The Sun Tarot Card Meaning & Interpretations

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.

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THE PICTORIAL KEY TO THE TAROT

By 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.

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