Al-aasad means the Lion in Arabic. Leo also means lion in Latin. The sickle shape asterism of stars (a visible cluster that is techinically not a constellation) represents back of the Lion’s head, which is the origin of its symbol..
The ancient Greek story associated with Leo is that of the Neumean Lion that Heracles (Hercules to the Romans) was killed as the first of his 12 labours. This Lion was depicted as ruthless, luring soldiers into its lair by taking women as hostages. Hercules “realized” he had to defeat the Lion with his bare hands. When he defeated the Lion, Zeus commemorated the labour by placing the Lion in the sky.
Leo is the fifth astrological sign, marking the first return of the fire element since Aries. It is characterized by the fixed quality, meaning its influence is stabilizing and persistent (also interpreted as stubborn or single-minded). This all lends to general understanding of fiery Leo as a very determined and willful agent of change. Its traditional rulership is the Sun, as well as its esoteric rulership according to William Meader. Classified as a 1st ray sign, Leo’s will is exemplified in three distinct ways: the will to be ie find its Spirit within (respond to the question of who am i?); the will to lead; and the will to illuminate (a teaching sign).
Looking closer at the verse associated with Leo according to the studies of Haydar Amuli, this is the second time we are encountering a sign where the verse is made up of the same word repeated twice. The last time we saw this, it was with Aries - the first fire sign of the zodiac. Aries repeated the word “drive” twice (zajirat zajran) while Leo is repeating the word “scatter” twice (nashirat nashran). The true test to see if Amuli was closely connecting the linguistics of the Qur’an to the elements of the zodiac would be if the final fire sign, Sagittarius, was also connected to a verse comprised of the same word repeated. Note that this word occurs first as a noun, then as an adjective of that noun - something challenging for anglophones but very natural to an Arabic speaker, who is used to all words originating from their verbal roots.
Nashirat originates from the verb nashara, which can mean to spread (form I), to resurrect (form IV) or to disperse (form VII). Each verb has the potential to have 10 distinct forms, generated by changing the vowels and emphasis in between the three letters that make up root verb. I’m always interested in the various forms a verb can take, as it opens up a window to a range of subtle differences and poetic resonance; for me, it is interesting to see that the words Amuli associates with Leo, share an origin with an-nushuru, which is a noun for “Resurrection” - certainly an allusion to the return of the fire element in the progression of the zodiac.
Nashran, again originating from the same root verb nashara, is really serving to amplify the first word. In essence, the English language fails to capture this poetry - it doesn’t sound the same when we say “scattered scattering-ly”... Its a rather beautiful snapshot of Leo, particularly geometrically, as if we understand the progression of the signs in terms of its number, represented as forms, Leo marks the emergence of the pentagon. This 5 sided shape gives birth to the star to life for the first time; the archetype of radiance, the star is a quintessential formal representation of radial movement. The emergence of the shape within a shape - really the resurrection of a hidden form within - occurs for the first time in Leo. The star also initiates the “active” quality of geometry in terms of its orientation -it possess a dynamic relationship between periphery and center - as if we move from the physical to the spiritual, or the manifest to the origin, faster than its more passive form - the pentagon. We will see this inner duality in terms of an inner form begin to impact our perception of the identities of the zodiac signs to follow.
Also of key significance in reference to 5 is the arrival of the golden mean rectangle. Save this for another time tho…