Happy Birthday Leo!

‘News You Can Use”

To all of you Leo readers, a very hearty and happy birthday!  May you celebrate your life in a special way during your time from July 23rd until August  22nd this year.  What does the coming solar year hold for you?  Let’s take a look.

The over-all message is to open your heart and feel the beat of those millions of other hearts beating right along with you.  Embrace others, and they will embrace you.

Keep in mind that each sign encompasses 30 degrees, so you may have been born at the early degrees of the sign, in the middle, or at the end degrees.  This will obviously effect timing for what I’m about to describe.  Also, you may have other planets in Leo that are impacted.

Those of you who have major notes in Leo may also benefit from an awareness of where everything else is cycling and connecting with those Leo energies in your own birth map.  In a personal consultation, we astrologers can give you the specific times to be aware of, as well as looking at all the other energies being activated in your natal map.  With this article I’m simply guiding you in a general direction for the times ahead.

I’ve posted a chart for the beginning of Leo this year, and put the Sun on the Ascendant so all the other planets can be seen in their ‘solar relationship’ with Leo.

The mysteries of the trans personal planets, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, have, as a group, formed over time a configuration with Leo likened to a ‘finger of God’ with Leo becoming the point of focus, the fulcrum point.  The challenge has been, and continues to be, for Leo to simply open the heart to the rest of life and the world, and in turn, to feel the world enter in to Leo in a much more heartfelt way.

Ever since the trans personal planets moved into the social, and now collective signs, we all have experienced a world fast becoming smaller and more globally accessible through such mediums as frequent flyer plans, the inter-net, cell phones, and all tele-communication modalities.  Later in November of 2008 the planet Pluto entered Capricorn, the first collective sign, and since that time we’ve witnessed tremendous global changes involving economic and political structures, but also the increased sense of awareness around global warming and how little time remains to turn around the relentless destruction of bio-diversity and natural habitats that we need to sustain life on this planet.  Pluto will remain in Capricorn until November of 2024.  This is huge and it strongly impacts the other ‘power’sign of Leo.  Leo embodies the solar principles itself and often imbues the native with a feeling of power by ‘divine right’.  After all, doesn’t everything else revolve around the Sun?  Only if one maintains the stance of ego or ethno-centricity!  Leaders who don’t listen to the voice of the people and continue to support plutocracies are losing credibility and support.

One example would be former President, George Bush Jr. with a strong Leo Ascendant combined with Mercury/Pluto in Leo rising.

Another example is current Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, a strong Leo with both Saturn and Pluto conjoining his Sun.  Both men have certainly ‘roared like Lions’, but now???  Enough said.

Only those Leos willing to set aside their hubris and join with the needs of the collective will stretch themselves creatively with the rising power of Pluto in Capricorn over the next 16+ years, for Pluto has very little concern for the individual in this sign, and this includes all those millions of baby boomers born with Pluto in Leo.  Many adjustments lie ahead for anyone with a ‘me first’ mind-set to now move into an attitudinal shift that encompasses much more than being the center of the universe.  It means remembering that the Sun is also a Star, and just one of trillions of other individual sun/stars in the universe.  It means joining in with all the force and creativity that Leo possesses to build a better world for everyone.  It means giving generously without thought for what will I get from this for myself kind of thinking.  Yes, it’s going to be a big, big stretch.

Neptune in Aquarius has been with us since the late ’90s, and is now at 25 degrees of this sign.  It will continue here until February of 2012.  This long journey opposite Leo has brought with it a great potential for Leos to develop spiritually, and I personally know many of these special souls who are giving unstintingly of their energy to help others and enlighten others as healers, communicators, film makers, therapists, aromatherapists, psychologists, and lawyers, even as they have had to sacrifice some element of ego to do so.

Chiron entered Aquarius in early 2006 and has this year joined forces with the giant Jupiter, also in Aquarius, in a rare three-planet conjunction with Neptune until early 2010.  This powerful dose of high and optimistic energy can possibly mean the culmination of a long-held dream for Leos, especially if it involves healing and/or creative endeavors, or humanitarian work that will benefit the greater good of all. It invites all Leos to truly join their bountiful power and talents with others and make their contribution to the whole.

Certainly Barak Obama, a Leo with Aquarius Ascendant, achieved that triumph by being elected President of the United States of America under this combination.  We are all now watching to see how he lives up to the high standards he promised during his charismatic campaign.  How strongly will he maintain ‘the will of the people’ rather than the plutocracy?

Oppositions always involve relationships, and Leos have had their share of highs and lows with Neptune’s passage.  Neptune can be incredibly misleading and deceptive, so Leos should only form partnerships, contracts, and relationships with those they can absolutely trust.  As new people enter their lives they should give them plenty of time to prove themselves.  Entering new realms are also fraught with the likelihood of self-delusion, so all new ideologies and movements, like people, should be given plenty of time before making a commitment to any of them.

Neptune can debilitate with defeats, lowered physical vitality, and general malaise, so Leos need to engage in a solid health regime, avoid drugs and pharmaceuticals with their enormous side-effects, and practice programs geared toward positive and inspirational ways of life.  Co-joined with Chiron there can be healing, yes.  There can also be wounding.  It’s important now to realize that one person’s medicine can be another person’s poison, so no one path fits all.  That’s especially important to remember with the eclectic array of alternative healing modalities and further medical advancements now available.

Uranus in Pisces, the last of the collective signs, has brought wonders and break-throughs, discoveries, and quantum leaps in new consciousness, as well as chaos, dissolution, and outbreaks of all manner of aberrations since it entered back in March of 2003.  Leo has needed to psychologically adjust to such energies.  Again, in principles this passage is designed to break down barriers and buttressed egos.  This is a watery deluge that can douse fire royally.  A fixed fire sign, Leo has needed to learn to flow with the changing times.  A good example on a collective level would be the immense migrations of peoples that have been occurring all over the planet due to wars, famines, and hard economic times for the under-developed countries especially.  The idea of Leo sovereignty is anathema to vast movements of immigration co-mixing with the established status quo of a nation, statehood, town, or family.  Madonna, that quintessential Leo woman, rose to the occasion and adopted not one, but two African children.  As Leo extends with compassion to those who are less fortunate, deeper transformations take place at both the soul and the collective level.

What about Saturn? All Leos were hit hard by Saturn passage through Leo from mid-2005 through August of 2007.  since September of 2007 until now Saturn has traveled through the next sign Virgo, meaning that Leo is moving ahead with creative goals through analysis, self-reflection, and hard work.  Once Saturn enters Libra starting end of October, Leos will gain gain momentum with their endeavors and make increasingly good social connections through the opportunities that will arise for them, especially in 2010 and 2011.  This can be a real time of energetic achievement and a sense of getting somewhere significant.  Artistically, creatively, as well as socially, this will be an excellent phase in Leo’s life to build bridges and networks towards the greater spheres that they yearn for.

The long phase of Mars in Leo, which will last for 7 1/2 months starting on October 16th, heralds tremendous potential for Leos.  Energy will be high enabling Leos to take risks and accomplish so much with great enthusiasm.  Go Leos!  On the other hand, too much ego will create confrontations with others which can be explosive, or too much confidence can over-ride practical caution and increase the risks of accidents and injuries, if Leo is prone to such.  Over-all, however, this will be a time of getting a lot done with zest and pizazz.

As a final note, the South Node is about to leave Leo. This, too, is a sign that Leos may have learned their lessons around false pride, hubris, and being self-centered to the detriment of joining in and participating with the greater whole, which the North Node in Aquarius has been trying to teach us all.  If Leos gave of themselves with generosity and heart, the South Node only increased the momentum of such love and helped them to release their magnanimous gifts to others, even to the world.

Leo, your time is now as the Sun shines high and brightly in the Northern skies.  Continue to radiate your bright spirit and generous heart.  We love you for it!