I have a lion’s bone in each of my sets.  I use this bone to represent the qualities that are generally associated with the lion – courage, pride, and ferocity. All noble qualities, unless taken too far. Then courage can become foolhardiness, and taking unnecessary risks. Pride can get in the way of healing fractured relationships, or prevent us from asking for help when we really need it. And ferocity can be good when we are trying to achieve a goal, but unchecked it can just as easily get in the way of achieving our goals because no one will want to work with us, or patronize our business. There are additional qualities that we associate with the lion like strength, dignity, royalty, and power. Again, they all have a negative aspect as well.

When I got my first lion bone it was somewhat round in shape and did not have two clearly distinct faces that were easy to tell apart. I tried marking it so that it would have two faces – one the positive side of its attributes and the other the negative. I used a brown marker to put a mark on it that would look natural. But I never really liked it, or felt comfortable with the marking. Over time it wore down and I finally took a piece of fine grained sand paper and removed the rest of it. Now I rely on pieces nearby to let me know how that leonine energy is playing out, or I just mention the attributes to the client, both good and bad and let them decide for themselves which apply.

Of course you don’t have to use an actual bone. The popularity of the lion makes it a frequently used icon, and it can be found on coins, in carvings, and renderings of various sizes, and in jewelry.

The lion is a powerful and instantly recognizable symbol in our culture, so much so that you could probably just point to it and say “here is the lion bone,” and the person you are reading for would immediately form some meanings in their own mind. It is one of my favorite bones. You can get lion bones from Lucky Mojo and from The Bone Room.

 

Happy Bone Reading!