Leo Season Is Going to Be Packed With Drama. What to Expect Based on Your Sign

We made it through Pride Month. We survived most of Lez Out July. But can we make it through Leo Season? Oh gosh, I hope so.

Perhaps fittingly for the stereotypes surrounding the sign, this Leo Season is set to be a lot. We’re all due to struggle with intertwining knots of uncertainty and conflict, but ultimately, that’s to be expected. Without the spice of some drama, how could we ever become who we’re meant to be? Like Leo — or, I guess, the “This Is Fine” dog — we can remain centered inside of ourselves this summer while conflagration rages externally.

In that respect, we all have a lot to learn from our lion friends, so let’s take some time before our Leo Season horoscope begins getting to know them a little better: Leo is ruled by the Sun, the astrological representative of the self. As a result, Leos are very self-centered! Not necessarily “conceited,” per se, though that’s possible. Rather, they’re just situated firmly within the core of their own consciousness. Every Leo alive is very, very, very much themself, whoever that happens to be.

Surface-level stereotypes say Leo is a loud, attention-craving stunt queen, and I mean… yeah! We all know a handful of those Leos! That’s their truth, damn it, and we celebrate them for it (when they’re not actively getting on our nerves, that is.) But center-stage Leos are just the most visible flicker of the sign’s flame, hogging all the spotlight. Obviously everyone is going to know about them, because it is in their nature to be known. Quieter Leos are stealthy because they’re authentically low-key. (This does not stop them from aggravating everyone else just as capably as their flashier sign-fellows when they’re in the mood to be irritating.)

I live in Arizona, where Leo’s sign ruler the Sun is currently attempting to incinerate everything on the face of the Earth to cinders. The aggressive, inescapable heat of the Sun’s glare has burned away my capacity for tact, so now I’m going to beam some light onto Leo’s vulnerabilities: Leo’s effortless self-assurance does not protect them from feelings of insecurity. When faced with the prospect of change — the only constant in this life — Leos respond in one of two ways: Either they adapt instantly, so confident in their new circumstances that loved ones may respond with confusion, or they spiral into a hell of utter bewilderment and flail about inconsistently, terrified that they’ve lost the very heart of their essence while they try to pretend they’ve got everything under control. It’s honestly an existential dice roll, but happily, they always get past it eventually!

Leo’s sense of self is so powerful that it actually influences the way they’re perceived by others. At a glance, Leo seems wildly dissimilar to their sibling sign Aquarius, who has a reputation for oddity. In reality, Leo is nearly as strange as their counterpart. The difference is that, bizarre as they may be, each Leo conceptualizes themself as the very baseline of normalcy, the blueprint by which human variance is to be measured. They just act like whatever they’re doing is cool, and everyone else is dazzled into believing Leo’s weirdness is charming, even imitable! Leos manage this feat so successfully — and so effortlessly! — that few outsiders ever suspect them of peculiarity even when they are blatantly, outlandishly off-the-wall.

Let’s all be a little more like Leos in the coming weeks — uniquely grounded in our own quirks — to try to survive its ups and downs. Here’s the full Leo Season horoscope, broken down by sign.

Click here to jump to a sign: Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer.

• Mercury, Venus, and your ruler the Sun are in your sign.
• The Sun opposes Pluto; forms sextiles with Lilith, Mars, and Jupiter; creates trines with the North Node and Chiron; passes through conjunction with Mercury; and squares off against Uranus.
• Mercury begins the season in your sign, then moves to Virgo.
• Venus creates a trine with Chiron and squares off against Uranus. Then, Venus leaves your sign and moves to Virgo.
• Mercury turns retrograde in Virgo and slides back into your sign. Moving retrograde in your sign, Mercury squares off against Uranus.
• The New Moon in your sign opposes Pluto, creates sextiles with Mars and Jupiter, passes through conjunction with the Sun, and squares off against Uranus.

On the whole, your seasonal forecast looks positive. You’re promised important moments of healing, and progress toward your future. You feel motivated and generous. But you’re also prickled with a self-defensive urge, and you feel very disinclined to pursue significant change.

Witty, chatty Mercury leaves your sign for Virgo… only to later return, orbiting perspectively backward in retrograde. Communication will become fickle during the first week of August and remain offline through the end of your season. Romantic Venus encourages you to repair your wounds with tried and true methods, then it also ditches you to move on to Virgo.

You’ll be tempted to stick with familiar habits this season. The New Moon in your sign is less interested in new beginnings than perfecting current circumstances, almost like reloading a video game’s previous save state to replay the same sequence again with the benefit of hindsight. Whatever may come, remember that you’re always you. Uncertainty doesn’t rob you of your sense of self, even when you feel insecure and unbalanced.

• Your ruler Mercury begins the season in Leo, then moves to your sign.
• Venus begins the season in Leo, then moves to your sign.
• Mercury turns retrograde and passes through conjunction with Venus.
• Moving retrograde, Mercury leaves your sign and slides back to Leo. In Leo, Mercury squares off against Uranus.
• The Sun passes through conjunction with Mercury.
• Venus squares off against Jupiter and opposes Saturn.

Woof, here we go. Your sign ruler Mercury, the fast-orbiting planet of razor-sharp intellect and sudden leaps of logic, moves to your sign in the first days of the season. For a week and a half, life is idyllic! Your brain behaves exactly the way you want it to behave! Venus also moves to your sign, enhancing aesthetics and revealing desires! But then, Mercury turns retrograde and unleashes chaos. Your sense of control crumbles as your patron planet crashes back through disastrous conjunction with Venus, then slides back into Leo, where it’s caught in confounding conjunction by the Sun. On the same freakin’ day, when your self image is already scheduled to get shaky, Venus tosses two middle fingers up at the ruler of luck and spurns the representative of organization.

Attention, non-Virgos who happen to read this entry! Make a calendar appointment to check in on your Virgo friends on or around August 19; they might disappear while they’re in the thick of it.

Hang in there, y’all. The nightmare of Mercury retrograde will eventually end after your own season begins.

• Lilith and the South Node of the Moon’s orbit are in your sign.
• Mars creates a trine with Lilith.
• The Sun forms sextiles with Lilith and the South Node.
• Your sign ruler Venus begins the season in Leo, where it creates a trine with Chiron and squares off against Uranus. Then, Venus moves to Virgo, where it squares off against Jupiter and opposes Saturn.
• Moving retrograde, Mercury passes through conjunction with Venus.

You’re probably going to be a problem for the next month. While the assertive confidence of Leo Season infuses the entire zodiac, Mars and the Sun activate your dark side and amplify the most dangerous knowledge you’ve developed during the course of your time on Earth. Go ahead and start dressing like a soap opera villain so you’ll be prepared when you’re struck with the urge to behave absolutely deviously.

Venus moves from self-assured Leo to meticulous Virgo. First it sets you on a path to healing, but then it despises experimentation, expansion, and responsibility. Think about non-destructive ways to indulge your temptation toward anarchy before you risk damaging important relationships on a whim.

• Your sign ruler Pluto is retrograde in Aquarius.
• The Sun opposes Pluto.
• The First Quarter Moon in your sign squares off against Pluto and the Sun, forms sextiles with Mercury and Venus, creates trine with Saturn and Neptune, and opposes Uranus.

Scorpio and Leo can be a very powerful combination, or they can absolutely loathe each other. Indifference isn’t really an option here; there’s rarely an in-between. This same polarity holds true for Scorpio’s experience of Leo season, as well. Either it’s gonna slay (hurray!), or it’s gonna annihilate you (oh no). This season, you struggle to feel solid and centered while the Sun opposes your retrograde sign ruler. The First Quarter Moon in your sign causes emotional turmoil when it fights with both the representatives of your self and essence. Your Moon ain’t enthusiastic about innovation, either! But fortunately, it helps you cope by putting you in touch with internal reserves of resilience and hope. No matter what might smite you throughout the coming weeks, you’ll trudge determinedly onward into Virgo Season with your self-respect intact.

• Your sign ruler Jupiter is in Gemini.
• The Sun forms a sextile with Jupiter.
• Mars passes through conjunction with Jupiter.
• Venus squares off against Jupiter.
• Jupiter squares off against Saturn.

You’re in excellent shape when it comes to self-acceptance and energy… but a little less so with discipline and desire. Your season starts strong with a wave of good luck, followed by the motivation to pursue your ambitions. On August 19, you’re struck with conflicted wishes and an aversion to responsibility. Plan to take it easy that Monday, and forget about looming troubles until they actually come to pass. You have more important things to worry about now, like having fun in the heightened atmosphere of a fellow fire season!

• Your sign ruler Saturn is retrograde in Pisces.
• Mars and Jupiter square off against Saturn.
• Venus opposes Saturn.

Womp, womp. You ended Cancer’s month with the Sun on a high note, but the aggressive gleam of Leo Season causes you some strife. The representatives of action and fortune disagree with your sign ruler, Saturn. Meanwhile, Venus, the astrological arbiter of desire, disavows you entirely. Mercury retrograde devastates communication systems and causes misunderstanding all around the zodiac. This season tests you with a prolonged period of endurance, rather than enjoyment.

• Pluto is retrograde in your sign.
• Your sign ruler Uranus is in Taurus.
• The Sun opposes Pluto.
• Venus, Mercury, and the Sun square off against Uranus.
• The Full Moon in your sign passes through conjunction with Pluto, creates trines with Jupiter and Mars, opposes Mercury and the Sun, and squares off against Uranus.

Your sibling sign’s season brings struggle your way. This year, the Sun’s opposition to Pluto in your sign hinders development with the threat of stagnance. Venus, Mercury, and the Sun all beef with your sign ruler, causing problems all through the realms of romance, communication, and self-understanding. You attain a brief period of respite when the Full Moon lights up your sign in a glorious outflow of emotional release. But even then, the Moon’s relationship with Uranus is contentious, tearing a fissure of insecurity through your consciousness. Fortunately, you’re more comfortable with uncertainty than most signs. You don’t mind observing your own distress from a comfortable, clinical distance even as you experience problems in the moment. You might offer a word of assurance to your zodiac neighbor Capricorn, who is struggling with several planets’ worth of alienation this season.

• Saturn and your ruler Neptune are both retrograde in your sign.
• Mars and Jupiter square off against Saturn.
• Venus opposes Saturn.

Along with the preceding signs, you are beset by significant square aspects this season. Instances of tension and conflict — along with the demands of life obligations — mark your next weeks. Your senses of motivation and generosity rebel against the ruler of responsibility, and desire shuns your guest planet Saturn entirely. You really don’t want to do the things you have to do this season, and fair enough! It sucks! But knowing you, you’ll probably grit your teeth and take care of business anyway.

• Chiron and the North Node of the Moon’s orbit are in your sign.
• Your sign ruler Mars is in Gemini.
• Chiron turns retrograde.
• Mars creates a trine with Lilith, forms a sextile with the North Node, passes through conjunction with Jupiter, and squares off against Saturn.
• The Sun creates trines with the North Node and Chiron.

Step carefully this season! Chiron the centaur, ruler of injury and healing, turns retrograde in late July. It travels in an oddball orbit way out there in the solar system, so its retrograde doesn’t spell outright disaster like Mercury is wreaking this season, but just be cautious lest Chiron’s power be tipped a bit closer to the “injury” side of its influence, rather than “healing.”

Other than that, you’re pretty golden. You might get in a fight when Mars and Lilith join forces in belligerence and shadiness, but if so you’ll almost definitely win. You’re still charging into destiny and expanding your horizons in all directions, even when you don’t feel like you can focus.

• Uranus is in your sign.
• Venus, Mercury, and the Sun square off against Uranus.
• Your sign ruler Venus begins the season in Leo, where it creates a trine with Chiron and squares off against Uranus. Then, Venus moves to Virgo, where it squares off against Jupiter and opposes Saturn.
• Moving retrograde, Mercury passes through conjunction with Venus.
• The Last Quarter Moon in your sign squares off against Pluto, the Sun, and Venus; creates a trine with Mercury; forms sextiles with Saturn and Neptune; and passes through conjunction with Uranus.

Oddness is unfortunately out of fashion this season; everybody’s mad at your pal Uranus. Your sign ruler Venus craves healing, but doesn’t want to try anything new or expend any effort to achieve it. Mercury turns retrograde in Virgo and starts screwing up everything for everybody. Orbiting backwards, Mercury joins up with Venus for an intense collaboration that could possibly be illuminating, but will most likely result in destruction.

The Last Quarter Moon in your sign forsakes the trends of the season and encourages you to remain true to your own personal concerns. You have no patience left for pandering, and any friend who hopes you might affirm their latest delusions will instead be met with your unvarnished, honest opinions. Speak the truth, and speak it plain.

• Mars and Jupiter are in your sign.
• Your sign ruler Mercury begins the season in Leo, then moves to Virgo.
• In Virgo, Mercury turns retrograde and passes through conjunction with Venus, then slides back to Leo. Moving retrograde in Leo, Mercury squares off against Uranus.
• The Sun passes through conjunction with Mercury.
• Mars creates a trine with Lilith, forms a sextile with the North Node, passes through conjunction with Jupiter, and squares off against Saturn.
• Jupiter squares off against Saturn.
• Venus squares off against Jupiter.

Chaos is your home and natural state of existence, so you should thrive during this season, right? Your sign ruler Mercury goes on a rampage again, insulting your fellow mercurial sign Virgo with a retrograde back to Leo. On the backslide, Mercury conspires with fickle Venus and fights with creative Uranus, then gets caught up in partnership with the Sun, which will show everyone things they don’t really want to see.

In your sign, Mars and Lilith team up to start some shit, which may actually lead to shockingly good outcomes! One way or another, you’re pushing into the future and exploding barriers that block your passage.

August 19 might be kind of crummy — you don’t want to work, and you’re also cursed with bad luck — but whatever! You’re hardly alone in your problems that day.

• Your sign ruler the Moon travels through the entire zodiac, moving through Aquarius, Pisces, and Aries twice at the beginning and end of the season.
• The Last Quarter Moon in Taurus squares off against the Sun.
• The New Moon in Leo passes through conjunction with the Sun.
• The First Quarter Moon in Scorpio squares off against the Sun.
• The Full Moon in Aquarius opposes the Sun.
• The waning crescent Moon in your sign forms sextiles with Mercury and Uranus, and creates trines with Saturn and Neptune.

You enter Leo Season on a strange tide, committed to making changes that won’t come to fruition for a long time to come. The New Moon in Leo encourages you to dwell with this discomfort while you wait for resolution, rather than attempting to force the desired outcomes to happen prematurely. For the most part, you’ll find this wait pretty tolerable, but you might temporarily lose your mind a little bit when the Full Moon in Aquarius makes drastic change seem irresistibly appealing. The Moon is kind in your own sign at the beginning of August, boosting your powers of communication and imagination, and shoring up your dedication to your ideals.

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