TAROT CARD GUIDE

The Sun Tarot Card Meaning & Interpretations

← Major Arcana

The Sun Card from the Rider Waite Smith Tarot Deck

Introduction

The Sun brings life, warmth, growth and each day its light reveals our world in all its splendour in stark contrast to the poor night light of The Moon. Symbolically The Sun represents our conscious mind and The Moon our subconscious, the realm of fears, dreams, nightmares and deep rooted and suppressed emotional issues. The Sun represents truth, reality, illumination, joy and success.

The cards of the Major Arcana more commonly include all the elements in their symbolic mix but The Sun is almost exclusively attributed to the element of Fire. Care needs to be taken when this card appears in a relationship reading, its element must be kept in mind. It is a wonderful card to see in any spread but the element of Fire is opposite to Water therefore The Sun isn't favourable for romance or love. The pleasure and joy of someone's company is the most that it can suggest. The element of Fire, represented by the Suit of Wands, is symbolic of energy, passion and drive. It is the fire that burns in the home and within the engines of our transport and industry. The Sun is the ultimate symbol of this element, it is the greatest source of energy and power we have. It is symbolic of our greatest passions and the maximum focus of energy and drive. For ambitions, projects and work this card can be an excellent omen for success.

The Sun has traditionally been depicted at its zenith in the sky with one or two children, or youths, playing or dancing near a wall garden. It shares a theme of innocence with The Fool and The Lovers. In the Rider Waite Smith (RWS) deck all 3 cards feature The Sun at its zenith in the background sky. The Fool represents the naivety of innocence, The Lovers represents the risk of losing innocence and The Sun represents the beginning of innocence and its birth which is why this maybe be a good card for those wanting to start, or adding to, a family. The RWS depiction features a naked child on the back of a white horse carrying the red flag of the element of Fire. This colour's symbology can be seen elsewhere in the RWS, for example the 8 Of Cups character's cloak is symbolic of the fire, passion and ambition that drives him away from its watery landscape of emotions.

The Sun, as card number 19 in the Major Arcana, has a numerology of 10 and 1. It is unique in tarot being the only card with a number requiring two step reduction (1+9=10, 1+0 = 1). This relates it to both the Aces and The Magician as well as the 10s in the Minor Arcana and The Wheel of Fortune. All these cards are symbolic of creation, something new and the beginning of a cycle. The 10s differ from the Aces in that they start from the base of an old cycle whereas the Ace is something entirely new with no previous history. The Sun transcends both as it rises in the sky bringing a new cycle of a day and The Moon, with its numerology of 9, marks the end of that cycle. The Sun represents the best possible start to a new cycle which can be either entirely new, like the Aces, or built upon previous cycles, like the 10s.

The Sun is the card of truth, joy, happiness, success, growth and prosperity. If stress, worry and problems are being divined then this card is telling you "don't worry, be happy!", as your troubles will soon come to an end. For timing The Sun also has the symbology of summer time, the summer solstice or midday.

The Sun in a Tarot Reading

The Sun brings visibility, warmth and the energy through which things grow. Where The Moon leaves impressions uncertain, The Sun makes the situation easier to recognise. Its meaning combines enjoyment with the practical vitality needed to begin, build and participate fully.

Fire is particularly important to its meaning. This makes The Sun especially relevant to ambition, projects and shared activity. In a relationship question, pleasure in someone's company is a meaningful possibility, but the card alone does not establish romantic love or emotional commitment.

Upright Meaning

Upright, The Sun can indicate a clear, encouraging phase in which effort has room to produce results. You may understand the task better, feel more engaged or see progress that was previously hidden. Confidence grows because the situation is becoming visible and workable.

The card can also describe uncomplicated enjoyment: participating without continually anticipating what might go wrong. Its imagery of innocence suggests the capacity to meet an experience directly and take pleasure in it.

The number 19 reduces through 10 to 1. This connects The Sun with both a completely fresh beginning and a new cycle built on previous experience. A favourable start may therefore take different forms. What matters is the combination of clarity, energy and conditions that encourage growth, rather than an assumption that nothing difficult can follow.

Upright keywords: clarity, vitality, enjoyment, growth, success, enthusiasm, illumination, positive beginnings, shared pleasure.

Reversed Meaning

Reversed, The Sun can suggest that enjoyment or progress is being obscured rather than entirely absent. A promising situation may be delayed, confidence may dip or pressure to appear happy may make genuine pleasure harder to experience.

Fire can also become excessive. Enthusiasm may turn into overextension, certainty may become arrogance, or the wish to succeed may leave little attention for other needs. The reversal asks whether the energy is supporting growth or demanding more than the situation can sustain.

Surrounding cards help distinguish temporary clouding from excessive intensity. In one case, recognise what remains encouraging; in the other, adjust the pace or expectations so that success does not consume the enjoyment it was meant to bring.

Reversed keywords: muted enjoyment, delayed success, overenthusiasm, strained confidence, excessive intensity, obscured clarity, pressure to perform happiness.

Love and Relationships

In relationships, The Sun can indicate enjoying time together, sharing activities or bringing a matter into open discussion. A couple may feel more relaxed and playful. For a new connection, it can describe good company and mutual enthusiasm.

The Fire emphasis means these positive experiences should not automatically be read as proof of deeper emotional compatibility. Reversed, a cheerful surface may hide needs that have not been discussed, or one person's enthusiasm may set the pace for both. Let enjoyment coexist with an honest understanding of the relationship.

Work and Career

At work, The Sun can suggest visibility, productive energy and satisfaction in results. A project may receive attention because its purpose and value are clear. It can be a useful card for a new undertaking supported by both enthusiasm and practical opportunity.

Reversed, the pursuit of recognition may become exhausting or progress may feel disappointing beside inflated expectations. Review the actual results before declaring the effort a failure. Sustainable success needs room for ordinary limits as well as moments of outstanding performance.

Money and Finances

For money questions, The Sun can describe clearer understanding and a more positive relationship with material circumstances. Resources may support a project, enjoyable activity or a new phase of life. The question is how effectively that opportunity can be used.

Reversed, confidence may encourage commitments before costs are understood, or comparison may make a reasonable position feel inadequate. Bring the details into daylight. The card's prosperity symbolism encourages constructive attention but does not guarantee profit, income or freedom from practical obligations.

Advice from The Sun

Make use of the clarity and energy available. Allow yourself to enjoy progress without requiring it to prove that every future problem is solved. Be open about what is working and honest about the conditions needed to keep it growing.

Ask yourself: What can I bring into the open and give my energy to with real enjoyment?

The Sun supports growth when clear understanding and wholehearted participation illuminate the same direction.

The Sun According to A. E. Waite

The Pictorial Key to the Tarot
Arthur Edward Waite (1911)

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.