In our Soul Map Mandalas Astrology School curriculum, we strive to balance the engagement of both the left and right sides of the brain. As anyone who’s taken any meaningful look into Astrology knows, this ancient science can get really left-brained-analytical really fast. But the beauty and the poetry of reading Birth Charts comes from an almost artistic synthesis of right-brained “storytelling” of interpretation along with the rigors of left-brained research.
Given my decades-long experience as an educator in the museum world, it’s no wonder I fell in love with this curriculum from the very first lesson!
As much as possible in our method, we work with images to exercise the right brain, along with all of the unavoidable memorization of facts and keywords that characterizes left-brained learning. My teacher/mentor, an artist herself, drew many of the curriculum’s images in such a way that maximizes the key meanings of the Signs, Planets, and Houses – those essential building blocks of the astrological Birth Chart.
The other day, a student just starting out reported that she has memorized which images go with which Signs… but still it’s hard for her to distinguish Aries and Leo energies. “It seems that Aries and Leo express themselves in similar ways,” she said. “When I looked at the Birth Chart of a particular family member of mine, I noticed he has a lot of Planets in both of those Signs. So I’m finding it a challenge to tease out one from the other. He is, by the way, super-fun to hang out with!” 😀
Great question! And a great way to begin immediately applying the concepts you’re learning!
Aries and Leo are both Fire signs. So they both have that outward, directive, and (in theory) very confident sort of energy.
But Aries is really out for themselves; they’re about winning and being #1: “I’m doing this for me; get out of my way; you can join me if you want but if you’re not into it, bye!” It’s very much an independent energy. Sometimes this can show up as leadership – but Aries energy is not really out to gather a crowd; they’re just doing their own thing.
Leo, of all the Fire signs, it’s the most emotional. There’s a need for emotional connection. It’s really wanting interaction, a two-way conversation: “I want you to see me as special and I want to do that for you in return.” Leo energy has to get fed before it can feed back. A Leo off on its own would feel very stark very quickly.
So to explain the rationale behind the images we use to represent these two Signs: The #1 trophy representing Aries implies the solo endeavor with the goal of winning. The karaoke machine for Leo implies there’s a group, maybe cheering them on, and that feeling of fulfillment from group interaction: “I’m making everybody’s night because I’m entertaining them.”
To sum up, Leo energy really involves other people, whereas Aries energy does not.
And as with everything in astrology, there are positive and negative potentials of both. It’s up to each of us to use our free will to decide which direction to go.
Where are Aries and Leo in your Birth Chart? How do these energies express through your personality?
(Images by Soul Map Mandalas)
###