The second decan of Leo

The middle ten degrees of Leo, where both rulership traditions agree on Jupiter and the warmth acquires something to say.

The technical picture

Degrees: 10 to 20 degrees of Leo
Sun here roughly: August 1 to August 12. The boundary shifts by about a day with the leap cycle, so a birthday within a day of either end needs a calculated chart.
Sign ruler: Sun, over all three decans
Traditional face ruler: Jupiter, from the Chaldean order
Modern triplicity ruler: Jupiter, by way of Sagittarius
Do they agree: Yes. Both traditions give this decan to Jupiter, which is true of only nine of the thirty-six.

The core of this decan

The middle of Leo has a message. Jupiter rules these degrees in both schemes, and the effect is that presence acquires purpose: the warmth is aimed at something, and it usually wants to lift whoever is in range. Planets here tend toward the generous and the encouraging, and the scale is larger than the first decan's. Where that one occupies a room, this one is thinking about a wider audience.

How it differs from the rest of the sign

The opening decan of Leo is content to be itself. This one wants to mean something, and the difference shows in what it does with attention once it has it: the first decan enjoys the attention and the second uses it. Against the third decan, which is more combative and more immediate, this one is the most optimistic and the most likely to be teaching something, whether or not anyone asked.

The two rulers

Jupiter takes these degrees in both schemes. That agreement happens nine times in thirty-six. The face system arrives by continuing the Chaldean count; the modern one arrives because the second decan of a fire sign takes Sagittarius. Two unrelated methods reaching the same planet is reasonable evidence that the assignment reflects something real, and Jupiter in a fire sign is one of its more comfortable positions.

Where the friction is

Scale can outrun substance. A planet in these degrees can promise generously and mean every word at the time, and discover later that the promise was larger than the capacity behind it. Certainty is the other cost. Jupiter and Leo together produce conviction easily, and conviction here can be very hard to distinguish from having thought something through.

Working with it

Promise smaller and deliver larger, which this decan can do easily and rarely chooses to. It helps to check a strong conviction against one specific piece of evidence before acting on it. And notice the difference between encouraging somebody and telling them what to do, since this decan does the second while sincerely believing it is doing the first.

Questions to sit with

What did you promise that was larger than what you could carry?
Which of your certainties has never been checked against anything specific?
When did encouragement turn into instruction?

The other decans of Leo

The rulers involved

Start here

Find which decan your own planets fall in.

Educational and reflective. This describes tendencies, not predictions, and is not medical, legal, financial, or psychological advice.

Drafted from an expert brief, reviewed by a practising astrologer with 30 years of experience, and grounded in computed chart data.