Saturn has been traveling through the sign of Leo since July of 2005, and because Saturn imposes tests and limitations it has been creating difficulty for leaders of all kinds. Leo is associated with royalty; its symbol, the Lion, is after all King of the Jungle, and other associations include sports, entertainment of all kinds, drama and the theater. Ultimately though, Leo deals with the healthy expression of ego which can manifest itself through teaching and other forms of leadership (hence the association with royalty).

Saturn takes 30 years to travel through the zodiac, so every 30 years Saturn goes through the sign of Leo where it throws challenges in our way in order to show where we have let the unhealthy ego take over into power trips or domination. Saturn has an undeserved reputation as a rather nasty figure in astrology as the Lord of Karma; as Kronos (Father Time) he reminds us that our life is short and asks what we have to show for it. However, his tendency when in Leo to deny us the gratification of our personal ego has the end result of building a more true confidence and well-grounded base of personal power.

Over the past year Saturn in Leo opposed Chiron in Aquarius, bringing about a healing crisis (Chiron) across the world. Now that Saturn is halfway through its journey through Leo, we have seen crisis in governments everywhere: The ouster of Berlusconi in Italy, the meltdown of George W Bush in the US, the rise of Hezbullah as an Arab leader.