A List of 8 for Lion’s Gate

Sunday 8 August 2021 marks a doubly auspicious time in the astrological calendar. It’s the recognized activation point of the Lion’s Gate energetic portal, and it’s also New Moon in Leo. You can read about it in this excellent article, but in this piece, I want to concentrate on how the prevailing energies are likely to affect you, and how to cope with it all. For empaths and lightworkers, and anybody in touch with their spiritual side and higher consciousness, Lion’s Gate is a quixotic, heady mix of celebration and wanting to crawl away until it’s all over and the energies settle again.

I’ve certainly felt this perfect storm of energies, and many of the online spiritual groups I belong to are full of posts about not feeling as positive as normal, feeling overwhelmed, emotional, fearful and anxious for no good reason, and generally having too many Bad Vibe Days. It’s a relief to know I’m not the only one experiencing this, but it doesn’t make it any easier to get through it, does it? Yesterday was one of those days where I felt like I’d been hit with the proverbial Ton of Bricks, and nothing much happened, creatively, practically or any other way. Today, I am back on top of my game again, and herein lies the main lesson of Lion’s Gate, and indeed, life itself:

It’s okay to not be okay!

We tell ourselves, and anyone who will listen, that an Attitude of Gratitude is vital for spiritual growth and abundance. When we feel like the Universe has it in for us – especially with no good reason – we beat ourselves up, and that makes us feel even worse. We tend to forget that we are human, with all the attendant mess of feelings and illogicalities that go with it, and like all humans, we are not perfect. It’s okay to have off days, and when we get them, we should nurture ourselves through them, not turn into some sort of Self-flagellating Spiritual Sergeant Major who expects the impossible from ourselves and others.

Instead of berating yourself for these feelings, celebrate them, because if you are feeling like this, it means you are sensitive to the prevailing energies. The fact that you are not carrying on regardless means you will benefit from them in the long term, even though you may be riding a rocky road at the moment. It’s normal to feel exhausted and overwhelmed when moving through such a powerful energy cycle, and the best way to come through it is to acknowledge that and rest and recharge, rather than trying to push yourself through the pain. ‘Feeling the Burn,’ whether physically or emotionally, just doesn’t work, and it never has.

Yesterday, I decided to allow my energetic field time to replenish itself. I made the conscious decision that everything could wait for another day. I did a few Samurai Sudoku puzzles, watched some quizzes and documentaries on TV, read, chatted to my friend and caught up on cuddles with my dog Luna. It may surprise you to know I didn’t even pull any oracle cards or meditate, and I more or less gave myself a day off from Facebook. The only ‘Non-Me’ thing I did was get in some shopping to tide us over the weekend, so I didn’t have to brave the hordes in Lidl today – Saturday. Even then, I made it into a Me Thing by just getting the essential stuff and collecting a takeaway on the way home, so I didn’t have to cook.

As a result, I feel truly refreshed, physically, emotionally and spiritually. The house hasn’t fallen down around me because I didn’t do any cleaning or washing, and the garden hasn’t suffered for not having the fig leaves and doggy doings cleared up like clockwork, If you’re wondering why I put the block on my usual spiritual practices for the day, well, sometimes that’s counterproductive when you’re feeling overwhelmed. If you don’t get right into the zone when you meditate, or immediately pick up on what the cards are telling you, it can intensify those feelings of disconnection. Self-care itself is a powerful spiritual practice, and you don’t need divination tools or a specific routine or ritual to do it. You just need to take notice of what your mind and body is telling you.

New Beginnings

Every day is a new beginning, and a new chance to learn and grow, but New Moon and Lion’s Gate are powerful opportunities to move forward, practically and emotionally. New Moon is a time for setting goals and intentions, and Lion’s Gate is all about new beginnings as well. Astrologically, it occurs when Sirius – also known as the ‘Spiritual Sun’ – is in alignment with Earth. As Sirius is connected to abundance and harvest, this time is like a Spiritual New Year, and the Ancients certainly saw it as such.

With the New Moon happening in Leo, the sign of confidence, bravery and strength, new ventures, whether professional or personal, have the best chance of bearing fruit. The lion (Leo) is after all King of the Jungle, and by harnessing these powerful energies to your advantage, you too can be King – or Queen – of Anything and Everything, but most importantly, Lion’s Gate energies can help you enormously on your path to enlightenment and self-mastery.

The key to all this is to move into Lion’s Gate with faith in yourself and the Universe, and the firm intention of embracing change and releasing those connections and thought patterns that no longer work for you, so you can make that new beginning in every sense. You may also need to let go of your expectations of how you believe your life should be, and allow the manifestation potentials of New Moon and Lion’s Gate to work with you to bring you your best life.

The Power of 8

In Numerology, 8 is the number of manifestation and abundance, and August 8 (8/8) is extra powerful, because there’s a double dose of 8s, which is recognised as a Good Thing. Sideways, the number 8 is the symbol for infinity, and its shape represents the flow and balance of life itself. It’s the number associated with karma, or the spiritual law that states  ‘What goes around, comes around.’  So it’s a strong, powerful number.

Seeing the number 8 is a reminder that you deserve abundance, but to benefit fully from its energies, remember that abundance isn’t just about the bank balance, it’s about life balance too. Remember to share your abundance with others, to bring even more of the same into your life.

Take some time to write down 8 things you would like to bring into your life, changes you would like to make, and ways to make life more abundant for others. Then call on Archangel Ariel, the Angel of Manifestation, to help you turn your list into your reality. Don’t worry about how these things will happen, know that when you have set your intention and shared it with the Universe, you can bring them into your life by feeling they are already here. Stuck for inspiration? I’ll share my list with you if you like!

Lion’s Gate List of 8: The things I want to manifest in my life right now

1. Self-healing: I want to connect more with my mind and body, so it becomes clearer to me what I still need to release and heal from in order to move forward and grow. I need to treat myself with the same compassion I show to others, and nourish all aspects of my being.
2. Increased intuition: Lion’s Gate is a time of activation for the Third Eye Chakra. I want to develop my intuition more, so I can better serve others, and also my own soul’s needs.
3. Increased self-appreciation: Like most people, I am guilty of stringent self-criticism at times. I need to learn to love myself more, and cut myself some emotional slack. I’m not perfect, and I shouldn’t expect perfection in myself.
4. A more disciplined approach to creativity: As a Gemini, I am easily distracted by the Next Shiny New Thing. As such, I have at least three books in my head that have yet to make it into print. I need to bring more structure into all aspects of my creative life – particularly my writing.
5. Better communication all around: For me, this New Moon is in my Third House, which is all about communication. That also ties in with the previous point. After all, writing is communication too! I want to bring more clarity into all my communications, whether written, spoken or thought, so that I know where I am going and what’s important, and so does everyone I interact with.
6. Working more with healing energy: I discovered I am a natural healer. That doesn’t make me special – everyone is! I’ve been working with my own energy, and learning more about how I can use it to help others. Now I am ready for more structured study, so one of my intentions for Lion’s Gate is to bring more discipline into this area of my spiritual life.
7. Connect more with my Heart Centre: Leo is linked to the Heart Chakra, and all spiritual work stems from love, so we can never have too strong a connection to the Heart Centre. I want to work on this for myself, and also help others to do the same. All we ever need is within us, we just need to uncover it and connect with it, then we can manifest true abundance of spirit for ourselves and those we love.
8. Don’t Worry, Be Happy: I thought long and hard about this one – it is, after all, Number 8, and we’ve already learned how powerful that can be! It therefore follows that this intention should bring together everything I want for myself, going forward. Happiness has to come from within – it’s not linked to a destination, a person or an achievement. I need to be 100% Happy to be Me, and release any worries about what might go wrong in this process. I always tell my lovely friends and clients that they alone are responsible for their own happiness. It doesn’t come from the dream home, the dream job, or the perfect partner – it comes from knowing that you deserve to be happy, and being happy now. It’s that Attitude of Gratitude again – count your blessings and you will have even more reasons to be thankful. Now I need to listen to my own excellent advice!

Your own Lion’s Gate and New Moon practices

How you articulate and celebrate your intentions is of course entirely up to you. If you don’t want to do anything specific, then don’t. Just thinking about your intentions brings them into reality, there doesn’t have to be a set routine or ritual, unless that’s what you want. I will just mention that setting down your intentions in writing does seem to add more manifesting power to the elbow of the Universe though! I would definitely recommend making a List of 8 for Lion’s Gate.

My own plan is to sit with my list at midnight, in my garden, with the trees around me. We may not be able to see the New Moon, but its energies are there for us to absorb. I will also have my selenite unicorn horn, as I read through my intentions and visualise how they will work for me. Then I will place the list under my pillow, and do what I do every night before I sleep – I’ll thank the Universe for the blessings of the day. Tonight, as every other night, I will go to sleep with a grateful heart. Love and blessings to you all.