Welcome to Leo season my firey friends!
I feel that, personally, all of the seasonal shifts this year have been less extreme then it felt last year. For my New Suns, I go back to last year’s New Suns and compare and/or steal good lines that still work today (work smarter, not harder people), and last year I wrote about how sudden I felt the shift from Cancer to Leo. This year, however, everything but my to-do list seems subdued. Everything, even the weather, seems to be running together, blurring into one month that is all Zodiac signs at once. Is anyone else feeling this way? Probs just me…
LIGHTS: confident, heartful, loyal, authentic, unabashed, leader, joy-producer, passionate, playful, noble, romantic, expressive, excitable, special, strong, glamorous, life of the party, fierce, self-assured, ambitious, witty, vivacious, action-oriented, creative
DARKS: lazy, prideful, arrogant, performative, joy-stealer, overly-dramatic, egomaniac, self-obssessed, domineering, bitter, entitled, attention-whore, desperate for acknowledgement, extravagant, bombastic, bully, gossipy
With the ending of Gemini season two months ago, we set aside our drama, sharp-tongues, and gossip so we can move inward to examine ourselves better for Cancer season. But the drama didn’t end with Gemini. No, Cancer season brings its own drama, just internally and emotionally. Thank god we can cast aside the drama for Leo season!
Just kidding, there’s nothing more intense than the drama of going from Gemini, to Cancer, to Leo season. Stuff will calm down (kinda) with Virgo season, though just in time for us to get existential about the end of the year…
Anyway, Leo season is about playing and celebrating those connections you’ve created and those hard, emotional lessons you have learned. We have returned to a fire sign, having made a full transition through Fire, Air, Earth, and Water. Now back to Fire again; and what a fun Fire sign Leo is! First, I need to welcome Lizzy to her fierce and firey season—happy almost birthday, bb!—but also give a nod to mine, Kayla, and Aimée’s Leo Ascendants—feel that fire, ladies.
During this season and for Leos in general, you may be better reached through your heart rather than your head » Definitely see the astrological breakdown below to learn more about the super important Venus Retrograde currently happening too! The short fuse of being bored easily (#SummerProblems) mixed with your flair for action and performance (#LeoProblems) means you have little patience and sympathy for narrow-minded people. You can come out of these situations puzzled and hurt by their meanness and lack of generosity—to you, it just makes sense! Sometimes these people aren’t worth your emphatic energy so move on. Chani recommends finding the appropriate use of your natural charisma and charm so the self-righteousness that may come from defending your opinions can be cut off before it begins.
Remember, you’re a lion—you don’t need them. You are the ruler of your own kingdom (no matter how big or how small), of your Hot Girl Summer. You are self-assured and self-optimistic. During this season and those with Leo in their chart may have a deep-seated need to prove their worth, this season challenges us to turn it inward. Prove our worth to ourselves. If Leos teaches us anything, it’s to say “Well, at least I wasn’t too afraid to try!”
LEO AFFIRMATIONS:
When I worry I’m not brave or courageous enough, I remember the lioness and her quiet courage.
Drama is fun, but being loyal to myself and those I care about is better.
Color, glitter, sparkle, and brightness are my calling.
As always, I used my normal sources—Chani Nicholas’ You Were Born For This, Gemini 2023, and 2023 Astro Planner, along with Joanna Marine Woolfolk’s The Only Astrology Book You’ll Ever Need and Alison Davies’ The Mystical Year—as research.
IMPORTANT LEO DATES
22JUL: Leo Season Begins + Venus Retrograde Begins
From now until September 3rd, Venus (the planet of love) will disappear from our sky and embark on an underworld journey. During this time, your relationships may undergo a deep review. Because this retrograde is happening during Leo season, expect some drama when it comes to pointing out your own or your partner(s) intimacy issues. When Venus retrogrades, it feels like everyone (mostly one’s exes) have come out of the woodwork to haunt you—but remember, Venus retrograde is about inner work, even though the Leo angst here may make you want to scream some public declarations. Chani encourages us to dig into our own intimacy-related habits (self-intimacy too!) plus work to retrieve or reclaim your relationship to love, pleasure, beauty, and passion.
Also, the last Venus Retrograde to happen in Leo was eight years ago, between July and Septemer 2015. Think back to that time and try to remember what was going on for you in terms of love, connection, romance, and how you communicated your needs. For me, these dates correspond with the summer after Zack and I met in London, before starting our senior year of undergrad, wondering if we would actually make long distance work.
23JUL: Chiron Retrograde Begins
Fun planet* alert! I say planet with an asterisk because Chiron isn’t technically a planet, but an asteroid in our galaxy’s orbit. If you happen to use an astrological app like Co-Star or the like, they will show your Chiron placement with a goofy little symbol. In astrology, Chiron represents our core wounds and how we heal and then overcome them. Chiron’s way is simple: we grapple with pain, we gain wisdom that we can pass onto others like a magical salve. So when Chiron retrogrades, it tends to surface hidden wounds in different ways and push us to find new avenues of healing
01AUG: Full Moon in Aquarius
13AUG: Venus Cazimi + Halfway through Venus Retrograde
After reaching its halfway point through retrograde, Venus will conjoin with the sun (line up astrologically with the sun) and get embued with the sun’s power. However, this cazimi does occur in a square aspect (just roll with me here) to Uranus, the planet of disruption, meaning there could be some shock factor to this cazimi that isn’t as loving as we would hope for Venus and the sun.
16AUG: New Moon in Leo
23AUG: Virgo Season Begins + Mercury Retrograde Begins
THIS SEASON’S COLLABORATIONS
28JUL: Leo Season Reflection
Intention setting and seasonal reflection
🚨❗FINAL WEEK OF OUR TRUST FUND ALERT:❗🚨
31JUL: Final Gilmore Girls Reflection
A lookback at such a pivotal topic for the OTF writing team plus our final discussion on favorites.
01AUG: Moving Forward, Moving On
Examining any fears, regrets, and dreams at the end of OTF.
02AUG: Our Final + Best of 2023 Shit We’re Loving
Tribute dump to the Shit We’re Loving section of the newsletter, where everyone will pick the current shit they’re loving.
03AUG: First and Final Pieces
Comparing our very first pieces to our very last pieces.
04AUG: What We’re Most Proud of From Three Years of OTF
Enough said.
✌️
S
Shelby’s Editor’s Note: I do plan on doing a New Suns for Virgo season, to welcome our two Virgo writers (Blaze and Sydney) plus our Virgo readers to their season. I have not decided if I will continue with the New Suns after that. But maybe!
Shit We’re Loving: READ
Shelby’s Pick: The Disappearances by Emily Bain Murphy
My local bookstore is doing a Summer Reading Challenge of 30 books (many of the local bookstores and libraries around me are doing some form of summer reading challenge), and is giving away a $100 gift card to those that read at least 15 books (for every additional five books, you get an extra gift card entry). Many of the book requests are obvious like read a
book with a map
book by an Ohio author
book you bought from Gramercy
One of the potential book topics is Re-Read a Childhood Favorite, which I picked The Disappearances by Emily Bain Murphy. If you were to pick up this book and read the blurb on the back, you would have no idea how much literary canon (specifically Shakespeare) plays in the story. If you’re a lit nerd like myself, this is a must-read.
Every seven years, something disappears from the town of Sterling. Whatever disappears isn’t something tangible, financially viable, or a precious heirloom, but instead something irreplaceable like seeing your own reflection, dreaming at night, and one’s sense of smell. When Aila and her brother move to Sterling, their mother’s estranged hometown, after their father is drafted, they vow to solve these disappearances plaguing them and their new home.
Show Your Support: Global Girl Media
For our final OTF Show Your Support, I’ve chosen Global Girl Media (GGM), which develops the voice and media literacy of teenage girls and young women, ages 14-25, in under-served communities by teaching them to create and share digital journalism designed to improve scholastic achievement, ignite community activism and spark social change.
We change the storytellers so they can change the world.
Global Girl Media empowers young women to bring their often-overlooked perspectives onto the global media stage. By turning up the volume of girls’ voices globally, GGM promotes freedom of expression and strengthens substantive journalism that addresses historically marginalized voices. We do this while also building self-esteem, leadership capacity, and 21st-century skills. Founded in 2010, we are currently active in South Africa, Kosovo, Chicago, Los Angeles, Greece, London, and the Bay Area.
You can’t be what you can’t see. Our media tells us a lot about who we are and the stories we believe about ourselves. Yet, a female POV is under-published, under-broadcast, and under-streamed compared to a male POV. Now more than ever, women and girls of color need a place at the table to change the narrative. That’s where GGM comes in.
In the OTF fashion, we have already donated $200 to Global Girl Media and we encourage you to give and/or promote what you can.
Daily Intention:
Today I choose…
Here’s some nifty buttons for you to press, enjoy: