Later today the Sun ingresses Leo, the 5th sign. I believe that Leo is one of the oldest signs of the zodiac, that is, its mythological roots go the deepest. The myths involving the signs are the ones that far predate the Greek and Roman myths that run around as planets like so many new visitors to an ancient city.
 |
Part of why I believe that Leo is such an old thing is because the Great Sphinx is, so far as I can tell, the oldest physical object on the planet. It’s so old that they were repairing it during the Old Kingdom. I’m in the camp founded by John Anthony West and Sarite Sanders that says the sphinx is a lot, lot older than any academic archeologists think, and as far as I’m concerned the sphinx is a testimony to Leonine energy. In the doctrine of signatures this includes the Sun, the element gold, the heart and the enduring quality of humanity’s drive to express the vital force.
The Leo personality is more complex than it seems on the surface, moved by a mix of empathy (Cancer influence) and service (Virgo influence) that defy the pride and self-centeredness usually associated with this sign. On a good day, Leo is a mix of all three, which balance one another out. Everyone has Leo in their chart, and the placement of this sign within the wheel of the houses can be nearly as significant as the placement of the Sun. You can think of the sign Leo as being a ‘second Sun’. Leo is a zone in the chart where we get results, though these results may come from the toil and labor sometimes associated with this sign, or letting the natural abundance flow. The Sun’s rays burn out, and as with tarot trump XIX The Sun, you have to make sure that its rays don’t scorch what they would seek to nurture.
That said, we are a Sun-depleted culture. Depending on who you ask, 90% of people are vitamin D deficient, a nutrient that can only be synthesized by the skin when exposed to the Sun, or by supplementation. This lack of vitamin D is one of the most significant causes of both depression and immune system weakening; with healthy levels, we could wipe out a lot of both cardiovascular disease and cancer. We worry about skin cancer and slather ourselves with SPF 99, without realizing this cuts off our one and only source of natural vitamin D. Currently the levels known to work are about 12 times higher than the recommended daily allowance of 400 IUs. We really need about 5,000 units a day, which we would get from half an hour of good strong sunlight on bare skin.
For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, the Sun’s course through this sign is the peak of summer. In two weeks we have the Midsummer holiday, sometimes known as Lammas. This is an agrarian holiday involving wheat, loaves of bread and sometimes called the Feast of Fruits. Leo is a fixed sign. The fixed signs are always at the peak of a season; for example, Taurus is the peak of spring and Aquarius the peak of winter.
On Sunday afternoon the Moon enters Aquarius and about six hours later makes an opposition to the Sun; this is the Aquarius Full Moon. It’s an amazing event: the Sun and Moon make aspects to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Pluto. The closest aspect is Sun trine Jupiter / Moon sextile Jupiter. This event will pour some fresh energy into the prevailing tired state of affairs on the planet, as we’ve just lived through eclipses and are in the midst of many outer planet sign changes that are compelling us to adapt, adapt, adapt.
Till then, the Moon will be in Sagittarius and then in Capricorn. Today the Moon will pass through late Sagittarius and make a conjunction to the Galactic Core. That’s some big energy coming through — maybe a transmission of missing information. Listen up!
Catch you later and — don’t miss the really amazing thread on Planet Waves readers’ experience of therapy, a few posts down.
eric – thanks for mentioning the sun / vit D issue. people really need to know this. being a Leo i’ve always felt this intuitively and after reading the recent medical info on this the past several years it’s nice to have scientific details for my mind to reinforce the truth of what i’ve always felt w/ my body.
sarah – “In one of the decks I have, the Leo card is a cactus, the prevailing message being, “Hang in there, hang in there. Hold to your power and don’t waste it. Know how to use it, and your time will come.”” – that’s really encouraging. i needed to hear this! i’ve had all of this emotional & creative driven power building my whole life with no real outlet for it all, like a soda bottle shaken intensely with the cap on. when the cap is finally removed, the result will be explosive energy to the extreme.
Jere – “WE CREATE MATTER AND REALITY AS FAR AS THE UNIVERSE EXISTS!!” – exactly, but it doesn’t stop there. our universe is merely a molecule in another universe and every molecule in our universe has universes inside of it, and then inside those universes, it’s the same thing – infinity. the same is applied to dimensions. that’s the definition of the fractal – infinitely small and infinitely large 🙂
ahhh thanks Jere……
you are a good friend!
I think i have some pretty charts from the past, I will dig em up…..
..ZK, I’m gonna try to get this out before my Terrapin Station ends.., Ah shit,!, no luck, ohwell..,
If you grab your chart, date, time, place,.. on astrodienst, or astro.com (same thing), you can see where your planetary and house placements are. Then, just stare at it for a few.. see what you see..
The whole zodiac (cosmos) is staring you in the face! (Of course, the truth of any matter exists within each of us, WE CREATE MATTER AND REALITY AS FAR AS THE UNIVERSE EXISTS!!)
..anyway, 😉 happy observing!
Your friend
Jere
“Everyone has Leo in their chart, and the placement of this sign within the wheel of the houses can be nearly as significant as the placement of the Sun.”
I have heard this, but never understood how it worked. How is every sign in our charts? In a house? Like if I have Leo and my 3rd and 4th house are aligned, is that where I have Leo in my chart?
Thank you!!
And, thank you thank you thank you for it all….
zk
three words: raw wild salmon
Charles, for the assimilation of fat soluble vitamins, your fat to carb. intake has to be “worked”.
..I’m gonna pseudo stop right here, and tell a story… (if I had better skills on this box, I’d throw you an illustration. 😉 )
..I saw a book, A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away… (Just kidding, kind of..)
..but this thing glowed at me., it lit up., “Healing with whole foods”, Paul Pitchford.,,
..I’d tried talking through letter correspondence when my daughter was in utero, no avail, (but still my respect is alive)
..It’s a Massively fine piece of literature, for anyone who makes Love to literature.
(Charles, I have seen documentaries, and read literature regarding Rosacea. This is why I offer my books. Food, ..honestly, FOOD,.. what goes into your body is exceptionally important! AS important as the subjectives that course our external.)
Love, friend
Jere
Here’s some food for thought. Eric has talked a great deal recently about how Saturn opposite Uranus has been a massive integrity test.itself was a massive integrity test of our media, our government, our federal bureaucracy and public opinion. All of the above failed miserably. Ms. Sherrod herself is the only one who passed with flying colors.
I have rosacea so I have to avoid the sun, 10 minutes exposure and I am burned to a crisp. I spend most of summer hiding indoors. I have been fatigued lately, so my doctor did some blood tests, I am massively vitamin D deficient. I was already taking a multivitamin with 400 units of D3, but he prescribed a weekly dose of 50,000 units of D2! Wow! That is such a high dose that I have to be monitored to make sure it doesn’t build up to toxic levels. D is a fat soluble vitamin and unlike water soluble vitamins, excess can’t be excreted, it has to be metabolized.
Well this is a sad fate for a Leo ascendant. But after 2 megadoses of D2, I feel a lot better.
Out of my birth sign straight into my ascendant. What do they call that? Out of the frying pan into the fire?
Okay, so while we are talking LIONS and the Strength card in the Tarot — brings up for me the Hindu Goddess Durga, who is usually depicted astride a Lion (sometimes a Tiger, a regional variation). The Lion “Simha” assists her in fighting the Cosmic Demons who have thrown the world out of balance. Not only has she control over Simha, but she has befriended him, symbolizing our capability of not only harnessing our “animal” nature, but having an alliance with it. (As Shakambari, she, is in fact, Nature Herself). She is ever-victorious in all battles over the demons (who of course, represent our own inner demons of anger, greed, thinking we are too much or not enough, ignorance and hatred). She is the Great Goddess, and all aspects of the Divine Feminine come from her — Inspiration/Creation, Preservation/Sustanance and Decay/Destruction. (Maha Saraswati, Maha Laksmi and Maha Kali). Prayers and mantras to Durga are offered for Protection, Overcoming Negativity, Wisdom and Nurturance and for developing COURAGE.
Makes sense to me. It holds a real visual weight, doesn’t it? The physical manifestation of creative power.
Here is the bit — a footnote to this article, which will require a subscriber password as I don’t have an open edition. This was from the article about the Hanged Man and the execution of Saddam Hussein from January 2007.
http://planetwavesweekly.com/dadatemp/1675562106.html
** Vis a vis the image in Strength or La Force in the old deck, the clue that she is spreading her vulva is that the lion is at waist level and stems directly from her body at the level of her genitals. What the central symbol, in this case the lion, is touching or springing from, is important to how you determine what it is beneath the surface of the image. There is also a visual pun: the lion as ‘chat’ or pussy. The lion is also submissive. Her left hand is just gently touching the lower jaw, not even holding it. She is the master of her own sex/sexuality/vital force in whatever form you would like, but it starts with her being the master of her genitals. Crowley [and his artist Lady Frieda Harris] depicts her riding the lion, again, its master.
The jaws of the lion are the lips of her vulva – she is spreading them in a display of strength and mastery over her vital force – and it’s an old pun on chat, or pussy. The lion is almost always depicted at waist level. I have a writeup on this somewhere.
“The Sun’s rays burn out, and as with tarot trump XIX The Sun, you have to make sure that its rays don’t scorch what they would seek to nurture.”
Leo is also traditionally associated with Strength, usually the 8th trump card, which ties into this idea of nurturing vs. scorching. It is often depicted as a woman holding the jaws of a lion – using the powers that one has to strike a balance between weakness and overkill. Strength used wisely and effectively.
In one of the decks I have, the Leo card is a cactus, the prevailing message being, “Hang in there, hang in there. Hold to your power and don’t waste it. Know how to use it, and your time will come.”