Leo season reminds us that our rising signs aren’t what we look like — they’re who we’re becoming
Poor little rising sign.
Reduced to “how we look” or “the mask we wear,” let’s reclaim the ascendant from the netherworld of superficiality.
Did you know that your ascendant is determined by the zodiac sign that was cresting the eastern horizon when you were born? Like the sunrise, your rising sign is the energy meant to be arising within you. It’s the direction you’re designed to drive toward. All roads lead to your ascendant.
Here’s the catch: your rising sign isn’t necessarily your immediate superpower. You don’t arrive accomplished at expressing its essence (that’s reserved for your moon sign). Instead, your ascendant encompasses the attributes you’re learning to actualize as you progress through life.
The characteristics of the ascendant feel scary at first. You look at its qualities and think, “Oh no, I could never be like that.” But inch by inch, those traits start to feel strangely spot on, like Goldilocks finally finding the chair that’s juuustright.
Leo was rising when I was born. It’s taken me years to grow into the confidence, creativity, and willingness to be seen the lioness embodies. I hid who I really was from everyone. Shame and fear of being judged kept me concealed. Consumed by self-flagellation, being myself wasn’t something I even considered. Vulnerability was outright dangerous.
None of the attributes of Leo felt natural to me. In fact, they terrified me. Which is exactly the point.
Last week, the sun moved into Leo, heartening each of us to spend a solar month exploring these leonine traits. Afterall, the lion lives somewhere on all of our charts.
Leo often gets dismissed as arrogant, dramatic or self-absorbed. That’s its shadow. Leo’s true gift isn’t thinking it’s better than everyone else. It’s remembering the divinity within itself and cheering the rest of us on to remember ours.
Leo transmits the archetype of the ancient queens and kings. They weren’t simply rulers. They were believed to be anointed by the goddess (or god, if you must) as the earthly representatives of the sacred. Leo knows it’s the celestial spirit incarnate. The lion’s confidence isn’t rooted in ego; it’s fixed in universal love. Leo’s generosity comes from overflowing with so much soul.
Most of us learned to be the exact opposite of Leo.
As children, we quickly figured out which parts of ourselves were acceptable and which weren’t. Maybe you were told you talked too much. Maybe you were labeled too emotional, too bossy, too dramatic, too selfish. Whatever the message, we got busy burying those parts of ourselves because we believed doing so would earn us love and keep us safe.
Then we spend our entire adulthood judging those abandoned qualities in everyone else. Leo’s traits are one of the signs we judge the most, along with Scorpio’s secrecy, Taurus’ indulgence, and Aquarius’ detachment. These “fixed” signs, or as I like to call them, “serving self” signs really get a bad rap. We’re extremely uncomfortable with focusing on ourselves. Yet, how are we supposed to lead the lives we truly want without doing exactly that?
For years, I judged the very Leo qualities I was meant to grow into: courage, self-love, being in the limelight. I was terrified of being seen. I isolated and kept my truth buried under the covers of my bed. Relentlessly, I judged myself over every potential thing I’d done wrong.
Then I started writing professionally.
I had to show up, again and again, imperfections and all. Slowly, almost without noticing, Leo stopped feeling terrifying and became just right. Now I thrive in my Leo rising. Being honest, it secretly feels amazing. Shh, don’t tell anyone!
That’s what our rising signs are really doing, beckoning us. They’re patiently waiting to get our attention. Like the sun peeking over the horizon each morning, these signs rise gradually within us, soliciting us to take one small step toward becoming more of ourselves.
As Leo season begins, pay attention to what wants to rise in you. Not what you’re already good at, but what quietly calls to you, even if it frightens you a little. That scary thing you’ve been avoiding might finally feel like home.
Sheridan 💫
Moon Sisters Circle, Astrologer, Life Coach, and Creator of the Astrology In Real Life Method