The Sun

The Meaning of the Sun

Major Arcana Tarot Card in Readings

The Tarot Sun card meaning in a nutshell:

Great resources at your disposal,
but constrain yourself
since it's possible to have too much.

Archetype:
Ability - triumph.
The sun brings light and life to our whole planet. It's the
source of seemingly endless energy, without which we
couldn't exist. The Sun card of the Tarot shows this splendid
star of ours, and the abundance it brings. So, it's certainly a
fortunate Tarot card, if not the very card of fortune as such.

       The image on the Tarot Sun card suggests the sun at its
triumphant return at the vernal equinox. Maybe it also hints
at the sun's zenith in the middle of the summer.

       The vernal equinox was in the past regarded as the start
of the new year, because of how the expanding daylight of
spring rejuvenates all of nature. That's implied by the child
greeting us with open arms, as it rides towards us on the
white horse.

       The proud sunflowers and the sun's central position, with
its strong rays in every direction, suggest summer, too.
Midsummer, with the longest day and the shortest night of
all the year. The sun at the peak of its power.

       The sun is the great nourisher. That's confirmed by the

image of the Tarot Sun card. But its force can be terrible if not
respected. The sun is pure power, beyond any intent of good
or bad. It just is, and all of us reached by its light prosper
from it.

       The sun is a resource that's not spent, no matter how

much it's used. Yet, it is an indifferent one, so it allows itself
to be used for whatever purpose. That's not without risk.

       Of course, a resource of that magnitude is hazardous. It

should be used with some moderation, or its power might be
destructive. But if received humbly and gratefully, the power
symbolized by the Tarot Sun card brings joy and well-being.
The Sun (represented by the Greek god Helios on his chariot) and
its astrological traits. Woodcut by Hans Sebald Beham, from the
1530's. The sun as a god on a chariot, traveling daily across the
sky, exists in many mythologies.

The Sun Card as a Person

In divination, if the Tarot Sun card represents a person, it's
someone extremely resourceful and willing to help. But don't
accept more than you need and can handle, or there may be
dire consequences. That person has no obligation at all to
serve you, so don't strain his or her patience.

The Sun Card as an Event

If the Tarot Sun card represents an event, it's a golden
opportunity. Things happen from which you can prosper
tremendously. But still, limit your greed, consider what you
really need and what would be gluttony. A good fortune can
be just as difficult to handle as a bad one.
The Sun Card as You
If the Tarot Sun card has a position in the divination spread
referring to you, it means you are in a position where you can
accomplish great things, without even trying that hard. You
might hurry forward beyond what is wise, just because you
can. Take care. Just because you can do what you want
doesn't guarantee you do what is good for you.

The Sun According to A.

E. Waite
The Meaning of the Sun Tarot Card in Divination
Here is what the occultist Arthur Edward Waite, co-creator
of the Rider-Waite Tarot deck, had to say about the Sun
Major Arcana card in divination.

The Sun Tarot Card

19. The Sun. The luminary is distinguished in older cards by
chief rays that are waved and salient alternately and by
secondary salient rays. It appears to shed its influence on
earth not only by light and heat, but - like the moon - by
drops of dew.
       Court de Gebelin termed these tears of gold and of pearl,
just as he identified the lunar dew with the tears of Isis.
Beneath the dog-star there is a wall suggesting an enclosure-
as it might be, a walled garden-wherein are two children,
either naked or lightly clothed, facing a water, and
gambolling, or running hand in hand.

       Eliphas Levi says that these are sometimes replaced by a

spinner unwinding destinies, and otherwise by a much better
symbol-a naked child mounted on a white horse and
displaying a scarlet standard.
Inner Symbolism of the Tarot Sun Card
The naked child mounted on a white horse and displaying a
red standard has been mentioned already as the better
symbolism connected with this card. It is the destiny of the
Supernatural East and the great and holy light which goes
before the endless procession of humanity, coming out from
the walled garden of the sensitive life and passing on the
journey home.
       The card signifies, therefore, the transit from the manifest
light of this world, represented by the glorious sun of earth,
to the light of the world to come, which goes before
aspiration and is typified by the heart of a child.

       But the last allusion is again the key to a different form or
aspect of the symbolism. The sun is that of consciousness in
the spirit - the direct as the antithesis of the reflected light.
The characteristic type of humanity has become a little child
therein - a child in the sense of simplicity and innocence in
the sense of wisdom.

       In that simplicity, he bears the seal of Nature and of Art;

in that innocence, he signifies the restored world. When the
self-knowing spirit has dawned in the consciousness above
the natural mind, that mind in its renewal leads forth the
animal nature in a state of perfect conformity.

Divinatory Meaning of the Tarot Sun Card

Material happiness, fortunate marriage, contentment.

Reversed: The same in a lesser sense.