Oooh, great question and it'll be very interesting to see what everyone's favourites are and why!

There are SO MANY to pick from — well, I haven't forgotten how I first read most of the Chronicles at the age of 7, in serialised nightly sessions with Mum (she'd read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to me a couple of years earlier; now that we had the whole series, we read the rest of them together, taking turns with the chapters), and whenever there was even the slightest hint that Aslan might be coming into the story, I had such a thrill of excitement that I could barely contain it, and I'd feel my voice going all quivery if it was my turn to read. And most of those encounters are still the most vivid parts of the stories for me and it's almost impossible to pick just one that means the most to me!

But if I had to pick only one, I think it would have to be Lucy's reunion with Aslan in Prince Caspian. There's a good long build-up to it, after her brief glimpse of him in the previous chapter, when no-one else except Edmund believed her. I love how it begins: "Lucy woke out of the deepest sleep you can imagine, with the feeling that the voice she liked best in the world had been calling her name." Then when she sits up, "trembling with excitement but not with fear", she notices a grove of trees moving — the first clear sign we've had that "Old Narnia" is truly coming back, that the tree-people are reawakening — and there's her journey through them in the mysterious moonlight, "half wondering whether she had been using her arms to push branches aside, or to take hands in a Great Chain with big dancers who stooped to reach her". Until...

A circle of grass, smooth as a lawn, met her eyes, with dark trees dancing all round it. And then — oh joy! For he was there: the huge Lion, shining white in the moonlight, with his huge black shadow underneath him.

But for the movement of his tail he might have been a stone lion, but Lucy never thought of that. She never stopped to think whether he was a friendly lion or not. She rushed to him. She felt her heart would burst if she lost a moment. And the next thing she knew was that she was kissing him and putting her arms as far round his neck as she could and burying her face in the beautiful rich silkiness of his mane.

"Aslan, Aslan. Dear Aslan," sobbed Lucy. "At last."

Which is pretty much how I felt about Him, and still do!!!

Their subsequent conversation includes a very memorable observation:

"Aslan," said Lucy, "you're bigger."

"That is because you are older, little one," answered he.

"Not because you are?"

"I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger."

(Again, very true in my own experience.)

And this scene ends with another of my absolute favourite moments that have always stayed with me and continue to inspire me — this one is where I got the idea for my avatar and signature from...

Lucy buried her head in his mane to hide from his face. But there must have been magic in his mane. She could feel lion-strength going into her. Quite suddenly she sat up.

"I'm sorry, Aslan," she said. "I'm ready now."

"Now you are a lioness," said Aslan. "And now all Narnia will be renewed. But come. We have no time to lose."

(To this day, quite a lot of my prayers basically consist of doing just that — mentally burying my face in Aslan's mane. It's OK; He understands. )

For me, it is the great meeting at the end of The Last Battle.  To me, it is the culmination of all that was ever hoped for.

This is probably too obvious, but my favourite is the meeting with Shasta in The Horse and His Boy. That scene was incredibly written!

For me it would be when the travelers meet Aslan at the end of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  Aslan changes from a lamb to the Lion he usually is and sadly he has to tell Lucy and Edmund that they are too old to return to Narnia.  It is the saddest and one of the most beautiful parts of the book. I found it very moving. 🙂

I love most of them, but my favourites are Shasta meeting Aslan on his lonely journey,  and Digory seeing the tear in Aslan's eyes when he asks him to help his mother. 

Emeth telling of his encounter with Aslan is perhaps my favorite:

“So I went over much grass and many flowers and among all kinds of wholesome and delectable trees till lo! in a narrow place between two rocks there came to meet me a great Lion. The speed of him was like the ostrich, and his size was an elephant’s; his hair was like pure gold and the brightness of his eyes like gold that is liquid in the furnace. He was more terrible than the Flaming Mountain of Lagour, and in beauty he surpassed all that is in the world even as the rose in bloom surpasses the dust of the desert. Then I fell at his feet and thought, Surely this is the hour of death, for the Lion (who is worthy of all honor) will know that I have served Tash all my days and not him. Nevertheless, it is better to see the Lion and die than to be Tisroc of the world and live and not to have seen him. But the Glorious One bent down his golden head and touched my forehead with his tongue and said, Son, thou art welcome. But I said, Alas, Lord, I am no son of thine but the servant of Tash. He answered, Child, all the service thou hast done to Tash, I account as service done to me. Then by reasons of my great desire for wisdom and understanding, I overcame my fear and questioned the Glorious One and said, Lord, is it then true, as the Ape said, that thou and Tash are one? The Lion growled so that the earth shook (but his wrath was not against me) and said, It is false. Not because he and I are one, but because we are opposites, I take to me the services which thou hast done to him. For I and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him. Therefore if any man swear by Tash and keep his oath for the oath’s sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him. And if any man do a cruelty in my name, then, though he says the name Aslan, it is Tash whom he serves and by Tash his deed is accepted. Dost thou understand, Child? I said, Lord, thou knowest how much I understand. But I said also (for the truth constrained me), Yet I have been seeking Tash all my days. Beloved, said the Glorious One, unless thy desire had been for me thou wouldst not have sought so long and so truly. For all find what they truly seek.

“Then he breathed upon me and took away the trembling from my limbs and caused me to stand upon my feet. And after that, he said not much but that we should meet again, and I must go further up and further in. Then he turned him about in a storm and flurry of gold and was gone suddenly."

It is such a memorable scene, one of my favorites in the series.

The Unwelcome Fellow Traveler in The Horse And His Boy comes to a close second. It even features Aslan saying "Myself" three times, each in a different tone: loud and clear, deep and low, and in a whisper.

A third I probably would pick is in The Silver Chair, where Jill is at the stream, and she encounters Aslan while she is trying to get a drink:

Anyway, she couldn’t have moved if she had tried, and she couldn’t take her eyes off it. How long this lasted, she could not be sure; it seemed like hours. And the thirst became so bad that she almost felt she would not mind being eaten by the lion if only she could be sure of getting a mouthful of water first.

“If you’re thirsty, you may drink.”

They were the first words she had heard since Scrubb had spoken to her on the edge of the cliff. For a second she stared here and there, wondering who had spoken. Then the voice said again, “If you are thirsty, come and drink,” and of course she remembered what Scrubb had said about animals talking in that other world, and realized that it was the lion speaking. Anyway, she had seen its lips move this time, and the voice was not like a man’s. It was deeper, wilder, and stronger; a sort of heavy, golden voice. It did not make her any less frightened than she had been before, but it made her frightened in rather a different way.

“Are you not thirsty?” said the Lion.

“I’m dying of thirst,” said Jill.

“Then drink,” said the Lion.

“May I—could I—would you mind going away while I do?” said Jill.

The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience.

The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic.

“Will you promise not to—do anything to me, if I do come?” said Jill.

“I make no promise,” said the Lion.

Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer.

“Do you eat girls?” she said.

“I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms,” said the Lion. It didn’t say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry. It just said it.

“I daren’t come and drink,” said Jill.

“Then you will die of thirst,” said the Lion.

“Oh dear!” said Jill, coming another step nearer. “I suppose I must go and look for another stream then.”

“There is no other stream,” said the Lion.

It never occurred to Jill to disbelieve the Lion—no one who had seen his stern face could do that—and her mind suddenly made itself up. It was the worst thing she had ever had to do, but she went forward to the stream, knelt down, and began scooping up water in her hand. It was the coldest, most refreshing water she had ever tasted. You didn’t need to drink much of it, for it quenched your thirst at once. Before she tasted it she had been intending to make a dash away from the Lion the moment she had finished. Now, she realized that this would be on the whole the most dangerous thing of all. She got up and stood there with her lips still wet from drinking.

It's like Jill is not sure if Aslan is going to eat her or that she should trust him. But the whole story is about her learning to trust.

If I have to rank them, my top 5 would be-

5. Digory asking Aslan if there's anything he can do to help His Mother in The Magician's Nephew

4. The Undragoning of Eustace in Voyage of the Dawn Treader

3. Jill at the stream meeting with Aslan in The Silver Chair

2. The Unwelcome Traveler in The Horse And His Boy

1. Emeth telling his story of meeting with Aslan in The Last Battle

How would you rank your favorite encounter with Aslan in the series?

It could make a good podcast discussion on Talking Beasts.