Express Yourself ~ August 12th-18th, 2019

Come on girls

You believe in love?

Everything’s glowing with pleasure and potential during this week of Leo season. With the Sun in its place of rulership, life itself is honored: each day yielding more appreciation and enjoyment than the last. The Sun in Leo reminds you that every day is a gift and whatever level of health you possess is a treasure. 

‘Cause I’ve got something to sing about it

And it goes something like this

To add to Sun’s aura of blessings and abundance, Jupiter in Sagittarius is moving direct again, initiating a restoration of faith and an expansion of your vision for the future. 

This week, the Sun’s transit through Leo will reach its climax at the Full Moon in Aquarius on Thursday, bringing culmination to everything that was set in motion at the end of July. 

Make you feel like a queen on a throne

Make him love you ’til you can’t come down

Before and after the Full Moon, Venus will be in an exact conjunction to the Sun. Amidst the golden radiance of Leo, Venus’ time in the heart of the Sun will inspire increased self-confidence and good fortune. As true love and devotion ignites a flame within your heart, you will feel truly alive and divinely inspired. Life becomes focused upon knowing yourself and loving yourself more fully, whatever that may mean for you.

Express yourself

The Sun’s transit through Leo encourages the development of courage, creativity, and self-realization. This endeavor climaxes at the Full Moon when the Sun is opposed by the Moon in Aquarius.

The Sun in Leo is like the warm-blooded heart of the world, the center of the universe around which all life revolves. In Leo, love burns like a blazing fire! 

The Moon in Aquarius is in the wilderness, a place of exile where the frayed edges of reality lie. In Aquarius, love glimmers like a distant star. 

You know you know you got to…

As the Sun in Leo and the Moon in Aquarius oppose one another, the light of the glorified self will find its reflection in the distant lands of exile. Thus, the orthodox ego will discover its craving for an unorthodox alter-ego.

Strange what loves does. 

Reconciling the Sun’s throne with the wastelands of exile is the paradox that the Full Moon in Aquarius inspires. You may feel like an exile on main street: strangely alone even in a crowd. The Sun in Leo naturally desires to be honored and embraced but the Moon in Aquarius will summon the shadow of subversion that leads one into artistic or philosophical isolation. 

You deserve the best in life

So if the time isn’t right then move on

The blessing of this Full Moon is that the universe tends to reward novelty and there is great potential to experience a bold breakthrough. Leo’s courage is inspired by the Aquarian instinct to try something new! The Sun in Leo is iconic, while the Moon in Aquarius is iconoclastic. Imagine what kind of expression can be born from this mixture…

However you interpret these energies, this is a golden opportunity to fearlessly express yourself, letting go of any fear of rejection to explore the full spectrum of your potential as a creative being.

Don’t go for second best, baby

Put your love to the test

As a perfect soundtrack for this Full Moon week’s burst of fearless and creative energies, I invite you to listen to Madonna’s, Express Yourself

This is a song that integrates the polarity of Leo and Aquarius so beautifully, for Madonna is a perfect embodiment of iconic and iconoclastic.

With her Sun in Leo, Madonna always had incredible star-power. But in 1989, she was perpetually alienating religious groups and second-wave feminists with her provocative sexuality. She was both the Queen of pop-music (Leo) and a rebel (Aquarius).  

Second best is never enough

In a 1990 Op Ed for the New York Times, cultural critic Camille Paglia defended Madonna as an artist, calling her the embodiment of feminism for the future:

“Madonna has a far profounder vision of sex…She sees both the animality and the artifice….Feminism says, “No more masks.” Madonna says we are nothing but masks.” 

With her Sun in Leo, authentic self-expression is Madonna’s raison d’etre. And in Express Yourself, she shares her natural pulse of fearless courage with everyone. 

Express Yourself is filled with the Sun in Leo’s virtues of dignity and self-respect. This is a song that seeks to inspire everyone to uphold themselves as being worthy of great love, fulfillment and freedom. There can be no valuable relationships without this sense of self-worth. 

Express yourself

Respect yourself, hey, hey

Express Yourself comes straight from the heart, its lyrics revealing that one’s value should not be confused for material benefits, since money and luxury are meaningless without genuine love and respect.

You don’t need diamond rings or eighteen karat gold

Fancy cars that go very fast, you know they never last no, no

You can hear this song as being exclusively about romantic love. But its message also applies to uplifting your outlook on your creative efforts, your magic, or your friendships. Express Yourself lights a fire wherever you may need extra confidence.

What you need is a big strong hand

To lift you to your higher ground

Madonna described it as a song of female empowerment that urges women to never settle for second best. In the book, Madonna ‘talking’: Madonna in Her Own Words, she said:

“The ultimate thing behind the song is that if you don’t express yourself, if you don’t say what you want, then you’re not going to get it. And in effect you are chained down by your inability to say what you feel or go after what you want.”

It can not be ignored that an integral part of the Madonna experience was her music videos, which always added another layer of depth and meaning to the songs. In 1989, Express Yourself, was the most expensive music video ever made.

Make him express how he feels and maybe

Then you’ll know your love is real

Directed by David Fincher, Express Yourself, was a five-minute homage to Fritz Lang’s 1927 Metropolis, offering a surreal background for Madonna’s pastiche of old Hollywood archetypes that give birth to a modern vision of sexual empowerment. The result was a unique integration of opposites: glamourous versus dystopian, Marylin Monroe versus Marlene Dietrich, Leo versus Aquarian.

Both the 1927 film Metropolis and the music video for Express Yourself end with the epigraph: 

“Without the heart, there can be no understanding between the hand and the mind.” 

Fortunately, the season of Leo is all about the heart, the warm center of your being that pulses with love, innocence and courage. Let this week of the Full Moon initiate you finding a greater integration of being, where you feel like a queen on a throne with heart, hand and mind united.Important Transits

Make you Feel like a Queen on a Throne

August 13th-15th- Sun conjunct Venus in Leo

The Sun will conjunct Venus in Leo, creating an ambiance of romance and regality. The world will radiate with positive potential, blessing your creativity, romantic relationships and finances. 

The beneficial union of the Sun and Venus is also a moment to feel beautiful and worthy of genuine love. Anything that makes you feel dignified and respected, glowing and creative will benefit you greatly at this time. 

Lift You to a Higher Ground

August 15th- Full Moon in Aquarius

When the Moon is Full, the creative and emotional energies reach their culmination for the month. Thus, you will feel open to the universe and highly stimulated by the archetypal energies of the Leo/Aquarius axis. Things may feel overwrought and melodramatic, as the desire for an audience and the desire for solitude swell up in your heart all at once.

Ultimately any dissonance that arises will push you towards a breakthrough, artistically, spiritually or philosophically. This is a moment to release whatever stands in your way as a lover, artist, and friend.

You Know You Got To 

August 16th-Mercury in Leo squares Uranus in Taurus

On Friday, as the Moon begins to wane, Mercury in Leo squares Uranus Rx in Taurus. You’ll feel inspired to express yourself openly and honestly, which may inspire some people. But some thoughts or opinions may tumble out too quickly, shocking some people’s sensitivities. 

This square between Mercury and Uranus is excellent for promoting breakthroughs, paradigm shifts, and unexpected insights. But it does contain the element of surprise, which is by nature unpredictable and chaotic.

A Big Strong Hand

August 18th- Mars enters Virgo

On Sunday, Mars will leave the fire sign of Leo behind for the mutable earth sign of Virgo. Here the planet of power and conquest will be forced to adapt to Virgo’s ancient wisdom and desire to be of service. Thus the collective drive for power will become focused on perfecting one’s work and sharpening one’s tools. The martial instincts can become channelled into bringing a project or creative endeavor into a much higher form. 

Over the next six weeks of Mars’ transit through Virgo, you may well experience disorganized ideas becoming elegantly focused and brilliantly executed. You may edit your manuscripts, notes or emails, clarifying rambling text into something lucid. You may also feel motivated to take better care of your health, seeing laziness and poor habits as enemies to be vanquished. 

 

Much Love,

Rachel


My highly acclaimed course SPIRITUALIZED: a journey into magical consciousness begins on August 15th!

SPIRITUALIZED is an intense exploration of SPIRITUAL ALCHEMY initiating a total transformation of your reality!

This journey is life-changing, mind-blowing and heart opening! Over an 8-week period, you’ll open the gateways of the planetary consciousness in body, mind and soul to initiate your alchemical transformation.

This is the last time I’ll be teaching this class for the foreseeable future!

Click here to find out more!