Leo Season Will Bring Out the Loyal Pet Parent in You

Kings, drama queens, and cat ladies, welcome to the season of the superstar. The sun enters its fiery home in Leo this month, reminding Leos that they are the VIPs here.

Leo is a fixed fire sign, which means it falls in the middle of the summer. Leo season comes at the height of summer in the Northern Hemisphere and is symbolized by the lion. Leos are known for their stamina and joie de vivre, are powered by creative self-expression, courage, and have the ability to inject fun into any situation. 

The sun in Leo this month illuminates a need for transcendent purpose in life. Leo’s solar orientation explains its correlation with fame, leadership, and celebrities who are living out modern-day heroic mythos. The sun cannot be extinguished, and famous Leos have a timeless quality, a capacity for creative reinvention, and enduring relevance. In fact, Leos of yore — kings and leaders in ancient astrology — were considered the human embodiment of gods, divine law, and higher wisdom. This means: Leos will often shine in positions of leadership and prominence. Look to Barack Obama as the perfect embodiment of a Leo: a magnanimous leader with a strong sense of loyalty, who spoke adoringly of his family’s devoted dog, Bo, and publicly mourned his death last year. 

Another famous Leo, Andy Warhol, was known for his fascination with fame and love of cats. He named all of his felines Sam — except for the one he called Hester. Both Andy and his mother immortalized the animals in a book of cat portraiture, and Warhol would continue to feature dogs and cats in his work throughout his career. His reflection that everyone wants their 15 minutes expresses a quintessential Leo gravitation towards living beings that shine bright. 

Famous Leos will often align themselves with a lion, the king of the jungle. Model-actress Cara Delevingne sports a lion finger tattoo.

The 1984 video for Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” featured a lion alongside the ambitious pop star. And six years before that, the now-resurgent songstress Kate Bush — her song “Running Up That Hill” is back in the spotlight on the eve of Leo season, thanks to Stranger Things —  named her second album Lionheart and is featured on the cover dressed in a lion suit. Other famous Leos in music are nothing to sneeze at, either: JLo, Whitney Houston, Robert Plant, and Mick Jagger.

Celebrity and fame aside, Leo recognizes the need for us to live out our own unique potentials, however grandiose or humble they may be. It demands that we live a life that’s passionate and expressive. In this way, Leo season challenges us to fill our lives with heart, even (especially!) in the face of failure. With a reputation for melodrama, Leos understand that life is dramatic. All the world’s a stage, and we have various roles to play here. So you might as well step into them, and method act the hell out of it.