22 Jul Ray of Light ~ Leo Season – July 22nd-August 23rd, 2022

And I feel like I just got home

The first ray of light that dawns in Leo season brings a feeling of celebration. The Sun has returned home to its place of rulership. 

The Sun is the warm-blooded heart of all creation that hums with the music of the spheres. And when the Sun comes into full power, you’ll feel the mood shift dramatically from wistful remembrance into a surge of vitality and courage. 

Throughout the month of Cancer season, you witnessed the power and mystery of the Moon, the divine mother who nourishes you with the waters of memory. 

You now emerge into the lightness of solar consciousness, igniting renewed presence and passion. If Cancer season asks you to remember where you come from, then Leo season asks you to rise up and meet your destiny.

In 2022, the backdrop of a glorious summer may seem incongruent with the darkness of the world’s economic and political turmoil. But the wisdom of Leo thrives upon the tension between light and shadow, creating a melodramatic atmosphere. 

The Sun in Leo loves the world and longs to find a warm place within it. But that may increase your suffering now, stirring a legit existential crisis due to the rapid devolution of society. No matter what narrative you’ve been using to explain the events over the last two years, there’s been no peace, no justice, and no retribution for the crimes committed against humanity.  

The world is challenging to the human spirit, but no matter what you hear, these circumstances are not unprecedented. The truth is that there’s nothing new under the Sun in the human struggle.

There’s nothing new about rulers dividing people against each other. There’s nothing new about weaponizing fear as a means of social control. And there’s nothing new about a corrupt class that profits from poverty, famine and war.

So it’s understandable if you’re having a bit of an existential crisis these days, but Leo season can offer a tremendous opportunity to transmute that crisis into a renewed reason for being. 

Tragedy and crisis teach you so much about yourself. And oftentimes hardship is what invites you to discover the deeper layers of your character. This is how the story of Leo season plays out.

Loved and Lost

When the Sun enters Leo, it’s the middle of summer in the northern hemisphere. With scorching days and sultry sunsets, the light and heat become more dramatic because the Sun has begun to tilt upon its path of descent. 

The golden light of Leo is radiant, kissing all the fruits crimson and glittering in the sand. The world is hot and lush, swelling and pulsing with life. 

But this resplendent beauty is fated to fade. And as the Sun in Leo descends day after day, this golden light is waning. 

With a hint of loss at the edges, time suddenly becomes very precious. And a powerful sense of appreciation for life is summoned. This contrast between triumph and tragedy is exactly what gives the sign of Leo its dramatic tension.

The blazing heat of the Sun has a pang of urgency in it. There’s no time to waste being half-awake, half-alive, or half-sure. It’s time to know yourself and be true to yourself because that’s the only way to live.

When all is said and done, Leo season illuminates the path towards self-realization. 

This path is beautifully described by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who outlined the three stages of metamorphosis in self-realization: the Camel, the Lion and the Child. 

He describes how one’s sense of self begins with having the spirit of the camel. This is an animal that travels in herds and carries many burdens for others. With this sense of self, the camel takes pride in how much weight it can carry from other people’s burdens, saying:

“What is heaviest…that I may take it upon me and rejoice in my strength.” 

But anyone on a path of self-realization can’t stay a camel forever. Eventually, the burdens become tedious and in rage and frustration, the camel evolves into a lion, a ferocious and self-possessed animal.

It is a synchronicity that the lion is the reified symbol of Leo, known for its golden mane and regal countenance. With great claws and teeth, the lion is the “king of the beasts”, a sovereign over its fate. 

But the lion struggles with constant battle. He has the power to say “No!” but he doesn’t know how to relax and say “Yes.”

Thus, to complete the journey of self realization, the lion must lose interest in fighting and evolve into the child. ‎

To have the spirit of a child is the secret to happiness, health, and well-being. This is why the divine Child is the highest archetype associated with Leo, for it represents the lightness and radiance of the Sun. 

According to Nietzsche,

 “the child is innocence and forgetting, a new beginning, a sport, a self-propelling wheel, a Sacred Yes.” 

The ultimate wisdom of the Sun in Leo is that of the Divine Child, who demonstrates how to be playful, lit up by the joy of saying yes to life.  

If you’re already living as the divine child, then your job is light up other people’s lives with your spirit. 

And if you’re living as the camel or the lion, it’s time to imagine what else is possible and evolve.

Divine Child

Zephyr in the sky at night I wonder

To better understand the mythic meaning of the Sun in Leo, it’s helpful to reflect upon an icon who was born during this season. 

There’s no better example of an iconic Leo than Madonna, who was the ultimate pop star celebrity for more than two decades. 

There’s nobody to compare Madonna to now because culture has changed so much. It’s no longer possible to occupy the center of the world stage as it was in the days before the internet splintered popular culture. The sun has set on the golden age of celebrity that made Madonna.

But in the 80’s and 90’s, she was worshiped as a religious icon of the secular age. Madonna’s Sun in Leo glowed with fearless charisma. And the world was a moth to her flame.

The spirit of Leo is present in all of her work, playing with glamor, iconography and persona. But one particular song from 1998, Ray of Light, offers a deeper meditation on the Sun’s mysteries, touching upon primal symbols and ancient myths. 

Ray of Light can be interpreted as a hymn to the Sun, sung in the voice of the goddess ancient Egyptian goddess Isis. 

Queen Cleopatra herself claimed she was an incarnation of Isis on earth and it was from these mysteries that she derived her immortal power.

She’s got herself a little piece of heaven

Perhaps Madonna was inspired by Cleopatra. But her inspiration to invoke Isis is also a part of her namesake. In Christianity, Madonna is the Mother of the Son of God. And in ancient Egyptian myth, Isis is the Mother of the Sun. 

Both Madonna and Isis give birth to the promise of resurrection and light. An inscription that appeared at one of Isis’ ancient temples in Egypt read:

“The fruit which I have brought forth is the Sun.”

The secret of the Sun’s wisdom always returns to the divine child.

Sun worship begins with the mother goddess, whose primordial powers were vast. Isis was the sister and wife of the Sun God Osiris. And her divine child was the Sun god, Horus.

According to esoteric philosopher, Manley P. Hall:

“Isis… is symbolic of receptive Nature–the watery, maternal principle which creates all things out of herself after impregnation has been achieved by the virility of the sun.”

The story of Isis and Osiris is an initiation into the mysteries of death and rebirth. In the story, the beloved Sun god Osiris was murdered and dismembered by his jealous brother. 

And through her tears of mourning, Isis recollects Osiris’ body parts, (remembering) resurrecting him from the dead. 

Zephyr in the sky at night, I wonder

Do my tears of Mourning

Sink beneath the Sun?

As the Sun rises again, Isis becomes impregnated by a ray of light. As the esoteric philosopher Rudolph Steiner shares:

“…a ray pierces the head of Isis and she gives birth to Horus who becomes the ruler of this world.”

Madonna’s Ray of Light climaxes with a burst of dizzying ecstasy, summoning the renewal of life and light. And she wrote this song after giving birth to her first child, making it clear that motherhood had initiated her into the deeper mysteries of solar consciousness, that of Isis, Osiris, and Horus. 

Quicker than a ray of light, then gone for

Someone else will be there

Through the endless years

As Rudolph Steiner described,

“…Whoever has knowledge of the spiritual secrets…and knows what speaks through Isis and Madonna sees in them something of primeval life…whose gaze penetrates as through a veil…can again feel piety in complete spiritual freedom…” 

Let this Leo season be like a ray of light that pierces the veil, blessing your life with the spiritual freedom of the divine child. 

This Leo season, whenever the shadow of the world looms dark and long, remember the Sun’s warm kiss and return to joy. 

And I feel like I just got home