The Lion’s Gate Portal opens each year when the brightest star in our sky, Sirius, begins to rise. The ancients saw this star as the gateway to Heaven. It is our spiritual sun, burning 26x brighter than our actual sun. On Earth, the ancient Egyptians viewed this time as a great blessing of abundance + prosperity, as it signified the flooding of the Nile which brought with it fertile soil for the next years harvest to be planted.
Named after the sign of Leo that houses the Sun when this astrological event occurs, the Lion’s Gate Portal peaks on the 8th day of the 8th month of the year. On this sacred day, Sirius aligns with the pyramids of Giza and is considered to be one of the most potent days of the year for manifesting + magic making.
In numerology, 8 is the number of infinity, abundance, and the higher realm of consciousness where our spirits reside. The 8 is also the same shape as our DNA; the spiritual spiral serpent that contains the ancient codes for all life to reproduce infinitly. Some say that the light emitted from Sirius on 8/8 activates + upgrades our DNA. When we say that someone is "enlightened," this is a true phenomenon that happens in our biological structure. Scientists have been able to measure bio-photons emitted from our DNA. Our DNA is actually emitting more light. We have seen this depicted in art history for centuries when we look at paintings of spiritual + religious figures. Their heads are all encircled by halos of light.
We see this theme again in the Tarot. In the Major Arcana, the 8th card is the Strength card. In this scene, a woman is depicted taming a Lion with an 8 infinity symbol over her Crown Chakra. She is the Divine Feminine taming the beast without brute force, control or dominance. Instead, her Strength is cultivated through loving kindness + forming an alliance with Sacred Masculine symbolized by the Lion. The spiritual alchemy of the 8 represents equality + harmonizes polarities: Divine Feminine + Sacred Masculine, yin + yang, as above, so below... Perhaps there is more to this story than what meets the eye in the picture... Is the strength + love demonstrated in this card connected to the evolution of human consciousness + DNA light activation by the astro-numerology code in the Lion's Gate portal? Could that be the pyramid of Giza in the background of this scene? Is the golden color of this card symbolic of Sirius' spiritual solar light?
Personally, when Sirius begins to rise in the sky, I think of my Baba who crossed over into the spirit realm on 8/8 last year. What a beautiful omen for Baba’s soul to crossover through. It is also incredibly fitting for her. Baba was an avid gardener and a green witch. She understood the language of plants. Wherever she went, plants would sprout up + thrive, even in her apartmentt in Jersey City! She always grew her own food. Her garden empowered her; made her independent, self-sufficient + abundant. As a kid, I remember my parents being nervous of a pumpkin patch sprouting in the front lawn after she came to visit.
Baba had a lot of magic around her that often was misunderstood as kookiness. The older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve come to realize that I have this magic around me too. In fact, Baba is the person in the family that I am the most alike. I am also a lover of plants, although I am more of a forager than a gardener. We also are both artists and crafts women, using our hands for our creativity. Baba an embroidery artist and me a silversmith. I am forever grateful to her because I understand that she is where I get my gifts from. She also taught me that our lives are what we create with our hands, and the things that we love + hold dear, we hold close to our hearts and give thanks. This is what it means to pray. Towards the end of her life, when I came to visit, she kept showing me her hands. Her hands were full of wisdom + life experience. We held our hands together in front of our hearts in prayer. Prayers for peace, love + gratitude.
Each year when the Lion’s Gate Portal opens, and Sirius begins to rise in the sky, I hope you all can use this incredibly potent time to plant seeds for you own future harvests. Remember that this is a fertile time to be open to receiving an abundance of great blessings. For me, I will always remember my Baba on this sacred day. I will fondly remember her tending to her garden. I will sow my seeds with great reverence and hold her in my heart with love + gratitude for these teachings. Although it can be sad to lose a loved one, remember that in truth, there is no death. Only transformation. I will look for her in the sky and the trees. I will listen for her whispering in the wind. And I will put my hands together in front of my heart in gratitude when great blessings arrive.
