know? What’s holy and pure in your life, worth living for? That’s your
gift. Dramatize it. Package it somehow. And perform! You may be
drawn to the arts. But just as possibly, you might express your creativity
in a business, or in some public service.
Beneath the colorful surface of your character, there is an insecurity.
Hardly anyone sees it. It’s the fundamental spiritual problem you’ve
come into this life to work out. Your “yoga” lies in tricking the world
into clapping its hands for you. Be wary, though: even if you win the
Nobel prize, it won’t mean a thing unless you win it for expressing your
SELF. Otherwise, your deep-seated doubts and insecurities about your
SELF go untouched and unhealed. One more thing—if you’re doing
your best and nobody’s clapping, remember this: your act is fine; it’s the
audience that needs to be replaced. (From “The Sky Within,” by
Steven Forrest. Courtesy of Matrix Software [http://thenewage.com]
and Steven Forrest [http://www.stevenforrest.com].)
Among its several natal programs, Matrix Astrological Software created a
unique report based on the published works of the early-twentieth-century astrologer
Grant Lewi (1901–1952). Lewi’s highly original delineations were recognized as cre-
ative and insightful by his contemporaries. One measure of the appeal of his work is
that his books Astrology for the Millionsand Heaven Knows Whatare still in print. The
following is excerpted from the report program “Heaven Knows What”:
“We are Earth’s best, that learnt her lesson here. / Life is our cry. We
have kept the faith!” we said; / “We shall go down with unreluctant
tread, / Rose-crowned into the darkness!” ... Proud we were, / And
laughed, that had such brave true things to say. / And then you suddenly
cried, and turned away.” (Rupert Brooke, born in Leo, August 3, 1887.)
The mainspring of Leo’s great energy, vitality and charm is his instinc-
tive desire for both public acclaim and self-approval. Of all the signs,
Leo is perhaps the most aware of himself; in a sense he is always before
the looking glass, seeing what effect he is making. In shallow types this
makes for mere vanity, pompousness, pride. Add profundity, and all this
is changed. Your best Leo type is earnest, sincere, eager to please him-
self and the world around him and willing, in order to do so, to take on
infinite work and go to infinite trouble. He is not genuinely introspec-
tive; he has little capacity to discover his inner faults; but he is very
sensitive to the effect he makes on others, and studies therefore what
to do to make a better effect. There is a difference here from self-analy-
sis to improve character from the inside, but the difference is in
method rather than in result.
For Leo, in the process of appearing something desirable, actually
becomes something desirable. He knows instinctively the wisdom of
the advice Hamlet gave his mother: “Assume a virtue if you have it
not.” By assuming the appearance of a virtue for the sake of winning
approval, he actually acquires the virtue itself, for he is the soul of truthLeo
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