Hello Friends, Clients & Readers of my Newsletter!

A very hot-hot welcome to this month’s exploration of the zodiacal sign of Leo. Yes, this past few weeks we have experienced much warmth & heat across Europe with a staggering record-breaking 40 degrees C for London and southern England. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also been cooking and will be looking for a new job. And so we are experiencing the fire element increasing in our external environments – is there is corresponding increase of fire in our internal world? Last month we focussed attention upon the Moon-ruled sign of Cancer and now we turn our awareness to the Sun-ruled sign of Leo. It’s time to come closer to the Sun and turn-up the heat and welcome new livingness.

For those of you who enjoy to hear my voice reading the entire text, here is the link

Contents of Derek’s Leo Newsletter

Introduction: “Affirmation of the Disciple”
Life, Love, Light & Consciousness
The 12 Zodiac signs from the angle of Light
The Esoteric Sense
The Slaying of the Nemean Lion – Hercules 12 Labours
The story of Samson in astrological light
Derek’s new book: “Doorways to the Soul – Volume 1”
The Star Constellation of Leo
The Tarot card “Strength” – the Female Magician
Sekhmet – the Lion-headed Goddess
The Lion and the Serpent
The Star Wisdom – The North Pole Star
The Djed Column of Osiris & the Earth’s Axis
The Star Wisdom of Egyptian Temples
Anuket & the Two Brothers – a story of Star Wisdom
The Trinities of Colour on the Kabbalistic Tree of Life
The Soul Triad and Superman
The Tree of Life related to the concept of a car
The Traffic Lights of Kabbalah
Car Insurance and the 12 Zodiacal Signs
Part 2: Future Events
Derek’s 70th. Birthday Celebrations – Open House

Introduction:

You may recall that the 13th. July Full Moon in Cancer, was a “Supermoon”, which means that it moved closer to the Earth and is the biggest & brightest Full Moon of the year.

This month’s Full Moon will take place on Friday August 12th. and activate 19½-degrees of Leo-Aquarius while simultaneously forming the dynamic square to Uranus at 19-degrees Taurus – so a T-square in Fixed signs. The period we go into demands increased light, seeing things in a new light – and so the theme of this month’s Newsletter is LIGHT. It is Light that reveals. The first words spoken in the Bible are “Let there be Light….” (Genesis 1:3). That God spoke these words indicates the importance of light. Let’s explore.

I AM a Point of Light within a Greater Light.

I AM a Strand of Loving energy within the stream of Love Divine.
I AM a Point of Sacrificial Fire, focussed within the Fiery Will of God.
And thus I stand.
I AM a Way by which men may achieve.
I AM a Source of strength, enabling them to stand.
I AM a Beam of Light, Shining upon their way.
And thus I stand.
And Standing thus, Revolve
And Tread this Way, the Ways of Men,
And Know the Ways of God.
And thus I stand.

Leo is the second Fire sign and has the quality of fixity, so Fixed Fire presents to us an image of the Eternal Flame. What does this mean to you?

Here is an example of what this can mean, so let’s take all four Elements and ask you some simple questions.

How long can you live without eating (Earth element)? The answer - Probably a few weeks.

How long can you live without drinking (Water element)? Some days, maybe a week depending upon the climate/environment where you live.

How long can you live without breathing (Air element)? Two minutes is a long time without breathing. If you don’t believe me – try it!

So how long can you live without the Fire element? Without fire, there is no existence. The fire is the life within that maintains both our internal temperature, and our passion for living and livingness. If the fire dies down, there is little excitement or enthusiasm about anything. We become like the living-dead. Individuals with faint hearts can never shine consistently bright – they may have momentary flare-ups but their fire always dims. So the fire of Leo is called Fixed Fire because it is constant and dependable.

In all alchemical drawings you will repeatedly see images of fire, heating-up and burning. It is true that fire is the only element that can change the other elements, and this is what is meant by alchemy. And both in alchemy & astrology, the symbolism of fire is the nature of LOVE

We associate the energy of LOVE with the HEART and a strongly solar type personality or the individual with Sun-Moon-Ascendant in the sign Leo will find themselves fully involved with whatever excites them, literally putting their heart into their creative self-expressions or projects.

It is the heart, the biggest organ in our body, which is the central pulse of our being, and it is this part of our body that is linked to the sign Leo. If we examine the glyph for Leo, we could see that the first open circle is the vein leading to the main coronary chamber (the large semi-circle). The second open circle is the artery which takes the newly pumped blood from the heart so that it may be distributed by the circulatory system (ruled by Leo’s polar opposite sign of Aquarius) to the rest of the body. Thus Leo is the center, the vortex to which all energy must flow and from which all life-force emanates. It is the heart that manifests the quality of our life and in medical terms, when the heart stops beating, this is physical death.

Now look again and with new eyes see the glyph for Leo also represents a coiled-up snake. As we explore the significance of this, be prepared for a journey into the esoteric depths of this sign.

Life, Love, Light & Consciousness

Whenever there is a block in consciousness – there is a lack of love. When we lose the psychological principle of separation – we can become whole again. When we embrace both, we lose fear. Fears come from a lack of knowledge – a lack of light. And the antidote to fear is LOVE. Our Sun is the center of our Solar System with its family of planets. It is an obvious fact that without the Sun, no light, no heat & warmth and as a result no life. As we move increasingly towards a more solar-type civilization and consciousness, there are many positive signs of more people, as well as companies, making the transition to solar powered batteries on their roof-tops to capture and harness the sun’s energies in a more eco-friendly environment. Our gradual phasing out of fossil fuels, which will soon be exhausted and harnessing the 4 elements which are available in abundance, points us towards the right directions for the future. These more subtle sources of energy are inexhaustible. In the future we shall all draw our light & heat from the Sun.

Everything that we need is contained in the light of the Sun – what an immense field for scientific exploration!

This is all about consciousness, our increasing light of self-awareness. It might be said that consciousness itself is the goal of all evolutionary processes on this planet. What must be grasped is that all that IS is ever present.

So what you and I are concerned with is the constant awakening to that which eternally is, to what is ever present in the environment, but of which we are unaware. The objective before each of us is to expand our consciousness to include that which lies beyond ourself. In esoteric teachings there is a Law which states that “we grow through the medium of our recognitions”. When we recognise & include something or someone in our consciousness, that is the same as love. Consciousness cannot evolve without the increase of Love.

All true esoteric activity produces light and illumination. And the definition of esotericism is the art of “bringing down to earth” those energies which emanate from the higher sources, and there “grounding them” or anchoring them. Esoteric study, when combined with esoteric living, reveal in time the world of meaning, and leads eventually to the world of significance. The true esoteric viewpoint is always that of the larger Whole, recognizing the obvious limitations of the Personality and increasing identification with the larger perspective of the Soul.

It is the Soul that mediates between formless Spirit and physical Matter, the Father & the Mother, the dance between the inner & outer realities. The Soul therefore is neither spirit nor matter, but it is the relation between them. As the Soul can be defined as a unit of light, then as we approach closer to the Soul, and therefore to the meaning of life, our light increases. Our Soul or Higher Self, doesn’t dwell in our physical body due to the low level of vibrations – it lives in the Sun. From time to time it comes to visit our brain, but as our brains are not yet ready to synchronize with it, simply because of the increased vibrations are too intense – yet we can prepare ourselves through training. And as soon as the brain is capable of receiving it, the Higher Self or Soul, will come to dwell permanently in us.

The Christian mind-set has a tendency to see Jesus Christ in a particular place and usually, of course, in Palestine since that is where Jesus lived. But if He is truly the Resurrection and the Life, he dwells not in Palestine – but in the Sun.

And yes, the Christ presence is everywhere in Nature, but its home and origins are in the Light of the Sun – and everything we see on planet Earth, including ourselves is just solidified sun rays.

In the mystical spiritual tradition of the Jews, the Holy Kabbalah, this great illuminated Soul, the Christ, is located at the heart of the Tree of Life, Sphere 6: Tiphareth a Hebrew word meaning “Beauty”. It is this region which is ruled by the Sun. Entry or Initiation into this dimension necessitates that you see & experience how all things are connected and interrelated.

Immediately below it is Sphere 9: Yesod, meaning the “Foundation”, which is the Moon-ruled area of the Tree, what Kabbalists call the Ego. It was the purified personality of Jesus in Sphere 9 that enabled the “office” of The Christ at Sphere 6 to become possible. Therefore, Jesus the Christ was a soul-infused personality, a marriage between the Greater & Lesser Light. Each person is destined to become a “Christ” or “Buddha”. The historical Christ & Buddha showed us the Way.There are diagrams of the Tree of Life near the end of this Newsletter to help you reflect upon these concepts.
The entire theme of the Zodiac can be approached from the angle of Light and its unfolding and increasing radiance. The theme of light and energy is a vast subject. We need to bear in mind that we are attempting to express conditions connected with the indwelling Soul whose essential nature is light. Here are 12 symbolic sentences which indicate the different types of light connected to each of the 12 Zodiac signs.

Aries: The Light of Life Itself
Taurus: The Penetrating Light of the Path
Gemini: The Light of Interplay
Cancer: The Light within the Form
Leo: The Light of the Soul
Virgo: The Blended Dual Light
Libra: The Light that moves to Rest
Scorpio: The Light of Day
Sagittarius: A Beam of directed, focussed Light
Capricorn: The Light of Initiation
Aquarius: The Light that Shines on Earth
Pisces: The Light of the World

This Table of references comes from “Esoteric Astrology” pages 329-30 by Alice A. Bailey, writing under the inspiration of the Tibetan Master DK, published 1951.

One can write a book about the significance of each of these 12 statements, but it is recommended that you take your Sun-sign and use the keynote in your summer meditations.

For this Newsletter we take the example of LEO: THE LIGHT OF THE SOUL.

Here is the meditational Keynote for Leo:

“I AM THAT AND THAT AM I”

Technically speaking, two light bodies exist – the vital or etheric body and the soul vehicle. The soul is the result of aeons of incarnating life and the etheric body is the exact duplicate of our physical body yet the next and higher vibration of matter. It is interesting to note that the Old Testament refers to the etheric body (Ecc. 12: 6-7)) and its construction, while the New Testament deals with the building of the soul body “that house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (II Cor. 5:1).
The “Esoteric Sense”

Yes, reading sacred texts requires a sensitivity. What is this “sensitivity” we are pointing towards? I will describe it as the “esoteric sense”, which is essentially the power to live and to function subjectively, to maintain a constant inner contact with the soul, for it is contact with the soul quality that gives “meaning” to any experience. Our journey is to produce sensitivity to the higher impressions.

Sensitivity does not mean primarily that you are a “sensitive soul”, which usually means that you are thin-skinned, self-centred and always on the defensive! The “sensitivity” to which we are referring to is the capacity to expand your consciousness so that you become aware of ever-widening ranges of contact. This type of sensitivity is the ability to be alive, alert, keen to recognise relationships, quick to react to need, mentally, emotionally and physically attentive to life and rapidly developing the power to observe upon all 3 planes in the 3 worlds simultaneously.

It is possible to understand this type of “sensitivity” as telepathic responsiveness to impressions coming to us from the world of intuition and from all forms of life in the 3 worlds. It is actually the development of this telepathic communication that will eventually make a person a “master” in the 3 worlds. The purpose of life is to become more inclusive and for every movement up there must be an equivalent movement down. Lose your comfort zone & security. Deny nothing – all experience is right.

As we achieve some progress in this relationship, we build the first half of the Antahkarana, the Rainbow bridge of light that exists between the Personality and the Soul. For the first part of the Bridge to the Soul, we use mental substance and for the second Part that goes beyond the Soul towards Pure Spirit, we use mostly Light substance or what is also called Buddhic substance.To build this Rainbow Bridge we start unfolding the abstract levels of mind by reading books written on abstract subjects, including the sacred texts of the world, the Bible, Bhagavad Gita, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Treatise on Cosmic Fire, The Rays & Initiations etc. This will stretch your mind.At the same time, do some practical work with symbols & symbolism, because they function to develop your intuitional faculties, to connect with the ideas behind the form or symbol, be this Astrology, Tarot cards etc.

To cultivate this “esoteric sense”, meditation is needed, for the aim of all meditation is union with the divine. In meditation the student seeks to contact the divine flame that is their Higher Self and to put themself likewise en rapport with the fire of the mental plane. And in all your daily activities, cultivate a sense of humility & tolerance. Try to be inclusive. See the one meaning behind many forms and expressions. In these ways will you succeed in building the Antahkarna.

The Labour of Hercules – Slaying the Nemean Lion

In the 12 Labours of Hercules, which are the archetypal trials & tests that every person will meet in each of the zodiacal signs, the defeat of the Nemean Lion is probably the most well known of all the tests this great Disciple and son of God performed and is identified with the sign of Leo.

Now this Nemean lion was no ordinary beast but a grandchild of Gaia, Mother Earth and the child of a Moon goddess. It was destructive, wild and roaring loud, creating havoc in its environment, just like the egotistic personality. It was a giant and magical lion whose coat was impenetrable to the masculine weapons of sword or spear. Hercules had to place his arms around its back and squeeze the lion to death. Our hero then used the lion’s skin as his armour for the other Labours. The fact that the lion was linked to the Moon and Earth suggests that our solar hero put an end to the worship of the Goddess or matriarchal culture, in the same manner as the Christian Church killed “pagans” or those believing in an older religion.

The Greek Hercules, was the son of Jupiter and a mortal woman. He symbolizes the two natures, the human and the divine, which ever struggle to attain dominion in our consciousness. The story of Samson and Delilah in the Christian Old Testament (Book of Judges 13-16) is the exact same theme. Samson, the Sun child is a good illustration of the sign Leo, whose soul task is to realize the god-powers within. Samson as a young man slays the lion with his bare hands, just as Hercules does. And then he goes on to slay a thousand soldiers with just the jaw bone of an ass – in true dramatic and over-the-top exaggerated Leo style!

In the Mystery Schools of ancient Greece, the students were taught the same truths that are embodied in the story of Samson that are shown in the life of Hercules. The astrological interpretation of the life of Samson parallels the spiritual meaning of the passage of the Sun through the 12 zodiacal signs.

In the story Samson he is warned never to shave or cut his hair. Remember? And to this day Jewish tradition & law makes a demand on all orthodox Jews, such as the Chassidim, not to cut their hair or shave their beard. To understand this story we must work with the astrology suggested. When you look at the lion, you see its long hair or lion’s mane. The long hair equates with solar power. Samson represents the Sun which reaches its greatest height of power just before passing into, or laying his head in the lap of Virgo, represented by Delilah. The enemy of Samson is the Philistines who seek to overcome Samson’s power by shearing his hair, which is the shortening of the rays of the sun – and by putting out his eyes. This is astrologically represented by the shorter days & nights following the Autumn Equinox and the sign of Libra. Samson finally succumbs to Delilah and he gives her his secret. The rest of the story is well known as the blinded Samson exits in grand Leo style bringing the roof of the Temple crashing down upon the Philistines gathered to gloat at his defeat. There is much more astrological references in the story but you get the main thrust of the story and links with Leo, the Sun and the archetypal story of our hero Samson-Hercules.

When writing this I am reminded of the fact that the very first book I wrote in 1987, 35 years ago, was “The Astrological Keys to the Bible”, where I explored the many astrological references throughout the Bible. And in this year 2022, I continue my bridge-building activities with my 14th. book, published in USA by IBIS publishers where I combine Astrology and Tarot with the Kabbalistic Tree of Life – look forward to that!

According to Star Wisdom, Denebola, the star of 1st. magnitude in the lion’s tail in the constellation of Leo, seems to take on the symbolism of the Nemean Lion. The Egyptian Star Wisdom depicted this by showing a female figure with flail whip, holding the lion’s tail. Those of you that live with cats, a member of the lion family, will recognise the significance of the cat’s character displayed in its tail.

This star adds the element of nonconformity, seeing the world different in some way, out of step with the main point of view, just like the symbolic worship of the goddess at the time when the patriarchal solar masculine societies were in their ascendency. There can also be seen the movement from the Moon ruled sign of Cancer to the Sun ruled sign of Leo, a natural leaving the protective family tribal unit and emerging as an individual and therefore the path of Individualism.

The Star Constellation of Leo

Leo is a very bright constellation and the body of the lion looks like a rectangle of noticeable stars, with the great Fixed Royal Star, Regulus (The King) as the heart of the lion, Alegeiba in the mane and Zosma on the back of the lion, and in the triangle of the lion’s hindquarters, at the tail, we have the bright star Denebola. This constellation of Leo has 95 stars, and two of them of the 1st. magnitude. The exceedingly bright star Regulus positioned at the end of Leo, is called The Ruler and The Lawgiver. This conveys to us the fact that we are the ruler, the king, the God incarnate, the soul, and we now make the laws which will govern our kingdom.

Just below this figure is the immense constellation called Hydra, the serpent which the Egyptians associated with the sign Leo. We find also Crater, the Cup and Corvus, the raven. In the famous round Zodiac in the Temple of Dendera, the Egyptians displayed their knowledge by creating Leo and these three constellations as forming one great sign. The Lion is seen treading on the serpent. Corvus the raven, is perched upon the lion’s shoulder, while below is a plumed female figure holding out two cups, symbolic of the two paths. All three constellations sum up in their significance the problem of our evolutionary path towards the greater light. The Crater or Cup has in it 13 stars of ordinary magnitude and about 90 small stars.

It is the cup that every human being has to drink, full of that which has been distilled out of one’s own life experience – the cup of suffering and the cup of experience. In other words, it has the same truth as expressed in the words of the Bible: “As a man soweth, so shall he also reap”.

And the lion standing upon the serpent is a wonderful symbol of the fact that you and I must conquer and display mastery over the shape-shifting material world, the serpent of illusion. This image is universal because it is not only found in the Egyptian Leo & Horus killing the serpent Apophis, but the Indian god Vishnu killing the 7-headed serpent Anantha and Saint George killing the Dragon or the Christian Archangel Michael overcoming Satan. It is the same story.

Here are two illustrations that depict the Zodiac of Denderah – so try to locate the sign of Leo. The zodiacal signs are arranged in a spiral and the symbols are quite easily recognisable. But note the curious placing of Cancer, the Scarab beetle as the inner point of a spiral. In last month’s Cancer Newsletter we saw how the symbol of the crab became the scarab beetle for the Egyptians. The crab has millions of years behind its evolutionary existence, so it is one of the oldest living creatures on our planet. The placing of the sign Cancer at point in the Zodiac of Denderah points to the chronological birth of Egypt – but Leo is shown at the point of the Vernal Equinox. And it is because of the Precession of the Equinoxes (approx. 2000 years for each zodiac sign) that this would indicate a date between 10,800-8,640 BC (the period we call the Age of Leo) – or the point during which the Atlantean catastrophe took place.

If we take into account that the Great Flood mentioned in the Bible and which appears throughout the traditions of all cultures in the world, devastated the world when the Sun rose in Leo at the Vernal Equinox, then this all-important Zodiac not only provides us with a date for this world event, but it also helps solve the mystery of the Sphinx. It was considered ancient and foreign to the earliest Egyptians and can be understood as a creation by the Atlantean survivors who colonised Egypt – and holds a vital clue to our age. Anyone going to Egypt will identify the Pyramids & the Sphinx as being uniquely Egyptian. The head of the Sphinx, the Guardian of the Pyramids, is that of a man (Aquarius) and the body of a lion (Leo). Now since Leo & Aquarius are polar opposites in the Zodiac, so the message of the Sphinx reads: “From the epoch of Leo, to the future Age of Aquarius”. We live in revelatory times!

For those of you who shall join our “ETERNAL EGYPT” Tour 30th. September I look forward sharing more about these mysteries on site at these Temples.

It is well known that the ancient Egyptians worshipped this star constellation of Leo because the River Nile rose when the Sun entered its stars. As the Nile’s annual floods recreated Egypt’s fertility every year, so can we appreciate the tremendous significance of this sign of Leo to the Egyptian culture. Every King, Queen, Divine Ruler or Pharaoh was the embodiment of the Sun placed to rule upon the Earth. So the Nile, the Pharaoh and Egypt’s fertility was all essentially linked to the life-giving rays of the Sun and to the sign of Leo.

The annual Nile flooding reached its maximum at this point in the calendar, and this was associated with the release of great light, hot summers and the longest days.

Earlier on we explored the stories of Hercules and Samson fighting and overcoming the lion with their bare hands. Only by the power within, and without the assistance of any external aids, can the conquest of the ego-personality be made. And then when clothed in the slain lion’s skin, our Hero becomes invulnerable. Perfect love and faith in one’s True Self casts out all fear.

Don’t you find it fascinating to follow this golden thread and see the same theme illustrated in the archetypal images of the universal wisdom book, the Tarot cards – and specifically the “Strength” card at Key 8 in the Rider-Waite set of cards? Here we see the woman opening the jaws of the lion, Beauty and the Beast – so she represents the female Magician.

Each of the 22 Major Tarot cards corresponds with 22 Letters of the Hebrew Alphabet and in modern decks you will see this letter at the base of the card. The letter “Teth” is linked to the “Strength” card and it means “serpent”. Human beings are vertebrates and our spines are home to unimaginable energy and power. We are snakes with arms and legs, and this serpent energy is the key to our divine birthright. Our ancient teachers were also well aware that individual sperm cells look like tiny snakes with giant lion-like heads. And perhaps not surprisingly, in nature the male lion is well known to be very active in its love-making habits to the female lioness.
Here is a wonderful picture that brings together the theme of the lion with the serpent-snake-dragon. It depicts the mighty lion-headed Goddess Sekhmet holding the kundalini fire-snake.

Sekhmet – the lion-headed Goddess

This constellation of Leo seems to have been seen as a lion from the very beginning of civilization. At all times in Egyptian mythology the lion is linked to the Goddess Sekhmet, with the titles, the Lady of Flame, the Great Lady & Powerful One. It was she who defended Egypt and was an active aggressor against her father Ra’s enemies. She was in fact, the Right Eye of the Sun God Ra as Horus was the Left Eye. Sekhmet was also a great Healing Presence as any visitor to her Temple in Karnak will quickly come to acknowledge. This probably explains why there are more statues of Sekhmet in Egypt, and now distributed throughout the world’s museums, than any other god or goddess.

The goddess lion’s head would often be sculpted on the irrigation gates that opened to allow the Nile into the fields. In this manner the Egyptians saw the lion as a guardian of water, a belief still echoes in fountains which use a lion’s head as a font.At this time of the year the lions of Egypt would leave their desert homes for the cooling banks of this great river. Many temples of the Nile were decorated with lions as tokens of reverence.

And not only in Egypt do we see the lion as an imperial beast, for it appears on the royal arms of many noble families throughout the world.

In the Bible we find Saint Peter writing: “Your adversary, the devil, like a roaring lion walketh about, seeking whom he may devour”, which shows the struggle with the lion as the ego-personality running wild. This is the Leo energy when the ego-personality dominates. When the soul controls the outer personality we have a very different version of the King of Beasts. In the Book of Revelations we find these words: “Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the Book, and to loose the Seven Seals therefof.” The 12 tribes of the Jewish nation are related to the 12 zodiacal signs and Leo is identified with the tribe of Judah.

The early Hindu name for Leo is Aslehas, which means lion and the Chinese called their grouping of stars “Yellow Dragon”, which included Regulus and all of Leo’s mane. It is also a sacred symbol of Buddhism. Buddha is said to have had a pet lion who was endowed with miraculous powers, and when the Great Teacher’s death was upon him, he chose to lay down “on his right side after the manner of a lion”.

The Lion & Serpent

And so we have the energies of the Lion and the Serpent connected with the sign of Leo.The serpent for the Egyptians represented energies and that included the energy of Time. The snake shedding its skin shows us this concept.

Did you know that in ancient Egyptian Cosmology the World begins as a serpent biting its tail and at the end of the World, this serpent sheds its skin and regenerates to become a new serpent and begin a new cycle of time.

Like the snake swallowing its tail there is truly no end to the mystery of the serpent. When we see the royal snake on the crowns of the Kings & Queens of Egypt, the Ureaus snake that protrudes from the Brow centre or Ajna chakra, it represents an individual skilled in the direction of energies.

Here at the Brow centre we have access to past-present-future, and have made a Friend of Time. It is our TV screen that we project onto our world. The arousing of the serpent power or kundalini fire snake, was a major goal of the Egyptian Temple training.

They selected the serpent or fire snake to be a perfect model for unity and we may think that this was because the body of the snake is long and single. But no, for in Egypt the serpent was the symbol for duality or more accurately, the power that results in duality. And that power is itself dual in aspect – it is simultaneously creative and destructive. When it is also realized that the serpent bears both a forked tongue and a double penis, the underlying wisdom of the choice becomes clear.

This is probably why, borrowing the serpent from Egypt, the Christian Bible in the Book of Genesis, uses the serpent as a symbol for temptation. It is important to recognize that if God created the World, what is the serpent, as tempter, doing in the Garden of Eden in the first place? What does the serpent appear to know more than God does? These creatures existed before Adam & Eve were created & belonged to the Angelic Hierarchies that had been sent to earth with a particular mission. Why does The Gospel of Matthew 10:16, quote Christ as saying: “Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”?

But the Egyptians knew both expressions and it is this that enables the individual to know God. There are many wonderful reasons why the Egyptians placed the serpent in the sky, the heavenly serpent as the mark of the perfected man or woman, the truly Royal person, self-aware, self-realised and self-illuminated.

The Star Wisdom

Leo is governed by the Sun, which is not a planet (a wanderer) but a Star (fixed in position). Our Sun is one of a million suns in our galaxy, but our Sun is the center of our Solar System and the reason why we have life and light. It takes 8 minutes for the light of the Sun, our nearest local Star to reach us on planet Earth. Other stars in our galaxy take a considerable longer time, indeed several light years away, so when their light reaches us, it already has been travelling many hundreds and thousands of Earth years. The light we see today is the distant past from a Star in the galaxy.

The Zodiac has often been likened to the Earth’s aura or electrical field, the 12 signs being the various portions of this with differing properties, filtering and modifying various energies and rays which cannot reach us without passing through it. Planetary influences can be understood as local, being peculiar to our Solar System.

Ever since I had begun studying astrology I had been puzzled by the fact that the planets seemed to be the only really important celestial bodies, as it had always seemed to me that the Heavens as a whole should be involved. We need to remember that unlike planetary influences, those of the stars are not restricted to one particular solar system or evolutionary path – they are universal. People today often ask “What are my stars doing” – and it seems normal to put planets & stars together, as if they were the same - but they are clearly quite different.

It is well known in astrology that the outer planets, beyond the “rings” of Saturn are Uranus, Neptune & Pluto that give the opportunity for the spiritual consciousness to awaken, to widen the horizons from the purely material view to which Saturn tends to limit us.

Yet what is implied with the study of stellar influences is an entirely different level – they are another step up from the outer planets.

What the stars can offer us is a tremendous insight into the workings of spiritual Law and I am convinced that they are the key to a vast new area of understanding by the Astrologer. They may seem distant and impersonal yet their use in our horoscope opens up a tremendous new field of discovery and consciousness.

And when these individual stars group together in what is known as a constellation, these series of power points enable contact with the universal creative power. It is these cosmic patterns that are behind the myths of our planet Earth. And of course individual Stars can exert a major influence in the lives of individuals or cities and nations. One such famous example was the Great Fire of London in 1666, predicted by astrologer William Lilly to occur when El Nath crossed the Ascendant of the City of London. The star Vega gives magical charisma and is one of the major influences in Mozart’s chart.

It also conjuncts Putin’s Saturn, producing a star of ruthlessness or being a martyr – and in the Russian leader probably both. To truly understand the importance of Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology, one must return to the dawn of time and the original role that stars played in human lives. And to quote Norman Lockyer in his book, “The Dawn of Astronomy”, “It is impossible to disconnect Egyptian mythology from Astronomy.”

The North Pole Star, with the heavens revolving around it every night, was regarded as the Earth’s umbilical cord and all divinity and the wisdom to rule came from this Cosmic Centre, so ancient societies structured themselves around this fact in an attempt to mirror on Earth the immortal life of the Heavens. The stars of the Northern hemisphere were called “the indestructible ones” by the ancient Egyptians, because they would never rise or set below the horizon, always be visible in the night skies, exerting their eternal presence. The great light that emanated from such stars was a testimony to their great manifested spiritual intelligence and they called them “Shining Ones”. There are many wonderful reasons why the ancient Egyptians located the origin of their gods in the stellar heavens. Osiris, King of the Gods, and his son Horus came from the constellation of Orion, The Hunter, Isis, his wife and great Mother from Sirius, the Heavenly Leader, the brother of Osiris Set was linked to one of the 7 Stars in the Great Bear constellation and so on. They believed that the stars were led round the heavens by Sirius and Orion. Sirius is the great light behind our local Sun. The planet Venus, present at the Sun God’s setting & rising, was identified with the Phoenix bird who bears the soul of Osiris. For the Egyptians, the relationship of the stars to man was both an exoteric and esoteric science – astronomy and astrology could not be separated as it is in our so-called modern times.

What we see as the main symbol for the Egyptian God Osiris – the Djed Column – was for them, the symbol of stability, the spine and also a symbol for the Earth’s axis. According to most academic theories, ancient peoples believed that the Earth was flat and that the sun, moon, planets & stars move around it. The evidence is overwhelming and quite the opposite.

Their sophistication in these matters makes these ancient cultures our teachers and we their humble students. The fact that the Earth tilts on its axis is the essential key in accounting for the life sustaining motions of the heavenly bodies, for if the Earth did not rotate, the sun would not rise and set and there would be little or no life on our planet. The ancient Egyptian’s awareness of this daily movement of the Earth on its own axis producing day & night, the turning of the seasons, and what is called “The Precession of the Equinoxes” against the background of Fixed Stars over a cycle of nearly 26,000 years, indicates that their Djed Column, identified with their supreme ruler of Light, King Osiris, is actually connected with the Egyptian conception of the Cosmos.

And why is Derek’s Leo Newsletter constantly emphasizing the cosmological dimension of this sign? Why not give us more personal nourishment I hear you say? Many other astrologers around the world are providing that form of service – and I am providing another service by stretching your consciousness. Remember, the Light of Leo is The Light of The Soul.

In the next picture we see the two sisters, Isis & Nepthys honouring and worshipping the Djed Colum of Osiris. It is not a Freudian phallic symbol but it did inspire the tradition at the Winter Solstice of the Christmas Tree, where garlands were placed upon it and dancing before it, all to honour the dead and resurrected god Osiris-Christ.

You will probably intuitively recognize that the 4 horizontal bars correspond to the 4 Elements joined by the vertical spine – yes, and then go further….

The Star Temples of Eternal Egypt

Due to the phenomena of star phases some stars disappear for a time from the night sky and the first time of their reappearance, if they have been arising and lying hidden, will be their rising just before the dawn.

To the ancient Egyptian, any rising celestial object belonged to Horus (the hawk-headed Sun god) and was an expression of Horus. Thus the heliacal rising star was the return of that version of the god and therefore such a return needed to be watched for and celebrated.

Great temples were built to be aligned with the heliacal risings of certain stars, such as the temple of Seti 11 at Karnak was aligned to the rising of the great navigation star Canopus. Starlight with the aid of polished stones and gold, would shine on the darkened statue of the god or goddess indicating the beginning of the period when the immortal had returned to the world and could be touched by ordinary mortals.

This science of temple alignment to the stars showed the ancient Egyptian’s mastery of this technology of Light.

Anuket the Star Goddess of Canopus

Here we see an absolutely amazing picture of the Star Goddess Anuket, the Shining One who distributes the Great Light from Canopus, known as “The Star of Egypt”, “The Star of Osiris” or “Heart of the South” by the Arabs and “Agastya” by the Hindus of the East. It is located at about 14-degrees zodiacal longitude in the constellation of Cancer. The Egyptians venerated this Star as a representation of the God of the Waters and the chief navigator who sails our soul-boat or the group boat of a nation, across the great constellation of “Argo” that stretches all the way from Cancer to the opposite

sign Capricorn, symbolising entry into the physical life incarnating in Cancer as a soul for the first time, to the entry into the spiritual life as signified by the Gate of Capricorn. Look at her amazing crown on her totally illuminated Head Centre - WOW!

Anuket & The Two Brothers
A Story of the Egyptian Star Wisdom

Two brothers, known for the excellence of their behaviour & their wisdom,

came before the throne of the Shining One Anuket,

and asked her:

“Can you tell us, O Lady of the Star Wisdom, When we shall be free of the chains of this world And live forever in the Eternal Light which is All Spirit?”
Anuket smiled and said: “You must be prepared to accept at least 10 more rebirths. Within a period of a thousand years of Earth time, you may expect to live forever in the Eternal Light which is All Spirit.”
The elder brother turned away bitterly, and walked down into the lower levels of existence where men experience the turbulence of earthly pleasure and pain.
The younger brother’s face brightened.
“O Anuket, how glad I am that by the grace of God I shall be allowed a thousand years more to live and work on this beautiful Earth!”
He turned away happily, and walked off to take up his harp in the Temple where he was a Master Musician Priest. As he did so, his body was transfigured into All Spirit, and he entered into the realms of Eternal Light.
Anuket said: “These Two Brothers are in the divided heart of every man. The worser half resists life on Earth and complains. The better half accepts it and rejoices.Do not forget this, you who seek release from the shackles of the world. The Heart must be undivided to be filled with Eternal Light”.

The ancient Egyptian mastery of this technology of Light also included the science of colour, which as any artist knows, is light vibrating at different frequencies. Indeed, to work with colour, to truly master painting with light is a life-long training. The shade or tone of a colour relates to its expression – the darker the shade the more physical the expression, the lighter the more spiritual, with many gradations in between. The blue sky is the essence of expansion & freedom (On the Tree of Life - Sphere 4:Chesed-Jupiter), the green of the trees & plants surrounds you with a healing & balancing frequency (Sphere 7:Netzach-Venus). Take note of which colours you dislike, since they often represent principles that you have been reluctant to integrate.
For this next section I will refer to The Kabbalistic Tree of Life, which actually is a Tree of Light.

The Trinities of Colour on the Kabbalistic Tree of Life

Creation was accomplished in 10 stages, just like a series of cups overflowing into the next cup in an unbroken series. From the Heavens at the top of the Tree in Sphere 1 to the physical manifestation at the bottom of the Tree at Sphere 10, all life was included in this simple, elegant yet complex diagram. The essential teachings of Kabbalah is contained in this Tree of Life diagram, often called “the map of the universe”.

So the top 3 Spheres (1-2-3) form the Spiritual Trinity, then we have the next 3 Spheres (4-5-6) creating the Soul Triad, followed by the next 3 Spheres (7-8-9) representing the manifested Personality, (emotional-astral body, mental body and subconscious programs) with the final 10th. Sphere of Malkuth (The Kingdom) the physical dimension and our physical body, as the recipient of all the other energies from the previous 9 Spheres,

Now let’s work with the colour sequence for this is quite revealing. First we have what is called The Three Neutrals.

At this level of the Tree we are looking at Spirit levels and the Holy Trinity. The first Sphere is WHITE brilliance, then comes the second Sphere as a mirror image is iridescent GREY, followed by Sphere 3 as BLACK. The contrasting colours of Spheres 2 & 3 illustrate their extreme polarity (male & female) and their eternal link to the brilliant & everlasting light of Sphere 1. When seen in light, white signifies the presence of all colours.

Then we have the second triangle in the middle location of the Tree, which represents the Soul region of Sphere 4, 5 & 6. These are the Primary Colours.

Tree branch 4 is BLUE (Jupiter) and opposite at tree branch 5 is RED (Mars) and the heart of the Tree, Sphere 6 is GOLDEN YELLOW (Sun).

The third section of the Tree, the region of the Personality, represents the Secondary Colours.

The blue of Sphere 4 blends with the golden-yellow of Sphere 6 to produce the EMERALD GREEN of Sphere 7 (Venus).

The scarlet-red of Sphere 5 blends with the golden-yellow of Sphere 6 into the ORANGE of Sphere 8 (Mercury),while the blue and scarlet-red of Spheres 4 & 5 mix into the PURPLE of Sphere 9 (Moon).

And the 4 mixed colours at Sphere 10 (The Earth) represent the 4 Elements.

In such way does the vibrations of light take on denser vibrations and the Primary Colours of the Soul combine to produce the Secondary Colours of the Personality.

Of course this is a relatively simple way of getting to experience the teachings of Kabbalah and the significance of colour vibrations linked to each of the specific dimensions of our psyche, as shown through the 10 Spheres.

It is worthy of our attention to spend a little more time with the Soul Triad of Sphere 4: Chesed, a Hebrew word for Love, represented through the colour Blue, Sphere 5: Geburah, a Hebrew word for Strength & Will, represented through the colour Red and Sphere 6: Tiphareth, a Hebrew word meaning Beauty and connected to the golden-yellow colour vibration.

As we are exploring the Soul region of the Tree of Life, don’t you find it interesting that these colours form the insignia of the world’s superhero, the fabulous SUPERMAN, the comic book hero transferred to the cinema screen.

In astrology the Sun represents our basic vitality levels. It’s sign, position & aspects show how we receive, contain and transmit the sustaining energy of life. Jupiter in relation to the cerebral cortex and the heart, and specifically the liver, is also a major detoxification factor, a protective centre of the body.Then there is Mars, which has the all-important role of Warrior, defending the body’s integrity and territory. Mars is associated with the preparation of the body for action whenever danger threatens. Together all 3 planets are the rulers of our immune system. The red blood of Mars rhythmically alternates from red to blue (Jupiter) as it carries the life force throughout our kingdom through the action of the heart (Sun).

Now that you are getting attuned to Kabbalah, let’s go with another analogy.In this diagram we can begin to see the different qualities of each of the 10 Spheres or Sephiroth in Hebrew. The hidden or invisible 11th. Sphere (1+10=11) of Daath is also included in this example.
We shall now follow the Tree of Life symbolism applied to the car.
At Sphere 1, where everything is One, there is no specific quality for this is the Cosmic soup and all is One – but at Sphere 2 is the true beginning, for here we get the concept of a car. From Sphere 2 the energy moves to the opposite Sphere 3 where the design of the vehicle is registered – and so on. Follow the sequence so that the flow of Kabbalah can be experienced.

Kabbalah is all around us – if we look and see. For example, trees are green in their expansive cycle and change to reds & oranges in their Geburah cycle. A traffic light goes from GREEN (Sphere 7: Netzach – Pillar of Expansion) to YELLOW (Sphere 6: Tiphareth – Middle Pillar of Balance) and then to RED (Sphere 5: Geburah – Pillar of Restriction).

Why are most cars equipped with 5 gears to control the vehicle’s speed – because this will be identified with the discipline and control displayed at Sphere 5: Geburah (Strength).

And the driver? This is Sphere 6: Tiphareth (Beauty) governed by the Sun. The physical shape of any car – that corresponds to the final Sphere 10 on the Tree of Life.

If the DRIVER is the SOUL, then trust life and place your consciousness into contact with your innermost center, the indwelling Soul.

And to understand the link with Sphere 10: Malkuth (The Kingdom) in another way, see the circle divided into four quarters, representing the 4 Elements of Fire-Water-Air-Earth, that make life possible on the physical dimension.

The work in Sphere 10 is to master the 4 Elements that enable us to navigate our way through the landscape before us.

This is the same symbolism as the steering wheel of any car, guiding us through our journey.

Car Insurance & the 12 Zodiacal signs

To finish this section of my Leo Newsletter I recently came across some amusing statistics that I’m sure my readers will find interesting. Never mind how careful you are behind the wheel or how long you’ve been driving, the signs of the zodiac may be bigger factors behind your ability to avoid car crashes – or why you have too many.

According to a study by InsuranceHotline.com, a website that quotes drivers on insurance rates, astrological signs are a significant factor in predicting car accidents.

The study, which looked at 100,000 North American drivers’ records from a period of 6 years, puts Libras as the worst followed by Aquarians, then Aries at spot number 10 as the worst offenders for tickets and accidents.

The top two signs – wait for it – were LEO, then people born in Gemini, followed by Cancerians at number three and Virgos at number four.

The President of this Toronto based InsuranceHotline.com company was shocked by the results. He believed age would be a determining factor in insurance rates, but the results did not show this was so important. He didn’t expect to find anything interesting when he commissioned the study – and then found highly significant correlation between accidents and astrological signs. “I’d rather get into a car with a 24-year old Leo than a 25 year old Aries” Romanov said. “I wasn’t believing in it before” he said, “but I would think twice before getting into a car with an Aries.” LEO the best driver – how about that!

Part 2: Future Events

Derek standing in front of a modern mural of the Zodiac of Dendarah

Jupiter School of Astro-Psychology

New Online Class starts:

24-25 September 2022

6 Weekend Workshops – September 2022-February 2023

Exploring Your Inner Landscape
Working with Subpersonalities & the Zodiac Wheel of Psychology

2. Self-Esteem, Self-Confidence & Self-Expression

Exploring Family patterns & psychic DNA inheritance

3. Dealing with Crises & Transformation

he transits of the transpersonal planets, Uranus-Neptune-Pluto

4. The Heroic Journey

Walking our Path and the Art of Living

5. The Astrology of Love, Sexuality & Relationships

Exploring the energy dynamics of intimate relationships,

Upgrading our Male-Female Balance

6. Healing the Past & Welcoming the Future

Dynamic Chart Synthesis – Making a Friend with Time

Full details/price etc. available on request

Archetypal Astrology

The Heroic Quest:

The Hero/Heroine’s Journey

Our Inner Journey exploring the Myths

of the 12 Zodiac Signs

with

Derek R. Seagrief

Online Teaching: 12 Thursday Evenings

One time a week through to 26th. January 2023

Starts: 27 October 2022 6pm-8pm CEDT

I am delighted to announce a new creative presentation that invites personal transformation.

Exploring your personal Myth through Astrology.

The Hero/Heroine is always to be found within ourselves. The adventures of the Hero are those of our own psyche as we journey into the depths & do battle with the subterranean forces – and then come back renewed and victorious.

Deep within us is where new answers can be found and new ideas born.

The Heroic Journey strikes such a deep chord in the lives and imagination of all peoples because we are the Heroes and Heroines of our own life drama and we recognize their journey as ours. Their adventures are the archetypal models for the process of human growth & change.

A potential Parsifal or Pinocchio, Psyche or Cinderella gazes back at us every time we look into the mirror.

To work with a myth and to relate to it meaningfully is to rediscover the unknown, the magic in life. You can do this by searching for the deeper meaning a myth has for you. And to help focus the process we work with the 12 Zodiac signs and the landscape of our own horoscope. And if we want to, we can rewrite our storyline.

Full details & prices etc. available upon request

Therapeutic Tarot

Parts 1-4

New Education & Professional Training

with Tarot Master

Derek Seagrief

On location in Stockholm & Online

Part 1: 15-16 October

Are you excited by working with the Tarot cards, but would like to add a new dimension to your readings?
Do you want to go further than just one-off readings and explore the many deeper psychological aspects that the imagery of the cards invite you to do?
Are you ready to open to Tarot’s magical world and so make greater contact with your own hidden resources and see new possibilities?
Does the goal of communicating with these inner figures and symbols on the cards excite you?
And would you like to introduce others into this magical world and take them on meaningful journeys into their inner landscape?

If you have been saying “YES” to this and this Education resonates with your next phase of self-development, then sign up today with no delay as we are a group of maximum 12 people on this unique Journey.

Are YOU one of those new Tarot Therapists?

The Tarot is a powerful & versatile tool in therapeutic work. It is a map that can guide us during periods of change and personal growth. Tarot triggers dialogue with the deeper Self, and when applied in therapy, can energize the intuition and creative imagination so that inner states can be more directly experienced.

You will be learning how to read the therapeutic levels within the cards and how to offer your clients a variety of self-help tools that will catalyze the integrative forces within them. Tarot as an integrative process builds up people and puts them back together with a new sense of wholeness.

Your experience of Tarot will be revolutionized through these 4 Workshops.

Different Tarot decks carry different energy or emphasis – and because of this we shall work with several different decks, providing us with different perspectives on the same issues or life themes.

Full details available on request: derek@seagrief.com Mobile: +45-23817618

Derek’s Newsletter Late July/August 2022 LEO