LEO
23rd July – 23rd August

The Constellation

In the constellation of Leo, we meet the Nemean Lion that Hercules encountered in one of the most well known of all his 12 tasks. By the time of the Roman Empire, there were no lions in Greece, so it was assumed that there weren’t any. However, in ancient times lions did roam the countryside, but by Roman times they had been hunted into extinction.

Hercules was the son of Zeus by a mortal lover by the name of Alcmene. As usual, Zeus’ long suffering wife was jealous of Hercules and of her husband’s adultery and so submitted Hercules to terrible ordeals. At one point she drove him mad and in that state he murdered his own wife and children. To atone for his sins he went to the oracle at Delphi who ordered that he must perform twelve, almost impossible tasks in order to redeem himself.

Thus he set about to do what he could and take responsibility for his actions, regardless of what or who caused him to act that way. The most famous of these was the slaying of the Nemean Lion, an enormous beast that was terrorising the neighbourhood and depopulating it of people. It couldn’t be killed because its hide was impenetrable to iron, bronze and stone.

He tracked the lion down, covered in blood from that day’s kill. He first shot arrows into his hide, but they simply bounced off. His sword simply bent and his club slipt on contact with the lion’s head. In the end, Hercules used his intellect. He strung a net over the entrance to the cave, and then when the lion was asleep, crept to the back of the cave. He then frightened the beast who ran at the entrance to the cave, only to be trapped within the net. Then with his bare hands Hercules strangled the lion and killed it. With its own claw, he ripped the skin from the carcase and used its skin as protection for himself, making him as invincible as the lion itself.

The story of Nemean Lion is one of accepting responsibility for your own actions, despite what course, but triumphing by using your own skills, not any outside aid. This is true courage. A similar story is found in other cultures, particularly in that of Gilgamesh, the Babylonian Sun God.

The lion is the most proud and passionate of all the beasts. It is the king of the beasts, just as the Sun is king of the solar system. Since ancient times, long before the Greeks, the lion has been a symbol of masculine power, rulership and divinity. Even to this day, buildings of importance are adorned with lions either side of the door, or protecting the gates.

On the Ninevite cylinders, Leo the Lion is depicted in conflict with a bull, this is an ancient and archetypal symbol and represents the victory of light (Sun) over darkness (Moon). In the predawn of civilisation, religion was lunar based and feminine. At some point that switched to male domination and solar based religion.

The Egyptian King Necepsos and his philosopher Petosiris preached that at the time of creation the Sun rose near Denebola, in the Lion’s tail, a group of stars within the Constellation of Leo. The great Sphinx itself is said to be sculptured with Leo’s body and the head from the adjacent constellation of Virgo. There’s a reference to Leo on an inscription on the walls of the Ramesseum at Thebes.

Throughout the aged, the Constellation of Leo the Lion has always been connected with the Sun.

One story says that the Lion lived on the Moon and that he descended to earth one day as a shooting star. The Romans depicted the Lion as conquering death itself. The Chinese thought the lion took on human form and fought alongside them in their wars, only returning to the mount of Buddha Wen Shu, when victory was won. In Buddhism, the lion is the defender of the law. Hindu beliefs say that he is the destroyer of demons.

The Sun moves through the Constellation of Leo at the height of summer and represents the abundant generosity of nature and life itself.

Much of the characteristics of Leo, come from the beast itself. The lion is the most majestic of beasts and in the animal kingdom he reigns supreme, but it’s within its own environment that we find its characteristics. Lions are large, strong and fearless as well as being the deadliest of all the animal kingdom. Even humans bow down to its majesty.

Lions are social animals. They are also ‘family’ orientated, living in prides which are made up of related females, their cubs and one or two males. The females do almost all of the hunting, while the males defend their territory against other males. Note, I said ‘other males’. They don’t defend their pride against other animals that may harm them, rather other males that may try and take their place within the pride. Male lions are defensive and guard against other males, building up a trust with one or two other males, all of whom know their place.

On the other hand, the females are lethal hunters. With powerful jaws, claws, teeth and muscles. They can bring down an animal that is larger than themselves, especially when the girls of the pride gang up together.

The male lions spend a lot of time making sure that they look good, for one of the main drives within the Lion family is that of procreation. A male lion leaves the pride when it’s around 3 years of age. Once they reach mating age they’re seen as a threat by the existing adult males, so leave before this happens, to establish their own pride. Once they find fertile females, a male lion will allow one or two males in, not out of good will but to ensure the chance of reproducing. For reproduction is what Lions are all about and successful reproduction is dependent on the males ability to hold the pride together. All this sounds excessive, until you realise that it is estimated that it takes 3,000 copulations to produce one cub that survives infancy.

The Planet

Leo’s ruling body isn’t a planet at all, but the Sun itself, giver of all light and life. It’s the largest object in the solar system and if all the matter in the solar system, including planets, moons and asteroids were put together, it would only make up .2% of the total mass, with the Sun composing the remaining 99.8%. It’s interesting to note that of the .2% that the rest of the solar system makes up, Jupiter contains most of the rest.

The Sun is not a solid body at all, nor does it move in a uniform direction. The outer layers rotate at different rates. At the equator the surface rotates once every 25.4 days, but at the poles, it rotates every 36 days. This is because it’s made up of gas, but in its core it rotates as a solid mass.

The Sun’s output of energy is huge. It spews out 386 billion, billion megawatts of energy – a second, in nuclear fusion reactions. Each second 700,000,000 tons of hydrogen is converted into 695, 000,000 tons of helium and energy in the form of gamma rays. The Sun’s magnetic field is strong by terrestrial standards and complicated. Its magnetosphere extends well beyond Pluto.

As well as heat and light, the Sun emits a stream of particles called the solar wind, which roar through the solar system at 450 km/sec. When these solar flares come near earth, they have a dramatic effect, in the form of power surges, radio interference and in the form of beautiful and stunning ‘aurora borealis’.

The Sun is about 4.5 billion years old. It will continue to radiate for another 5 billions years, with its luminosity doubling in that time. Eventually it will run out of hydrogen fuel, but not for billions of years.

The God

The God that is most often associated with the Sun is Apollo. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, the ‘goddess of the night’. As a baby, he wasn’t nourished on his mother’s milk, but nectar and ambrosia. He grew to manhood with amazing speed. He was still a newborn baby when he threw off his swaddling clothes and stood, in all his manly glory.

The smith god Hephaistos gave him a bow and arrow and with that he set off to find a place of sanctuary. He chose a gorge that was inhabited by a female serpent (Python), sent by Hera, to destroy Apollo. He killed the serpent and made the gorge his sanctuary and called it Delphi. This is the famous oracle of Delphi where Hercules himself went to have the massive weight of guilt lifted from his shoulders.

At birth he was given the gifts of prophecy, music and knowledge and it was to the oracle of Delphi that many of the gods came for guidance and prophecy.

Once a year, in the autumn, he left Delphi and travelled to the mysterious land of the Hyperboreans, where he could enjoy eternal light, for Apollo could endure the dark days of winter. In fact he was the enemy of darkness. He also had the power to lift the burden of guilt and shame from men, driving away illness, sadness and internal shadows.

The Season

Leo is the middle sign of the Summer Triad, so is a fixed sign. Here summer is at its height and the days are long. The earth is dry and often parched and the air itself is sometimes too hot to breathe. Energy is sapped and it is hard to work, so manual duties are light. The harvest will come next month. While the Sun is in Leo it is a time to have fun, play and celebrate.

Nature itself is celebrating in an array of colour. Everything is full and ripe. The fruit will already have been picked, if not it will be lying plump upon the trees and vine. It is a time of enjoying the bounty of the land. Food and wine are abundant. With no hard labour needed, it’s a time to party and celebrate. Dances and celebrations took place in the home and this was when couples had the time to court.

Finding a mate was important during this time, for once the Sun moved on into Autumn and then winter, survival itself depended on banding together in a family unit. Love was in the air and so was optimism and warmth. Leo is the sign that rules conception, with a lot of ‘baby making’ going on while the Sun is in Leo.

Summary

In Leo we find the most regal of all the signs. Its symbol the Lion is not only the king of all the beasts but has been a symbol of power, kingship and divinity since antiquity. It was majestic and empowering, just as the Sun, its ruling body. Leo is a fire sign and is the proudest of all the signs.

From Hercules’ struggle and eventual victory of the Nemean Lion, Leos get their sense of individuality and personal power. It is a sign of courage and inner strength. Man made tools couldn’t kill this beast, Hercules had to do it with his own hands, but then he was able to wear this victory as protection. He owned up to his mistakes instead of leaving them in the dark, where they could have destroyed his spirit. Leo represents light conquering dark in all its meanings.

Apollo, its ruling deity, was the God of prophecy, healing, knowledge and music. Even when the Python was sent to destroy him, he not only killed the beast but also installed female priestesses at Delphi and called them Pythoness. Apollo represented a quality in Leo that doesn’t avoid darkness or problems, it overcomes them and wears them with pride, just as the Sun devours the darkness.

From both the creature, the Lion and the season itself we find the aspect of love and courtship. Leo rules the fifth house and when a planet moves through this house it is said to bring joy, laughter, pleasure and romance. The Lion’s whole social structure is built around the concept of mating and reproduction. In the season we find a time of year when it’s hot and languid. It is a season with few manual demands. The hard work of spring has born fruit that won’t be harvested until the Sun moves into Virgo. It’s a time for love to bloom.

This is a time of year when food is plentiful and love is in the air. There is colour everywhere, as life itself adorns itself in all its finery. These are all Leo qualities. This is a sign of joy and pleasure and light over dark.

When any planet moves through Leo it is filtered down to us through this Leo energy. Leo, being the fifth sign on the zodiac wheel, rules the fifth house. Any planet moving through your fifth house, is filled with rich Leo energy.