Hear me Roar—Sun in Leo meets moon in Aquarius—29th July.
You mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling. Christopher Nolan.
We’re almost half-way between the summer solstice and the autumn equinox.
The sun entered Leo on July 22nd, a sign that has been associated with the fierce heat of summer for thousands of years. The Mesopotamians recognised the lion-shaped constellation as early as 4000 BCE, and lion motifs and enormous statues appeared alongside thrones and in temples throughout the Indus valley. The bright star Regulus, the “star that stands at the Lion’s breast”, was one of the four Royal Stars of Persian astronomy, a regal guardian of the four cardinal points in those ancient skies. To ancient star gazers, priests and farmers, the sun’s dominant presence and heat matched the qualities assigned to Leo. Wild lions, king of the beasts, their manes shining in the mid-summer sunlight, entered human settlements in search of prey and water. Golden-maned lions, gods and kings of the Bronze Age then became the haloed martyrs, messiahs, the saints and emperors, heads surrounded by radiating light, depicted in the iconography of ancient Egypt, Greece, Italy, and in the Hindu and Buddhist religions.
In medical astrology, Leo rules our spine and our heart. As the sun illuminates the Leo part of our birth chart, we consider a time in our life where we felt too much for someone, where we stifled our passion, our instincts, our natural sexuality. Leo symbolises confidence, our authentic self-expression, the courage it takes not to shrink from our true worth.
In her resplendent memoir, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” Maya Angelou writes: “I believe that each of us comes from the Creator trailing wisps of glory. We are born to this moment for the purpose of realizing our inherent strengths and striving to become all that we are capable of being. But we are not capable of being our best unless we have the courage to face who we are and to live out our full potential.”
Filmmaker Christopher Nolan was born on July 30th 1970, as the sun moved through Leo. (Birth chart below.) His latest gigantic, shimmering offering, The Odyssey, an Imax-sized, broad-brush stroke movie, crowns Nolan as one of today’s leading filmmakers.
His birth chart shows a Leo sun and Mars in a tight, muscular conjunction with Mars adding extra fire power to his presence and charisma and the boldness of his self-expression. Heroes, wars, and larger-than-life characters like J. Robert Oppenheimer and Odysseus have all been subjects that light his solar fire. His moon, in sensitive Cancer rules the Midheaven (status, career, public) and semi-squares Saturn. Mercury squares Neptune, aiding his ability to dream big, to tap into the utter futility of warfare, the grim sorrow of ruined lives and the emptiness of loss.
As we tend to our own solar fire this month of the Lion, a configuration of planets has been silently forming a graceful geometric pattern in the skies since late June.
The energy of this important alignment sweeps through the collective as Uranus (visionary impetus), Pluto (destruction), Jupiter (expansion), and Neptune (dissolution, loss) align at 4 degrees. The alignment is called “Barbault’s Basket”, or less evocatively, “Barbault’s Cyclic Index”, and is billed as one of the most important planetary cycles of the 21st century. The current hype about this alignment is designed to feed hungry algorithms and be regurgitated by Chatbots. It delivers just what the punters want to hear: a collective reset, a rebuilding, a collective healing, societal restructuring.
André Barbault, in Planetary Cycles: Mundane Astrology, wrote: “the next conjunction (of Saturn/Neptune) in 2026 is … is the most benefic configuration of the century, and its interplanetary partnership will work for the best in a splendid relaunch of civilisation.”
Sadly as yet, there are few indications of such a relaunch, though you may be feeling the energy of Barbault’s Basket as you consider an important reset in your own life right now. In your own birth chart, planets or angles at 4 degrees Leo/Aquarius; Aries/Libra; Gemini/Sagittarius will be held in the Basket. Those who wield power in our world seem oblivious to the existential crisis of global warming, the suffering caused by war, or the widening gulf between rich and poor. A conflagration of wildfires scorches vast tracts of desiccated land in Canada, America and Europe, as Saturn (losses, obstacles, reversals) and Neptune (dissolution, sorrow) move through the fire sign of Aries.
Saturn stationed Retrograde on July 26th, with Eris (outraged goddess of discord, contention, and rivalry) turning Retrograde just a few days before (July 22nd). Saturn makes a demoralising T-square to the US nation’s natal Sun-Saturn square, and will then turn direct in November 2026, to square Trump’s natal Mercury-Neptune square, a repeat of February/April 2026 that marked the beginning of the senseless, futile war on Iran. There may be more destruction to vast tracts of the natural world, with untold destruction to wildlife as Mercury, now moving direct, enters Leo on August 10th followed by a solar eclipse in Leo on the 12th. Jupiter in the fire sign of Leo opposes Pluto this month amplifying issues of crisis, survival, death and destruction.
As the sun makes his grand tour through the vibrant fire sign of Leo, the moon positions herself in the opposite sign of Aquarius (6° Aquarius conjunct Pluto at 4º Aquarius) on July 29th. This is a marriage of opposites that aligns with the Basket: Ardent Leo, all heart, and detached Aquarius, ideals and intellect.
Full moons illuminate, bring completion, sensitise and intensify our emotions. This full moon is shadowed by the energy of Pluto, with the sun and Jupiter in Leo, which will further inflate any issue. Transiting Venus and Mars are also forming a fractious square, so be kind and compassionate to yourself and to those around you.
There are few who can stare at the pain of the world without blinking. We all long for some light, vacuous distraction from the reality of raging wildfires that consume forsaken landscapes, the tumult of politics, and the vagaries of the obscenely rich. Yet amongst the little fires or the flames of the inferno, new possibilities will grow, the much longed for changes we dreaded, yet unconsciously manifested.
“Despair is our chance to wrestle with fire and come through,” writes Christina Baldwin. The vibratory signature of this regenerative full moon conjunct Pluto may light the way, even if dimly at first, to a flowering of purpose, a deeper way of listening, a different way of seeing, an outward rush of a life force that floods through us even in the flaming heat and smoky darkness.
To book a personal astrology reading, please get in touch: ingrid@trueheartheart.com
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