Now it is suddenly that time of summer that we all dread to a degree!  It is the time of those first few crickets chirping sweetly in the late evening (at least in the US Northeast) and of the very visual evidence of the yellow-burned tinge on the front lawn slowly browning under the hot August sun.  If you are like me, you feel that fire glow of August and the radiance of that sensation, yet you may also feel the contradictory feeling that wouldn’t it be nice to stop sweating … if only for a few days? And my eyes are hurting!  That sun is glorious, but it is relentlessly blazing!

Soon there comes another feeling. You begin to have a sorrow and a panic because you sense that fall is a very real concept now and the end of summer is surely coming. Never mind that you are currently frying in the sunL

I will go out on a limb now and say that the above characterization is, in fact, how a Leo feels inside (please skip the whole moon sign issue for now).  The Leo has to keep burning, shining and glowing with power and with the joy of a young adolescent or late teen and this evokes feelings of fear and performance anxiety.  How long can that glorious shine last?  After all, youth is fading!  The Leo native must wonder this situation time and time again. Surely the lions must muse on how to keep that shine going. Think about Bill Clinton and Mick Jagger.  How much shine is there left in those two old men?  Where can they derive more shine from? At this point it is no longer about power, sex, or money. How can they keep going out to wow crowds even after their real times in the sun have long passed them by?

This is the true puzzle of the Leo native.  At all times they need to have a view into a room where they still can shine.  Somewhere there still has to be an audience for them.  Leos have their pride and they need to be able to show their pizzazz … somehow.  Usually they will find a way through which to make this happen, but if they should fail to find a way … even once – the lion, in a sense, is done for.  Because Leo is a sign of strength and of eternal youth and of power they need that audience or court to return the love.

If we are to talk about female Leos, well, we need to mention Madonna.  I believe that in several European countries it is possible to get a PhD in Madonna Studies.  This is proof positive of how much a Leo can do.  Madonna is obviously a new feminist who has invented herself dozens of times.  Her original iconography dealing with sexuality, religion, power, gender, and capitalism is extremely impressive and worthy of study.  I remember Madonna’s ascent beginning from my freshman year at Emerson College in Boston.  “Like a Virgin” was playing on every radio station and let’s not forget the video – it had a lion.  She was both the lion and the bride as it were.  Whether it is Madonna or some other Leo, I am not afraid to say that it is just plain fun to watch Leos more than any other sign because “they keep going for it.”  As a double Libra, I am not sure what the “it” is, but the Leo will keep going for it.  As their element manifests – they will burn with fury and continue to find ways to burn with fury.  Aries has to merely make the statement of “This is me.  I am this.”  Sagittarians will go to the other extreme and state that “I will become this.”  But Leos will simply brew up a lifelong concoction of “I will” statements.  They gotta say it and then they gotta deliver on it.  End of story.

And of course Leos will do it.  Madonna will no doubt reinvent herself again and adopt more children.  “Slick Willy” will deliver more speeches at his wife’s campaign stops and perhaps go on more diets.  And of course, somehow, Mick will bring the Stones on yet another tour. 

Leos are the optimistic kids that will beam and beam throughout their entire life spans.  They will indeed be looking toward the next project and next venture with optimism and a sense of excitement.  Leos will remain loyal to their families and to their larger organizational structures, but within this loyalty lurks the sense that “it has to be about them.”  During the project, restructuring, grand opening or peace accord – their contribution has to be in the spotlight somehow.  It needs to be acknowledged.  It just has to be this way.  Never mind why.

Finally, the Leo is also about humor and laughter.  Leos love to laugh and they bring along other people into the laughter zone very easily.  There is nothing more refreshing than the laughter of a Leo.  When they laugh, somehow the rest of us signs know that – damn it – we should be laughing more – why the hell not?  One of my favorite Leo females who taught me much of what I understand about astrology would often say to me that “Leo is the best sign.”  As a cold Libran I would shake internally at this kind of fallacious statement (it is not logical!), but to no matter.  I would begin to smile and laugh and laugh as she made this statement with evermore certainty.  Is Leo the best sign? Sure it is!