What is Lions Gate - Rising of the spiritual sun

If you see a very bright blue-white star in the night sky it’s pretty sure you are looking at Sirius. The name Sirius derives from the ancient Greek word Seirios, which literally means glowing. Probably because of its brightness this star has been important in many ancient cultures across the globe such as the people in Ancient Egypt. For them the heliacal rising of Sirius marked the beginning of a new year. Heliacal rising refers to a star, Sirius in this case, reappearing in the sky after being ‘absent’ for a while. 

Of course Sirius does not really disappear but due to the procession of the Earth through space in its orbit around the Sun there are certain times each year when the brightest star can not be seen because it rises during daylight. The Ancient Egyptians noticed that this took about 70 days each year, with Sirius disappearing in spring and reappearing in what we now call July. 

A fresh new start

In summer Sirius would start to rise just a little bit before dawn (instead of after) so the star was visible again for a few minutes before the light of the sun would make it vanish again. This didn’t only launch the new year of the Ancient Egyptians, but they knew that Sirius’s return also meant that soon the river Nile would begin her yearly flood, bringing life and abundance as this kept their lands fertile. Because Sirius was connected to important events in Ancient Egyptian culture, many temples and pyramids were built in alignment with the star. 

Spiritual Sun

Sirius, called the Spiritual Sun by many, actually has twice the mass of our Sun and is said to shine 20 times brighter. One can imagine when they both rise in our sky together much more light is entering our atmosphere. The period in which Sirius rises in conjunction with the Sun lasts for about a month and has come to be known as the Lions Gate, since the sun is in the zodiac sign of Leo at this time.

Lions Gate

The Lions Gate is recognised as a moment of time each year with lots of extra intense or charged light here on our planet. This can be experienced as challenging but as always, every challenge carries the potential of an opportunity for growth and expansion. In this case the expansion of our consciousness. 

Each year we celebrate the rising of the Spiritual Sun on the 8th of August (8/8) with a Lionsgate Kundalini Session to gather in community and dedicate our practice to the expansion of our consciousness and the growth of our spiritual maturity. 

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