Leo’s Passion and Pageants
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What it’s like to be you
The desire for self-expression is pretty high up on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. You have to have an awful lot going right in your life before it occurs to you to want more fun. That said, even a life that offers a roof over your head, food to eat, and safety from imminent peril can be flat, gray, and filled with despair, if there is nothing to feed your creative spirit and no sense that your life has meaning.
This week, the Sun enters Leo (July 22, 7:51 pm), which is called the sign of creativity; but that doesn’t tell the full story. It evokes visions of a child’s playroom, filled with bright plastic toys, or a crafts room with construction paper and Elmer’s glue. But Leo’s desire for creativity transcends the tools we use to summon it. Leo symbolizes pursuits that open the heart and make you feel completely alive, to the extent that you don’t even question whether you’re doing it well, just whether you’re doing it exactly as you like. That can be a challenge for adults, who have responsibilities and full schedules, and who lack a child’s luxurious surfeit of empty hours for seemingly idle pursuits.
But throwing yourself into a creative passion is worth the investment of time, because the benefits spill over into every part of your life, making everything—your job, your relationships—more distinctive and satisfying.
We all have something inside us that wants to be engaged and needs to be shared and noticed. It says, “This is what it’s like to be me. This is how I see the world.” That’s Leo’s destination, and practically any road can take us there. You may enjoy quilting, or cooking, or designing video games; you may be called to play softball, mandolin, or Lady Macbeth. You might even write essays and publish them on the internet. You’ll know the right tools for you when you find you can’t stop fiddling with them long enough to make yourself get a decent night’s sleep. (Adapted from this essay.)
A storm in a canyon
Mercury’s conjunctions with Venus (July 24, 2019, 7:26 pm PDT)are the kinds of aspects that are easy to overlook. They seem lightweight, trivial. And yet, think how important communication (Mercury) is to relationships (Venus); how vital business acumen (also Mercury) can be to financial well-being (Venus); how indispensable birds and bees (Mercury) are to flowers (Venus).
The Sabian Symbol for the degree of the conjunction, 27 Cancer, is, A storm in a canyon. This is a retrograde Mercury that’s been traveling with Mars and square Uranus until quite recently; a lot of static electricity has built up around the issue of communication. You don’t have to pick a fight with anyone, or dump your stormy emotions on unsuspecting others. But it might be a rich day for journaling, art, and writing – bringing emotional intelligence to all the creative pursuits the Sun in Leo favors.
Second line
So much bright, shiny Leo energy this week – a veritable pageant – including a trine from Mars in Leo to Jupiter in Sagittarius (July 25, 2019, 5:22 am PDT). Mars is on the degree of the Sabian Symbol, A pageant, while Jupiter is on 15 Sagittarius, The groundhog looking for his shadow. Blain Bovee writes of this symbol, “Here we find a highly refined sensibility that has a knack for turning what might be to some, scary, dark, eerie energies, into a beautiful sense of life as a whole.” In this degree, we alchemize death and darkness into joyful affirmation of life.
In New Orleans, second lines are formed by revelers who follow along with the brass band parades that accompany everything from weddings, new businesses – or, in keeping with Jupiter’s shadowy Sabian Symbol, funerals.
I’m thinking of great and beloved astrologers who’ve left our earthly community in recent months – supportive and ferocious Donna Van Toen; scholarly and brilliant Robert Schmidt; most recently, Tem Tarriktar, generous Leo and founder of astrology’s most beloved magazine, The Mountain Astrologer. Such spirits form a societal “first line” and invite the rest of us to dance along with them, waving handkerchiefs, crying a little, celebrating the rich legacy of creativity and quirky confidence that they represent.
Colors of the Sun
What are you hankering for? As Venus enters Leo (July 27, 2019, 6:54 pm PDT), it can probably be broken down to a single word – passion. Love that curls your toes, music that stirs your heart and sets your toes tapping, a performance that awakens your spirit.
Venus had a rough time in Cancer, making hard aspects to Saturn and Pluto and limping to the finish line with a few bruises. We’ve earned some fun, and Venus’ transit through Leo is a most appropriate season for parties or any other joyous gatherings with our beloved partner, friends, and family.
Dress in the colors of Leo, the colors of the Sun. Add a little sparkle. Leave the house looking spectacular. Have fizzy drinks. Flirt. Play. Venus will be in Virgo soon enough (Aug. 21), and it’s back to school time. For now, have some fun. Re-create yourself.
©2019 April Elliott Kent
