Wanna walk through a powerful portal? Is it in your imagination? Or is it real? Does it matter? If you tell yourself that this is a meaningful, charged moment to anchor into your intentionality, does it mean that it is? It’s 8/8 Lion’s Gate, Full Moon in Aquarius, Lunar Lughnasadh. Let’s dive in…

The peak of Summer arrives as the season’s character ripens along with the fruit on the trees. On the altar of the earth, nourishment is offered with a generosity that inspires the heart to open. Receive the gifts. Let them in. Give yourself more fully. Give of yourself more freely. The early evenings sparkle with a magic that cannot be ignored. There’s a golden hue that paints the natural world. The phase of Summer initiated by the Pagan festival Lughnasadh is upon us –  this moment when the bounty and beauty of Summer invite us to lean into gratitude.

But what if your life force feels low? What if these vibes of peak Summer feel like threads that barely hold in the web of you? What if your experience of the season is more gray than gold? What if all this nourishment offered in abundance and generosity lacks flavor right now?

It’s easy to fall into despair living through this moment in history, this time of grand collapse. Depression and anxiety are natural responses to what we’re witnessing and experiencing in the culture right now. Fascism. War. Famine. Autocracy. Bigotry. And then there’s the AI threat. And the superficiality and lack of substance. And don’t get me started on the environmental catastrophe. There are plenty of reasons to feel enraged, upset, deeply sad, numb. 

A solar, lunar, pagan celebration of life might feel a bit detached from reality. And yet what if the point is to invite ourselves to make it relevant? What if the key to not only surviving this historical period, but finding ways to make it meaningful, is to allow ourselves to be touched by older traditions in new ways? To read classical literature, to consciously weave our ancestors into the fabric of the moment, to grow deeper roots in a soil that is enriched by that which came before. 

We are not yet in the season of death, but in these golden weeks of Summer harvest, the vitality of the earth whispers of a seasonal shift through the weeds, and begins to change directions. The energy that moved upward toward the sun, now turns downward and starts its journey toward the ground. And while this sacred time of honoring the gifts of nature and of agriculture is still saturated in light, and filled with life, it spins the wheel that spins the tales the underworld journeys ahead. 

This is the time of the grain. The Great Mother’s most nourishing time. Time of corn mothers and witches of wheat, goddesses of grass turning from green to gold. Demeter is the mother of this season. And she knows that her daughter Persephone’s underworld season is coming. Grief is woven into the tapestry of gratitude. There’s so much beauty and power, so much sadness and nuance in the capacity to love so deeply, to nurture and nourish and give, all with an openness and generosity of a heart that knows that it will break. 

The heart of the lion is beating through the body of this season. Golden mane, golden heart, golden sunshine. Generous, wild Leo opens heart and throat, roars with aliveness, shares the gifts they treasure most, and gives of themselves in ways that nourish others. Honesty is a quality that pulses powerfully through this archetype. Yes, Leo is centered in themselves. Authenticity is non-negotiable for this constellation basking in sunlight during this time of year.

I’m not an astrologer. I’m not a believer. But I am wildly inspired by archetypes, stories, nature’s cycles, and the characters that come to life through the seasons. When I remember that there’s an astrological portal that opens up during this time of year, aligning the star Serius, our sun, and the Earth, the archetypal, mythological power of this moment speaks loudly for me. Receiving the opportunity to walk through a powerful portal and aligning ourselves with what matters to us, with how we want to grow, with who we are working on becoming, is inspiring and enlivening. 

Right now, any opportunity to remind ourselves of our radiance, to invite ourselves into our own generosity, to align with the big openness of our hearts, is welcomed. 

They say that 8/8 is a portal for personal growth and for manifestation.

This year, this portal pulls us into it on the eve of the full moon in Aquarius.  

The full moon in Aquarius also marks Lunar Lughnasadh. (Solar Lughnasadh is celebrated on August 1st)

The lion opens their mouth to roar, and the portal opens up. We walk in. It’s scary. Of course it is. Sharp teeth. Loud roar. Transformation is not for the faint of hearts. We need to be bold. We need to let certain parts of ourselves be digested in the belly of the beast, so that we can reshape who we are, so that we can step into the versions of ourselves that we want to emphasize. 

The full moon in Aquarius reminds us that we are part of a community. Leo teaches us to amplify our voice. Aquarius teaches us to sing with others, to take turns in the limelight, to amplify other voices. We know it won’t always be harmonious. But this portal reminds us not to give up just because it’s hard. It’s really hard right now. And the moon invites us to lean into the ways in which we can hold each other up. 

The lion reminds us that we are strong. 

The generosity of the earth during Lughanasadh, along with Aquarius’ collective orientation, and Leo’s wildness, strength, courage, and confidence, move us deep into the heart, into what nourishes it, what nourishes the whole, what nourishes each other, what nourishes the world. 

The attributes given to Leo are often focused on the character of the male lion. We can softly and fiercely begin to change that. Lionesses hunt together. They are community oriented. They take care of each other. They take care of each other’s cubs. 

This is not easy. Changing the narrative, the habits, the focus of ourselves and of the culture is not easy. But while the direction of growth is shifting, and the fruit and the grain are harvested, and the natural world (in the Northern Hemisphere) begins to turn back toward the earth, we can lean into the capacity to shift directions. We are cyclical. We are capable. 

It doesn’t matter whether or not we believe in the power of 8/8. It doesn’t have to be a “real” portal in order for us to walk into it. If there are things in yourself you want to transform, keep your intentionality inspired, alive, use your imagination, breathe into your vision, roar it into reality. If there are things in the culture you want to change, this is where we start. Together. On our own. Within. With one another. In the heart. In the world. One breath at a time. One text at a time. 

It’s fucking hard right now. So let’s be lionesses. 

Receive the gifts. 

Let them in. 

Give yourself more fully. 

Give of yourself more freely. 

Check out this video to explore these archetypes, this season, and this powerful portal.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I appreciate you so much! Please share it with loved ones. 

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With gratitude and love,

Hagar