photo Mark Brookes
We have certainly been experiencing the fullness of what the Leo archetype invites us to embody this time around. I have been writing my blogs for a few years now and as the year turns I often worry that I will be repeating myself each time I put pen to paper, or rather finger to key.However, I always marvel at the subtle differences each year brings and sometimes the differences are not so subtle.
This is mainly due to the idea that I see our life journey as a spiral, ever since I began this way of interacting with my view of our world and universe. I sense that every journey, each birth, begins at a point in space and time and spirals out, turning with each yearly cycle. We return to the same place on the radius of the circle, but having grown and experienced another year with each orbital return, the spiral energy takes us further away from our start point. Each time we are raising our vibration, whatever that feels or looks like; the positive or the negative.
This year, the intensity of the critical times we are living in, has brought this archetype to an all time peak. The Leo lion embodies the self, the ego and like all archetypes has a shadow and a light aspect. The Leo that fully understands who they are and where they come from can stand tall and confident with their ancestors standing supportively on their shoulders. From here they shine and display generosity and kindness to all in their domain. They know that to give is to receive and that everything they need comes from within, there is no limit or shortage.
This Leo is a king/queen in all the best senses of this word. The Leo lion that embodies the divine masculine so beautifully lives within their society as an individual that shines so that the community can shine as a whole. (The community is represented by Aquarius, its opposite sign on the wheel.This is how we create balance.)
This is my idea of utopia.
When the opposite is true and ego is cut off from a greater understanding of itself, isolated and fearful, then the self is diminished in every way and the need to keep everything as close as possible, for fear of losing the little we have, becomes the mindset. The king/queen needs everything around themselves to feel safe and validated, so words like sovereignty become all important and generosity is only possible to those considered to be kin. This word is a moveable feast, it can expand and contract as our ego can. Kin can mean just our close unit family or expand to the family of the whole of human kind. The choice is ours, as is our choice to be in shadow or to step into light.
When I saw the news filled with the fires that were creating a state of emergency in this country, it felt like the call to action was encroaching ever closer. The sun, our archetypal father was and will continue to use its power to bring the point home to us until we are willing to see. Fire is a life saver and a killer, the choice is ours. If we will not respond to the gentle nudges, the lighter touch, then the darker energies will have to find a way to get through to us in ways that aren’t so pleasant.
Ironically, the shadow often seems like our only option when we are scared or feel we have limited resources. Sadly, this is hard and painful road is often the one humanity takes.
It is the road we are currently on as a society and I count my blessings daily that though I am on this journey too (it is inescapable whilst living in this country at this time), I do not have to buy into the fear or the unhappiness it can cause. However, I do have to recognise that while I am here and experiencing this process, I feel the need to take responsibility for the negativity I will be holding. No one is outside the circle.
There is much beauty to be experienced still and this becomes more and more important to connect with if we are to create a society where everyone is welcome, with a seat at the table and an equally full plate of food. In this place everyone is served and all serve.
What many don't see is that part of the fear is a fear of power, power that is good, that is filled with love. To embody the Leo energy truly we would do well to understand that power must come from love, just as love must come from power. Both these words contain both strength and humility in the same measure. We have forgotten this, the words have lost their true meaning and worth and we suffer the consequences.
I was inspired to write a line in a song a while back, (sadly I can’t remember where the inspiration came from) it goes;
We help the child who fears the night,
Who helps those who fear the light.
While we are blind to the fact that nearly all of us hold this fear within, and so constantly recreate it without, we will never choose to do the work necessary to overcome the fear. This needs an awareness that will only come if we are pushed to see the dystopian path we are on and our part in upholding it. We will see more clearly if we stop looking at the physical world we are destroying and spend a little more time connecting with a world that lies within us all; a world, and a version of ourselves, that has infinite patience, positivity and love for ourselves.
We are all powerful, strong and unconditionally loving, more so than any of us could possibly imagine. Let's rediscover this.
