New Moon Solar Eclipse in Leo: What Can You Still See When the Light Goes Out?

It has been a very interesting time astrologically and, I don’t know about you, but I have certainly felt the depth of it.

The recent Full Moon in Aquarius, with Pluto and Jupiter very much in the picture, felt enormous to me, and we have also just experienced the Nodes shifting into the Leo–Aquarius polarity, opening up an entirely new evolutionary storyline that will unfold over the coming months.

But I don’t want to go too deeply into all of that here because I really want to focus on this New Moon Total Solar Eclipse in Leo which occurs at 20°02′ Leo at approximately 3:36 am AEST on Thursday 13 August, and it will be particularly significant if you have planets or angles between approximately 15° and 25° of Leo, Aquarius, Taurus or Scorpio, especially within a couple of degrees of 20°.

And because this is not simply a New Moon but a South Node Solar Eclipse in Leo, I think there is something much deeper happening than the usual Leo invitation to be confident, visible, creative and courageous.

When the light disappears

During a solar eclipse, the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun and, for part of the world, daylight is temporarily swallowed by shadow. Astrologically, that symbolism feels especially powerful in Leo because Leo is ruled by the Sun itself and when the light goes out, the thing that normally illuminates, validates, identifies and gives us a sense of certainty is temporarily obscured.

Historically, eclipses have carried enormous symbolism around kings, rulers and leaders — the archetypal figures associated with the Leo principle — and astrologers have long connected eclipses with changes in leadership, status and power.

We have certainly see some of that collectively especially in the astrological community right now but for now I want to ficus on what this might mean personally.

Eclipses don't necessarily create one dramatic event on the day itself. Often they mark a turning point whose significance becomes clearer over weeks or even months.

Something begins to lose its light it might no longer shines in quite the same way or something we have identified with may begin to feel strangely empty.

And because this is happening in Leo, I think that something may have a great deal to do with identity, recognition and the version of ourselves we have learned to perform for the world.

Who are you when nobody is applauding?

Leo is often associated with visibility, creativity, confidence and the courage to be fully ourselves.

At its healthiest, Leo does not perform because it desperately needs approval. Leo creates and perfoms because both are an expression of life itself. However many of us can confuse being and feeling being seen and applauded with feeling and attachment to ego, our title, identity, the audience, recognition or the person we have been for everyone else. We can become attached to roles that are entrenched in ego gratification.

But I feel this New Moon eclipse asks:

What remains of you when nobody is applauding?

This doesn't mean applause is bad or recognition is somehow unspiritual and it certainly doesn't mean Leo should stop shining. I for one never believe this, infact it may be quite the opposite and maybe this eclipse is about discovering the difference between shining because we need somebody to notice us and shining because something inside us genuinely wants to be expressed.

That distinction feels enormously important.

I am feeling this personally

I have certainly noticed this energy in myself.

There has been a very strong pull inward lately and, interestingly, a distinct lessening of my desire to constantly be online sharing astrology right at a time when I 'should' be and that has made me curious.

I love astrology, that hasn't changed at all.

But I have found myself asking whether every part of the way I have been expressing and indeed how others have been expressing it still feels alive to me.

Do I want to keep producing because I genuinely have something I want to say or because I feel I should?

Do I want to be visible because visibility serves the work or have I unconsciously started serving visibility itself?

Those are very different things and my progressed Sun has also just moved into the 12th house so my desire to and how to participate are currently under review, which is very much in line with this eclipse

And perhaps some of you are feeling your own version of this.

Maybe something you have worked incredibly hard for no longer excites you in quite the same way.

Maybe a role you have played beautifully for years suddenly feels constricting or you are less interested in proving yourself or don't want to perform a particular version of yourself anymore.

You may find yourself thinking:

Something that used to make me feel special doesn't have the same hold over me.

And if that is happening, I don't necessarily think you need to rush in and replace it.

Because eclipses can first reveal what is ending before we understand what is beginning.

Something has to end for something else to be born

One of the evolutionary ways I like to think about solar eclipses is as an intensified New Moon.

There is absolutely a beginning contained within them, but often that beginning requires some kind of ending first where something has to make room, be surrendered or stop occupying so much psychic space.

So the question I keep coming back to is:

What old identity has taken you as far as it can?

It may have been exactly what you needed, protected you, motivated you, given you confidence, helped you build a career, a relationship, a reputation or a life, but perhaps it cannot come with you in exactly the same form into whatever is next.Sometimes evolution simply means that something which once fitted perfectly no longer does.

If you have planets around 20° of the fixed signs

This eclipse may be particularly personal if you have planets or angles close to 20° Leo, Aquarius, Taurus or Scorpio.

Leo

For Leo placements, this can feel like an identity shedding, like a part of your sense of self, purpose, visibility or creative expression may be changing.

You may be asking:

Who am I becoming — and who am I finished pretending to be?

Aquarius

For Aquarius placements, there can be a stronger tension between the individual and the collective.

Where do I belong, who are my people and how much of myself do I compromise in order to belong?

And how can my individuality contribute to something larger without disappearing inside it?

Taurus

For Taurus placements, the tension may be between security and vitality. Something may be stable, familiar and safe — but does it still make you feel alive?

You may become increasingly aware of where remaining unchanged is costing you more than change itself would.

Scorpio

For Scorpio placements, themes of emotional protection, power, trust and vulnerability may become more visible.

Where are you holding on because letting go feels unsafe?

Where are you trying to control something because you are afraid of what happens if you open your heart?

And who might you become if you were no longer organising your present around something that hurt you in the past?

Don't rush to know what comes next

Perhaps one of the most important things I would say about this eclipse is that you don't have to know what the new beginning is yet.

We live in a culture that wants us to turn every ending immediately into a plan.

But eclipse territory isn't always that tidy.

Sometimes we need to sit in the strange space between identities and know what we're finished with long before we know what will replace it.