The Sun enters Leo II The Laurel Crown on 1 August 2024 at 2:53 pm EDT. Austin Coppock gave this name to this decan, while T. Susan Chang called it Your Moment in the Sun. It's associated with the Six of Wands — the card that shows a man on horseback riding in a triumph with a laurel crown upon his head. The Sun will pass through Leo II until August 12, 2024 at 1:16 am EDT, making ten days, ten hours, 23 minutes.
In the calendar preserved by Cosmas of Jerusalem, this ten-day period is given to Isis the sister-wife of Osiris the god of the underworld. She began as a relatively minor deity in Egyptian funerary rites, although she was a major figure in the mythology of Osiris' transition to god of the underworld. However, as the New Kingdom emerged from the monotheism of Akhenaten, Isis became the primary goddess of Egypt, and took over Hathor's sun-disk-and-bull-horns crown. As a goddess of magic, marriage, pregnancy and motherhood, and the protection of ships at sea, her worship spread around the Mediterranean Sea during the Hellenistic period. Some scholars today think (admittedly with scant and ambiguous evidence, at best) that Isis 'hid' herself inside the emerging doctrines of Christianity as Mother Mary — with the Christ-child in her lap a barely disguised Horus.
Much noise has been made in recent days about the appearance of a Dionysian revel, or Bacchanal, during the spectacle of the opening of the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France (known to the ancient world as Luetia, or "light-town"). American Christians responded by calling this tableau a mockery of the Last Supper, thinking it to be a strange and twisted vision of the Passover meal that Jesus celebrated with his disciples on the night before his crucifixion. But in this season of Isis, coinciding with the Olympics.... perhaps we should remember how much the image of Mother and Child is worship-able; how much the image of feasting and carousing and celebration is worship-able; how much the image of athletes performing at the height of perfection is worship-able. The names we assign to divinity may change and shift; but the image of what divinity looks like has remarkable continuity — we celebrate beautiful experiences, far more than gold or silver or violence.
The dodeks, or 12th-parts, of Leo II are Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces. These recapitulate the themes of Leo II's emphasis on practice and displays of skill in contests and competition — Sagittarius is the animal, the human, and the technical all working together to advance one's skill; Capricorn is the sly and subtle direction of these powers toward some end or goal or purpose; Aquarius is the mental focus and attention and discipline to achieve; while Pisces is the mix of ambition and wavering uncertainty that allows even high-quality performers to improve on their record-breaking practice.
I've written about Leo II in more detail in 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, and 2019.
Archetypes
In my last post, I was experimenting with gender and archetypes, as I wrote descriptions of the planets as characters. Let's do that again.
Pluto: Masculine retrograde planet in a masculine sign in a feminine house and quadrant. The billionaire is ensconced in his "man cave" whisky-tasting room at seven in the morning, engaged in a little critical self-reflection as he reads Barron's profile on one of his favorite companies going down the toilet. Where did he go wrong? What was the missed signal? Who did he trust that he shouldn't have? He'll soon be on top again, but this morning is not going well.
Saturn: Masculine retrograde planet in a feminine sign in a masculine quadrant in a masculine house. The old man would like nothing more than to get laid again, perhaps for the last time. Is he creepy, or just full of regretful yearning? It depends on who he's looking at, perhaps, or where he is — in the gymnasium he works out to stave off the effects of age, but he admires both the young men in the sauna who started working out for beauty early enough in life, and the young women coming out of the yoga class. Out of his league and age bracket? Yes. But responsible enough not to embarrass his wife of thirty-nine years, and fearful enough of rejection to look without contact. Lonelier than he'd like to admit.
Neptune: Masculine retrograde planet in a feminine sign in a masculine quadrant in a masculine house. Fired-up evangelical pastor eager to win the election for God and the Republicans, who somehow thinks that because he only uses Grindr every four years he's keeping his "unnatural urges" in check for the most part. Will preach a hellfire and brimstone sermon this weekend and ignore the baby's midnight cries yet again. He sniffs cocaine in the parish house bathroom between the 8am and 10am services.
Uranus: Masculine planet in a feminine sign in a feminine quadrant in a masculine house. The
Mars: Masculine planet in a masculine (Mercury-ruled) sign in a feminine quadrant in a feminine house. Aggressively noisy and sex-positive gay twink is facing up to the fact that he's not twenty-two any more, getting a little pudgy around the middle and fat-shamed for it at brunch. Would throw a punch or scratch a face for the outrageous criticism thrown his way, but doesn't want to ruin his manicure. Might be in a drag show later tonight all in red, and is falling for the bear that he doesn't yet know is a transmasc person.
Jupiter: Masculine planet in a masculine (Mercury-ruled) sign in a feminine quadrant in a feminine house. Transmasc person, genuinely fat and not simply large, happy and jovial and responsible, completely aware of the latest theory and political stances of the major candidates for all political offices in their country and state or province — but also completely content to go on remodeling their off-grid cabin and go into the city for weekends with friends. Does their activism from the computer desk in the spare bedroom.
Moon: Feminine planet in a feminine sign in a feminine quadrant in a masculine house. She's been a hotel concierge for many years, worked her way up through the ranks from a supervisor of housekeepers to a front-desk manager of customer relations at her five-star "dream hotel" providing five-star service. It's just that it's Olympics week, and she's forging new career goals literally every ten minutes even as she plans her next ten vacation days as far as she can from the maddening crowd.
Sun: Masculine planet in a masculine sign in a feminine quadrant in a feminine house. He's a schoolteacher lately promoted to a dean's role in a middle school filled with women leadership. He knows he has to dress better to impress the parents, but doesn't want to give up his silly ties. He's trying to be more formal and more serious, but it's hard to be a leader when you've been playing a goofball all your life. He's not really cut out for the role and he's not going to grow into it — and his temper will get the better of him before November. By New Year's Day, it'll be clear his contract won't be renewed.
Venus: Feminine planet in a masculine sign in a feminine quadrant in a feminine house. She knows about lipstick, hair, clothes and the walk — but she also knows how to lead a meeting in the board room or in committee. Currently overshadowed by a dude with the authority and power, but she knows he's not long for this leadership role. The question is not whether she can lead when he moves on — but whether she'll be passed over for promotion yet again. Odds are, this time, she won't be.
Mercury: Non-binary planet domiciled in a non-binary sign in a feminine quadrant in a masculine house. Are they a butch lesbian or a slightly-built effeminate gay man? It doesn't really matter: their garden is flourishing, the potluck table is groaning with various dishes from all their friends and acquaintances at the birthday party. Are those fireflies or twinkle lights in among their roses and tomatoes? Or is it just magic? It's OK not to know.
Planetary Positions
In the first house, the Ascendant is in Scorpio III The Crow, promising a fair bit of searching for beauty in the coming days, while also being secretive about that search. The chart overall is a day sect chart, but with Saturn below the horizon and Mars above — limiting the effects of the malefic planets by placing them in the wrong sect and in succedent houses where their violent potential is somewhat limited. However, while Jupiter is above the horizon, he's in the eighth house where he feels duty-bound to live up to others' expectations of him; and Venus — instead of lurking in the cool privacy of the house or garden in the heat of the day — sits in the heated attention of the Sun's board room, where she's expected to advance his career prospects and political agenda with her creativity and aesthetic gracefulness. It's a combination that lends itself to some difficulty as we decide on a course of action to take — we have our own desires and our own ways to find pleasure — but we're likely to deny our own yearnings and take the high road even as we rail against it.
The Second House of wealth and property is ruled by opposing Jupiter in Gemini, suggesting a frustrating disconnect between what we do to earn money, and how we must spend our resources. Thinking is requires
The Third House of neighbors and relations is ruled by sextiling Saturn, promising fun with cousins and close relations, but also troubling reminders of age and the limits imposed upon us by time and circumstances.
The Fourth House of house, home and family is ruled by inconjunct Saturn, and managed by trining Jupiter in Gemini as the cooperating triplicity ruler; Pluto's presence lends of commercial, materialistic edge to familial relationships: who benefits from household funding, and who earns it, will be on the table this week.
The Fifth House of pleasures, hobbies, and children is ruled by squaring Jupiter, and is home to Saturn and Neptune, both retrograde— one of them dour and sullen and rigorous about imposing appropriate limits, and the other wildly giving rein to every fantasy and imaginative possibility. Jupiter will try to give both of them what they want, with inconsistent and uneven results.
The Sixth House of work, employees, and family pets is ruled by sextiling Mars but home to the hunger of the North Node. Freelance workers are feeling the late-summer dearth of new projects; others labor at the make-work that tides us over until the start of the season of "winter holiday logistics and planning" in late August. One way or another, there's a season of daily tedium that affects our days.
The Seventh House of our 'essential others' like business partner, spouse or principal lover is ruled by squaring Venus, and home to Uranus — professional matters distract us from the luxury of love and the material comforts of a quality partnership; but sudden eruptions of responsibility create turmoil and turbulence that's not easily fixed.
The Eighth House of duty, responsibility and tedium is ruled by domiciled but squaring Mercury, but contains both Jupiter and Mars — our friends and acquaintances reach out with proposals for desirable activities, but both our ambitions and our sense of personal leadership guide us into a thoughtful yet frustrated acceptance of obligation.
The Ninth House of learning and travel is ruled by the domiciled Moon, promising victory in all conversations with college registrars, friendly interactions with ticket agents and airline stewards, and easy road trips that cross state lines. Be kind to people you encounter while on your summertime trips, and you'll find that kindness returns your way in superior measure.
The Tenth House of career and reputation is home to both the domiciled Sun and Venus — promising creative efforts and a sunny, positive attitude toward your work from your boss. Griping and grumbling, or even valid critique, will likely go unheard and unaddressed... but expect it to show up in your annual review when you most need the help. Put on a smile, avoid unvarnished appraisals of others' contributions — and where adjustments to work-product are both needed and unavoidable, provide aesthetic tempering that reveals the flaws rather than highlighting weaknesses directly.
The Eleventh House of friends and allies is ruled by domiciled Mercury, promising much communication between friends and allies — some with an intent to deceive, some with an scheme to plan, some with an target to forecast or calendarize, and some with the goal of setting expectations or boundaries. As you make plans, though, recognize that Mercury will be retrograde from August 6 to August 28, and not out of its shadow period until September 12. Wherever possible, set your plans far enough out that you have time to adjust your scheduling based on the kerfuffles that arise over the next four weeks.
The Twelfth House is ruled by sextiling Venus, but is home to the South Node and the Lot of Fortune —a lot of shit is likely to get churned up in the courtrooms and the hospitals of the world over the course of the next ten days, and the temptation is going to be to smooth it over with some fancy footwork and nice drapery. Yet it's worth devoting time to fixing these problems — and doing what you can to keep these systems up and running.
Horoscopes by Rising Sign
Decan I of any sign (usually covering the 21st of the month to the first of the following month) is free to all visitors; Decan II is only available to Patreon and Ko-Fi.com subscribers; and Decan III is available to Patreon, Ko-Fi, and MailChimp subscribers.
Scorpio:
Sagittarius
Capricorn:
Aquarius:
Pisces:
Aries:
Taurus:
Gemini:
Cancer:
Leo:
Virgo:
Libra:
Colophon
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If you want to read some of my astrologically-oriented poetry, the largest collection is called A Full Volume of Splendor and Starlight, available through my Etsy shop, and containing poems and hymns to the planets, constellations, decan deities, and Moon Mansion angels. While not astrological, Festae contains hymns to some of the older Roman gods and spirits from the calendar created by Numa Pompilius, the second ancient King of Rome.
I use iPhemeris for my charting software, and screenshot it to make charts. I want to thank the team that develops iPhemeris for the addition of Terms and Decans to their charts. I also use Hugh Tran's Physis typeface to craft logos for this blog, as well.
I use Christopher Warnock's The Mansions of the Moon as the basis of my Moon placement delineations, and Austin Coppock's 36 Faces for much of my planetary delineations. Neither gentleman endorses me.
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