T he major arcana journey continues as the Fool meets the Sun, the bountiful beauty of the warm bright center of our universe. After traversing the lonely, enchanting, curious terrain of the Moon, the Fool arrives in the land of plenty, the place of pure desire and harmony. At this place in the evolution of the cards the spirit and form align allowing for dreams to come fully to life. Sunlight is essential to our well-being. All life on earth thrives due to the perfect alignment between our sun and the earth, a star among billions of other stars. An ordinary miracle! When the sun touches our face, we feel the imminent grace of warmth, beauty, light, perhaps even magic. It is ever enchanting to watch sunlight dance on water, reflecting and reminding us that everything is in constant, perfect motion.
The Sun is number nineteen, the last card with the number one, carrying the seed of the Magician to its final expression. The number nine symbolizes integration, flowering, beauty, and growth. Added together we have the number ten, which connects the Sun to the Wheel of Fortune a connection of fortune, illumination and destiny. Combined with the number zero, connected to the Fool, the Sun also includes the qualities of trust, innocence, love, openness and freedom.
The Sun provides an expansive and illuminated view. It is the brilliant warming energy of growth, beauty, harmony, and sharing. The sun’s warmth brings unexpected opportunities, manifest dreams, and sprouts new seeds into life. When we lay in the warmth of the sun our bodies automatically relax, our nervous system rests, and our breathing slows down. These are opportune moments to receive messages and open to bright wisdom and guidance from our ancestors, the land, and the sun.
The Sun amplifies all of our blessings and gifts, reminding us of our true purpose on Earth. I think of it like a gift basket that each of our souls carries with us. We have a certain soul signature that is our unique way of sharing our gifts. When we align with these gifts, we are able to experience an abundant life rich in spirit, mind, body, and heart.
The Sun is our reminder of what is good in our lives. On those dark days when the sun peeks out from the clouds for just a moment, we may feel a rush of delight in our bones. Even if we cannot see it, the sun is always there, just as our true brilliant awake nature is always resting within only waiting to be continuously realized. This can be a helpful reminder when we are going through all of life’s changes, intense transitions we may face, and in the recognition of suffering happening on earth in so many forms.
In the Waite-Smith deck, a gleeful naked child rides a white horse, arms widespread to the warmth of the vigorous sun above. Behind the child are huge, full sunflowers, symbols of the fullness and ripeness of the summer harvest. The sun radiates outward above the child and the horse with a calm and beatific look on its face. The child holds a red and yellow gold flag that unfurls in the wind to symbolize the energies of strength, vitality, joy, and radiance.
In the Crowley deck, two figures with butterfly wings dance in exultation below the brilliance of the sun. Their arms are lifted up to the sky in joy and their feet move gracefully on a green hill which symbolizes the fertile land and abundance of the sun. Along the edge of the card are illustrations of the twelve signs in the zodiac indicating the fullness of the entire astrological heavens in connection to the movement of the sun through these constellations.
When the Sun card appears in a reading, it indicates the outward expression of dreams fulfilled and may signify land, marriage, partnership, family, blessings, and abundance. This is a time of creativity, warmth, sharing and the harvest where we connect with those of like mind and open our hearts to cocreation and celebration. The Sun always warms the reading, so to speak, amplifying the gifts and messages that appear in the other cards. The Sun reminds us to count our blessings and see what is abundant and flowering in our lives, even in difficult or troubling times.
Essential Qualities: brightness, growth, abundance, beauty, love, innocence, family, blessings, gifts, joy, sharing, communication, dreams manifested, inspiration
Suggestions: There is a Buddhist practice I find helpful called Tonglen that inspires us to become our own personal sun. In this practice we inhale the dark, chaotic, painful suffering of the world and others into our hearts, transforming it into light and breathing it back out. In this way we identify with the struggles of others and generate compassion. Tonglen empowers us to step into the courage of the heart knowing we are strong enough to handle what is fearsome and painful and be of service to transmute that into love, compassion, and grace. I encourage you to practice Tonglen, drawing in the pain of others and transforming it in the courageous vessel of your own divine heartlight. Be your own sun, shining outward to others, generous without expectation. Create a gift “basket” of your soul, illuminating your own gifts to the world. Find objects or symbols to represent who you are and your personal sun power offering that brightens this world.
Oracle Vision
I am the Sun. I radiant eternal and infinite light and warmth blessing the earth and atmosphere continuously with my rays. Without me nothing could grow, thrive, flower, and fruit. My perfect distance from the earth reminds you of the perfection in all things, the harmony of ceaseless manifest forms.
I adore you and my adoration never ceases. I remind you to continuously bring your desires and dreams to life, continue to ask, and remain open to receive the wild abundance of light and love that permeates all things. I am the reminder to invite without expectation, to love without condition, to dream without worry, to dance and live without pressure. I am the offering of unlimited freedom.
I am the warmth and revitalization and bring the blessing of healing from disease, disharmony, and lower level vibrations. I offer the pure resonance of sound and sacred geometry, the illumined lines of light that move through all things. I am a Star and remind you that you too are in a body made of star dust, a brief encounter between form and light.