University of Virginia Library

V. Leo [?]
"Then Leo shakes his mane.''

Herein is typified the third grand spiritual action which, as we find throughout Nature, travel in pairs; hence Leo is a positive, masculine constellation.

Having attained the highest point in the super-celestial states of subjective, embryonic existence; having evolved sensation and aspiration; now, inspired by a desire for immortality, the dual soul of the Divine Ego is once more impelled forward; but, as all evolution works in spirals, it cannot ascend higher without first apparently descending lower; so ever onward in its eternal march. This beautiful constellation symbolizes the first action on the downward portion of the are. It is the affinities of the heart, so to say, working from within to without.

Matter, in its more etherealized form, begins to assert its sway. The allegorical serpent of Eden is working upon the feminine portion, symbolized by the heart, and, like a magnetic tractor, the soul's affinities are drawn downward, and, as if in defiance of all responsibilities, consequences, and Karma, the soul, lion-like, "shakes his mane in the imperiousness of deathless courage.''

As we read these weird allegories, written by Deity in the starry vaults of heaven, the interested soul bows in reverence and awe before that almighty power we term Providence, and the profane call God.

No man has altered these pure records of divinity; no finger has

interpolated one single line. They are as beautifully clear to the soul now as they were in the very dawn of Nature's awful creation.

To the Initiate into Urania's mysteries it is unnecessary to draw a parallel between the constellation and its astrological sign. They are too clear, magnificent and impressive to escape notice. To the majority of students the resembance may not be so apparent, hence, for their benefit, we will point out a few aspects of this interesting parallel.

We read that the sign Leo is the "solar Lion of the mysteries, that, ripens with his own internal heat the fruits brought forth from the Earth by the moisture of Isis (the soul).'' Just so, the Divine Ego, by its eternal energy and strength, the pure fire of intelligence, externalizes through material forms the principles involved in the downward portion of the arc, as qualities and attributes of the soul (reflected in the physical man as traits and qualities). Again we are told, "this sign reveals to us the ancient sacrifice and the laws of its compensation.'' In the imperiousness of a deathless courage, the soul defies all consequences and responsibilities. Surely, this is the supreme sacrifice, to leave its pure, Edenic state to gain knowledge, to evolve its latent forces. And from this lion of the Tribe of Judah, is born that Divine love and sympathy which ultimately redeems and purifies the soul and saves it from death in matter. The laws of its compensation are fulfilled in the prefected man.

In its intellectual aspect, we learn that the mental forces of those dominated by this sign are ever striving to attain unto some higher state. Their ideas are grand, compared with the nature of the constellation, and all that it implies. The reflection is clear, natural and beautiful. When we reflect upon this awful period in the involution of the dual souls of the Divine Ego, as symbolized by the constellation, and the grand truths represented by the astrological sign when refracted through the human organism, the reason for Leo being named the Royal Sign becomes quite plain.