The Story of The Star Lion: Part 2
Leo in the Tarot and Chiron in Aries in Leo season 2024
Last time we looked into the origin story of the zodiac sun sign of Leo, the Star Sirius, and the Dog Days of Summer and the thirsty lions of the Nile. If you haven’t already seen that post, you can catch up here before we go on to look at the story of Leo as portrayed in the storybook of the Tarot.
Leo in the Tarot
The Tarot deals firstly in symbolism and archetypes. The reader needs to become fluent with these to help them drill down in accessing specifics and possible timings in response to a stated question, or in exploring any particular issue.
The Tarot cards associated with Leo people, issues or with Leo timing are Strength, The Sun and the 5, 6 and 7 of Wands.
The fixed fire sign of Leo is known for its pride, ambition and determination, warmth and generosity of spirit, not to mention, charisma. But above all, Leo is known for bravery; the lionhearted one, the divine expression of physical, mental, and emotional fortitude, counted in Christian philosophy as one of the four great cardinal virtues.
Courage takes many forms. There is the courage of initiative, the will to advance, engage and attack. There is moral courage, proceeding in the face of fear, “feeling the fear and doing it anyway.” Chivalry is the mark of strength exercised with compassion. The major arcana card in the Tarot representing Leo is Strength, Major Arcanum number 8, ruling the greater part of August, the 8th month of the calendar year, and denoting not only physical strength and courage, but will-power. Moral courage; resilience, stamina and fortitude in the face of adversity. There is supreme Strength in self-control. Personal discipline.
The figure in this card has the lion on a loose chain. But all the same it is on a chain. The lion represents our own inner fire, passions and impulses. And we have them under control. There is the courage to instigate or even attack, moving ahead in the face of the unknown or greater forces. Then there is the everyday kind of discipline and courage, the resolve and the resilience to endure, to withstand, and the fortitude that quietly says to itself, “I will try again,” no glory, no accolades and no witnesses.
Leo can be its own worst enemy; hasty, arrogant, reckless, self-centred, headstrong and careless, and for these reasons, unless these subjects learn patience, consideration and self-control, they are not necessarily always as lucky in life as the great-hearted Leo truly deserves, the proud and eager children of the sun. Strength in its many expressions is an attribute of the male and female principle alike. Her hold on the leash could not be lighter. She is controlling the lion, but only because it is allowing it, and not resisting the restraint.
The lion dwells within.
Strength from The Gilded Tarot, artist Ciro Marchetti
In the Strength card we see The Lady and the Lion. Perhaps it is a reference to the story of Una and the Lion. Una was accompanied by a friendly lion as she searched for her imprisoned parents. Or perhaps the name of the lady in the card is Leona or Leonora, for the lion is also the lioness, and while the Leo sun sign native is known as an individualist, the lioness hunts by teamwork and in her courage she is totally unselfish. One kick from a zebra or a giraffe. One blow from the horns of a wildebeeste or a warthog. One injury, and she lives or dies but there can be no help for her, and she does not hunt for sport.
Innocent killer.
The Sun card also signifies Leo, and the force of life itself. Leo has a quality of innocence. Spontaneity, and living in the moment. If a lion eats you, it isn’t personal. Lions don’t die easy either. But in their time they are a glory of Nature. Leo stands for our moment in the sun. Now is your time to shine. The Sun card also signifies Leo, and the force of life itself. Birth and rebirth. But the baby rides a pale horse. The gift of life comes as a loan. No birth without a death, and this was the price we paid in primordial times, when life began to specialize and we left the oceans.
Mortality. Death. The limited span. This was the bargain, the Faustian pact, and the price “we” paid for the experience of individuality. Or we could have stayed immortal and continued in perpetuity as single-celled clones in the oceans.
I am talking about it as if the future “we” had any choice in the matter. What was the trigger, the momentum, the exact combination of conditions that triggered that specialization and the exodus from the oceans?
The other zodiac sign that asks this same question is Capricorn, which tells the origin story of Pricus the Sea-Goat, the wise teacher who was left alone in the oceans when his children left the seas forever and ascended to the land and then the mountains. Pricus could bear the loneliness no longer and ascended to the heavens as Capricorn, to look down from the heavens, to guide and to follow the story of his land based descendants
The Sun card from The Illuminati Tarot, Erik C Dunne
Today, July 26: Chiron goes retrograde in Aries
Pricus has something in common with the story of the great teacher and healer, the centaur Chiron, who gives his name to the asteroid, which today, 26 July, is going retrograde in Aries and stays retrograde until December 29 2024. Chiron goes retrograde once a year for around five months, and broadly signifies a time when we are revisiting sad or difficult memories or ongoing issues, possibly first experienced during 2018 at the time of the last Chiron transit through Aries.
Chiron was accidentally mortally wounded by a poisoned arrow. The tragedy of Chiron was that, for all his wonderful knowledge of medicine, and for all the healing he had brought to others, he could not help himself, and the pain was so dreadful, he asked Zeus to rescind his immortality and grant him the merciful escape of death.
We can see another Leo connection here. It all comes back again to that Strength card and The Sun.
During this Chiron Retrograde in the sign of Aries, depending where Aries sits in our own charts, we can expect in general terms to be working out how to make peace with old wounds, disappointments, worries or frustrations dating back to 2018 or even earlier, based around our sense of purpose, drive and direction, possibly blocked personal power of autonomy, our self-esteem, identity and belonging, and our opportunities and outlets for creative action, and play. Aries is the exuberant ram lamb bounding about in the meadow while, staying with the theme of lions, there is the famous story of Androcles and the lion. Androcles was a runaway slave who hid in a cave, met a lion and thought his number was up. But no, the lion was hiding too, because it was injured and in pain with a huge great thorn stuck in his paw. Androcles removed the thorn and the lion hobbled off. But then Androcles was recaptured and sentenced to die in the arena in Rome, devoured by lions. But the selected lion recognised him and declined to dine. Androcles was pardoned by popular demand, and released and became a celebrity in Rome, along with the lion.
Public Domain By Joseph Jacobs John Dickson Batten - title: Europa's fairy book (1916)
Chiron retrograde begs the questions, when we have a problem, what are we going to DO about it? This calls for action, not talk. And no skulking in caves, nusrsing our wounds. If we really can’t fix it ourselves, then who can help?
But this discussion of the transit is of necessity very general. You can look up your personal natal Chiron placement for free here:
https://astrostyle.com/cosmic-calculators/chiron-sign/
Coming up next, more Tarot and the decans of Leo, and more astrology of Leo season 2024. But we already know, this Season of the Lion 2024 is loud and it ain’t getting quieter.
Shall the meek inherit the earth? Yes, in the sense that we are here, right now, no matter who we are, what we have done with our time so far, and what we may yet accomplish. We made it through the veil. We are part of the living wonder. This moment is ours. Carpe Diem. says royal Leo and Chiron retrograde in Aries, the Emperor. Seize your day, all children of the Sun.
“Be thine own palace or the world’s thy jail-” John Donne.
You have so much knowledge, certainly give me something to think about. As if another door opens. My mother is the first Pisces, I am the last, my sister a Leo and one of her 4 children is a girl also a Pisces… and it never really works between us…always misunderstandings, oh dear 🙂
Such great information again. My sister is a Leo and I am a Pisces, we always were in a strong competition and I always thought of her so untypical Leo, and did not understand it. But you made it clearer for me, with new aspects, thank you