Recipe for roar: How to embrace darkness and make the most of astrology’s Lion’s Gate Portal

Coming in hot with the heart medicine and the mane shaking, the mythic Lion’s Gate Portal opens on August 8th, 2024, a date observed by ancients, astrologers and numerologists alike.

The portal opens its feline jaws from July 28th – August 12th, but its powers are thought to peak on the 8th.

The Lion’s Gate refers to the annual alignment between the sun in Leo and Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, also known as Alpha Canis Majoris or Dog Star.

How to prepare for the Lion’s Gate Portal

Rachel Stavis , world-renowned exorcist and best-selling author of Sister of Darkness: The Chronicles of a Modern Exorcist, maintains that to make the most of this magical time, we have to honor, express and integrate.

Stavis tells The Post, “On the other side of the Lion’s Gate Portal are dreams coming to fruition, change and growth for the positive, and all of us stepping into our power – IF we deal with something we’ve been avoiding: ourselves.”

Ancient Egyptians venerated Sirius’s star power as the personification of the agricultural goddess Sopdet and associated the star’s heliacal rising with the annual flooding of the Nile River and the onset of a new year.

In this context, Sopdet can be seen as an integration of light and dark, endings and beginnings, the flood before the flourish, so to speak.

How to manifest during the Lion’s Gate Portal

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Similarly, Stavis explains that to reap the bounty of this portal, we must first face the dark, “There are two major spiritual aspects of ourselves: our light and our darkness. Many people actively work to avoid their darkness: they ignore it, stuff it down, or bypass that part of themselves. But this is to their own detriment because we can’t move forward—even in abundance—without seeing, understanding, and integrating our WHOLE being.”

How can we determine if we are, in fact, in our power?

Stavis notes that if you:

• Have outbursts over minimal things
• Are not speaking up for yourself or not speaking your truth
• Are people pleasing
• Need external validation
• Feel overrun by your emotions

You are likely outside of your power. But fear not, my babies, you can embolden yourself, move forward, roar mightily, and reap the rewards of this season’s Lion’s Gate.

Read on for Stavis’s recommendations for how to reclaim and gain.

Purge with a Lion’s Gate journal prompt

Stavis has a tall order for those of us feeling small: “Write down everything negative you’ve ever thought or said about yourself. I know it’s rough! But this is the deep work required for real change. See those lies! Ask yourself: If I were in my power, what would I REALLY think?”

This exercise is even more necessary as we are in the midst of a Mercury retrograde cycle , during which we are asked to revisit and revise storylines that limit or defeat us. There is no finer time than now, folks.

Regal rage

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To harness the power of this portal, we can listen to and act in tune with our regal rage.

Stavis explains, “Many spiritual gurus have taught people that it is ‘low frequency’ to have rage and that our darkness must be transmuted. But this is not accurate. Our rage often forces us to step up, to speak out, and to move into our power. All of this is actually high-frequency!”

To honor the high frequency and divine feminine majesty of our rage, Stavis says we must scream to get closer to the source, “Find somewhere safe (a pillow, the shower, the car) and SCREAM! It can be words, phrases, or just noise. Scream until you’re a bit hoarse, and you’ll finally start to notice the feelings underneath that anger.”

Protect yourself

With retrograde afoot and portals open wide, it’s a jungle out there, folks.

Stavis recommends protecting yourself and your space from unwanted interference and low frequencies with a little salt cure, “Use black salt along the perimeter of your home and outside spaces for a little protective boost. Sprinkle along the areas to create an energetic, safe space.”

Thank your darkness

Release is real work, folks, and Stavis imparts that acknowledging and offering thanks to the dark side is part of that work.

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“Understand that these shadow aspects of yourself have done a lot of heavy lifting! They’ve protected you, helped you, and comforted you in the past – even if that has changed now. Give gratitude where it belongs, and thank your darkness for getting you this far. Light a white candle and say whatever you’re feeling in the moment about your shadow self.”

Embrace your newfound power

Stavis says, “Forget that peace, love, and light bull—t, it’s time to be powerful, centered, and whole! Let go of what you think spirituality ‘should” look like, and embrace all that it is.”

To root down and level up, Stavis advises, “Find a comfortable place to sit outside. Take three grounding breaths. When you feel ready, ask Spirit to integrate all parts of yourself without any bias. Allow yourself to feel this happening (rushes of the spine, hot and cold in places, tingling sensations throughout the body, etc). When you feel the ritual is complete, thank yourself for allowing it to happen.”

Benefits of healing and progressing during the Lion’s Gate

Stavis maintains that when you’ve done the work to face, integrate, ask, and allow, you’ll notice the following benefits:

• You have fewer outbursts because you have self-ownership
• You speak up when you must
• You need nothing from others but feel gratitude when you receive
• You understand your emotions and have no fear of integrating them

Operating from this place of fullness will ensure that the energy of the Lion’s Gate can be received in full and directed towards richness of every kind!

As Stavis explains, “This year’s wild, fearless, powerful energy is asking you to embody these aspects. Can you be wild, fearless, and powerful? If so, the sky’s the limit this fall! Nothing will be able to stop you, and the joy you will feel is only the beginning!”

Meow.

Astrologer Reda Wigle researches and irreverently reports back on planetary configurations and their effect on each zodiac sign. Her horoscopes integrate history, poetry, pop culture, and personal experience.

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