The Lion

Humanistic Astrology - Dane Rudhyar

Abstract meaning	Concrete and Traditional Meaning	Part of Body Ruled
The power of express the I AM. All modes of self-expression and creative activity. Man, the Actor and Performer.	Imperious self-expression. Assumption of authority. Love of pleasure and luxuries. Speculation, the Arts. Childbearing. Intuition, dynamic inensity.	The heart and the spine.

New Age Astrology - Alan Oken

I Seek My Self through What I Create
positive natural tendency	misuse or exaggeration of trait
self-assured and progressive warm and sincere affectionate in love protective cultivated and refined artistic and expressive inspired by universal love	vain and self-seeking falsely modest lustful and hedonistic dictatorial extravagant and opulent braggart and show-off purely egotistical

Traditional - Llewellyn George

Physical Characteristics	Mental Tendencies
broad shoulders, large bones and muscles, tall upper part of body better formed than lower thin waist, prominent knees, upright carriage hair soft and wavy, usually light in color with tendency to baldness head full-sized and round gray eyes, ruddy or florid complexion	ambitious, generous honorable, frank, warm-hearted self-confident, fearless impulsive determined, persevering and conscientious fond of power and distinction liking for art cheerful, optimistic disposition

Traditional - Manly P. Hall

Emotional Key Words	Mental Key Words
faithful, rich in emotional life, affectionate, idealistic, proud, sympathetic, merciful, chivalrous, domestic, excitable, foreseeing, vain, subject to illusions	commanding, generous, ambitious, self-sacrificing, optimistic, fixed in opinion yet magnanimous, opposed to secrecy, oblivious to enmity, challenging, bold, domineering, autocratic

In Leo, the Sun gives an active mind, a good natured person who is generous and has many friends. Leos are natural leaders, ambitious, independent, determined, and persistent, ever industrious, honest to a fault and very conscientious. They are also philosophical, and quite the philanthropists. One born under Leo may be quickly angered but he can be just as quickly appeased. Normally sunny of disposition they can be frank and outspoken, as well as candid, and at times forceful. But a Leo greatly appreciates affection and in this he is ardent and sincere, even magnetic. Quite intuitive as well as inventive, Leos are fond of children, love sports, drama, honorrs and high office. Likewise, those who are born with Leo rising are good natured persons who are kind-hearted and generous, and of a noble disposition. Leo natives are forceful and demonstrative in manner, very independent and outspoken, and also a little impulsive. With their great hope, faith and fortitude, their nature is electric and inspiring. Highly energetic people, they are lavish in the expenditure of energy and vitality, especially when their sympathy or interest is aroused. Their affection is as sincere as they are ardent and passionate. True, Leo natives are imperious and fond of power and command, but they can be very charitable, even philanthropic, and there is none more loyal. Popular and often leaders in their social sphere, they are generally good-tempered even if a little high-strung, but beware! for they are quick to anger, although just as quick to forgive, and they don't hold a grudge for long. Leos have high ideals, equally willing to receive or grant favors, and they are usually fortunate in the long run, succeeding best where they have authority or hold some high or responsible position as a manager or executive. Motive temperament. Leos are fire signs who realize that they can energize people by their own dramatic self-presentation, and so they soon learn to become larger than life in their actions and behavior. A Leo is a strong individualist who has a clear sense of self and as a fixed sign his flame burns steadier and is more enduring than what cardinal Aries produces. If the Ram constantly fights the containment of its blazing fire, the Lion learns to make such containment work to his advantage by offering the world a more reliable, radiant heat that warms the heart while it also lights up the stage. It's an appealing, charismatic form of fire that knows how to get noticed, and is determined to receive positive attention and desired rewards from an adoring world. Leo's dramatic sense and tendency to dominate may be great assets while on the stage, but they can create real problems in an intimate relationship. The need to give can also become a need to control the person to whom one is giving, and the very intensity of Leo's giving can be hard to take, causing an affair to "burn out" before its time. On the other hand, an evolved Leo, one who is conscious of his or her own ego games, can be a wonderful lover, for he is generous, imaginative, witty and romantic, loyal and totally committed to giving his or her partner the best of everything. Leo's exhibitionsm may not be everyone's cup of tea, but those who can respond to it will be royally entertained. A Leo rarely hold himself back from taking gambles in life, even when success cannot be guaranteed, mostly because his confidence in his own abilities is so strong. Such self-assurance leads to a certain inner pride and dignity, although achievements aren't the sole source of a Leo's feelings of self-honor. It's as though the Lion feels he was born to shine brightly and enjoy elevated status, and so he behaves as though first-class treatment from the Cosmos is his birthright. Leos do think about their place in society, although not with any real perspective regarding collective needs. No, Leo knows that, at this stage, "It's all about me!", even if it's only to feel important to those around us who need our dynamic involvement, our leadership. A Leo needs to pour his vitality into others - preferably an audience of loyal fans - to help enliven his own creative energies thereby raising his own spirits. Leo is a wonderful morale booster, a shining example of one who has great faith in himself and the will to accomplish much. They may seem bold and brassy to those who find such self-glorifying behavior annoying, but most people are enchanted by the Lion's ability to enjoy himself wholeheartedly in all his endeavors. He is always willing to face his future with optimism and enthusiasm, and although they are not deeply philosophical, they are idealists who believe that they can make fabulous things happen by simply allowing a sense of high self-regard to empower us. The Lion simply refuses to think little of himself. Like the Sun, the planetary ruler of Leo, natives of this sign belong at the center of their world, radiating the energy of fire and exerting the magnetism of fixity. Leos don't need to sally forth to assert their powerful individuality either, for their business is simply to be, and their very existence will influence the lives of those around them. There is a natural assumption of authority in Leo, much different from the driving ambition of say a Capricorn. Capricorns seek to climb to a position of power. Leos know that they already possess that power by divine right! A king, surrounded by loyal subjects, or just the artist in his own studio, Leo is in total control of his universe. But don't be fooled into thinking that Lions are self-contained, for they actually need other people to give to, and they need to feel that their gifts are appreciated. They are truly generous and noble of spirit, but they are also victims of pirde and can become isolated from the love and support they need because they are too proud to ask for it. And if in their insecurity they imagine their power is of their own making, they can become tyrannous, and take some spectacular falls. Hence, they can be the most charming or the most obnoxious of signs, often depending on their early education, and, of course, other factors in their chart as well. The real quest for Leo is one for control. Whereas the first fixed sign, Taurus, the rider of the bull seeks to control his instincts, Leo, who proceeds from the heart, seeks self-control, for self-mastery is the road to success and fulfillment. In ancient Iran, the Lion Initiation was a major part of the Mithrus cult. Fescoes show Mithrus, or the initiate, riding the lion bareback, an extraordinary triumph of skill and self-mastery, of willpower and courage. Hercules in his first of twelve labors, fought and killed the Nemean Lion barehanded. The lion ritual symbolized bringing under control the inner lion of strong emotional reactions, just as the Cretan bull initiation symbolized bringing the physical instincts under control. In Cancer, we witnessed the power, potential, and mystery that belonged to the Feminine, to Shakti, symbolized by the light of the silvery Moon as she undergoes her many moods or phases. In Leo, we arrive at the solar, or Masculine principle - the confident energy of the Sun. Gone are the subtleties of Cancer as we now directly experience the golden rays of the Sun. Leo is constancy because it is Fixed or persevering Fire which can lead to pride and sometimes hubris (arrogance), but this brand of Fire is less impetuous than Aries (Cardinal Fire), although more determined, with a greater zest for life than most other signs. Leo is a leadership sign as when we say a successful person is "lionized" at a party in his honor. This constancy of the Leo archetype seems to be derived from the orbit of Sol himself. The ancients knew that they could depend upon Helios Apollo or Ra to appear every morning at sunrise, bringing the warmth and light which the Earth required for survival, and there are myths in every culture involving the orbit of the Sun in its fieery chariot moving across the sky from the East, setting in the West. It is from the Egyptian Sun God, Ra, and his solar Disc that we get our present astrological glyph for the Sun, and the Egyptians also provided us the lion's tail glyph for Leo. Like Cancer, the history of Leo is varied. The lion appeared as the crucial season of the year which brought the floods to the delta in the epic myth of Babylon, Gilgamesh. The constellation was known to the Babylonians as the Great Dog, and to the Egyptians as the Sickle, so how it became the lion is unclear. However, the Egyptians worshipped a lion-headed goddess called Sekhmet, who represented the scorching heat of the sun at midday. Since the sun does indeed shine most brightly during the month of Leo, Sekhmet may have been its original archetype. It was also the Egyptians who constructed the Sphinx, which some esotericists believe represents a lion merging with a goddess, something present in the astrological wheel at the cusp of Leo the Lion and Virgo the harvest Goddess. The actual date of the construction of the Sphinx is a subject of much debate among scholars, but there are some who believe that the building of the Sphinx took place at the turning of the ages between these two greater cycles, that is, around 10,000 BCE, the beginning of the Age of Leo. Among the ancient Babylonians, there was a very bright star within the constellation of Leo that may give this sign much of its character, and that is the star Regulus, the heart of the lion. To the ancients, this star was one of the "watchers on the horizon,", one of a group of four stars that rose at the equinoxes and solstices in Babylon (the others being Antares, Aldebaran, and Fomalhaut). In the Babylonian sidereal zodiac, Regulus was the star of the summer solstice - the time of the year of maximum solar force, an association like that of Leo, the Sun and fixed fire. Many of our mythological associations with Leo refer to kings and queens, heroes and heroines. They preside over the wild beasts of the jungle and represent fearlessness and courage. Thus, the wisdom in Leo is tied first to one's ability to outwit the beast or enemy, and second, to protect its offspring or kingdom from such enemies. In ancient times kings and tribal leaders typically earned their position as rulers because they displayed such mighty strength and mastery over their challengers that their subjects stood in awe of their abilities. They were great warriors, and when invading armies came to challenge them, they defended their kingdom by displaying their power - or were defeated and relinquished their position to the new and victorious warrior. Thus, the second stage of fire (Leo) is linked with the first stage (Aries): the warrior (Aries) becomes the king (Leo). The Age of Leo (10567 BCE - 8411 BCE) began as the last great Ice Age was ending. Not surprisingly, then, the period was characterized by Sun worship, and Leo symbology was the use of the Lions. The use of Gold as currency was the norm, and Gold and Lion are unique symbols of the sign Leo and its planetary ruler the Sun. The Vedic scripture Ramayana tells us of the Kings who ruled in the Age of Leo, and reveals that they all considered themselves Suryavanshi, meaning the direct descendants of the Sun. The Age of Leo was chosen by the Ancient Egyptians as the First Age 'rediscovered' by the western world when Napoleon's soldiers came across it in 1798, the body of a male lion with the head of a human. The traditional and probably still majority view is that the Great Sphinx was built at the same time as the nearby Pyramid of Khafre (Khaf-Ra, Chephren) in about 2540 B.C.E. However there has been lively debate in recent years arguing that it may be anywhere from two to four times that old. John Anthony West first noticed weathering patterns on the Sphinx that were consistent with water erosion rather than erosion produced by wind and sand. The Sphinx is carved of rock, so it cannot be dated by the radio carbon technique. The only other method of dating is by using contemporary texts that refer to its construction, but there are none of these either, therefore, no definite facts are known. Another notion is that it was built when the Sahara was still green, and we know that the Sahara was once fertile, but over the millennia, it slowly eroded. This could be an explanation for the water damage done to the outer walls of the Sphinx. Graham Hancock, the author of The Message of the Sphinx, believes that it is a lion because it was built in the Age of Leo. In another book The Orion Mystery (Heinemann-Mandarin) he demonstrates that the best fit for the Giza Pyramids/Nile pattern with the Orion's belt/Milky Way pattern occurred when the sky was pushed back in time (i.e. precessed) to the epoch of 10,500 BC. Prash Trivedi on his website, Dawn of the Aquarius Age - The Message of the Ancients: A Vedic Perspective believes the key to unlocking the recently discovered "Orion" mystery of the Pyramids, the "Draconis" mystery of temples in Angkor, and the "Pleiades" mystery of the Mayan civilization, lies in the ancient Vedic texts, which contain more references concerning all these sacred constellations and deep sky objects than any other ancient manuscripts. The Orion mystery of the Pyramids arises from the fact that the three Pyramids at Giza,located south-west of Cairo, are aligned exactly as the three middle stars of the constellation of Orion namely Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka. Also, the three Pyramids are aligned at an angle of 45 degrees, and astronomical data shows that the belt of Orion was tilted at such an angle around 10,500 BC. Hence, a startling conclusion looms on the horizon, which is that the Pyramids were constructed not around 2500 BC by the Egyptians, but by a more advanced civilization thousands of years earlier. The mystery deepens when one finds that the temples at Angkor in Cambodia form a shape exactly similar to the constellation of Draconis. Using astronomical data, once again it is found that the temples align with the constellation as it appeared around 10,500 BC. It is also interesting to note that the constellations of Orion and Draconis lie almost opposite to each other in the celestial view from Earth. It is interesting that the figure of 10,500 BC comes up in both cases, because this is also the time given by esoteric astrologers for the last great global cataclysm which destroyed a civilization much more advanced than our own. Among climatologists, this period is known as the Younger Dryas, or the Big Freeze, a brief cold climate period at the end of the Pleiostocene period (c. 10,900-9,500 BCE), the last great geologic epoch before the present time began about 10,000 years ago. While the Younger Dryas had the greatest effect in Europe, it was noted throughout the world. Nothing of the size, extent, or rapidity of this period of abrupt climate change has been experienced since.

Back to Virgo

Bibliography

Ahead to Cancer

Leo is a very bright and easily identifiable constellation lying between Cancer on the West and Virgo on the East. It is best seen in the Northern Hemisphere in late winter and early spring. The most recognizable feature of the Lion is his mane, which looks like a huge inverted question mark or a giant sickle.


Image courtesy of Astrology Weekly.com

Leo is the bringer of Spring, arriving in mid-February and, although not as prominent as Winter's Orion, is nevertheless a dominant constellation with a recognisable asterism. The most prominent star, Regulus, forms a triangle with Procyon and Alphard (alpha Hydrae): Regulus. For binocular study Leo has a number of interesting objects: binaries, variables, and deep sky objects. Start with Regulus, which is a binocular double.

Copyright © James B. Kaler, all rights reserved. These contents are the property of the author and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the author's consent except in fair use for educational purposes.

The sickle-shaped head of Leo, the Lion, is on the right, the triangle that makes his hindquarters on the left. Regulus is at the bottom of the sickle at lower right. Algieba is the brightest of the Sickle stars that are above Regulus; Adhafera is just above Algieba. At the top sits Rasalas, and down and to the right of Rasalas, at the front of the Sickle, is Algenubi. Denebola, which marks the lion's tail, is at lower left; Zosma, on the Lion's back, is up and to the right of Denebola. Leo is one of the great constellations of the zodiac. The ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun, runs just to the south of Regulus. Riding the back of Leo is the modern constellation Leo Minor.
Copyright © James B. Kaler, all rights reserved.

The Constellations web page is © 1996-2005 by Richard Dibon-Smith. Any use of this material without written permission by the author is an infringement of this copyright.

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Leo, the Lion, from Bayer's Uranometria of 1603. The horizontal dashed line is the ecliptic, while the broad dark band shows the region in which the Moon and planets can be found. The first magnitude star Regulus (Alpha Leonis) marks the Lion's heart, while Denebola (Beta Leonis) is found at the end of the tail. The head of Hydra, the Water Serpent, appears at lower right. Courtesy of the Rare Book Room and Special Collections Library of the University of Illinois.

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