Hey y’all,
This week, the sleeping lion lifts it’s heavy mane and we head into a new season. Mercury retrograde in Leo started last Friday, this Tuesday the sun enters Leo, and Friday we celebrate this year’s New Moon in Leo.
Monday, Moon-day, is a great time to take a cue from Cancer’s ruler la luna and reflect on what happened during the season of the Crab. How did Cancer season show up for you? Jupiter was co-present with the sun there for the entire season, so it may have felt… truly extra this year. Look to the house(s) in your chart that the sign of Cancer falls in to see where you may have felt an intensity of inward-seeking and a desire to nurture/be nurtured. This is the part of your chart that Jupiter will remain in for the next 11 months, so Cancer’s elemental archetypes will remain prominent through this year and into next- but the sun is moving on, into the lion’s den.
My 12th house solar season is finally coming to an end, and HOLY SHIT have I done some cosmic internal excavations. The 12th house rules the subconscious and what is hidden from sight, and the sun shining on that place along with Jupiter’s expansive rays definitely brought some deeply buried traumas and patterns to the surface for me.
It does feel like I’m reaching the light at the end of the tunnel, though. Cancer is ruled by the moon, and the last month has appropriately been very emotional, very ebbing-and-flowing, very tidal. Leo, on the other hand, is ruled by the sun- so the light at the end of the tunnel metaphor seems apt. Leo is all about how we SHINE out in the world through our creative self-expression and pride.
The Human Design Gate that carries us from Cancer’s lunar emotions to Leo’s solar expression is Gate 56, where the sun will be traveling from Monday-Thursday this week. It is known as the Gate of Stimulation, the Gate of the Wanderer, and the Gate of the Storyteller, encouraging us to bring the wisdom that was cultivated by our emotional excavations and reflections into the light, sharing stories of our experiences as we wander through the external world of late summer.
In the Gene Keys, the shadow of 56 is distraction, the gift is enrichment, and the siddhi is intoxication- it’s all about bringing the inside out and also reveling in the fact that everyone else is doing that this time of year. The 56th gift has an alchemical flavor, knowing how to transmute low frequencies into joy and purpose. People with this gate active often are able to show people how their problems are actually wonderful opportunities with lightness and humor. They enrich others by what they have learned in life, with gratitude for the moments as they pass.
Expect more conversations, more revelations, more transmutations of pain to purpose, and more creativity expressed through yourself and others as the sun transits this gate.
I can’t even tell you how relevant this transit feels to me.
When the sun entered the Gate of the Wandering Storyteller last Saturday, a sudden urge came over me to write. Not a researched article, not a podcast transcript, but a story. MY story. Cultivating the rich depths that I accessed during Cancer season brought a powerful story-arc to my experiences that I was unable to see before, and the words flowed out of my heart down to my fingers and onto the page.
As I wrote my story, I had my astrology app Luna up on my computer, and I felt called to check on the transits of some pivotal life moments- my near death experience in a housefire, my period of homelessness, starting a company, the birth of my daughter, my divorce. The planetary dances- especially between Saturn and Pluto, which are both conjunct my IC in my chart- aligned impeccably with these moments of my life. The story continues to gel and flow out of me as we make our way through the Gate of the Storyteller. It’s deep, it’s laden with unbelievable symbolism, pain, and becoming… and I hope to share it one day.
What stories are arising in you during the sun’s transit through the Gate of the Wanderer? If you feel compelled to write, to record yourself on audio, or to share stories with loved ones as they relate to your personal unfolding, this is the week to do it.
Doing so for me has clarified so much about my past, and about my path ahead. I’m strongly considering hosting an offering that combines memoir writing and transit-tracking in the near future, especially as it relates to big mid-life outer planet transits (Saturn Return, Pluto square Pluto, Neptune Square Neptune, Uranus Opposition) - would you be interested in joining for something like this?
Let me know!
This week in the Wheel of the Year:
MEDICINE WHEEL Direction: SOUTH
WUXING Element: FIRE
PAGAN Season: LITHA (Midsummer) - LAMMAS is coming August 1
ZODIAC Season: CANCER > LEO (July 22)
I’CHING Hexagram/HUMAN DESIGN Gate:
Saturday, July 19- Thursday, July 24: Gate 56: Fire over Mountain “The Wanderer/Storyteller (Seeking)”, aka the Gate of STIMULATION
Thursday, July 24- Wednesday, July 30: Gate 31: Lake over Mountain “Influence (Change)”, aka the Gate of INFLUENCE
MOON Phase: New Moon in Leo in Gate 31 (12:11 pm PST)
PLANETARY Dances:
Sun in Leo opposite Pluto in Aquarius: Friday, July 25
New Moon in Leo in Gate 31: Influence
I Ching Hexagram 31: “Influence (Change)”
Gene Key 31: Arrogance → Leadership → Humility
On Thursday, July 24th, the sun moves from the wanderings and stories of Stimulating Gate 56 to the Leadership gate of Influence, Gate 31, where it is joined by the moon for this year’s new moon in Leo.
The New Moon always invites a pause, a threshold moment where what is visible recedes and the fertile dark opens. In this darkened sky, seeds of new intention take root. The New Moon is never an immediate manifestation; it is the silence before the emergence, the place of pure potential where the future begins to take shape unseen.
On July 24, 2025, the Moon joins the Sun at two degrees Leo, falling precisely into Human Design’s Gate 31: the Gate of Influence. This gate sits in the throat center, the locus of communication and manifestation. Influence here speaks the language of leadership, shaping direction through the spoken word. In the Human Design mandala, Gate 31 forms half of the Channel of the Alpha (along with Gate 7), a configuration dedicated to collective leadership that requires recognition before expression. Leadership through Gate 31 depends on timing, alignment, and presence. The voice waits for the moment when it will be heard and embraced by the community it serves.
In the I Ching, Hexagram 31 is called "Influence" or "Attraction," reflecting the subtle power of resonance that moves people from within. True influence happens when words reflect what the collective already senses but has yet to name. This hexagram speaks to the power of responsiveness, of knowing when to speak, and how to speak in a way that moves the group into alignment with itself. Influence is never self-centered in this tradition; it flows from a careful attunement to the needs and mood of the collective field.
The Gene Keys describe this same archetype as a pathway from the Shadow of Arrogance, through the Gift of Leadership, toward the Siddhi of Humility. In its shadow form, this archetype seeks power for its own sake, assuming authority before it has been earned or recognized. As the archetype matures into its gift, it expresses guidance that arises from deep attunement and an awareness of collective need. Humility marks the culmination of this path, where leadership becomes transparent, devoid of personal agenda, and rests entirely in service to the whole.
This New Moon is a perfect time to examine the subtle ways influence is sought, wielded, or withheld. It invites reflection on whether one’s words emerge from alignment with inner clarity or from unconscious desire for control or validation. This moment calls for recalibrating how authority is embodied, offering an opportunity to plant seeds of integrity, clean speech, and clear purpose.
Gate 31’s influence is not merely about political or hierarchical leadership; it is about the quality of presence that creates coherence. The voice that shapes direction here does so because it has been invited to speak, not because it demands attention. Influence arises when a person becomes a vessel for a deeper collective wisdom, articulating what others already feel.
This New Moon at Gate 31 invites a new cycle of leadership rooted in humility and responsiveness. It suggests a turning point where authentic leadership begins not with ambition but with careful listening. This is a time to begin anew with the intention to embody influence as a service, to become a voice that aligns communities, to hold a leadership that reflects back what is true for the whole.
The dark sky offers space for these seeds to take root quietly. The threshold is open. What will you shape with your voice? What will you guide into being with your presence? In the stillness of this New Moon, leadership itself can be reimagined and reclaimed as a gift to the collective rather than a personal quest.
The New Moon Makes Aspects to All the Outer Planets
It’s opposite Pluto in Aquarius, Trine Saturn and Neptune in Aries, Square Chiron in Aries, and Sextile Uranus in Gemini
So here’s what’s happening around this New Moon at two degrees Leo, sitting right in Gate 31, the Gate of Influence.
Directly across from the New Moon, Pluto is in Aquarius at Gate 41, the Gate of Contraction. This opposition creates an awareness of the polarity between Aquarius and Leo, along the axis of expression. I see Leo as self-expression and Aquarius as expression of the collective. The New Moon is about influence and stepping forward as individual leaders, and across the sky from that, Pluto is applying pressure to distill, and to strip everything down to what is truly essential. It asks: before you step into leadership, what excess needs to fall away? What motivations might still be hidden? What stories no longer fit? This is a test, a kind of purification.
We also have the new moon in Leo making a sextile to Uranus in Gemini in Gate 20, the Gate of Now. Uranus is about shaking things up, disrupting patterns, bringing breakthroughs. And Gate 20 is all about presence, right now. This sextile says the breakthroughs you need might arrive suddenly, but only if you are fully present and paying attention to this current moment. There is a fresh, clear energy here that supports spontaneous leadership and intuitive action.
Over in Aries, Saturn and Neptune are traveling together in retrograde motion. They are both in Gate 25, the Gate of Innocence, and they making a trine to this New Moon. This is a beautiful, supportive current. Saturn brings discipline to this innocent part of the chart, offering structure and maturity. Neptune dissolves the walls around the heart and opens compassion. This trine encourages leadership that is grounded in humility and integrity, leadership that holds care at its center.
And then there is Chiron in the late degrees of Aries at Gate 3, the Gate of Ordering, forming a square with this New Moon. Squares are friction points, but I also like to think of them as doorways that we can open and walk through to a more integrated place, after learning something about the tension between the squaring planets. Chiron is the archetype of the wounded healer, and in Gate 3 it centers on the pain - and the healing- that can come from trying to bring order out of chaos. This square might feel like the pressure to get everything in order before you can speak or lead. But really it is an invitation to hold the messiness gently. Leadership does not require perfection. Influence can emerge even while things are still taking shape.
Overall, with so many aspects to these outer planets at the first degrees of their new signs, this New Moon carries a very rich, layered message. It is about how we lead, how we use our voice, how we influence, and whether we can do so from a place of presence, humility, care, and responsiveness to what is truly needed.
This New Moon being in Leo brings it all back to the heart. Leo is about courage, authenticity, visibility, and creative expression. It reminds us that leadership is not just about directing others but about shining from a place of deep integrity and truth. Leo invites us to show up fully, to claim space with sincerity, and to express ourselves with warmth and generosity. So as you reflect on all these aspects and alignments, this New Moon is really asking you to consider what it means to lead from the heart, to speak and act in ways that honor your deepest authenticity, and to let your light shape the collective in a way that is both grounded and generous.
I hope you have a wonderful week as we distill the emotions of Cancer season into stories that serve ourselves and others.
See you next week for a Mercury Cazimi in Leo and celebrations of the Pagan Cross-Quarter holy day of Lammas, aka Lughnassa. Celebrated midway through Leo season, Lammas is the first of the 3 Harvest Festivals in the Pagan wheel of the year, bringing a subtle change in seasons as we harvest the first grain. In the Wuxing cycle, this marks a shift from vibrant Fire to grounded Earth, and in the Ojibwe Medicine wheel, summer’s fire is shifting to the mature, emotionally connected season of water and the direction West.
If you join as a paid subscriber, you can learn much more about the season’s elements and archetypes- I just sent out the Leo Season Guidebook, which is packed with journaling prompts, somatic exercises, and info on the elements/archetypes and astroHD of the month ahead. Paid subscribers also get access to the monthly Seasonal guided breathwork sessons- the next one is on July 30, focusing on tapping into our inner radiance and deep creativity. Hope to see you there!
Here’s a sneak peek of what these guidebooks are like!
Stay in touch or book an Astro-HD reading with me!
You can find me at astrosomatics.com, @cyclesoftimepodcast and @astro.somatics on Instagram, or subscribe at cyclesoftime.substack.com to get the pod in your inbox every Monday.
Current Offerings »
Leo Season Astro-Breathwork Journey (Wednesday, July 30 @ 5pm mst)
These monthly sessions are a great way to learn about the upcoming transits, integrate the themes of Leo season in your body, and release emotions that are no longer serving you.
Click here to register!
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Thanks so much for reading, y’all!
xox,
Alison
