Regal Bearing: Leo Season Forecast
Shadow work has experienced newfound popularity but it’s actually part of a larger process — individuation. Individuation is not about collective comfort — it is necessarily about the singular being at the heart of one’s own existence. While knowledge and understanding of the collective certainly affords its own kind of power, it’s all in the name of better personal understanding and strength of will.
We find that heart embodied in the zodiac by Leo. Ruled by the Sun, which was considered by ancients to be the most regal of the Wandering Stars, Leo is the fire sign most concerned with generative force and personal expression. After the quiet depth of Cancer, Leo bursts into awareness with all the command of a king, confident in his birthright and ready to assure his legacy. Like its predecessor, Leo immortalizes yet another trial of Heracles — the defeat of the Nemean Lion. Heracles was the definitive hero, but the Lion was actually the first beast he faced. The sign’s hallmark bravery and showmanship is embodied not by the Lion himself but the hero — and it’s this confidence which has been sorely lacking in the dominant energies. Saturn’s ingress into Aquarius brought a barrage of collective fears to the surface, and with the planet locked in long-term square to Uranus, still in resource-minded Taurus, the security needed to explore and express has been in scant supply.
But Leo is also a fixed sign, pulling on another side of the energy that has largely defined the year. Even with whispers of revolution, Leo maintains his regal bearing. Kings are destined to rule and Leo never questions his fate.
When the Sun arrives home in Leo on July 22nd, it immediately sheds light on long-term issues of scarcity and self confidence. Lilith’s ingress into Gemini put a spotlight on the insecurities we’ve internalized from all the hundreds of voices around us, but the Sun interrupts, highlighting this conversation as what it is: simply an inner monologue. This is the start of a season of revelations.
Individuation is often cast as an enemy to the collective, and those who are self-possessed and confident are seen as dangerous radicals to agents of the status quo. It’s important to remember this during the Aquarius Full Moon on the 23rd: full moons are always a time of tension, but with the regal Sun in…
