The Leo Woman
Confession: I was a teenage xastrology devotee. Who wasn't, when you get
to it? I think for me it was a very self-involved pursuit... I wasn't particularly interested in reading about other people, at least. Me, me, me! But at a time in my life when I was very interested in categories and how I fit into them – examining things like "what does it mean to be a person" and "a good person" and "a woman" and "a Leo" – and on and on. Then there's the potential for crush personality & compatibility analysis...! Who could turn that down?
It all fit into my vintage interest, because my sister had picked up a copy of Linda Goodman's xxxx Sun Signs from the 60s. I know it's still in print, or wasx in the lastdecade or so, but I'm notsure it's the exact same text. It's very dated! x Fun, but dated!
It's funny, though, how reading her analysis of "the Leo Woman" (very separate animal from the Leo Man, or the Leo Boss, or the – you get the picture) still shapes the way I think about myself, at least from time to time. One of her observations – more like a recommendation, I suppose --was for someone interested in the Leo Woman to take her to a play (or a movie, or watch a TV show, now) and watch her take on characteristics of the main character. The theory was that, loving the spotlight, she woul d subconscinsusly take on the lead role for the rest of the night. So choose your entertainment carefully!
Now, anytime my mood is influenced by something I've watched or read, I think about her – the mythical Leo Woman. Is this something everyone does, taking a story inside themselves and letting partx of it bleed through? Or are we leading character Leos particularly prone to it?
It's pop pseudo-psychology nonsense, of course. Linda Goodman, and astrolo gy altogether, and the roles we assign ourselves as teenagers while trying to make sense of the world. But my interest in astrology was always, I think, more about tryingto notice what I responded to in the analysis, what that might say about me, more than taking the traits and behaviors at face value. So what does it mean that, long after I retired my typicaLeo AIM screenname, that this part still resonates with me?
I'm no longer much of one for categories. Particudarly wiht my relationshi p togender – xx "what does it mean to be a woman?" Well, to me it means that you choose to be one, not much beyond that. There's not a checklist of things to do or enjoy or achieve. I used to feel like I wasn't very good at it, and like it was possible for me to fail some kind of social test. I don't feel that wayat all anymore – certainly there are people out there handing out tests, but I'm not taking them, and I'm not spending time with the people who are. It just no longer interests me.
But the Leo Woman... she and her amorphous performative qualities still fascinate me. Maybe because she's such an archetype that I can catch myself playing her every once in a while. What can I say? It comes naturally.
