There’s a letter from Rav Brandwein to Rav Berg that tells a story I think about often.
It describes a moment when Moses looked at the Israelites and saw that they were fighting amongst themselves, turning on each other, even killing one another. He was devastated by this sight and asked the Creator the only question he could manage: what is the root cause of this? What is keeping them stuck in this darkness?
The Creator answered and told him to take his brother Aaron and go to the people, not to lecture them and not to instruct them in spiritual practice, but to convince them, argue with them if necessary, to awaken great love within themselves. And when Aaron went, he didn’t tell the people that doing the spiritual work alone would bring their freedom. In fact, he told them plainly that it wouldn’t. It wasn’t enough to just do their spiritual practice. In order to transcend their darkness, they would have to awaken an uncomfortable amount of love. A love and peace that almost feels impossible.
Aaron left this world on the New Moon of Leo and this week we welcomed this New Moon. During the month of Leo, we can connect to this powerful story and to the same consciousness that Aaron gave the Israelites
We tend to assume that getting free from a hard season, a stuck relationship, or a painful pattern is about effort, discipline, consistency, and doing all the right things. But, just as the story of Aaron suggests, it isn’t enough to just want change. It isn’t enough to go through the motions, or do our spiritual work, or even experience the discomfort of growth without connecting to that deep sense of love. It takes courage to keep your heart open when you’re experiencing challenges, it takes courage to believe in great love when all you see is difficulty.
That’s where the magic of Leo comes in.
If you know a Leo, you know they don’t do anything halfway. The lion is the symbol for a reason: bold, charismatic, full of warmth, and equally powerful. These gifts can be used from a place of ego and hubris, but the most positive expression of them is courage. The courage to love fully, to stay loyal when it would be easier to walk away, to lead not by shouting or dominating a room but by being the one who’s brave enough to open their heart in service of the highest good for all. Aaron going to the Israelites took exactly that kind of courage. He wasn’t delivering an easy message. He was asking an entire, exhausted, fractured people to choose love in the middle of their darkest moment.
This type of courage can’t come from the ego, it requires humility. It isn’t about placing blame, or self-righteously pointing out someone’s failings. It’s about listening, meeting someone right where they are, and having the courage to stand with them and remind them through your own presence that love is available even in the darkest time. Real love can’t be awakened from a place of superiority, only from a place of vulnerability and empathy. It says “I see you, I’m with you, let’s find our way through this together.”
It’s also, not coincidentally, one of the quieter traits of a true leader, Leo or otherwise.
Courage is at the center of any act of greatness and it is precisely the gift available to all of us this month, no matter what sign we’re born under. This month, connect to the energy of Leo and Aaron’s message to the Israelites. Ask yourself how you can awaken great love within yourself and offer it every chance you get.
How would you spend your time and energy?
What thoughts and beliefs will you need to challenge?
How would you treat the unhoused person asking for change?
How would you respond to someone who disagrees with you?
Will you choose ego?
Or will you choose to be the best version of yourself?
This month, I want to invite you to think about where in your life you’re being called to awaken great love. Maybe it’s a relationship that’s gone quiet or guarded. Maybe it’s a part of yourself you’ve gone to war with or pushed away entirely. Maybe it’s a family member who seems hard to love right now, precisely because they’re struggling the way the Israelites were struggling—lashing out, disconnected, lost in their own pain.
The lion’s heart doesn’t look away from that. It doesn’t wait for the other person to make it easy. It goes first with courage, with humility, with loyalty that doesn’t waver, and with compassion for people exactly as they are, not as we wish they’d be. In her book Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts, Brene Brown wrote, “Show up for people in pain. Don’t look away.” When we have the courage to do this, we awaken not only great love and peace, but we become a conduit for the miracles that those things bring.
I’ll say here, this is not an invitation to perfection. It’s also not an invitation to force or push ourselves outside the limits of what is possible for us. It’s about doing a little bit more everyday. By activating our courage a little more, offering kindness that is just outside our comfort zone every day, choosing the loving action over the safe action again and again. Remember, we’re all human, and there will be days that we find ourselves in a less-than-loving perspective. The point of this exercise is to catch ourselves in those moments and to replace the negative thoughts and actions of ego with positive actions of courage and caring. This month, notice the desires of your ego—and then choose the opposite.
By doing so, you’ll be activating your lion heart and awakening great love.
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