Leo New Moon, 2025
Hi friends,
On Thursday, July 24th, at 12:12pm Pacific time, we will have this year’s new moon in the sign of Leo.
A new moon is a time to plant a seed. Create an intention. Plan for the next phase of life, in whatever scale works best. This new moon has incredible significance, but we need to do a little time traveling to illuminate that significance. We need to go to July 19, 2026. We need to go to The Basket.
So, let’s talk about The Basket.
This is an aspect pattern that astrologers have been discussing for years as a potential turning point in world history. It links all the outer planets together—Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto—as well as Jupiter. It’s known as Barbault’s Basket, named for Andre Barbault, a famous astrologer known for his predictions. In his words about this transit;
“we are faced with the possibility of a change such as to make the terms ‘change’ or ‘upheaval’ seem too weak to define the breadth of what could transform in the known world."
Here’s an image of the chart with the four planets in question;
July 19th, 2026
Pretty cool, yeah? Look at those degree numbers! They are all SO closely aspected I kind of can’t get over it. From left to right, that’s Pluto in Aquarius, Neptune in Aries, Uranus in Gemini, and Jupiter in Leo. All aspects are within thirteen arc minutes from exact all the way across.
But what’s this all mean? Well, that’s the trouble. I don’t like talking about World Events in these letters, because I’m not trying to be a news source, I don’t want to add to anyone’s overwhelm or fear, and my “platform” simply is not big enough to come with any responsibilities. But this time we’re going to talk about some history and some current events.
Let me discuss each planet in their sign before we move on. This might feel like a review if you’ve read my previous letters.
Pluto in Aquarius. You’ve most likely heard folks talking about this. We’re expecting new inventions. For example, astrologers had been anticipating the rise of AI during this time. That’s because the last time we experienced this transit, life fundamentally changed because of new technologies. We’re talking the Industrial Revolution. It’s deeper than just technology—the last time Pluto was in Aquarius, the United States, Australia, and Haiti each claimed their independence, and the French Revolution erupted. If you use the signing of the Declaration of Independence as a birth chart, the US has completed its Pluto return, but the British didn’t surrender the colonies until Pluto reached nine degrees of Aquarius. So I wouldn’t call it over, over.
Neptune in Aries. Well, as Austin Coppock on The Astrology Podcast has said, “Neptune in Aries could be brave, or it could be violent and stupid.” For example, the last Neptune in Aries transit began with the capture of Fort Sumner in South Carolina. This initiated the four bloody years of American Civil War. I prefer Colin Bedell’s take in his talk I saw at NORWAC, that Neptune in Aries signifies a time to be a spiritual warrior. Ultimately, the American Civil War pushed the States toward abolition, if incompletely and deeply imperfect. Aries is all about beginnings, and Neptune makes things muddy, confusing. It dredges things from our unconscious. It creates fog—if you could just get through the mist you would see something breathtaking. Can anyone really see through this fog to what we are beginning? I think it’s all still too up in the air, which is why it matters what intentions we set now.
Uranus in Gemini. I think I’ve already shared my concerns in previous letters. Uranus was in Gemini for the American Revolution, the Civil War, and WWII. Uranus was in the sign of Gemini when we finally realized he is a planet on the move, rather than a stationary star. (You may not know this, but on a dark clear night, Uranus is visible to the eye!) So when he returns to Gemini, it’s almost as if he is coming back to the starting point to begin again. Again, what are we beginning?
Jupiter in Leo adds something hopeful to this whole scene. I think if the solar sign of leadership, authority, and vitality can be harnessed with the generous spirit of Jupiter while this transit is at its most exact, then I have a lot of hope that this could be a good moment—a Great Moment. Some kind of turning point for the better.
Okay, we’re done time traveling. Back to the current moment. Check out this aspect pattern made by the Leo new moon we’re having tomorrow.
July 24th, 2025
The big exactness of the pattern isn’t quite here yet, but with these outer planets I’m happy to give them a wide orb. So it is really close!
Keep in mind that the themes of these outer planets build for a long time, but it takes the smaller, quicker movements of the moon and the inner planets to trigger those themes, pulling them into the physical realm. With the new moon triggering this future aspect pattern, I’m thinking about it as deja vu. We are remembering something that hasn’t happened yet.
My hope is that this new moon reveals to us how much change is possible, and how much agency we do have to shape the world. We don’t have to watch our country slide into fascism. We don’t have to allow a gestapo into our neighborhoods. We don’t have to watch genocide happen. We don’t have to participate in extractive consumer culture. We can, and must, act.
This new moon asks us to plant a seed. We need to dream of the future that we will make. To actuate intentional change with The Basket next year, we need to set those intentions now.
I want to do something a little differently this time, and instead of prompting your wishes, I want to ask you to read a particular book. I hope that you still sit with a moon ritual, however you have come to practice that, but I feel as though it’s a good time to widen all of our imaginations about what could be.
These aren’t random recommendations. These are all books that I have read in the last few years, books that I feel if widely read could make the world a much better place. I hope you decide to visit your library, but if you decide to purchase a book, please remember to first try a local bookstore or bookshop.org before resorting to amazon.
I am recommending these titles to you based on your rising sign. If you want, also look for what book is getting recommended for your sun and moon signs.
Aries: Becoming Animal: an Earthly Cosmology by David Abram
Taurus: Belonging: Remembering Ourselves Home by Toko-pa Turner
Gemini: Restoring the Kinship Worldview by Wahinkpe Topa
Cancer: Almost Everything: Notes on Hope by Anne Lamott
Leo: The Body Is Not An Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love by Sonya Renee Taylor
Virgo: High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out by Amanda Ripley
Libra: Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity in This Crisis by Dean Spade
Scorpio: Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting our Past and Reimagining Our Future by Patty Krewac
Sagittarius: Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World by Tyson Yunkaporta
Capricorn: Debt: the First 5,000 Years by David Graeber
Aquarius: The Art of Communicating by Thich Nhat Hahn
Pisces: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
(Wow. I picked these books by what house holds the new moon, but now that I’ve lined them up with the appropriate rising sign…this feels a bit stereotypical. I gave the Leo risings a book about self-love? The Capricorn risings a book about debt? Incredible work.)
If you decide to purchase one or more of these, I hope you don’t hold on to it after reading it but instead pass it along to someone else who will read it and pass it along again. Let’s expand our perspectives and the perspectives of those who are close to us so that together we can grow into a new understanding.
Friends, I am now off to the woods for three nights. I was just in the woods for two nights last weekend, meeting new friends who felt like old friends at North Star Campout. I heard talks there that are still bouncing around in my brain and my chest. Now I will go discuss these ideas with the Hoh Rainforest, and in my next letter I will bring you more of my thoughts on what I learned there.
I love you all. I hope you are well.
Until next time,
Alanna
PS, Dylan gave me a lot of editing help on this one. Thank you Dylan!