The Leo-Aquarius Polarity

Big Heart and Big Mind

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Leo and Aquarius bring together big heart and big mind, as a polarity on opposite sides of the Zodiac wheel. The best of both is a playful, generous spirit, with heart intelligence.

Leo and Aquarius freak each other out, while sensing something familiar in each other's motives. Being a polarity means they encounter each other as totally opposite, but find the other compelling.

Total Opposites

On oppositions like Leo-Aquarius, astrologer April Elliott Kent writes in Practical Astrology: "They can envy each other, try to emulate each other or declare open warfare on each other; one thing they can't do is ignore each other."

As opposites, they share an instinct to stabilize that comes from being fixed signs. And they are in the compatible elements of fire and air.

This showdown of opposites in your birth chart is super helpful, for revealing blind spots or pathways to grow. Astrologers note that it's often a target when it's not in your full awareness—it can be one where you project onto the other person. Projection is a common theme with oppositions.

A passionate Leo does battle with cool Aquarius, while secretly wondering what they see (that Leo doesn't). And Aquarius chides the Leo as full of themselves but longs to feel some of that spontaneous enthusiasm.

You might attract "the Other" to know where they're coming from. They are similar, but approach life from the total opposite side.

Special and Unique

It's interesting to note that both Leo and Aquarius are Zodiac signs of original creativity. And of singular personalities—both stand out, as outstanding individuals.

That's why it's been called the axis of ego. Both have the power of personality going on. Leo is the Selfie, and Aquarius the Aware Self. Both have a strong sense of unique character.

For Leo, that might be standing in the spotlight as the star, while Aquarius is more at home in an ensemble. Leo is lost in the heat of the moment and gets carried away. Meanwhile, Aquarius sees the stage play of life as if from above, watching the players move around.

Like the previous sign Cancer, Leo can be very subjective and Me, Me, Me. It's a concentration of the vital Self, in all its particulars. Like its ruler, the Sun, Leo can think the world revolves around them. Leo is often wed to who they are, and finds confidence in that.

Aquarius is a sign of breaking free, to see the big picture, and to hold onto personal garb loosely, so as to go through many shocking changes. Aquarius is all about re-inventing themselves.

Proud Leo can be inspired by Aquarius' ability to break with convention, and not care as much about what others think. There's more than a touch of the liberator in Aquarius, who shows Leo that there are times when you have to disappoint your fans or followers and hold fast to a higher truth.

The Future Self

By being in Leo's shiny presence, Aquarius finds an appreciation for themselves as a one-off. "There's nobody like me," Aquarius realizes, even as they know that sense of self will go through radical transformations. Aquarius has that knack for meeting the future self, and inhabiting it, and then changing the present. Leo can find it inspiring to experiment with meeting the future self, as a visioning exercise. Aquarius is a sign of the future and electric shocks to our notion of who we are and who we can become.

When the two dance together, we can love who we are, but also invite change that's beyond what we can imagine. Leo stabilizes us in the power of the present, and who we are now unfolding in each spontaneous moment. Aquarius adds that wild unknown into the mix, that takes us to our own personal frontiers of what's possible.

Vessel for Sun-Force and Universal Energies

Another association is that Leo's shine is very personal, while Aquarius is universal.

We can say that Leo and Aquarius are both vessels for big energies. What's different here is the symbolic source, and that's where there's some interesting mixing when the two meet.

Leo embodies the force of the Sun, its ruler, making Lions very radiant and aware of their one-of-a-kind character. Leo is a sign of the big personality, in other words, big personal energies.

Aquarius is ruled by Uranus, the planet with electric bolts of evolution. The Waterbearer has a mind for the universal and is known for being the cosmic downloader. As fixed signs, Leo and Aquarius can get stuck in a groove, in their role as vehicles for these energies.

Here's a tongue twister from Per Gullfoss, author of The Complete Book of Spiritual Astrology on potential stuck points.

For Leo: "To believe that the power of the unlimited source is the same as your personal energy will lead to great energetic trouble."
And, "If Aquarians think their personal truth is the absolute truth, they are asking for trouble."

Though a strong persona (ego) is natural here for both, they'll hit less resistance from others, when they experience these energies as bigger than themselves.