Welcome to the forums, Monte Cristo!
This may seem like a stupid or obvious question, but does your screen name derive from the novel
The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas? I'm not personally familiar with the work, but I recently presented a research paper about Eugene O'Neill, and his father, the actor James O'Neill, spent almost his entire career portraying Edmond Dantès on stage. I mention this because it seems to be a name well-suited for someone with a tenth house Leo stellium; I imagine, as katydid suggested, that your public life may indeed resemble a stage performance, or at least be quite visible.
I too have a tenth house stellium, albeit one composed of outer planets--Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune in Capricorn. I also have a first house stellium in Aries quite similar to your Leo stellium, composed of inner planets (Sun, Moon, Mercury, and Venus). Again, I mention this because I believe I have a personal understanding of fire signs and of the tenth house--particularly the challenges of having "afflicted" planets in tenth house. I don't particularly like the word "afflicted," so perhaps I will substitute this for planets that receive challenging aspects.
As Katydid indicates,
A lot is going to depend upon what your other planets are doing in relation to this stellium. [ The aspects.] For example, if there are supportive aspects from Fire [ trines] and air [ sextiles] , then this Leo energy can be expressed creatively and successfully. If there are many difficult aspects challenging your creative expression [ squares, inconjuncts] then there might be more tension and delays evident.
I do wish to add that the "tension" and "delays" do not necessarily inhibit creative expressive--although perhaps the expression may not be as spontaneous, especially if Saturn is one of the planets squaring your stellium. This is not necessarily a bad thing, however, for I believe it allows one to better structure one's creativity, to manifest it in physical form.
If you have Scorpio rising, there might be more tension than if you have Sag there. But in any case, having a 10th house stellium of personal planets puts a lot of stress upon the asc/desc because you may tend to be very 'public' and out there , which can be difficult at times. People look up to you, and are aware of you, but that tends to make you a target as well.
This is an astute observation--one I can verify from personal experience. You seem not to have many challenging aspects to your tenth house planets, which is fortunate; hopefully, you will not experience a public fall from power. I believe this is more indicative of an afflicted tenth house Saturn, anyway.
Are you an artist/performer of some kind? I would think you are very charismatic and have a strong personal style, and a lot of innate talents.
I received a similar impression upon reading the planets that comprise your Leo stellium
Which planets are conjunct each other?
But the 10th house is also a natural born leader, and thart brings it's own kind of stress to one's life. It is like feeling that one is a role model, and must set high personal standards for oneself and others.
My son has 4 planets in the 10th in Aries, and is very hard on himself. But he does achieve his goals in the end.
Oh, yes--to me, the tenth house has always been about social responsibility, about being a servant leader. I attribute it to strong values, perhaps due to its association with the sign Capricorn. Yet I admit it is difficult for me to separate the qualities of the tenth house and Capricorn because Capricorn occupies my tenth house.
I'm not surprised your son is hard on himself, Katy; I have a similar 1-10 emphasis in my natal chart, and I'm the same. Aries is an ambitious sign, and Capricorn is very much concerned with discipline and achieving goals. I believe planets in the tenth house have a bit of Capricornian flavor, even if they are occupied in a different sign.
Arian Maverick