Leo
Jul 23 – Aug 22 · The Lion
Where Leo comes from
UR.GU.LA — the Great Lion — appears in Mesopotamian records four millennia ago. Regulus, its heart star, was the king star from Babylon to Rome. Leo is high summer: the sun at full wattage, visible by definition.
The Sun
The Sun is Leo's ruling body — the center of our solar system and the source of all light and warmth. It represents identity, vitality, creative force and the core self that shines outward.
- Surface Temperature5,500 °C
- TypeG-type main-sequence star
- Astrological RoleIdentity, vitality and will
- Time in each sign~30 days
What the symbol actually means
A tail curling into a closed loop — heat that returns to its source before radiating out. The glyph is generosity with a center: you have to be someone before you can offer anything.
Leo strengths & weaknesses
These traits describe your Leo Sun — your core drive and how you instinctively move through the world. But the Sun is one layer. Your Moon shapes how you feel, your Venus and Mars shape how you love and act, and your rising sign shapes how others first read you. A Leo who comes across as warm and a Leo who comes across as guarded can share the same Sun and almost nothing else. Treat the list below as the headline, not the whole story.
Strengths
- Warms a room by hosting it
- Follows through once committed
- Gives credit out loud, generously
- Steadies others under pressure
- Turns work into something to enjoy
Weaknesses
- Sulks when the thanks is late
- Digs in past the point of sense
- Reads disagreement as rejection
- Performs warmth when actually hurt
- Spends to match the image
Leo in love & sex
Leo courts in the open — the planned date, the public compliment, the gesture meant to be seen and remembered. They want a partner they can be proud of and be proud beside, and they give heat early: attention, warmth, follow-through. Fixed fire means once they choose you, they stay and they invest. What tests them is the quiet maintenance phase, when no one is watching and there's no applause for showing up. Leo reads a partner's drifting attention as withdrawal of love, and when recognition stops arriving on time they get cool, dramatic, or wounded rather than just asking. The relationship works when both people keep saying out loud what they appreciate — Leo runs on spoken acknowledgment, not assumed affection.
Leo in career & money
Leo does best with their name on the work and an audience for it — pitching, presenting, leading a team that visibly looks up to them. Fixed fire makes them reliable once they own a project; they finish, and they pull others along by sheer warmth and confidence. They shine where credit is public and stall in roles that are invisible or purely supporting, because unacknowledged effort drains them fast. The friction is ego in disagreement — they can mistake a critique of the plan for a critique of them, and dig into a losing position to save face. With money, Leo spends on quality and on looking the part: generous to others, prone to lifestyle creep. They do best when status purchases are budgeted, not impulsive.
What gets misunderstood about Leo
Vanity is the cheap read. Leo needs to be seen because withholding the self costs more than showing it. When the performance grates, look for recognition that never arrived on time.
Leo in your full chart
Sun house placement is decisive. Sun in the 5th — play, romance, making things. Sun in the 12th — the light runs inward; recognition comes late, or through work that surfaces long after the making.
Leo compatibility with every sign
How Leo pairs with each of the twelve signs — love, friendship, communication, and growth.
Planets in Leo
Your sun sign is only the start. See what each planet means when it falls in Leo — how it shapes love, emotion, and more.
Frequently asked questions about Leo
What dates are Leo?
Leo season runs Jul 23 – Aug 22 in the tropical zodiac. If your birthday falls on a cusp date, your exact sun sign depends on the year and time of birth.
What element is Leo?
Leo is Fire — specifically, the stable, radiating fire of someone who holds their ground and warms a room rather than just sparking it.
What planet rules Leo?
Leo is ruled by Sun. The Sun governs identity and life force — which is why Leo radiates warmth and needs its effort to be seen rather than assumed.
Is Leo cardinal, fixed, or mutable?
Leo is fixed. Fixed signs sit in the middle of a season and consolidate — for Leo, that means depth, staying power, and a real difficulty changing course once committed.
Who is Leo most compatible with?
Sun sign is only the opening line of compatibility. As a rough starting point, Leo tends to flow with the other two fire signs and with signs whose element complements its own — but Moon, Venus, and Mars decide far more than the Sun does. Run any pairing on our free compatibility tool to see the real picture.
See also
Keep reading around Leo — today's sky, and the planet that rules it.
