The New Moon’s Energetic News:  Leo – 12 August 2026

 By Lynne Hyde

It’s the time of the year for generosity, abundance, playfulness and a return to the child we once were and still hope to be. It’s “Leo” time and we are having a total Eclipse of the Sun. The feminine Moon will stand bare and strong in front of the massive, masculine, burning Sun and will completely and perfectly block all the light rays coming to Earth. Darkness will descend, for a few brief and still moments, onto specific spots on our planet. It will bring a ruptured break; a swirling, sudden, stirring up; a chaotic, yet precise change, that allows the transformative nimble fingers of destiny to rearrange our lives. Eclipses have always been mysterious; their effects unknown and uncertain but what is known is that the “potency of eventfulness” increases.

Important turns occur; important leaders die; storms arise; civilizations can cry. The volume is turned up and we get to the main event, the theme song in the plot of the play. The world and the actors on its stage are moved by a force, not its own. The script is imprinted by the one degree, out of the 360 degrees that are in the zodiac, in the Sign where the Sun, eclipsed by the Moon, firmly stands. Their voices are loud and distinct. The Sun and the Moon stand like urgent ambassadors signaling the inhabitants of Earth that a needed message from the cosmos has arrived. An eclipse ignites an archetypal, fateful implication into our fragile lives that also becomes a direction for our world’s trembling societies.

Twenty degrees of Leo is this season’s message. If you have planets between fifteen to twenty-five degrees of Leo, Aquarius, Taurus and Scorpio (the other Fixed Signs that are in difficult aspect to it) you will be impacted more. Key concepts for Leo that show the areas that could be highlighted in our personal lives are:  issues with our bold confidence or lack of it; how much pleasure and joy we are able to experience in our daily routines; self-expression in unique and creative ways; and our ability to lead and not be shy. In the world around us it may show up as children concerns, powerful leaders coming into prominence suddenly or presidents and heads of state abruptly dying. This is so, because Leo’s symbol is the Lion that leads and protects the kingdom around it. Leo is a Fire Sign and fires are blazing all over the world now with the planet Jupiter having just entered Leo, and Saturn and Neptune joining in Aries, another Fire Sign, last February. Fire has become the focus and the eclipse’s darkness is the destructive force.

There is only one planet in a Water Sign in this New Moon, eclipsed chart – feelings are buried, not able to be excavated.  Mars is at zero degrees of Cancer, a potent World Axis point, and drought is screaming from drying and dying rivers and bays all over the globe. The North Node is savoring its last indulgence out of Pisces’ elegant wine glass and there is only Chiron, having just stepped into a solid Earth Sign. The rest of the heavens above us are filled with four celestial bodies in Air Signs and six in Fire Signs. No wonder we see wildfires rising, raging and spreading horrifically on our headline news, and sadly, it’s not going to end soon…

There is grace, beauty and some financial ease in this cycle; with Venus in Libra, in a beneficial aspect with Pluto in Aquarius and Uranus in Gemini, there is unusual brilliance living here too. Venus has entered Libra, which it does every two years. It is strong here and is said to be the “ruler” of this Sign, meaning it holds power to achieve what it desires. Venus and Libra desire “peace, prettiness and prosperity.” We will want to pay attention to how we look, we will want to dress our best. We will want to have flowers on our kitchen tables and we may find unusual and unexpected ways, with Uranus involved, to be more fortunate. Take a risk, speak up about what you want, use passionate affirmations with this Grand Air Trine and with Venus, who is able to attract money, fully in charge.

Venus, though, is also challenged by Mars and Neptune. She opposes Neptune and squares Mars and this gives way to complicated confusion; some roughness in relationships; some lack between the sexes, of getting what we need and want; and some blurriness with our boundaries that can lead to guilt. Our values are out of sorts with what we desire and we may not feel readily supported this month. It may be hard to work through this with Mercury, the planet of communication, in opposition to Pluto, the planet of control. These two may give way to heated verbal battles, difficult obsessional thinking and even gossip that stings. It’s tricky and we must be careful with our words and intentional with our thoughts, to save ourselves…The politics, politicians and situations that are spiraling now may create extra havoc and upheaval in this heated-up eclipse season.

Eclipses come in pairs. Generally, when there is a Solar Eclipse, two weeks later there is a Lunar Eclipse, when the Full Moon is blocked, this time by the Earth. This eclipse won’t be total but it sure will make an indelible mark, like a blotch of oily, black ink on a fine piece of fabric. It’s because the Sun has Mercury just a degree away, at its side, opposed by the Moon, and all three planets are squared by Uranus, who is a heckler, the planet of uncertainty and severe disruption. The aspects are close to being exact. This creates a flashy flavor, like an overly strong spice that everyone can taste in a soup.  It may show up as an event that’s raw, sharp and surprising. This Lunar Eclipse, that takes place August twenty-eighth, may be more intense than the Solar Eclipse that precedes it. What we need to know is that we are in the Eclipse Season – a time of shifting, directional instability. We all must let go and let the Gods do their needed dirty work; and we know no one likes the clean-up of change …

Yet even with the drama, it’s time to go on vacation, it’s time to put a drink in hand and appreciate the view, it’s time to take a break and remember that life is about enjoyment. It’s time to play and have fun. If we can’t experience the joy of “Leo’s” magnificence now, we won’t have an open door that beckons us in for another year. Make sure to take pleasure from sipping from Leo’s bountiful Solar Eclipse cocktail this month!                 

Title Image Credit:  thedigitalartist-solar-eclipse-1115920_1280