Hello and welcome. Thanks so much for listening to embodied astrology. My name is Renee. I'll be your host for the next hour or so. I'm a Consulting astrologer a somatic intuitive a human being and an artist my work is to bring the language of astrology into the experience of our embodied lives. And to think about how astrology can be a creative a generous and a generative practice for making sense of our experiences our relationships and what's going on in.World in today's episode. I'll be thinking about Leo and Leo season which begins on July 22nd and last through August 22nd in the first part of the episode. I'll offer an embodiment practice which is a systematic meditation a body based meditation using imagery and the felt sense and lots of imagination and definitely movement if you're so inclined to play with Leo Leo is an energy. And a way of being that exists for all of us in all of our bodies. So I'll be talking about the parts of the body that resonate most strongly with Leo's energy. I'll be talking about the kinds of experiences that Leo describes and I'll be talking about how to work with Leo how to deal with this energy and some of the major themes that are coming up in the next month as we work through Leo season and I got to tell you Leo season is a really strong. Season this year all the personal planets will be in Leo. There's a lot of activity in the other fire signs and I think that in these next 30 days, there's quite a lot of opportunity and maybe some challenge as well. So I'll be offering suggestions and tips for how to become more aware of Leo and its opposite sign Aquarius. I'll let you know what to look for in your chart what to watch for in the season and some opportunities and potential challenges to keep sense or I or ear out for before I get into all of that. I really want to encourage you to listen to your audio horoscopes. So every month at the beginning of the zodiac season, I put out 12 audio horoscopes. These are each about 20 minutes long and in them all go through some of the major aspects that are happening in the upcoming month and all describe these aspects and their influences for your side or for your rising sign specifically. I'd also really Like to encourage you to become an embodied astrology subscriber. You can subscribe at any amount per month. It's by donation and with your subscription you get access to an extended forecast for the month ahead that includes an audio recording and a PDF with room for you to take notes and work with embodied astrology in a more practical way as You observe the daily planetary aspects and lunar cycles for those of you that subscribe you are supporting this practice. So So much your regular contributions make it possible for me to offer these podcasts and horoscopes and meditations regularly. So if you love embodied astrology and you want to support it, please do consider subscribing or making a one-time donation. And as always share it with your friends. That's the number one way to support embodied astrology is to love it and talk about it and share it. Finally. I want to let you know about two recent special episodes that are Out and available for you to listen to now the most recent is a special episode. I did for x-ray FM, which is a radio station based in Portland, Oregon this aired on Thursday, July 18th. And in this episode, I look specifically at the sign Capricorn and the planet Saturn in astrology. I'll be talking about a really significant astrological aspect. That is an application. That means it's growing. All of 2019 and which culminates next year in January of 2020. I'll also be looking at the eclipses and of course, we've just come out of a clip season but these eclipses that we just experienced in July are part of a larger series of eclipses that began last summer and will continue through next summer. So I'll be talking about eclipses and Saturn and Capricorn and I'll give a special message for people who are experiencing their Saturn return. As well as people who were born with the conjunction of Saturn and Pluto, which as I mentioned is happening exactly next year people who are in their Saturn return now for the most part include people who are born between 1988 and 1991 1959 and 1960 to 1929 and 1932 and people who are born with this special aspect that I mentioned are folks who are born between the years of 1981. One and 1983 1946 and 1948 and maybe even a few listeners who are born between 1915 and 1916 in the second special episode, which is called the path from trauma discussions On Wellness with t Aisha Edwards. I talked with my dear friend and esteemed colleague Aisha Edwards, we get in deep. We talked about psychology mindfulness trauma cultural specific trauma as relates to race. Says body identities interracial relationships intergenerational healing and we look at astrology and ayesha's chart and we talked about a lot more you can find the episode links to this conversation with Aisha and to the special episode on Saturn in the show notes or from iTunes or SoundCloud or wherever you find embodied astrology. Thanks so much for listening everyone now, let's get into Leo season. So this is embodied astrology and let's embody Leo. Let's feel into what this energy is how it lives in our bodies and let's welcome in this season with an embodied Attunement Leo as you may know is ruled by the Sun and so with today's meditation will just be exploring the imagery and Imagination of the sun within each of us or this. Idea of the Sun and its Radiance but also its place how its positioned in our galaxy. And yeah, so this meditation is an exploration. It's a really creative meditation the way that I approach meditation is as a practice of tuning in and it's very exploratory. It is experiential indefinitely embodied. I'll be offering the prompts for you to feel into your body to bring into your imagination some of the visuals that I suggest and then of course whatever gets parked for you. I move a lot in my own meditation not always when I'm recording just to spare your ears from the wrestling of the microphone against my clothes and movement, but I really want to encourage you to move and to make this meditation a creative exploration. That's what Leo loves. Please feel free to be in any kind of position to move around as we practice. There are a lot of dancers and body workers and somatic lovers and types of people who listen to this podcast. So you all know exactly what to do. Just tune in B with your body allow it to lead you if somatic meditation or movement meditation is new for you. Then I invite you to really just let the imagery and let my mom's guide you and know that there's not a right way to do this and my hope is that you're always just listening and enjoying the meditation letting it lead you into interesting spaces and that you're taking care of your body. So if that means that you want to sit and be still and really just allow these images to come in and move through your inner body and Imagination. That's great. And of course And any movement is awesome. So make yourself comfortable and ready one more thing I should say is that you might also want a journal or some paper and pens close by I find a lot of times when I do these Explorations. I get kind of aha moments or some kind of insight that I want to record. So if you need pause the recording go get that and then we'll begin. So let's just begin as always with breath and you don't need to change your breath at all. Just notice it. And the nature of the phenomenal universe as scientists are verifying is that when anything is observed it changes and in the recognition that we are being observed we become self-aware and there might be might call it a performance, but we might also call it just like an expression. Somebody's noticing me. So as you pay attention to your breath notice how your breath changes and just bringing your awareness to breath. You may feel the kind of delicious quality of breath as it comes in. Whenever I bring my attention to my breath, I usually notice how my attention wasn't there. And sometimes this means I need a much deeper couple of breaths. And your movement can really facilitate openness in your breath and it can help your breath move through your body. So as you breathe, feel free to explore any movement and especially movement that comes into your spine and into your ribs. Your arms are connected to your ribs and you might want to play with linking movement of your arms into your breath letting your arms stretch out and stretch open reach out to the sides. playing with Direction with height as one or both arms reaches up or out to the sides or down your ribs will pull on your spine and your lungs can kind of fill in the space of your inner body inside the basket of your ribs. And because your ribs are connected to your spine As you move your arms and as your breath fills in the space inside of your ribs, it might also just feel really good to invite a little more intentional movement into your spine. And listen to your breath and allow your breath to guide the spinal movement. So as you inhale, it may feel really natural for your spine to move into a particular kind of shape. And as you exhale, you might notice that the shape changes and again, there's no right or wrong here. So just feel into it. And if you've had a lot of movement training and particularly for yoga practitioners or yoga teachers, there's a lot of instruction within an Asana practice around which breaths go with which movements and I just want to invite you to shake that up a little bit. So if you notice that you have a pattern or habit around breathing and moving in one way does it mean you can't do that, but just kind of see what happens if you let your breath Guide your movement and you can ask some questions about how does your breath really want to move in your body? And how does your body really want to move with your breath? When I'm getting ready for a meditation, especially the kind of meditation that we're going to do today, which is going to bring us deeply into a central kind of awareness. I love to do spinal roles and spinal rolls can look a lot of ways and if you're seated or standing and some kind of vertical orientation just to kind of rolling down and rolling up feeling the way that your spine. Can Flex can curve and every vertebra responds to the ones next to it? And I like to think of caterpillars and how they move and kind of invite that undulation into my spine. And again, the breath has such a big support for this kind of exploration, and if you're lying on your back, or if you're down on the ground spinal roles can be done lying on your back using your feet against the floor to lift your pelvis up and kind of roll your spine from the bottom of your spine from your tailbone side rolling it up and down in relationship to the floor. If you're on your side, you can flex and extend your spine kind of moving in and out of a fetal position and some like I don't know High diver position or this opposite of a fetal position. So lots of different ways to explore kind of just a undulating or Rippling movement through the spine. No right way. A tune your inner awareness and focus your inner gaze in this part of your body. I really think that imagination is helpful for increasing and cultivating a felt sense in the body. So if you love Anatomy like I do and you have some pretty clear images in your head of what a spine looks like or what a torso looks like then as you move call in that awareness and that image and see how your bones are moving. And see also the space around your bones particularly the space around your spine as if there is another kind of column tube encasing your entire spine and just feel how the movement of your bones is also held in space. So no, you know crunching and the joints try and really bring in like a fluid and gentle Now if you don't have a lot of clear images of anatomy in your head then maybe you want to imagine like a worm or a snake or again a caterpillar. And you might imagine that kind of shape and that kind of movement right through the central core of your body. So you could imagine your body being home to a giant caterpillar and that caterpillar takes up the central core of your body. So it's headend kind of comes up where your head is and its tail end would come down through the center part of your pelvic floor. And then it's soft ripply undulating body would move through the center of your torso. And you could just play with that as an image. And of course any other images you have are great. So I'm going to transition in my guidance now to some more abstract questions. And as I propose these questions or ideas, please continue to move if it calls you continue to express in any way. If you have your paper close by and like words come in or images come in and you want to take a quick note definitely do that. Feel free to pause the recording at any time for longer notes. So I'd like to really bring attention into this Central core. And again, this could be your spinal column as well as the space around your spine. Or you might imagine this kind of ripply more Serpentine being inside your body, but let's have it be you're being so if you've got that inner caterpillar this is you as a caterpillar What colors would you be? So bring your awareness into this Central core. And then let your awareness come into the Centre of the central core. And in this very central place in your body look for your own Essence. And this question. I'm about to ask is a question that we're asked so many times in our lives different ways. Who are you? Really take that question and who am I? And go deeper than the words go deeper than your name go deeper than your job go deeper than your passions go deeper than your causes go deeper than all the layers of your Earthly existence and its identities. And come all the way into an essence. And see if there is an answer to this question of who am I? That's an essence? And that Essence is right at the center of your central core. And this doesn't have to be an answer like a definitive definitely is probably a searching. What is your essence feel like? What makes you you and not me? What are the qualities of your unique Essence and as you consider this you might consider your energy? The deepest most true sensation of what you spread and how you radiate your eminence your vibe. But again, this is underneath all the layers of thinking and all the layers of identifying. It's something that is so so so deep. and so distinctly you and let's start to imagine that that Essence will grow. And right from the center of your central core that Essence is going to start to expand out omnidirectional e in all directions and every direction possible. And this Essence is going to grow and it's going to grow through your central core again, all directions to the sides up down all the diagonals. And that Essence is going to spread through your flesh through all of your tissues. It's going to spread into your skin. It's going to spread outside of your skin into a kind of Aura all the way around your body. Now as I'm imagining this I'm noticing this kind of question coming up for myself. I'm like, what is my Essence? And so it's this feeling of you know, when you observe the breath the breath changes when we observe the essence the essence all of a sudden becomes perhaps aware of itself. It's like, oh you're looking at me. Who who do you think I am? Who do you want me to be? And maybe the essence and the mind start to have a dialogue. And so if you resonate with that and you were doing this and you're like, oh no, what is my essence or anything like that? Let yourself just get as simple and as trusting as you possibly can and you might imagine your essence as light and that light could be any Hue of course light comes in lots of different shades and colors and Vibrance he's and so whatever light really kind of feels like your essence In This Moment. And again, we want to find like the purest most essential. Radiance like who are you underneath all of the stuff? It's an unwavering kind of quality. It's so true. And let's now call in the Sun as a guide. And so you can bring into your imagination any image you have of the Sun? So this collection of hydrogen and helium this ball of gases that is igniting. All of the time that is a flame and is constantly casting its Radiance and heat out in all directions omnidirectional e my astronomy is lost to me at the moment. I forget what's right at the center of the Sun but it's some kind of gravitational. First whatever is at the center of a star. Kind of pulling in space dust pulling in matter and then combustion radiating out. And let's place this image of the Sun at the center of your Center. And wherever that Center is, you know it. In my own body, I feel that Center kind of little bit between my heart and my belly button very deep to my spine. So in my imagination, I'm going to call the sun right into this part of my body. And I'm going to imagine this sensation of the Sun that has a gravitational force. So it's pulling in space dust. It's pulling in matter. It's pulling in gases, but then there's this metabolism right at the center of the Sun that is combustion. And as it pulls in material firms it up and then that burning creates this light and heat and that light and heat is cast out in every direction and that light and heat is my own essence. So now the imagination is that this very pure sense of essence is also calling in nourishment is calling and some kind of sustenance. and that might be like a Well, this is a very opposite image of a sudden but it just came to me like a whale sonar How Sound goes out and bounces against things and then that helps them to locate mixing metaphors a lot. But you might imagine how your kind of inner Sun the center of your Center is emitting out some kind of vibration that then calls in. Materials that calls in experiences it calls in. Who knows what and it comes right into your Center and then you burned through it and it becomes part of your Radiance part of what your kind of emitting out. And then let's really kind of increase this awareness of the gravity at the center of the Sun how it pulls towards itself. And let's call into our imagination all of the planets and of course many of the planets have their own moons their own satellites. We have comments. We have asteroids all kinds of stuff that orbit the Sun. And so you might imagine yourself at the center of your own center with this Radiance that attracts. And that pulls in other objects and those objects are now going to orbit you. And since this is our imagination, let's give some personality to those objects. These could be whatever you feel is orbiting you right now the consistent thoughts. You've been having recently the people who you're around right now the experiences that are very present. And so the imagination now is that there is The center of your own Center and this is your pure essence. And you're pure Essence is calling in towards itself what will feed it and it's burning through. It's like taking it all in and it's going yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes, and then there's combustion. And then your light is extending out expanding out all around you. And these other things are being pulled into your orbit, and they're circling you. And these things these bodies these experiences these planets are pulled in by your Gravity by your Radiance by your light. And they're circling and they're circling and they have their own paths. They have their own trajectories. Sometimes they collide. And just notice as you kind of Imagine these orbits how your energy and how your essence is responding to them. Sometimes it might be that you get so kind of attentive to the imagination of someone else's orbit that that's the thing you're paying attention to more than your own Essence and I want to just invite kind of consistent coming back into like this Center the center of the center. This kind of pure true radiance. But that will also include the awareness of what's orbiting. And so now let's just kind of notice any any Sensations any ideas that come up in the space between your own Essence. And what's orbiting you sometimes we might feel a pull that pull could feel like attraction, but it could also feel like a deviation like you're pulling me out of my own Center planet is very heavy. It might feel really exciting. Here I am at the center emitting my own Essence and then there is all of this Gathering and accumulating around me. You could feel very powerful. The sensation I'd like to call in right now is a sensation of trust. And that trust sensation is knowing that each thing each body that's orbiting yours has its own center of gravity. It has its own trajectory. And how its pulled in as its own course, it's own directionality. And your job all of our jobs is to just be in the essence in the center of the center. What is the most true? So we want to kind of just trust in the orbital Paths of whatever is orbiting spiraling around us. And then we want to feel that the center of our own centers are vibrant their vital. They're radiant and they're expanding out in all directions. and in the awareness of other bodies that are orbiting we can just continue to trust Essence to trust what's being expressed from this center of our own Center. And then we'll shift perspective again, and let's take a big zoom out. like our Consciousness can be put into a telescope and it's going to zoom way way way way out and we'll see our sun our star where it is, which is in a corner of the Milky Way galaxy on one of its arms as Carl Sagan said, it's like a unimportant little Suburb in the kind of swirling energy of our Milky Way of our galaxy. And along this one arm of the Milky Way where our son is kind of right at the tip end there are thousands and thousands and millions of other Suns Burning Brightly and all of them have their own stuff that's orbiting around them. I forget how many arms the Milky Way has so let's just imagine a couple maybe four or five more than a couple. Several or a few and all of these arms have their own sons and clustered around the center of the Galaxy are more and more and more and more sentence. So there is an infinitude of son's all burning all emitting all radiating from their own centers with the orbits of other stuff spiraling around them. And if in that imagination there was a Oh, no, I'm not the only son or a feeling of but wait I'm way out in the corner of one arm of the Galaxy. I'm not even close to the center. Then just kind of notice that and see if you can just come back to this feeling of the center of your own center burning. There's this brightness. There's this magnetism. It is purely your you your own your own essence. Pure truth of your being submitting out. And let's combine that with the awareness of all of these other Sons. all purely emitting out and just like we imagined with whatever was in our own orbits. Let's imagine a sense of peace. and freedom So there's not so much of a concern about the other Sons whether their orbs are brighter colors were vibrant. They have more orbiting around them. We're just going to continue to come back into the radiance of our own Center the center of our own centers. He and then we'll come back to this first question. Who am I what is my own Essence? And this might be a moment to take a few notes to draw a picture if you're doing this practice with other people around maybe to pause and share. What did it feel like would it feel like to be at the center of your own Center? What are the qualities of your own essence or what is the kind of pure sensation of truth the truth of that essence? How does it feel to have stuff orbiting you? What did you notice? How does it feel to be in this kind of part of the Galaxy that is a little bit of a suburb? Not so noticeable noticeable suburb in the Milky Way. What does it feel to be part of an infinitude of son's one in mini? So feel free again to pause to take notes. And I'll transition now into a little bit of talking thinking about Leo and always, please feel free to move to express anything that I'm saying that Sparks creative offering from you like anything. I'm giving you that comes in and you're like, oh I want to move like the header. I want to draw or I want to write something down or I have an idea. I want to share it. You just do that. Just follow you. So Leo is the fifth sign of the zodiac and the Northern Hemisphere. It's the middle of summer in the southern hemisphere. It's the middle of winter Leo is the opposite sign of Aquarius. And of course, if you've heard me talk about the Zodiac before you may have you probably have heard me talk about polarities. So Leo and Aquarius are part of the same thing. They are not actually different one requires the other the middle of the summer requires the middle of the winter. The energy of Leo requires the energy of aquarius. So let's start with Leo Leo is ruled by the sun in the astrological language. And of course the sun has a really important place in our astrological symbolism being that it is the center of our solar system. And without the sun. We do not live without the sun. We don't have light. We don't have a warrant. We don't have food. Food and so the son therefore is the life Essence within the astrological chart. Your son is the center of your being it is what gives life Its Your vitality and without the sun. There aren't all the things that orbit you and the stuff that orbits you is your life. It is the context of your life your body all of your experiences all of your identities Etc. So Leo as a sign and everyone has Leo in their chart somewhere in their chart is associated to centrality. Where are we in our most centered space? And what is it that we are here to radiate and to admit what is the vibration or the resonance? That is totally unique to us each one of us. And just like the sun whatever our Radiance is has its own magnetism and gravitational pull. So what we Emit and how we shine is also an offering what we spread out into the space around us pulls in and invites participation. What? It's pulled in is not always what we want but it is potentially what will help us refine and know our own Essence. So when we think about the Sun or when we think about Leo within these ideas, it's important. I think very important to remember with astrology that it's not prescriptive. It's not this kind of, you know, cookbook. Nation or Duty that's given to you. Like this is your son. This is who you are. But this is more of a question around something that needs to be expressed. So that certain experiences can come into your orbit so that you can burn through them so that you can learn more about your own Essence and Emit and radiates that Essence uniquely. Now within the astrological lexicon within the symbolism of this language, of course, we have all the planets in our solar system and we're always discovering and naming new planets and the planets have their own characters. So for example, we have mercury the closest planet to the Sun. This is a character of communication and the mind how we think about ourselves how we identify then we have Venus. Venus is a symbol of love what feeds us what sustains us what's important to us? How do we get what we need Venus is our magnetism or attraction and also how we connect then we have the Earth. Of course can't forget the Earth the terrestrial play in our bodies. We have Mars our actions our desires what we're going to go for we have Jupiter. Or how we make meaning out of our Lives how we want to expand the stories. We tell about ourselves. We have Saturn our work our labor what we have to work through in order to become wise. You're honest our breakthroughs how we shift perspective how we awaken Neptune our dreams our intuition our creativity connection to Spirit sacred Pluto death the unknown With the exception of Pluto, which is no longer really classified technically as a planet. These are the planets in our classical solar system. But of course as I mentioned, there's all kinds of planets that are constantly being discovered. There's the moon which orbits the earth and we might think about all these planets as being part of what our Central Essence is pulling in. So the planets have their own characters they have their own needs. The need to communicate with Mercury the need to love and to sustain ourselves with Venus the need to take action to you know, prove ourselves in some way to exist with Mars. So we have these needs that are orbiting us and the needs bring in their own magnetism. They bring in their own pull their own gravity and there's a kind of idea that I like to play with. With when I sense into Leo and what I feel like the lesson of Leo is which is that we continue to come back to our own Essence as we investigate the needs of these other planets. So this is important within a chart there is a need for the sun to express itself. And that is one of the primary needs of the chart. But then all these other planets orbiting will help the sun refine its expression will help it learn about what its Essence is and wherever Leo is in the chart will be a place where we understand something about our own need to shine and really this is also Need to feel special in some way because the sun is really special. It's the special our solar system the special point of our solar system and I don't know specialness is an important factor. I think for feeling ourselves alive on Earth. Even if it's not special in some ways and this is part of what the polarity of Leo and Aquarius gives us. So the opposite sign of Leo is Aquarius and Aquarius is representative of the mini. So the people or the population Leo is the one the The special one Leo is a symbol of royalty and Aquarius is the mini the not special the body politic with Aquarius. We have qualities of objectivity and Detachment. So this sense of zooming out and seeing Oh, I'm one of an infinitude of son's even if in this life you are a celebrity and so many people know your name. And just think that you are so special the truth is you're not that special right? You might influence a lot of people and the Earth is old culture is common. Go things are important. They rise to importance and then they fade away and at some point everyone will forget your name at some point. Your influence will cease to be an influencer and whatever it was that made you will become part of Makes everything else Aquarius has to planetary rulers one of those rulers. The classical ruler is Saturn and Saturn as you may know is an energy that is authoritative as well as restricting. So with the way that Aquarius and Leo balance each other and play with each other one possibility. Is that the Aquarius Side kind of seeks to become an authority. There is a seeking of control and this feeling this kind of controlling Essence always again is relating with Leo and the need to control comes from a fairly strong ego. Right like there's this idea of maybe an arrogant royalty that Leo is often Associated, but that Royalty needs a lot of validation and it also needs its subjects to conform to whatever the ideas of the validation will look like and so as we navigate Leo and Aquarius in our own charts, we might just look to see where Aquarius is. And in this part of the chart we may have to deal with where we get uptight where we get rigid where we get controlling or where we seek validation for our own expression. Now another way to think about this in a more kind of exalted sense of Saturn is that Saturn is where we really work and we labor and we refine ourselves and we come Masters. We become masters of our own capacity in our own power. And so wherever Aquarius is for you is also the place where you can refine your offering where you can let challenges come in and teach you About your own Essence Leo is known for being a really generous sign and its generosity is to share itself to share its unique gifts and it's specialness. Your specialness is special. It's not the most special. So wherever Aquarius is a place where you can give gifts, but also a place to notice instincts towards competition. Aquarius is co ruled by you're honest you're honest is the modern ruler of Aquarius. And this is a planetary energy that is known for having breakthroughs and for also being like a an agent of change or a revolutionary. I think one of the most important lessons of Leo speaking from the perspective of a double Leo Is that when we stopped trying to fit in and please the group or get whatever validation we think we need to affirm our own specialness in essence when we just stopped trying to please the group then we get to do something that's really unique. That's really new. And so for me, I think of the quality of your honest and Aquarius as also being the place where we can really appreciate others we Appreciate their unique offerings, but we can also in a fairly detached way kind of remember that were one star in a sea of stars and no stars really that special so we can like let go of the idea of having to be the best or having to have everybody's approval or performance and just Express uniquely that this is a place to kind of play. How to play with group dynamics to play with feeling ourselves as part of a group but also different as a capacity for change within a group so look over your chart if you have your natal chart and you'll need to know your rising sign to know which houses signs are ruling but you'll want to look to see where Leo and Aquarius are in your chart because over the next 30 days as we move into Leo season. These energies are going to get really stimulated. So now I'm going to take a short break and I will be back in just a couple of seconds to tell you all about what's coming up in Leo season. Hey loves. I wanted to let you know about a special event. I have planned later this year and extend an invitation to all of you who are ready to dive deeper with embodied astrology in your lives from September 29th through October 2nd. I'll be offering an embodied astrology Retreat on the Long Beach, Peninsula and Southern, Washington. Just a few hours away from Portland and Seattle. This Retreat is called expansive alignment and during our three days and evenings will explore the opportunities and potentials for personal manifestation and creative power during Jupiter's Transit through Capricorn, which will be the entire year of 2020 everyday will use movement meditation art and writing to learn about astrology and your own chart The Retreat includes a delicious catered dinner and plenty of free time for long walks on the beach hot saunas and great. It takes place at the historic southwester Lodge queer run female-owned historic Lodge and vintage travel trailer Resort. That's right on the coast. This is sure to be a one-of-a-kind experience and I'm so looking forward to playing and learning with all of you. You can find more information at embodied astrology.com in the Play and Learn section under Live Events. Hey friends. Do you have something you want to say or information that you want to share? Have you thought about making? A podcast if you haven't heard about anchor it's the easiest way to make a podcast. Let me explain first of all, it's free to use and you can use it on your phone or on your computer. There are built-in creation tools that allow you to record and edit your podcast right from your device anchor will distribute your podcast for you. So it can be heard on Spotify Apple podcasts and many other platforms the best thing or one of the best things I think about it is that you can make money from your pocket. Casts with no minimum listener ships. It's everything you need to make a podcast in one place. Learn more about it and download the free anchor app or go to Anchor dot. F m-- to get started. Thanks for hanging out for those announcements everyone. Let's get back into Leo season now so over these next 30 days. This is a time to meditate to reflect on your Radiance and how how you omit how you kind of what was the word? I used radiate your own Eminence your own vibration your own qualities in the directions of your life. It's a time to notice what you pull into your own orbit and Leo tends to be a very interested optimistic and enthusiastic sign it can pull a lot into its own orbit. And notice how what you're pulling in in terms of people in terms of experiences influences your Radiance where you get pulled by the orbits of whatever is circling around you and kind of just play with this meditation that we did of when you notice the orbit of something moving around you how you come back to the center of your own Center to this kind of very pure and true vibration of what it is that you are Emma. Mating out over the next 30 days is also a great time to pay attention to Aquarius and where Aquarius is in your chart your relationship with the group with the infinitude of other stars in your Galaxy and the other neighborhoods other other galaxies, of course, there are infinite amount of galaxies. We know this lots and lots of galaxies that are all spiraling around. Some other Center, so however you feel yourself. How do you also know yourself as one of many and keep this perspective Leo and Aquarius I think functions and it's in this Axis or this polarity can function with a lot of wisdom and in an exaltation when there's mutual appreciation Mutual celebration and not one son trying to be be the best son. So if that idea Sparks anything for you, where is Aquarius and your chart? Where are you kind of working with group dynamics? Also your sun sign. So if you're not a Leo person what kind of essence is it that you're here? Vibrating? What's that Hugh? What's that tone? And also if you are a Leo's person, where is the sun in your chart in what part of the chart? Are you seeking to emanate and radiate so over these next 30 days the son of course is Illuminating Leo but there's actually a lot going on in Leo with movement of the personal planets through the sign and this is special because not a lot has been going on in Leo for a while. It's been a couple of years since Jupiter was there about a year ago. We had the eclipses move through Leo, but it's really been some time since there. As much significant planetary movement through Leo so having all the personal planets grouped together in Leo as we do this Leo season is special. It's doesn't happen. Every year Mars is already in Leo Mars entered Leo on July 2nd and it will Transit through Leo until almost the end of the season till August 19th Mars and Leo brings heat and passion into self-expression. It gives us energy. Energy to do it Mars can also be a confrontational energy. And so we might feel like we have to assert ourselves or we might find that sometimes there's a particular violence or aggression and how we are asserting ourselves and this will be an important kind of energy to work with in terms of our own power our own desire and our own impact just kind of notice Mars is energy in this part of your chart. Venus enters Leo on July 28th and will Transit Leo pretty much for the duration of the Season until August 21st Venus again is the planet of love. It is a magnetic energy. So when we are in a place of feeling love not always the same as feeling loved I want to say but feeling love like feeling just kind of lit up or feeling happy. We're feeling sweet then we magnetize towards ourselves we draw in so when you're really like in a sweet space, that's when you're at your most magnetic and with Venus in Leo, we have Venus helping us to do the work that Leo needs to do which is to trust its own Essence to love its own Essence, but also to love and connect with others to draw in finally through the offering and the generosity of One's Own Radiance or love Mercury will re-enter Leo on August 11th, and it will Transit Leo until August 29th. And of course Mercury is re-entering Leo because it is currently in a retrograde and mercury has moved back into cancer. The retrograde ends on August 2nd. That's when Mercury will stay. Indirect and then it will move back into Leo on August 11th, and it will finish what's called its shadow. It will regain the territory that it lost or that it had to backtrack over at the beginning of its retrograde by August 15th. So reflect on this period of time which began at the summer solstice on June 21st, that's when Mercury entered its shadow. That means it started. To Traverse over the territory that it would return to and its retrograde Mercury is a planet that describes our mental attention and our minds like how were using language how are articulating our own experience to ourselves Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and I think of its energy as the inner narration function, so whatever is right kind. The first one in around that Central orbit or that Central column, excuse me. And so it's the closest to our own Essence, but it's also interpreting our Essence and Mercury rules the hearing listening and the speaking functions. So this is part of our being that's doing translation work. We're noticing what's happening outside were interpreting that we're articulating our own. Perience and then we're sharing that so with Mercury retrograde there's been some kind of reflection process that is definitely an internal process. We're thinking about things Mercury started its retrograde in Leo. Again, Leo is a quality of self-expression specialness uniqueness. It rules the heart and it rules the spine in the body. So it's are most kind of central expression and vibration. Mercury has moved back into cancer. And if you listened to the last season embodied astrology for cancer season, you'll hear me talk a lot about cancer. So you might check that out. If you didn't listen to it. The episode is called All My Relations, but in summary cancer has a lot to do with our relations and all of our relations. How do we feel ourselves involved in a family and family has a really You know many different ways. We can interpret it. Of course our biological family is but also a sense of belonging just in the world cancer is a very much related to how we Bond and how we feel safe and secure and nourished and nurtured in the world. So over these last week's of Mercury retrograde were thinking about something that has to do with feelings that has to do with relationships that has to do with our sense of place and Now this is going to have something to do with what we want to express what we're here to offer what we're here to give as mercury finishes its retrograde and completes its shadow. So again, it turns direct August 2nd. It completes its shadow August 15th more clarity comes in at that point. We're like Ah, that's the way I want to express. Ah, this is the thing that's important to me. This is how I want to attend to these relationships to these ideas to myself. So that I can express in a more authentic way. So definitely take some notes really notice. What is percolating for you and August if you've been intentionally working with Mercury retrograde and that means that you haven't been initiating new projects during this time. You've really been using it as a space for reflection and pause then after August 15th. You are fully supported to move forward with whatever has stuck whatever you still want to move forward with. Over the course of Leo season, there's a lot of fire energy and throughout the season. There will be a grand fire Trine stimulated by planets moving through early Leo. So the sun will stimulate this trying then Venus than Mercury and the Trine is with Chiron and Aries and Jupiter in Sagittarius. And as I mentioned this trying is pretty active throughout most of the month. So Chiron in Aries if you listen back to Aries season so that's in March and I forget the name of that episode. But if you look for the episode that came out around the Spring Equinox or the March Equinox around the 21st. I talked a lot about Chiron and Aries in that episode and this is an energy that is fairly recent So within the last year or so Chiron has entered Aries, it's an almost nine year Transit Chiron has kind of All Ving integrating healing quality, but it works with our ancestral and intergenerational patterns around pain and Aries is a sign of the ego and of the self so part of what Chiron and Aries is bringing us is awareness of how the ego the constructed ego all of our identities, but also how we've been positioned our ancestry kind of literally what we've been set up for in terms of our privileges. Has in terms of Oppression in terms of trauma that we carry for our previous generations how all of this influences the ego the constructed self are bias and our sense of purpose. So this is who I am. This is what I'm here to do and Chiron and Aries is helping us to unpack a bunch of that Jupiter in Sagittarius is a year-long Transit and if you listen back to last year for Sagittarius season, Vegetarians season begins on November 21st. I also forget the name of that episode. I'll try and put these in the show notes going to make a note for myself show notes. So you can find links to all of those podcasts there. This is an energy that's helping us to understand what we believe in Jupiter's the ruler of Sagittarius. Both of these qualities influence us to make meaning out of our lives. Is to understand our beliefs to seek and question why we believe the things that we believe to look for new answers to kind of Reach For A New Perspective and Jupiter has been retrograde since April Jupiter will be turning direct during Leo season on August 11th, which is the same day that mercury turns direct and then Jupiter will be traveling in forward motion for the rest of its Transit. Truce adage which is ending in early December. So this brings a lot of energy into our beliefs and into our sense of purpose and the grand fire Trine that we get over the course of Leo season unites all of these energies. So a grand Trine is really flowing kind of natural momentum and the momentum here is the momentum of our personal expression, right Lee. Leo with all the personal planets Mercury Venus Mars and the sun they're kind of going how do I express myself? Who am I really what's my relationship to the group? How do I exist within the group as one part of a whole but how do I also give what I am here uniquely to give and the work that Chiron is doing an Aries is going let's unpack the ego as I express myself. What am I actually expressing? Far from and my expressing from a position that is unconscious from my kind of unconscious identification with my biases. This is for sure for sure. We're doing this. So we want to start to unpack these layers to peel them back to go. What is influencing my expression right. Now what's getting in the way of my most heartfelt and pure Essence? How do I resolve and he'll in myself so that I can be more centered and radiant and whatever it is that I'm giving and then Jupiter in Sagittarius is going what do I believe in what is worth expressing myself for? How do I know myself? What the fuck? Am I these big questions and Jupiter is helping us figure it out. There is a lot of things that are kind of spiraling in the world right now a lot of questions about How do we identify? How do we want to identify? What is the role or the purpose of each of us? How do we collectively unite to I don't know save humankind's make some kind of culture shift make some evolutionary shift. That's what I'm going for. But what does that mean in terms of beliefs? What do we believe in? What do we want to put our energy towards? So as a lot of fire throughout the season and fire continues He's to aspect earth and water throughout the month. So we have your honest in Taurus. You're honest will also be turning retrograde on August 11th, which is the same day. Jupiter turns direct and Mercury turns direct. So we've got this kind of Shifting really like Earth and life changing energy. A lot of people are in a lot of change and you're honest and tourists as part of this circumstances are changing resources are changing our Is our change in and throughout the month as planets enter into early Leo. They will be squaring your honest in Taurus and provoking these changes or bringing frustration in that creates a necessity for change. So there's going to be some friction between these signs. We also have Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn all of the personal planets moving through Leo will be aspect in Capricorn through an in t' this is a 150 degree aspect. It is not comfortable Saturn and Pluto have a kind of Reckoning quality to it and in they're forming conjunction. They are asking questions about what is important and what is actually possible and how do you how do we exist in as much integrity and sustainability as we possibly can this uncomfortable aspects to Leo? A fairly uncomfortable question where we have to really bring some perspective into our own Radiance. What am I emitting? What is my vibe? What am I putting out into the world? How do I make what I put out into the world sustainable vibrant a force of love. These are the exalted qualities of Leo and the conversation with Capricorn is asking us to get real we need to examine In the way we take up space. This is a big one for Leo. Do I think I'm the only son in the Galaxy my taking up all the space. How do I allow for space of others? How do I allow a collective intelligence but Saturn and Pluto are also asking us to use our gifts and to manifest clearly what is aligned with our own deep intention. And so we're also asking what am I here to do? What is my true? That's how do I commit to that? How do I align with it? There's also an aspect with Neptune in Pisces Pisces is also in conjunction to Leo that means that it's an uncomfortable aspect and Pisces and Neptune asked us to become empathic to use our intuition and also to release the self Pisces and Neptune both speak to the non self and the non self is where we are all one. We're we're all made of the same stuff where there's no separation and part of the lesson that Leo needs to learn is that it doesn't exist in a vacuum that the way that it emits energy is part of a collective whole and when it emits energy that is loving that Collective whole increases its love vibration when it emits energy that is harmful. Then the self gets harmed. So these aspects are happening throughout the month. You're honest in Taurus Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn and Neptune in Pisces all aspecting with Leo and over the course of these next 30 days. We are really pushed to feel into our own fire and to research how we can ground the fire how the fire needs to change us to change our form to change our motivations how we Put our fire to use how we can make our fire more empathic more perceptive more intuitive more connected how we can increase the awareness of our own fire and what it is that we're emitting and how we can really make our fire and are offering efficient. Like what is it that we are here to do. So, let's go just to kind of offer some like pluses and minuses of The Leo vibration so that we can all try and feel these in ourselves and this is not an exhaustive list at all. But here are just a couple of ideas some Basics Leo in its detriment when it's not functioning well is self-centered it takes up a lot of space. It is arrogant and assuming that means it assumes that other people are just as interested and what's going on for it as it is interested in what's going on for it and it Miss their participation with whatever said it Center, it can be a real bully and a pushy kind of energy. Sometimes this is like a cheerleading thing but a lot of times it can just like not notice another vibration and like seek to influence or seek to push without being relational. This is part of Leo's characteristic as a salesperson like trying to get everybody on board. Trying to sell something but doing it from a place of ego again rather than a place of real authenticity or perspective Leo can definitely be a diva. So this kind of Radiance and magnetism can be really dramatic and it can need validation a lot. And so this Diva quality can create all kinds of circumstances to get attention and Leo is the the sine of Loyalty and a lot of royalty is pretty divorced from what's Happening for the people and so again, there can be this kind of arrogance or ignorance of what's going on elsewhere and it's exaltation in its positive attributes. Leo is warm. It's the sun it emits warmth and love and it's generous. It's constantly giving and Leo gives because it's joyful. and joy and enthusiasm are contagious and it's joyful and it's enthusiastic because it's playful It's The Sign of the kind of childlike energy when we play when we're authentic when we're not trying to be anything that we're not we can be generous we can kind of share that enthusiasm with others Leo is a sign that of course the Sun the heart the spine has Very Central kind of quality to it. And so with the centrality Leo really needs to love itself so that it can exist as one star in a multitude of stars, but the self love becomes a gravitational force and this is not a narcissism. This is just kind of piece like I know what my on Essences I'm radiating this Essence. I trust this Essence. This is what I'm here to give I'm one star in a Hood of stars but this self-love creates a calmness and it becomes a supporting affirming quality for other stars. So Leo's cheerleading capacity can actually be such a beautiful aspect because Leo can do such a good job of appreciating others and really celebrating them and being super enthusiastic this optimism that Leo has I relate very much to the fool archetype of Kind of playing along with life and what comes up is always an opportunity and we're not going to get too scared or concerned about all the possible problems, but we're just going to keep on going on and making the best of what we get. The centrality of Leo is such a positive vibration. It can bring a lot of people together. My partner is mother is also a double Leo and I just want to take a A moment to appreciate how she kind of exists at the center of her family and Leo really has this quality that wants to bring people together and celebrate and have warmth and have love and play. Finally Leo can use it's Charisma its unique expression. It's authentic offering for service to give voice to whatever it feels as important, but when it lends its energy to the people When this balance between Leo and Aquarius is strong and vital and healthy, then it can use its Charisma and its expression to serve and this is where the archetype of royalty is in exaltation of a kind of Royal presence that is totally devoted to whatever it is that has gathered around it. So as you move through Leo season just kind of consider how these qualities show up for you again. It might be really interesting to notice where the These qualities live in your chart and what areas of life they're influencing use the meditation and the somatic tools that I offered at the beginning if they were helpful to check in with your inner Radiance your own Essence. What kind of vibe you're kind of glowing or growing around you listen to your heart like really try and listen deeply deeply deeply to your heart and your most Central truth seek. To hold and love and nourish your personal light and whatever that light is whatever that Essence is get curious about how it can expand and how it becomes a kind of gravitational force to draw in whatever it is that you're drawing in and then just play with trust play with trusting whatever is orbiting around you not needing to control it not eating to manage it. Not needing to whatever the things you do and trusting your own vibration trusting your own resonance trusting all the other stars. And yeah, I am wishing you all the best in your Leo season. I want to definitely say listen to your audio horoscopes for Leo season. I'm going to go through many of the aspects that I mentioned specific to your sign or to your rising sign give you some more information there. And then I also want to give you a heads up for the full moon and a in Aquarius which is on August 15 or August 16th. It's escaping me at the moment. I'll be doing a Q&A and so Aquarius again as the sign of the people. I really want to play a little bit more with participation and I've had some requests to do a QA. So I will be doing that on the full moon and that episode. It will take in your question. So if you'd like to submit questions or prompts for me to talk about you can do that with your voice on anchor FM. So I'll include the notes or the link in the show notes again for how to use submit a question with your voice. You can also write to me on email Renee at embodied astrology.com. Or you can send me a message on Instagram and I'll be posting on Instagram with this invitation as Also, if you want to be part of that QA, if you've got things you want to hear me talk about or if you want to offer your voice to that episode. Please do and last little note. Of course, you can always find out more about astrology through my perspective. If you want by following me on Instagram at embodied astrology and by becoming a subscriber and when you subscribe you support and sustain this work, I so value you your Descriptions are by donation. You can donate at any amount per month. Just the consistency is super super helpful for me and with your subscription you get my month ahead planetary offerings and lots of discounts on all the things that I put out. So check that out and thank you so much for listening. I'm wishing you all the best in this Leo season and I'll be checking back in with you at the new. And the full moon the full moon again with this QA and the new moon with some kind of ritual to really Mark and celebrate this Leo energy in you. Thanks everyone. Bye for now. And the full moon the full moon again with this QA and the new moon with some kind of ritual to really Mark and celebrate this Leo energy in you. Thanks everyone. Bye for now.
In this episode:   Introductions and special announcements   An embodied exploration and imagination meditation for Leo and its ruling planet (which is a star), the Sun! The astrological associations of Leo and its opposite sign Cancer. I talk about body rulerships, behaviors, experiences, and how to work with these two signs (especially Leo) in your chart. A look ahead at Leo Season’s most dramatic astrology: all the personal planets will transit Leo, Mercury’s retrograde will end, Jupiter stations direct, Uranus stations retrograde and there’s a grand trine in fire all month! The positives and negatives for Leo and how to pay attention to the Leo in you. Plus I share some suggestions for working with the energy of this season. Learn more about LEO FOR YOU by listening to your month-ahead horoscopes. Look for the audio horoscope for your sign, for Leo Season on your favorite listening platform. SUBMIT A QUESTION for next month's Q&A (questions due by August 13) Check out my recent SPECIAL EPISODES! Astrology is Serious Business - A look at Saturn, Capricorn, Eclipses, Saturn Return and the Exciting Astrology of 2020 with Renee Sills and Embodied Astrology https://anchor.fm/embodied-astrology/episodes/Astrology-is-Serious-Business---A-look-at-Saturn--Capricorn--Eclipses--Saturn-Return-and-the-Exciting-Astrology-of-2020-with-Renee-Sills-and-Embodied-Astrology-e4m8hg The Path from Trauma: Discussions on Wellness with T. Aisha Edwards: https://anchor.fm/embodied-astrology/episodes/The-Path-from-Trauma-Discussions-on-Wellness-with-T--Aisha-Edwards-e4hugs Mentions in this episode: Chiron in Aries episode:  https://www.embodiedastrology.com/ea-astro-updates/2019/3/20/were-all-in-it-together-astrology-for-the-equinox-full-moon-in-libra-amp-aries-season Jupiter in Sagittarius episode:  https://www.embodiedastrology.com/ea-astro-updates/2018/12/6/newmoon-sagittarius-december-2018 All of your donations and contributions support this work to continue! Instagram: @embodiedastrology Facebook: Embodied Astrology Cover image by Janna Dorothy (jannadorothy.com)  ---   This episode is sponsored by  · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app  ---   Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/embodied-astrology/message 