This is the Part II update with observations on things that arose during the Leo 1 decan. For more about the correspondences of the first decan of Leo, see the Leo decan 1, Five of Wands, Part I post.

We are about 75% through the decan as of today. So far, the Leo 1 theme of “Striving” for the Five of Wands, Lord of Strife, has played out in ways other than I first expected. I’d thought it would be a lot of time spent working on the book edits, striving towards the finish line. But I forgot about what normally happens here in Leo 1. It is when the garden starts putting out overwhelming numbers of vegetables. This prompts a lot of striving to somehow efficiently use (Saturn) and try to preserve (Saturn) what is possible while it lasts, as well as a lot of trying to give away care packets of veggies to family and friends so nothing goes to waste.

In terms of squash, it also means also setting up a “free squash” stand, as it gets out of control. Otherwise, you end up with big squash destined to be carved into Viking ships. On reflection, Vikings seem very Sun-Saturn-Mars too, if you ask me.

Some pressure (Saturn, decan ruler of Leo 1 and the Five of Wands) happens, a feeling that I must somehow use all the bounty that we spent all spring caring for. So there is a lot of freezing, pickling, dehydrating, and cooking that crops up, because this time of year it is use it or lose it. There has been a lot of produce dehydrating happening, which seems very Sun-Saturn.

The beautiful weather that the decan began with turned into a multi-day heat wave, which doesn’t help in terms of wanting to boil water for canning, run a dehydrator, or even cook and eat.

Aries 2 is for the Three of Wands, and Threes correspond to Saturn through the third sephira Binah. Interestingly, this Five of Wands Leo 1 decan also combines the same planets as the Three of Wands, so Mars-Sun-Saturn but in a different way. Leo, ruled by Sun, decan ruled by Saturn, Fives (Geburah) ruled by Mars.

So, I decided to do the third and final evocation during this Leo 1 decan, to complete the spell started in Aries 2, and then request the boon that turns the plant into a magical materia. Because I associate the Aries 2 decan with health-giving properties, this is a good plant to use for that, for a plant materia that will be consumed. I also specified that it apply to all of the nasturtiums on the property, as multiples were planted.

The nasturtium is a very cool and useful plant, as all its parts are edible, tasty, and quite impressive in terms of nutrients, especially the antioxidants like lutein (good for the eyes, Aries and the Sun), and Vitamin C, also solar. The flowers can be used for so much more than a garnish or a pretty addition to a salad. They can be stuffed like a squash blossom, or pulverized into softened butter, or infused or muddled into alcohol for cocktails, or dehydrated for various uses. They can be infused in a jar with apple cider vinegar, to make a peppery vinegar sauce like Tabasco. Just pack a jar with flowers, and fill with ACV. I added a clove or two of garlic, a pinch of kimchee pepper flakes (both are Mars) and a pinch of salt (Saturn) too, but that is optional. Look at the beautiful color it turns!

The leaves can be eaten in a salad of course, though probably mixed with other things as the flavor is spicy-peppery and musky. Some of the leaves get as large as a grape leaf, so they make a good edible wrapper that can be used for either raw or cooked stuffed wraps. When the leaves are cooked, they lose most of the peppery qualities and taste much like spinach. Drop them into a pan coated with hot coconut oil, and they crisp into something like an extremely thin and delicate chip. They also, like the flowers, can be infused into vinegar or alcohol. You can dehydrate the leaves and they easily powder by hand, for making an herbal salt, or for just sprinkling on food, adding color and nutrients to recipes, or making your own herbal “Mrs. Dash” type mix.

I have done all of the above with the flowers and leaves in this decan. Surprisingly, the stems are also very useful. They have a crisp juicy texture and a mild peppery flavor. Chop them up and use them like you would use chives, sprinkled on foods, added to recipes, or mixed into a soft cheese.

Even the seed pods when they form, can be pickled to make a substitute for capers.

This tart used three parts of the nasturtium: flowers, leaves and stems, plus the crust was made from zucchini – a double win in terms of using up abundant produce. Summer is courgette-du-jour season; gotta get creative.

DRAMA:

But elsewhere other than produce preservation, the Sun-Mars-Saturn pressure cooker combo has cropped up. Leo 1 can mean drama, and in one dramatic incident, a person undergoing a psychotic episode snuck into my husband’s workplace. They were under some completely paranoid schizophrenic delusion about the company itself and specifically, a certain employee working there who deals with the public, thinking they were somehow focused on him (Sun/ego problem). Anyway, they tracked down the employee’s office and violently attacked him (Mars). My husband heard his coworker yelling for help and had to jump on and pull off the attacker and hold him down until the police arrived (Saturn). Luckily, no one was badly injured. This was definitely a Lord of Strife Scenario.

The Sun-Mars-Saturn theme also showed itself in much more minor irritations, mostly me becoming annoyed by other humans being somehow obnoxious, or so it seemed to me anyway. Some of the annoyances involved themes of disparity, with affluent people acting entitled and above others, which is something mentioned in the Part 1 post, as the magical image of the decan in the Telos card image juxtaposes a “man in sordid raiment” (a Saturn figure) with “a nobleman on horseback” (a Sun figure).

I noticed it multiple times, my anger (Mars) arising over the actions of others. It gets tempting to go all Hephaestus and Typhon on them. I was feeling triggered often enough that I realized it wasn’t healthy, so had to offset it with some Metta practice, to remind myself that we are all humans. It helps me not get too misanthropic, which is a danger, and was definitely cropping up here and there in this decan. When faced with conflict it is good to stick up for yourself if necessary, and especially show up for others who need it, but not to devolve into hating the perpetrators. Best not to go there, as it is a slippery slope to becoming a self-centered (Sun), angry (Mars), curmudgeon (Saturn). Gratitude is another practice that helps.

My office is on the second floor in a reformed attic, with no window to put air-conditioning in, so it is good that the heat wave will be over soon, and the produce situation feels almost under control. I think in the last few days of this decan I will be going back to some healthy striving on the book editing. After canning some squash pickles.

Edited to add: Thanks to Graham for mentioning the 8.8 magnitude earthquake off the Russian coast. If you reread the Part I post for Leo decan 1, I’d mentioned to watch for earthquakes during this week. I also happened to learn that the 5th degree of Leo, of course in this decan, is conjunct a hypothetical astrological Uranian point called Volcanus, which I thought was interesting.