Just before daybreak, in the quiet of dawn, you gaze toward the Nile River and see a bright glimmer over the horizon, shining in the Eastern sky from 8 light years away… Sopdet, a distant star with 25 times more luminosity than our Sun, aligns with The Great Pyramid of Giza as the Nile floods its river banks, nourishing the land and the people.

This ancient, annual rising of “Sopdet,” now known as Sirius, has more recently come to be known as “The Lion’s Gate,” and it peaks on 8/8 during Leo season (represented by the lion). There is a lot of commentary on Lion’s Gate, and I see it the same way I see all of astrology: It’s there if we want to leverage it, learn from it, be inspired by it, or merely marvel at its mystery...

Indigenous cultures around the world have long studied the sky and used their observations for agricultural timing, to mark various cycles of life, and eventually for the creation of calendars and clocks, including intuitive ones!

Our ancestors also extracted myth and meaning from the patterns they observed. None of those myths or systems of meaning are superior. The ones that have “stood the test of time,” were usually allowed to persist because of who studied them. The Lion’s Gate reminds me that “Until the lion tells the tale, the hunter will always be glorified.”

One of the many consequences of colonialism and genocide is the loss of culture, including cosmologies, myths, and ecosystems of meaning. By now, everyone reading this has likely heard of at least one present-day genocide happening in countries like Palestine, Sudan, Congo, Ethiopia, and even more. This violence is happening to specific people in specific places, and it’s happening in our world.

And we don’t have to feel powerless when atrocity happens. And we don’t have to ignore atrocity for the sake of “protecting our peace” or maintaining a “high vibration.” Instead, we can consider how to channel an internal state of peace and higher vibration, which is really just love, and direct it toward what we care about.

On August 9th, we have a full moon in the the zodiac sign of Aquarius, which represents key themes like hope and wishes for the future, as well as society, rebellion, revolution, progress, congress, house of representatives, parliaments, cooperation, idealism, and humanitarianism.

On the day that I’m writing this very sentence, I just got back from a trip to Atlanta, where I saw the perfect representation of this kind of Aquarius energy: a mural of the late Civil Rights activist and United States Congressman, John Lewis. The mural is decorated with paper cranes, a Japanese symbol of hope, and includes the quote:

Generally speaking, full moons are times of release, completion, culmination, results, and illumination. Like every Aquarius full moon, it’s taking place during Leo season, but this one also happens to be at 17 degrees, which is a Leo degree. Therefore, we have a spotlight on wholehearted, courageous communication and action.

The legacy of John Lewis and those who fought beside him was proactive hope. He didn’t just talk about his hopes and wishes on social media or over dinner with friends. He worked persistently to create the changes he hoped to see.

One thing I wish gets illuminated for all of us during this full moon is greater clarity on our unique role in society—how we have special purpose that’s born of radical authenticity, self-sovereignty, profound interconnectedness, and revolutionary hope.

“Oshun of Correspondence” paired with “Oshun the Warrior” harkens back to my analogy of the chorus of voices speaking truth to power. These oracle messages speak to communication, personal power, dialogue, conflict resolution, and leadership. The author of this deck writes:

It takes courage to be optimistic. People cling to pessimism, cynicism, or “realism” (which I believe is just timid optimism) because we fear being disappointed. We fear the soul-crushing experience of getting our hopes up only to be let down. Again and again. And we fear being shamed by the pessimists and cynics if we fail. We fear the dreaded: See… I told you this would never work. You look so foolish for trying.

I’m not trying to convert pessimists and cynics into optimists. I do wish they would stop trying to poke holes in the sails of optimists, though.

Aligning your actions with your hope is a risk. I believe the potential reward is worth it.

Beautiful Book
We have finally chosen a cover for my upcoming book on colorism (2026)!!! Not sure if I should announce this before I can actually show it to you, but I like to keep my peeps in the know! I’ll be deep in revision mode for the rest of this month, and I’m excited to love this book into it’s final form.

Meaningful Marathon
We’re three months away from my first 26.2 miles, running on behalf of St. Jude Children’s Hospital. You can donate here or via CashApp and Venmo @ColorismHealing.

Powerful Practice
Next week, I open my coaching offer for individuals who feel they have a lot of life still left untapped; those who’ve experienced forms of conventional achievement yet crave deeper meaning, fulfillment, joy, freedom, purpose, and peace; and those who are quite curious about how various forms of intuitive arts can enrich their personal journey.

This week I granted myself the opportunity to discover a poet I’d not heard of before, and I’m so glad I did! I present to you this week’s Open Mic featured voice: Tanaya Winder. The poem I’m spotlighting now is “Love Lessons in a Time of Settler Colonialism.” For those who want a closer study, you can read the poem here. Included below is a visual and verbal performance of the poem on YouTube.

Sincerely,