Later today the Sun ingresses Leo, the 5th sign. I believe that Leo is one of the oldest signs of the zodiac, that is, its mythological roots go the deepest. The myths involving the signs are the ones that far predate the Greek and Roman myths that run around as planets like so many new visitors to an ancient city.
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Part of why I believe that Leo is such an old thing is because the Great Sphinx is, so far as I can tell, the oldest physical object on the planet. It’s so old that they were repairing it during the Old Kingdom. I’m in the camp founded by John Anthony West and Sarite Sanders that says the sphinx is a lot, lot older than any academic archeologists think, and as far as I’m concerned the sphinx is a testimony to Leonine energy. In the doctrine of signatures this includes the Sun, the element gold, the heart and the enduring quality of humanity’s drive to express the vital force.
The Leo personality is more complex than it seems on the surface, moved by a mix of empathy (Cancer influence) and service (Virgo influence) that defy the pride and self-centeredness usually associated with this sign. On a good day, Leo is a mix of all three, which balance one another out. Everyone has Leo in their chart, and the placement of this sign within the wheel of the houses can be nearly as significant as the placement of the Sun. You can think of the sign Leo as being a ‘second Sun’. Leo is a zone in the chart where we get results, though these results may come from the toil and labor sometimes associated with this sign, or letting the natural abundance flow. The Sun’s rays burn out, and as with tarot trump XIX The Sun, you have to make sure that its rays don’t scorch what they would seek to nurture.