2025 Leo Season: Let's Hear You Roar!

Yes, August starts out in the sign of Leo. Hot August Nights are perfectly compatible with Leo's energy. But, more than this.... it is a time for passionate expression.

Two major themes come up when we are in the astrological season of Leo: (1) Creativity, and (2) Romance.
 
The first theme has consumed me lately.  It is my current lack of creativity that has perplexed me. Along the way I have lost my creative expression. When I reflect on my youth, my activities involved creative projects: writing poems, dressing up with clothes in the attic and pretending I was a character from a fairy tale, and drawing pictures. I organized “play” with my neighborhood friends. Plus, my elementary school teachers brought out the artist in me. My second-grade teacher was an artist who quit her job to go to Italy. My fifth-grade teacher inspired me to write stories, and the best influence was my sixth-grade teacher, Mrs. Economou, who spent more time on art projects than academics.  (This was my impression as I was thrilled to escape into this creativity.)
 
Many Leo Sun, Moon, and Rising people who have graced my life have demonstrated their creativity, be it with music, performance art, and even to create an enterprising business. Leos are known for their self-expression through an artistic form. As a life-long educator, I know that creativity is the highest form of intelligence. Yet, this does not necessarily mean Art as we know it but bringing something new to the world. Einstein, a Pisces, created a whole new paradigm about how we view reality through quantum physics.
 
Sticking with the subject at hand, I want to continue describing the Leo Archetype.  Leo is the true “Sun” sign. Leo gets to be the King or Queen… the ruler. Leadership becomes natural for Leos.  Examples?  Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Fidel Castro, are a few. Also, Leo’s rule from the heart: passion. This leads to the other quality of Leo:  Romance.
 
People who have strong Leo in their chart, particularly, Venus in Leo must have romance in their lives.  Since Leos personalities deal with artistry and creative gifts, the world can be imagined as romantic and grand.  Leo is a fire sign (passion and expression) with a fixed modality (leaving a lasting structure or impression). Romanticism is a view of life that creates an escape from harsh reality. William Blake was a poet of the Romantic period in history when the industrial revolution brought about urban squalor and decay.  His quotes are romantically sublime: "Love is the only reality." "If a thing loves, it is infinite.”

The qualities of the Leo Archetype are seemingly diminished these days.  My question is: have we lost our creative urge and our passion for life and love?  Is Romance dead?  Yes, there are those who remain creative and inspire others. Yet, too many of us today “have lost that lovin’ feeling.” I am not sure what this “Age” is named, but it does not seem to be one that aligns itself with romance and creativity. Sigh.

I recently read an article in The Atlantic about how teens in the Gen Z generation have lost a valuable rite of passage by not having a romantic relationship. This would be boy meets girl, girl meets girl, and/or boy meets boy, or even a non- binary arrangement that deals with one teen falling in love with another. “Fewer teens (than ever) are getting into relationships”. (The Atlantic)  This gives me pause as I think of my childhood and my “boy-crazy” ways.  I worry that teens today have no clue how romance can enhance their lives. Why?  Teens may not learn how to foster deep emotional connections. Without having a variety of romantic relationships teens become adults who cannot differentiate between infatuation, love, and lust. Or may not successfully establish boundaries and understand consent. Then there is my personal favorite: having empathy and understanding of the “other” which comes from emotional connections. This may be lacking for some of today’s Gen Z-ers.
 
What has created this absence of romance as seen in the film: “Sixteen Candles?”  I think our digital age has separated teens from an authentic connection with a real person.  Perhaps social media has created a barrier in fostering emotional intimacy. Again, The Atlantic states: The young-love recession, in other words, might reflect a real shift in how comfortable Americans are, on the whole, with emotional intimacy. Generational researchers have described Gen Z as a cohort particularly concerned with security, averse to risk, and slow to trust—so it makes sense that a lot of teens today might be hesitant to throw themselves into a relationship.
 
Which brings me to my current plea:  BRING back ROMANCE.  I think instilling mystery and romance will also spark creativity.  I do not think being on a screen (laptop, smart phone, TV) will necessarily instill romance and creativity.  But finding ways to live and exist in the real world may foster this.  Taking walks in nature, keeping a pet, growing a plant, daydreaming, reading a book, listening to music, playing a musical instrument, doodling or drawing, dancing, or playing a sport.  I am sure there is more to add.  Bottom line: we all have some form of LEO in our astrological chart. There are twelve houses in everyone’s natal chart, even if we do not have a sun, moon, or planet in Leo, we have a house in our natal chart that rules Leo. This means.......
 
Everyone can be creative!  Think of the aspect of “play” that makes you forget time and effort. I believe we can improve our world and humanity through creative forces. Here is what Chat GPT stated about this subject:  What is Creativity? Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a Professor of Psychology and creativity researcher, notes that the term “creativity” originally meant:

1 “To bring into existence something genuinely new that is valued enough to be added to the culture.” Quantum physicist Amit Goswami offers his definition of creativity as “the creation of something new in an entirely new context; newness of the context is the key.”
 
2 Humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers adds another layer to this view by defining the creative
process as “The emergence in action of a novel relational product, growing out of the
uniqueness of the individual on the one hand, and the materials, events, people, or
circumstances of his life on the other.”
 
3 Psychologists like Rogers and Abraham Maslow invested a lot of time on the topic of
creativity because they found that it was an important marker for positive mental health.
 
4 That is, creativity is everyone's birthright.

Whether you identify with romance or creativity as a force to save our humanity, I invite you to spend some time thinking of yourself as an artist. In The Artist Way, Julia Cameron notes that when we are creating, we create meaning in our lives. When we are creating, we may be channeling divinity into our human existence.  Furthermore, “The heart of creativity is an experience of the mystical union; the heart of the mystical union is an experience of creativity.”
― Julia Cameron, The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity
 
Go out and ROAR!  Love with a fierceness that defies hate. Createa better world for all.