have Free Will. Once you're here and in a body, you get to choose the life you want to live. Perhaps you intuitively feel that a life of excessive riches would be a distraction from the lessons you came here to work on; or likewise, perhaps you feel deep down that building a life of financial wealth will help you to accomplish what you came here to accomplish. Every person is different, and there are absolutely no rights or wrongs here. Anyone who tells you that a rich life is less spiritual than a poor life or vice versa is missing the point of life.
Perhaps reading these words feels freeing to you. You have the Free Will to choose what your Maximum Abundance looks and feels like. Below I have listed some beliefs that will support you having a healthy relationship with money. Feel free to use some or all of these as daily affirmations:
- Money is not evil; it's just a mechanism we use to interact with each other.
- Money is unlimited. I deserve to have enough money in order to thrive.
- I do not apologize or feel guilty for having enough to thrive, because money is unlimited.
- I can choose to give as much or as little away to others who are in need of more money.
- I get to decide how much money is enough for me.
- Money will never make me feel truly safe. I get to decide whether I am truly safe or not.
- I hereby activate my 100% Maximum Abundance for this lifetime. I deserve this!
- I AM financially free!
MORE ON THE LION'S GATE
Let's discuss the history of the Pyramids of Giza, since they are so closely associated with Sirius and the Lion's Gate. The Sphinx in the Pyramids of Giza complex was seemingly built to represent the constellation of Leo. According to the Orion Correlation Theory (an archaeological theory), this is the case. This theory purports that the Sphinx (and thus likely also the pyramids) were built around 10,500 B.C.
According to Wikipedia, “A date of 10,500 BC is chosen because they maintain this is the only time in the precession of the equinoxes when the astrological age was Leo and when that constellation rose directly east of the Sphinx at the vernal equinox. They also suggest that in this epoch the angles between the three stars of Orion's Belt and the horizon were an 'exact match' to the angles between the three main Giza pyramids.”
This would corroborate with the famous clairvoyant Edgar Cayce's thoughts on the timing of the construction of the pyramids—he said that they were built around 10,390 B.C., to correlate with Venus being in the constellation of Libra.
According to Cayce, the pyramids were constructed by refugees from Atlantis, which had likely sunk due to massive crust upheaval and flooding due to high-tech nuclear war. This corroborates with a widely held belief in the spiritual community: that it was post-Atlantean humans that had built the pyramids, under the direct guidance of Siran extraterrestrials, who had given the humans the technology to lift massive stones and have them fly through the air then placed perfectly, using sound frequency technology.
It seems as if the Sirians wanted the Earth to have the pyramids, and it seems that they wanted the pyramids to align with the stars of Orion's Belt. But why? Are the pyramids actually energy generators connecting us to Sirius? Or to Orion's Belt? Or both?
During the Lion's Gate portal, it is a great time to connect with the Pyramids of Giza. Take an astral journey there and sit under the Sphinx. Explore inside the pyramids. If you're interested, you can check out a brief guided meditation for the Lion's Gate that I created a few years ago.
Sirius-A is the brightest star in the Canis Major constellation (as well as in the entire sky). Canis Major is known as Orion's dog, so colloquially Sirius-A is known as the 'Dog Star'.
An easy way to find Sirus-A in the sky, when it is visible, is to locate Orion's Belt in the sky, then draw an imaginary line down and to the left toward the horizon, then look for the brightest star in the sky. The best months to see it are January and February. Nowadays, in late summer in the Northern Hemisphere, it can be seen just before sunrise in the eastern sky.
YOD BETWEEN MERCURY, NEPTUNE & PLUTO
We have a yod aspect in this New Moon chart. A yod is when there is a sextile between two planets, with a third planet quincunxing both of them.
Neptune, still Retrograde in its own sign of Pisces, sextiles Pluto, still Retrograde in Capricorn. With this aspect, we are feeling frustrated with where things are at in the world—by all the unfairness and injustice of it all—however, we are feeling optimistic that progressivism is underway and that the future is bright.
Mercury in Leo forms tense quincunxes to both Neptune and Pluto, allowing us to easily bring up uncomfortable, taboo, or occult topics. If we are going to bring about progressive changes in society during this Age of Aquarius, we need to have open discourse.
On a personal level, new ways of communicating and topics of discussion may be opened up with others in your life, if you are open. Be careful that you are truly listening to others when they speak, and not dominating conversations unduly.
Mercury is also in charge of our thinking. It's a good time to evaluate whether your thoughts are healthy and whether you are living in reality or in illusion?
Remember, a daily meditative practice can do wonders to improve mental health. Grounding practices—like walking in the woods—will ensure that you are brought down to earth (and reality). If you're not living in illusion, you have more energy to make positive changes in your life.
Wishing you a Joyful and Prosperous Lion's Gate and New Moon in Leo!
With Love,
Matthew John