Five
Five is the number of man. It is the number of fingers on the human hand, and our hands alone place us above any beast. Those with hands as such are man. When man stands with his legs apart and his arms stretched out at his sides, his arms, legs and head form a five-pointed star. The pyramid is the four corners of the world, the arms and legs of man, while the point is the heavens: the mind and spirit.
In astrology there are five elements, each one representing a different facet of man. Fire is the spirit, the active element that interacts with its surroundings. Earth is the body, the material form. Air is the intellect, the thoughts and ideas. Water is the emotions, the instinct and feelings. The fifth element is aether, the space in which the other elements manifest. This represents pure consciousness, the true self: that which persists when all else has perished.
Leo is the fifth sign in astrology. He is the fixed sign of the fire element: the eternally burning sun. Leo is ruled by the sun and his lion with its golden mane represents the sun. He is the sun and also the son, like Apollo is son to Zeus: the sun and son of God. He is the son of God as we are all the sons and daughters of God. Leo is the self, the ego, the incarnation here on earth. Your sun sign represents your core self, your purpose in this world and the lense through which you see it. Leo is the actor on the stage of life. He puts on a persona and plays a part.
The sun is symbolic of life. The fixed fire is the fire of life that burns within us. It is that which gives us heat, and that which consumes our food and gives us energy. The fire of the sun helps our food to grow, and its energy fuels the fire within. Fire gives warmth and energy, but it just as easily destroys. When fire overcomes its surroundings it consumes without thought. The unrestrained ego can be just as damaging.
Five points makes a pentagram, which is seen as positive when its energy is pointed up towards the heavens, or negative when it’s pointed down towards the earth. The upright pentagram is a man standing on firm ground with his head in the sky, in its inverted form it is like the hanged man, who is tethered upside-down to the world tree: the material world. This is not a punishment, it is by choice. This same is seen in the story of Christ, who loved the world so much that He came down from heaven and took human form. The crucifix is the tree of life. The four arms of the cross are the world, and Christ is the divine soul nailed to it. This is done with foreknowledge and free will. Pain and death are what we are choosing in being born.