For young Leos, life is the medium for art. The play's the thing. They want to experience everything--or at least to imply that they have. They need a watchful audience to feed their craving for constant attention and admiration. More mature Leos come to value their creativity enough not to squander it in vain displays or emotionally exhausting scenes. They learn that they are not only the actors, but the playwrights as well, with a responsibility to direct their theatrics into productive roles.

Leos are both impulsive and emphatic. They are at home with absolutes, edicts, and flamboyant proclamations. They tend to construct rather overdrawn personal dramas around the issue of authority. They are quick to confront and challenge a power figure, yet they are wholly amazed if they suffer wounds in the ensuing fray. Metaphorically, Leos struggle to emerge from the mothering domination of Cancer; at the same time, they are apt to retreat to the authority figure for reassurance when the world proves too harsh. However cocky in their headlong assaults on life, Leos sometimes feel that only a parent can fully appreciate their brilliance or soothe their injured pride. As assertive as Arians and as clever as Geminis, Leos, like Cancerians, enjoy building. But where Crabs seek an edifice for security, Lions want a monument, a material testament to their greatness, their uniqueness, and their majesty. Exuberant Leo represents the first strong emergence of ego structure in the zodiac. Despite occasional fragility, Lions are confident--in their own ideas, their methods, their talents, and their expertise. Hence they are likely to give plentiful free advice, whether ot not it is sought. They want to lead, to excel, to be noticed, and to matter, and expect others to follow. They want to be somebody in the social sense, as well as in the larger cosmic arena. Willful, larger-than-life historical figures abound under the sign: Napoleon Bonaparte, T. E. D. Lawrence ("of Arabia"), Fidel Castro, Benito Mussolini, Mata Hari. Lions are also industrial leaders, literary masters, and pacesetters of style. Henry Ford, George Bernard Shaw, Carl Jung, Aldous Huxley, Robert Graves, Herman Melville, Percy Bysshe Shelly, Dorothy Parker, and Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis. Of course, show business is the Lions' natural habitat. Director Stanley Kubrick, and rock star Mick Jagger are Leos, as well as Cecil B. DeMille, Samuel Goldwyn, Alfred Hitchcock, Mae West and Annie Oakley. Leos are not shy, and are seldom averse to self-promotion. Where they are, they rule.

Leos at their glorious best are great hearted, passionate, generous creatures. They love loyally and sincerely, and they withhold nothing of themselves, possibly because they cannot bear hypocrisy or deceit in others. Mature Leos are excellent romantic partners, espescially if they find mates who command their respect. As befits their regal natures, Leos are devoted to high ideals; they are honorable, conscientious, courageous, and daring. Lions live for the moment, savoring life to the fullest. But for all their virtues, these children of the Sun, their ruling planet, must strive to overcome an imposing dark side. Leos who fail to dispel these shadows can be demanding, domineering, insensitive and destructive. They risk drowning in insensitivity, egocentrism, and materialism, lacking both the desire and the capacity for spiritual development. Leos must endeavor to avoid the kind of exaggeration that can debase their many gifts.

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