Leo

Meaning

Leo is the fifth sign of the zodiac, from 120° to 150°, the height of northern summer. It is fire in its fixed form, ruled by the Sun, the only sign the Sun calls home, and astrologers read it as the sign of the heart: warmth, creative expression and the wish to give oneself fully to what one loves.

A planet in Leo tends to act openly and generously, to put its whole self into what it does and to want that self to be seen. Fixed fire is a steady flame rather than a spark: it keeps faith, keeps its word and keeps a room warm. Its gifts are courage, loyalty, playfulness and a talent for encouraging others.

Its difficulties are the shadow of that light: pride that makes criticism hard to hear, a need for recognition that can turn a disagreement into a matter of honour, a liking for the centre of the stage. The opposite sign, Aquarius, speaks for the group and for principles; the pair is read as the axis of the individual and the collective, of one heart and many.

In the traditional scheme no planet is exalted in Leo and none falls here. Saturn, ruler of the opposite sign, is in its detriment, and some modern astrologers add Uranus, the modern ruler of Aquarius: rules and detachment sit uneasily with a sign that leads from the heart.

In practice

• The Sun in Leo, from 22 or 23 July to 22 or 23 August (the day shifts from year to year), is in its domicile: a sense of self that wants to create and to shine.
• The Moon in Leo: feelings expressed warmly and sometimes dramatically; comfort comes from affection that is shown, not assumed.
• Leo rising, on the Ascendant: a warm, noticeable first impression. The Sun rules the chart, so its sign and house become doubly central.
• Saturn in Leo, in detriment, often learns to shine within limits and to earn its authority slowly. Venus in Leo loves generously and likes love to be declared.
• Leo on a house cusp: that area of life is lived with pride and heart, and the recognition received there matters.

Across traditions

• Jyotish calls the sign Simha, the lion, and gives it to the Sun as well; measured from the stars, it begins about 24° further on, and the Sun enters it around 17 August.
• Human Design places gates 31, 33, 7 and 4 wholly in Leo, with the end of gate 56 and nearly all of gate 29.
• The Chinese calendar opens Leo with Dàshǔ, “major heat”, and sets Lìqiū, “start of autumn”, at 15° Leo, where the month of the Monkey (shēn) begins: the Chinese autumn starts in the middle of this sign.

Origin and history

Babylonian astronomers already saw a lion in these stars, and the Greeks kept it, Leōn, as the Nemean lion whose hide no weapon could pierce, the first labour of Heracles. Ptolemy gave Leo to the Sun and Cancer to the Moon, counting them the warmest signs, the closest to the zenith.

The bright star Regulus, “the little king”, marks the Lion’s heart and is one of the six fixed stars in Ulune’s table. Precession carried it out of the sign Leo into Virgo around 2012; it now stands just past 0° Virgo. By the boundaries astronomers published in 1930, the Sun crosses the constellation Leo from about 11 August to 17 September.

How Ulune calculates it

A body is in Leo from 120° to 150° of tropical longitude, measured from the March equinox point. In the dignity table the Sun holds its domicile here; no planet is exalted or in fall, and Saturn is in detriment. The triplicity rulers are the Sun by day, Jupiter by night and Saturn participating, after Dorotheus; the terms run Jupiter to 6°, Venus to 11°, Saturn to 18°, Mercury to 24° and Mars to 30°, and the faces are Saturn, Jupiter and Mars. The readings’ decans are those of Leo, Sagittarius and Aries, ruled by the Sun, Jupiter and Mars. Ulune scores dignities for the seven traditional planets only, so Uranus’s modern detriment is not counted.

Correspondences