The sign of Leo is associated with ego, the heart, and the path of Self-Realization so let's delve a little deeper into why this might be the case.

I have often said that there is a false self and a true Self and it is Leo's job to find out which is which. In truth, there are myriad false selves, far too many to count. Indeed there are as many false selves as our minds can create.

But there is only one true Self: our true nature, our heart essence, that which we might call our Soul or Higher Self, and it it this Self we seek to discover as we progress on the path of spiritual awakening or Self-Realization.

The sign of Leo is uniquely associated with this path of Self-Realization due to the experiences of the Soul in Leo as it continues it's journey through the twelve zodiac signs.

After incarnating into physical form through the sign of Cancer, the Soul begins the 'Leo' stage of it's development and finds that, in order to truly know itself, the Soul must individuate. The Soul experiences the 'individuation' process whereby it can act independently from others, while never at any time, being separate from the whole.

To understand how this might be, we can think of our fingers and thumbs. Each can act independently from the others, in order to take action and have different experiences. Yet at no time are our fingers and thumbs separated from our body - if one is hurt the whole body feels it.

This experience of individuation without separation is a large part of the experience in Leo leading to Self-Realization.

Self-Realization and The End of Suffering

The fundamental basis of Buddhist thought is that suffering has causes, and if we can eradicate those causes, we can totally eliminate human suffering. (This is a long job that takes many lifetimes, but the point is, that the Buddha taught that it was possible)

According to the highest Buddhist teachings, believing in the self-existent "I" - the idea that there is a solid 'me' in here, that is separate from everything and everyone else is one of the major causes of suffering.

In Esoteric Astrology, the Tibetan teaches that all dis-ease (unease, suffering) is caused by this sense of separation.

Arrows of Suffering

In his biography "From A Mountain in Tibet" Lama Yeshe Losal explained that the Buddha taught about two arrows of suffering.

The first arrow is the suffering we experience when something happens - for example we may lose our job, position, status, or anything bad that happens.

The second arrow is how we react to it. We create another layer of suffering by trying to ignore, resist, deny, push away or fight the first event. We create an additional layer of struggle for ourselves that can last days, weeks, months, even years, depending upon how long we 'hold' it in our mind.

Then Lama Yeshe proposes that for us Westerners, we might even add a third arrow to the Buddha's original two. We adopt the event as part of our self-image. So we use it as further 'evidence' hat we are a 'loser' or a 'failure' or someone who always has bad luck etc. etc. Whatever the 'story' is, we use it to contribute to a solid sense of identity, rather than just something that happened.

Until we see this tendency and take steps to reverse it, we will continue to identify with externally imposed identities and roles. If you have personal planets in Leo, or Leo Rising, you may notice this tendency to identify with roles is particularly strong in you.

It is part of the Soul path of Leo to notice this habitual pattern in the mind, and as part of your journey of Self-realization, to challenge such thoughts until you can rest in the knowing that any self-constructed self-image is not your true nature.

In her book 'Confidence', Lama Shenpen Hookham makes a distinction between the conditioned self-confidence, that we construct from mental concepts based on our experiences, and the innate confidence that comes as a result of recognizing the innate and indestructible nature of our heart's essence. We might call this our 'true nature'.

Conditioned confidence, is shaky, because it is dependent on outside factors that can change very quickly in this uncertain world. We might get the job we want, then feel very confident because our boss praises us and we get a promotion. Then a few months later the company has to make cutbacks and we are fired. Our confidence then plummets, and can remain low especially if we have trouble finding another job.

Another term for this constructed self-image based on our experiences and mental concepts is 'ego', or ego-personality.

Once we recognise and align with our innate natural confidence, we always have a place to go back to where we feel safe and confident. Even though we will still experience the trials and disappointments of our changing world, we will feel more stable in ourselves, and whatever happens no longer shakes us to the core.

Such 'self' realization is the true path of Leo. The myriad 'false' selves that our minds create are based on our everyday roles and experiences. When we are attached to them we are always susceptible to being tossed around by life's changes like a leaf on a breeze. Once we recognize and rest in our true inner 'self', our heart's essence, we develop a core stability that can carry us through anything.

There is only one true 'self' and it is our innate heart's essence, that we were born with. This is why Leo symbolizes the formation of ego and then the path of Self-Realization through the heart.

Once we recognise our true Self then we will know on a deeper level the meaning of the Tibetan's keynote for Leo: