Leo Season
July 23 – August 22
The season shifts again as the sun enters Leo, sign of the lion. Courageous and confident, Leo energy turns outward, asking how we show up in the world and what we choose to contribute to it. While Cancer invited us inward, toward home, memory, and the emotional currents running beneath our lives, this new season turns toward expressions of generosity, compassion, and creativity.
Leo reminds us to share with others what has flourished under our care. As we continue our year-long study of the Wheel of Fortune (our tarot-card-of-the-year), this feels especially aligned with our themes of tending, cultivation, and stewardship.
Throughout July, we’ve asked ourselves what has taken root, what needs tending, and how we can care for what we've set in motion. Leo asks the next question:
What do we do with the energy, confidence, and abundance we've cultivated?
The Wheel teaches us that growth isn't meant to remain hidden forever. Eventually, the fruits of our labor become visible. There comes a point when we are asked not only to maintain what we've built, but to participate in it fully: celebrating it, sharing it, and allowing ourselves to enjoy it before the Wheel turns again.
Leo and the Tarot
Each zodiac sign is associated with a collection of tarot cards that reflect different aspects of its energy. For Leo, these are Strength and the Five, Six, and Seven of Wands.
Together, these cards tell a story about vitality, courage, confidence, and how we choose to direct our energy when faced with challenge, recognition, and responsibility.
Strength
Instead of force or domination, Strength points toward gentle authority and guidance. In the traditional card, the figure guides the lion with patience and compassion instead of trying to overpower it. This is the duality of primal energy and wisdom working together harmoniously rather than against each other.
In the Forager’s Daughter version, the woodpecker demonstrates a different kind of strength. Rather than relying solely on force, it uses steady, consistent effort and trusts that persistence will accomplish what a single strike never could. The clematis is a symbol of growth through patience and adaptability.
Above the scene, the glowing infinity symbol is a reminder that true strength isn’t measured by isolated moments of determination, but by a steady, ongoing relationship and an enduring cycle of learning, returning, and growing.
This card asks us to lead with our heart, to trust ourselves without becoming rigid, and to approach challenges with calm determination rather than force.
For Leo, this represents authentic self-expression and courage rooted in self-trust rather than ego.
In relation to the Wheel of Fortune, Strength asks an important question:
Once we have cultivated confidence, creativity, or influence, how do we use those things responsibly?
The challenge is no longer how to gain power, but how to steward it well.
The Decans of Leo
The three decans of a sign tell the story of how that sign's energy unfolds in lived experience.
For Leo, the Five, Six, and Seven of Wands explore our relationship with confidence, adversity, recognition, and resilience.
While Strength teaches us how to lead ourselves with compassion and integrity, these cards show us what happens when our energy is enacted in the world. They ask us:
• Where is my energy becoming scattered?
• What have I built that I can be proud of?
• What am I willing to stand up for?
Five of Wands
The Five of Wands represents energy in search of direction.
Competition, restlessness, excitement, and ambition all live here. This card often carries the feeling of many voices speaking at once, many ideas demanding attention, or many paths competing for our focus.
There is a youthful quality to this card (playful, energetic, and full of possibility), but without structure, it can easily become scattered or exhausting. Not every opportunity deserves pursuit, and not every challenge requires engagement.
Sometimes stewardship means choosing where our energy is best spent.
Six of Wands
This is where the fragmented energy of the previous card becomes more focused and balanced. This assurance comes from looking back and feeling validated by past successes.
The Six of Wands speaks to recognition and the satisfaction of seeing our efforts begin to bear fruit. It reminds us that there are moments when we’re allowed to acknowledge what we have accomplished and the distance we’ve traveled.
For many of us, receiving appreciation can feel far more uncomfortable than striving toward it. Letting yourself recognize what you’ve built isn’t arrogance: it’s gratitude for the work that brought you here.
In terms of the Wheel of Fortune, this card represents momentum that carries us forward rather than momentum that exhausts us.
Seven of Wands
Not all forward motion goes unchallenged. This is where Leo’s authenticity and resilience shine.
When something matters deeply to us, be it a creative practice, a relationship, a value, or a community, there may come a moment when we are asked to defend it. The Seven of Wands speaks to boundaries and conviction.
Not every disagreement requires a battle, but some things are worth protecting.
Sometimes courage looks less like charging ahead and more like remaining steady when challenged.
Leo and the Wheel
Leo and its tarot cards remind us that abundance is not something to hide from or apologize for.
The challenge of this season is not simply learning how to grow, but learning how to receive what has grown, how to share it generously, and how to protect what matters most.
Not every season asks us to begin something new, but instead to continue carefully tending and to celebrate what has grown. Leo asks us to step into the sunlight for a while and enjoy what we have created thus far.
