Leo's Third Decan Influence: Light

Leo's third decan influence (8/12 - 8/22) is the idea of "light". A noun, an adjective, a verb...light reveals itself to us through many concepts, and reaches us through many forms. A brightness that illuminates, light brings awareness to items unseen, life undeveloped, and ideas undefined. And whether we are turning on a light, enLIGHTening our minds, or lighting something on fire, the main source of light on Earth is the reason we know light at all.

In Leo's key idea of "rulership", the sun is our divine example. Without the sun, we wouldn't be here. So it is easy to agree that the sun is not only the source of light energy, but of life energy, and in turn rules us all. We don't need to agree based on belief. The sun shines on each and every one of us, so we all have direct experience with it, no matter our age, no matter when we've lived. And as knowledge comes only from experience, our experience with the sun and its light form a common knowledge each individual on earth possesses. It resides in our every day and is a constant found in each of our memories. As an readily available object of common ground, experience, and knowledge, it is the basis for uniting us all.

One truth we can all observe, one perspective we all share. With the amount of disagreement and discord in the world today, maybe it's time to turn our awareness towards the sun.

If we pay any attention to it at all, what do we observe? Faithfully, predictably, truthfully, the sun follows the same path through our sky day after day, year after year. What more easily accessible, consistently reliable guidance could we have?

A common theme for the working people is to follow the command of money. We center our lives around our jobs - from waking, eating, bathroom even, through recreation we have time for, and sleeping. Money feeds our mouths and pays our bills. But isn't this a step removed? For it's the sun, not money, that grows our food. Money can't grow the wood for the houses we pay rent on, doesn't move the water to and through our taps, doesn't break down earth's resources into natural gas to heat our homes and cook our food. Contrary to popular belief, money does not make the world "go 'round". The Sun does! And it's the sun's light that propels our world into motion - along with everything in it. If forming our daily habits around money has the mediocre effect that it does on our lives, imagine what aligning our habits with THE SOURCE of LIFE ENERGY might do!

The light of the sun traces an ever-slightly changing, but still predictable, path across our sky over the course of a year. Over the course of about 365 days, the sun appears from earth to travel through 36 10-degree sections known as "decans". Through traditional astrology, each of these decans have been assigned a key idea. Thus by following the path of the sun through the sky during the year, we can consider 36 character-building perspectives to understand and strengthen ourselves personally and individually over the course of a year. Repeating the lessons of the decans hones your understanding and ability to use these tools of perspective more capably and functionally than ever before.

Learning the decans in time with the sun-propelled rhythm of the earth and it's natural processes aligns theory with purpose. More than just philosophy to consider, by applying the decan lessons to the current season, we can learn the characteristics required to properly and adequately care for ourselves again - like the patience and attention it takes to grow our food in a garden from seed to product, or the discrimination and sense of proportion it takes to build a shelter that will last. Food, water, shelter - these are the basics. The light of the sun provides these and the ingredients for these in abundance, but it is up to us to direct the light of our own attention back onto the quality of these life-sustaining basics so that we may live healthily, freely and abundantly.

When money can't even buy us nourishing food, what are we working for?

Without the light of the sun, there is no life here on Earth. But the light is here, and because of it - only because of it - so are we. Each and every day the rays of the sun tickle the earth, calling each of us into being. That light drives our very existence! It shines and twinkles in glorious rays that easily catch the attention of every one of us. But does it? How often to you consciously consider the sun, the light, in your each and every day? What if we pay it back just a bit of the awareness it creates by creating, sustaining, and supporting our human lives? I picture it as angling a mirror ever more perpendicular to a lightbulb - creating a synergystic resonance of reflecting light, exploding light, and thereby awareness, into our surrounding more intensely than ever was possible before!

The sun has performed the same action longer than any of us or our planet. If experience begets mastery, what more experienced master could there be? Light is our first lesson. Light is our life lesson. Light is our common lesson. In Leo's third decan of "light", let us all recognize the light, the sun, and the reality in which we share only from which we are aware.