| This
month, I celebrate my ego. This month, I look at myself and
say, “How could any one person be so smart, funny, stylish,
hard-working and downright grand?” And as much as I
might like to reply that it’s either fantastic genes
or a result of my own doing, I have to admit that I, and a
couple other fabulous people of my acquaintance, am just lucky--lucky
to have been born at the right time.
That time is under the sign of Leo.
For all who do not celebrate birthdays at the end of July/beginning
of August, let me explain that, we, your Leonine compatriots,
take our role in the zodiac very seriously--that is, with
pride, mischief and gleeful amusement at the divine idiocy
of it all. In fact, every free weekly newspaper in the world
has tried to pigeonhole our fire sign with promises of money,
fame and unusual lives, but eventually they give up (realizing,
perhaps, that we have those already) and simply try to channel
the feline energy so that we do not all try to take over the
world at once.
I have made something of a survey of what the Honolulu
Weekly’s astrologer has had to say about we Leos
over the past few months, and I must be frank: this guy does
a pretty darn fine job of alternately encouraging impish bad
behavior and giving us topics upon which to cogitate with
focus and gravity. In fact, the last two weeks included reasons
to break and remake all the rules, followed by a directive
to consider what, in our lives, may become obsolete in the
coming decade.
So, lest I get carried away by the clippings arranged before
me on the kitchen table, let me see if I can give a cogent
run-down of why people like me (i.e. Leos) read our horoscopes
and reply either, “Yeeeeesss…,” or, “Oh,
frak, not one of those weeks…”
The most commonly used terms for us are “energetic,”
“free,” and “independent,” but one
might prefer “stubborn,” “superior,”
and “elitist,” depending upon whether the local
Leonine representative is friend or foe. Though some find
us difficult to evaluate, there are two general rules to remember:
1) we are not radically mutable, and 2) we like to rely on
our own damn selves. What this all boils down to is that we
take our first impressions to our graves with us, and we are
not going to let anyone else take the wheel while we still
have an appendage with which to steer.
To illustrate the above assertions, I shall draw upon the
undisputable expertise of my own self with some considerable
support from the aforementioned Weekly entries. Evidently,
the “energy, freedom and independence” of we Leos
has been known to get us into trouble at the same time that
it allows us to dream big, win, and have no regrets. Witness:
the Weekly astrologer cautions us against selling
our souls to the Devil (a la Blues Guitarist, Robert Johnson)
because we are more likely to achieve our goals on our own;
and yet, with a streak of “unprecedented karmic grace,”
we are just as likely to use this boon for something naughty
as we are for something constructive.
Indeed, if one’s preference is to think of us as “stubborn,
superior and elitist,” then, by all means, we can live
up to that, too. We do not very much like to give up on ideas
or take breaks, and, luckily we have people and things to
kick us in the psychological derriere and rein in our megalomaniacal
workaholism. To whit, our now familiar purveyor of horoscopic
advice suggests that we be willing to drop long-held precepts
that inhibit our full participation in life and that we occasionally
seek wisdom and inspiration outside of ourselves and our dens
(a la Henry David Thoreau’s, “keep[ing] an appointment
with a beech tree…”).
Finally, I am quite certain that there are Leos out there
who fulfill both the positive and negative facets of our character
traits, and, depending on the day, one may find our independence
refreshing or our superiority maddening; our energy useful
or our stubbornness retarding. One may believe that our freeness
is inspiring or our elitism stifling, but one cannot deny
our collective grandeur. Leos of note: Maria Callas, Emily
Bronte, Amelia Earhart, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, all
of whom are still known by full names, but permit me a string
of people who need only one: Hitchcock, Warhol, Jung, Castro,
Madonna, Kubrick, and, my favorite, Napoleon.
So, yes, we use our powers for good and for evil, but sometimes
that is just a matter of perspective. And now, I encourage
everyone to go out and find a Leo and make him/her purr by
stroking the always impressive but sometimes overworked ego
of said chosen feline. And, when wishing that Leo a Happy
Birthday (if it has not already passed by, nudge, nudge),
do so knowing that the Leo in question could be a future genius,
dictator, or just a really bad influence.
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