Camp Thirlby’s Guide to Having a Roaring Leo Season
Exclusive illustration ℅ Annika Bjerke
Do you happen to know where to find the best lighting in your home? If not, you ought to find it. It’s Leo season, after all.
On the 21st, the sun shifted from dreamy, moon-ruled Cancer into brazen, sun-ruled Leo. Symbolized by the glyph of the lion, Leos are proud and fierce, equipped with piercing eyes and flowing hair.
Leos can get a bad wrap for thinking they, like their ruling planet, are the center of the solar system. Yet, a well-developed Leo embodies not only the magnetism of the sun, but also it’s radiant warmth, infectious energy, and power to fuel creativity. Like the other fire signs, Aries and Sagitarrius, Leos are admirable in their bravery — in particular, their bravery to be authentic to themselves and what they stand for.
While they are prideful, Leos are far from self-serious. They are the performers of the Zodiac, the jesters, at home in the spirit of playfulness and pleased at any chance to act out to provide entertainment for others. A loyal fixed sign, jovial Leo will bare their claws when it comes to protecting those they love.
We have a lot to learn from Leo placements with their radiant charisma, creative flair, knowledge of themselves, and courage in their authenticity. Here’s our guide to have a roaring Leo season.
School and Work
As we shift from cardinal Cancer to fixed Leo, the energy is one of persistence. Like in the season of other fixed signs, Scorpio, Aquarius, and Taurus, this position of the sun fosters the continuation of the projects you began last month in your studies or at work. If you tend to lay low in your school or work environment, this is a great time to step out of your comfort zone and demand attention. Give yourself a pep talk, double down on your confidence, and present your ideas with pride. This season is an especially great time to strut ahead in creative projects or anything that requires you to fill a more forward-facing role.
Relationships
Leos are no friend of subtlety; this holds true for relationships, too. Take this month for magnanimous displays of affection for those you love. Use your creative powers to foster care in whatever way feels right to you. Cook a luxurious dinner for those you live with or send baked treats to those you love at a distance. Write flowery letters and decorate the page to be just as ornate. Craft playlists that profess your feelings through song.
In your romantic life, it’s time to up the production value. If you’re separated from your partner, try creative directing a photoshoot of self-portraits to send them, experimenting with things like mood lighting, set design, complimenting costume and makeup, perhaps even collaging your stills with other images in Photoshop (and if you don’t have a partner, this is fun to do for yourself!). If you have your partner around, plan a creative date night, whether that means painting together or attempting to harmonize while learning a new song. Activities like these create necessary space for expression within your relationship; be sure to prioritize play over perfection.
Free Time
Leo placemats possess a childlike playfulness that we could all stand to channel in times like these. Use your free time to release energy in expression-ate ways. This could mean dancing around your room alone, screaming pop ballads with friends, or playing games like charades that allow you to break out your bits.
Self-aware Leo also encourages you to reacquaint yourself with what makes you unique. Take time to consider the way you’re presenting yourself to the world, through your personal style and otherwise. Create mood boards that embody the most self-actualized version of yourself. Remember, this isn’t about obtaining new things to change yourself, but about fostering the courage to embrace who you already are.
Self
This month’s self-care diagnosis is to show your pride and fully lean into self-love. While self-love is often conflated with egotism, I find the opposite to be true; when you love yourself, you carry that love into your relationships with others, as you are able to approach them from a place of fulfillment rather than lack. I challenge you to write lists of the things you love about yourself. Give yourself affirmations when you look in the mirror each morning. If your inner self-critic pipes up, remember that you don’t have to love every tiny thing about yourself to be worthy of self-love! The secret is acceptance. If your self-loathing sticks onto a specific aspect of you, think of the ways in which that part of your mind or body has served you, and thank it instead.
Oh, and mirror selfies. Take lots of mirror selfies.
About the Author
Victoria Middleton (she/her) is a third year student at The George Washington University studying journalism and mass communication with a minor in women’s, gender and sexuality studies. She discovered her love for writing as a little girl, typing fairytale stories on her parents old Dell and printing them out before taping them into glitter-glue-encrusted cardboard covers. These days, she thinks honest and fully developed stories about women are even better than fairy tales. When she’s not scheming against the male hegemony of the media industry, she can be found thrifting, watching cult films and TV and badly dancing to good music. She has been known to get overly excited about intersectional feminism, astrology and David Lynch.
