MOTTO: Rule Life! Express Self! Create Self! The Entertainer
With Leo rising, you present a dramatic, expressive, “I want to be me!” type of identity to the world when you are feeling supported. When you are not feeling supported, you are more likely to be demanding or domineering. The sun rules the Leo sign. All the planets in our solar system pivot around the sun. It represents creation. Likewise, with the sun ruling your ascendant, you instinctively want to creatively express yourself and feel right at home being the center, at the heart of all things happening in your world. Your rising sign, Leo, is the entertainer; the performer of the zodiac. Your energetic approach is exuberant, expansive, and creative with a fixity of purpose. This is due to the energetic personality signature of the Leo rising sign. Leo is a sign of fixed, fire, and yang energies. These three energies combine to give you the strength and commitment to creatively express your authentic self to the world as you go about your daily life.
The fixed quality of this sign gives it and, therefore you, energy that is tenacious and determined. You don’t give up easily, preferring to stick with a project or job until it is done. The essence of your behavior when you go out into the world is to stabilize and secure your situation in the environment around you. Your approach to new situations is to present yourself as someone who is self-assured and capable.
With the fixed nature of this sign on your ascendant, you can also be stubborn. Your stubbornness lies in your unwillingness to let go of your opinions when appealed to do so by others. You are not easily swayed by their opinions and ideas. Instead, you prefer to consider and determine for yourself the best way to tackle a problem. Once you have made up your mind, it is very hard for others to change it. (A Spiritual Approach to Astrology, p.78)
The fire element of your Leo rising sign gives enthusiastic and inspirational energy to your temperament and behavior style as you go about your day-to-day life. When energetically supported, your outlook as you begin each day is optimistic and enthusiastic and you emanate a certain joyousness when around others. Having this sign on the first house makes for a personality that really wants to express itself and be noticed, and, most especially, to be appreciated. Instinctively motivated towards the dramatic expression of your personality, you enjoy being in the limelight. With this flair for the dramatic, you express yourself entertainingly even in the most general of conversations. Creative self-expression, whether it be in your writing, storytelling, art, music or acting, is your path to genuine happiness. (Introduction to Evolutionary Astrology, discussion on the Leo archetype)
The yang, masculine energy of this sign further strengthens your personality expression as outgoing and dynamic. The yang/masculine energy is positive, active, extroverted, and expressive in nature. With this energy, you prefer to initiate activities instead of passively standing by waiting for someone else to act. It is a part of your authentic “I will” nature to take charge, especially in new situations. In fact, you feel very strongly that you need to always be in charge of your environment. It is not for you to let someone else run the show. Luckily, most of the time others look to you to take charge. (Complete Book of Astrology, p.55). The manner with which you take charge is enthusiastic and confident. The style in which you lead can be imperious and autocratic at times, especially when you feel you have lost the attention and admiration of your followers. Generally, however, you prefer to be entertaining and caring in your leadership role. You are loyal to and fiercely protective of your friends and loved ones. You do not tolerate injustice to others or to yourself.
Figuratively speaking, the energetic cloak you put on to interact with and meet the demands of the world around you exudes power and drama. It is vibrant, regal-looking, and eye-catching; radiating a sense of exuberance and competence at the same time. With the combination of fixed, fire, and yang energies making up the energetic signature of your Leo rising sign, you want to present yourself as someone who has the courage and confidence to handle whatever life throws at you. You do not want to appear timid and uncertain in front of others. The doorway to your Authentic Self emanates enthusiasm and good humor as well as competence and strength.
What energizes you is for you to be able to creatively express yourself, to be the ruler of your life, and to be both respected and adored by others. Having support groups (family, friends, community) that give you plenty of love and attention will help you to energetically express your positive, loving Leo nature as you encounter new people and new situations in your daily life.
You need your efforts to be recognized and respected. If you feel loved, appreciated, and respected, your sense of well-being is strengthened. With this support, you feel invigorated, powerful, purposeful, and optimistic; cheerfully radiating your sunshine on those around you.
When you feel underappreciated and unsupported, the negative traits of the Leo sign will be triggered, disturbing your sense of well-being. The stormy clouds of negative emotions obscure your sunny disposition. The triggers in your life that diminish your desire to enthusiastically express your Authentic Self are criticism, rejection, disapproval, feeling ignored or under appreciated. This is when your shadow self emerges, and your personality signature takes on the negative characteristics of the Leo sign. You withdraw your light, either going into a blue funk and not responding to efforts to console you or raging against the slights you feel and roaring your displeasure to all who are around to hear you. Melodramatic, demanding, willful, and/or sulky behavior replaces your good humor.
Supportive environments for you are those that have a feeling of warmth and fun as well as places where you can shine and be noticed. An atmosphere that conveys a welcoming, communal-type of feeling to you as you enter it will further support your Leo energetic signature.
Feng Shui Tips to Encourage Support from Others:
The Foundation/Family area is the section of your house to energize in order to encourage energetic support for a “solid foundation of love surrounding you”. It is located in the middle left (Western) or east (classical) side of your home. The chi of this area is conducive to promoting a healthy self as well as strong, warm, caring relations with family, friends you consider to be family and your community. (Feng Shui Quick Guide, p. 60; feng shui your life, p. 136).
The color for this area is green. Green strengthens the chi energy for ambition, confidence, high self-esteem, enthusiasm, and for being full of life; the same qualities associated with the energetic signature of the Leo sign. Making sure you have green, especially bright green, prominent in this area will provide energetic support for your Leo identity. The element for this sector is wood. Wood feeds fire and since the element for the Leo sign is fire, adding wood elements to this area will feed your Leo energy. Especially helpful to energizing this area is adding rectangular objects made of wood and tall, upright green plants. They represent growth and upward movement.
Further cultivate positive energy for an active social life and strong family ties by placing items in this area that you associate with good health, happy family occasions, strong friendships, and vibrant community relations. By making these improvements to the Family and Community area of your home, you are strengthening your intention to welcome plenty of love and enthusiastic support from others into your daily life. (Practical Feng Shui Solutions, pp. 114 & 115, feng shui your life, pp. 137 & 138 and Decorating with the Five Elements of Feng Shui, pp. 143 & 144)
Feng Shui Support for Recognition and Respect
To encourage supportive energy specific to your Leo needs for admiration and recognition, activate the Fame/Reputation energy center of your home. It is located in the rear middle (Western) or south (Classical) area of your home. The energy of this area is yang in nature and so draws into it the influences of others and how they see you. This area “is associated with your character and image” and “stimulating the Fame center can propel you into the spotlight.” (feng shui your life, p. 145) This is just the thing for a Leo rising individual! The element for this area is fire. When you embellish your home’s Fame/Reputation area with representations of the fire element, you will affirm your instinctive creative, passionate temperament. (feng shui your life, p. 145) You will be creating beneficial energy to promote positive recognition of your efforts. Representations of the fire element include fireplaces, lights, candles, and items that are red, yellow, or orange in color. The shape representing fire is pointed so adding objects featuring strongly angular shapes such as triangles will help to activate this area as well.
If there are any water elements or representations of water in the Fame/Reputation energy sector, remove them. Water puts out fire. Finally, clear out any physical clutter here. Clutter blocks your radiance and when you release this area from its clutter, you clear the way to shine your light on others and to share your joy of life with them.
As you make these adjustments, you are creating a supportive environment that complements your Leo rising energetic needs. Look in all the areas of your environment to find other clues as to what may be energetically obscuring and obstructing your ability to shine. Physical clutter, lack of vibrant colors, and lack of light in your home hinder the healthy expression of your yang energy.
Feng Shui Support for Your Creative Self Expression:
In all areas, clear out unwanted clutter, especially clutter that restricts movement and obscures the function of the area. For example, in the bedroom, make sure your clothes and shoes are in their designated places–closet, drawers, laundry basket–and not strewn about on the floor and other surfaces. Then, take out items not related to the relaxing function of the bedroom such as exercise machines and office equipment.
In shared living spaces, again clear out clutter because clutter energetically reflects your inability to take charge. Then, add decorative touches through color, texture, and artwork that reflect your creative self-expression.
In those areas, that are yours to do as you wish, really amp up the enhancements to encourage energetic support for your Leo rising sign nature. Let your creative talents have full reign in these areas. Keep in mind that the part of your home, and the part of each room in your home that faces south (Classical) or is in the rear middle (Western), are the areas to enhance to promote self and gain recognition from others. (Practical Feng Shui Solutions, p. 41) The chi energy here supports self-expression. Adding light, red, and anything that inspires you to these areas will support your energetic personality signature.
By making these adjustments and enhancements, you are intentionally creating strong support for the expression of your Authentic Leo Self. You are adopting a mindset that you are in charge and that your light will shine. You are honoring your inner self and how it is presented out in the world.
While keeping in mind the importance of honoring your Self by taking these supportive energy steps, care needs to be taken that you don’t focus entirely on yourself. The key phrase for the 1st house is “I am” and the key phrase for Leo is “I will”. This combination makes for a very strong sense of self and the desire to be in command. Enthusiastic and inspirational, fire-sign dominant people do not take the time to see if all are on board with their plans. They simply assume they are.
The balancing act for you is to be able to self actualize your urge to fully reach your potential as a creative, inspirational leader without being overbearing and autocratic. To maintain your self-assurance without coming across as being self-centered, encourage an “it’s all of us together” atmosphere in your environment. This will not detract from your instinctive urge to be in charge, but it will send a signal to others that you haven’t forgotten the value of their efforts and input.
Feng Shui Solutions to Creating an Inclusive Atmosphere:
The Health/Unity area is an ideal place to start creating an atmosphere of inclusion. This area represents harmony and balance, gathering and socializing, as well as physical, mental, and emotional well-being. It is in the center of your home and in the center of each room in your home.
Because it is the center of the home, it serves as the connection point to the energies surrounding it. It represents yin and yang energies and, as such, serves to encourage healthy, productive interdependence of all the directions of the home. Symbolically, therefore, it supports the whole while at the same time supporting the importance of the individual components. By linking all the other eight directions, its energy “is the most powerful of all chi energies.” By focusing your efforts on energizing this area, you are allowing your creative self-expression to take center stage. Its energy can help you to attract people to you and be the center of attention in a healthy, positive way. (Practical Feng Shui Solutions, p.41)
The element for the Health/Unity area is earth and the supporting element is fire. The colors that support the energy here are earth tone colors, such as yellow, brown, and ochre. Items that are made of earthen materials such as pottery and ceramics will energize the chi of this area. Adding red in small doses is compatible with the chi of this area and will support the fire energy of your sign. To foster inclusiveness, arrange furniture so that no one is left out of the group. Arranging this room so that you can entertain in a grand and dramatic manner will also support your Leo rising personality signature. Water features are not recommended in the Health/Unity area because water erodes earth and puts out fire. Low-spreading plants in earthen-ware containers are a further enhancement to the energy of this sector. Finally, keep this area as open and clutter free as possible to foster unobstructed movement of energy.
By implementing these Feng Shui enhancements and adjustments, you are creating energetic support to encourage your instinctive “I want to be me” identity. You are clearing the way for you to express your generous, warm, affectionate, and optimistic nature as you go about every day meeting new people and dealing with new situations.
You are learning about yourself through the reactions of and responses from others to your behavior as you go about your daily life. Their feedback to you regarding your actions will be either positive or negative. You will enjoy positive feedback from others when you operate from a self-assured, loving, optimistic and cheerful approach. Whereas, negative feedback can occur when you are self-centered, demanding, or willful with others. Regardless of the type of feedback, you will continue to grow, and your authentic self will continue to discover something new about itself. (Introduction to Evolutionary Astrology, discussion on the archetype of the 1st house/ascendant/rising sign)
Feng Shui for your Rising Sign 