LEO: The Love of Creation

Source: Unsplash/Clement Roy

This is part 5 of a 12-part series. It’s a little meditation on understanding the signs based on the Archetype. 

(Not afraid to admit I rode the struggle bus with this one a little bit trying to piece it all together.)

Leo represents our need to express our individuality, our creative drive, and the pleasure we feel from the realization of our own efforts. Leo’s season is the height of summer; a time of concentrated energy. The dynamic growth of spring and early summer begins to slow down, enticing us to enjoy the bounty of life all around us before the practical work of the fall harvest begins (Virgo). Therefore, we can also see Leo as the concentration of energy, the enormous vitality and warmth this sign is famous for, directed for our own use.

There is a reason Leo is associated with leaders and royalty. Embracing individuality means Leo has no master. They are completely free to do what they want, or at least they act that way the majority of the time. Leo shines forth with brilliant energy and when you’re in their company, you feel that warmth and generosity of spirit. People with strong Leo energy love to be the center of attention. They are the natural performers, storytellers, and entertainers. They are the center around which all activity converges, organizing and leading with a creative vision. They then delegate the actual work to more detail-oriented signs (I’m looking at you, Virgo), with the expectation of complete loyalty and thorough execution of Leo’s orders.

The few things a strong Leo won’t tolerate are challenging their authority or poking fun at them. If you do, you’ll get the scorching blast of heat and intensity of the Sun since their ego is so wrapped up in their identity. At least they regain composure and move on pretty quickly afterwards.

Leo is, of course, the sign on the 5th house of the Archetype, the house of love, pleasures, and creative self-expression. In the Archetype, it represents the ideal expression of love as seen through the qualities and planets associated with it. Leo is a masculine fixed fire sign, meaning we should actively express our love through consistency, loyalty, and organized effort, and it’s warm and generous to all. Love makes us courageous, inspires us, and frees us from feeling bound to this world. The 5th house is also associated with children, and we see how being part of a community (3rd house) and co-habitation (4th house) usually leads to children, or the (re)creation of oneself.   

Leo is ruled by the Sun, the center of our own universe, the planet that shines forth without discrimination and provides the warmth and energy for growth. No planet is exalted because who could be greater than the Sun? The only planet in dishonor is Saturn in detriment, the planet associated with fear, old age, obligation, and sterility, which makes sense since the Sun is vitality and freedom itself. Without help from other planets and aspects in the chart, a prominent Saturn in Leo can lead to hyper-competitiveness to prove one’s superiority, fear of self-expression, and victimization of others. Other afflictions could lead to the exaggeration of the ego, giving someone a god-complex or an authoritarian demeanor.   

An interesting tidbit my teacher pointed out is that, although you would think all that ego and power would be outer-directed and towards the top of the archetype or on an angle, it’s actually in a succedent house below the horizon. The idea is that to have friends (opposite 11th house/Aquarius), and successful relationships in general, your ego shouldn’t be too powerful.  

Leo is the love of creation because it blesses us with confidence and inspiration to act upon the world through our own individuality. I keep going back to the phrase “generosity of spirit” because I see Leo as the love of life that affects everything around us, helping it grow towards self-realization.