When The Sun shows up in a reading, the reader and seeker both find themselves smiling… What’s not to love about the light, warmth and joy of the Sun card?! It’s a card of success, healing, clarity, power, self-realisation and happy endings. It shows that you have what it takes to overcome whatever it is you are facing. It could mean recognition and high honour.
As a card of emotional healing, The Sun points to issues around confidence, personal power and self-esteem. In the chakra system, we would place this card (quite naturally!) over the Solar Plexus chakra.
The Dark Side of the Sun
But is The Sun always a happy, pleasant and positive card to receive in a reading?
Definitely not! Negatively aspected, The Sun can represent burn-out or burning your candle at both ends. A classic example would be The Sun flanked by either the 10 of Wands or the 10 of Swords.
Too much Sun energy makes a person overbearing and lacking in empathy/understanding. Too little can lead to a victim mentality, boundary issues or being easily swayed by the opinions of others.
To understand the less pleasant qualities of The Sun card, all we have to do is turn to Astrology and look at how the Sun may express itself when negatively aspected or situated:
Egotistical, haughty, overbearing, dictatorial and judgmental. OR, at the other end of the spectrum, lacking in confidence, power, vitality and self-esteem.
Christ the Sun
We want The Sun of Tiphereth (Splendour) and the Middle Pillar or Path to shine through for us. That is when Christ Consciousness can begin transforming us from within.
As for how to stay centred in that Middle Pillar, the following quote by Rudolph Steiner provides some clues.
“Who is there today who stops to enquire: ‘What would Christ Jesus say to what is now taking place?’ Who puts such a question to himself? Many say they do, but it would be sacrilegious to believe that they put the question in the form in which it is put here, addressing it directly to Christ Himself.”
Correspondences for the Tarot Sun Card
Angelic correspondence: Archangel Michael
Element: Fire
Planet: The Sun
Chakra: Solar Plexus Chakra
Colour: Yellow, gold
Crystal: Citrine, yellow calcite, pyrite
Metal: Gold
Body: Vitality, general feeling of wellbeing
Exercise: Any exercise taken outdoors
Stance/Pose: Sun salutations
Magickal Tool/Ingredient: Fire
Associated Major Arcana Cards (through numerology): The Magician, The Wheel of Fortune
Associated Minor Arcana Cards:
3 of Wands (Sun in Aries). Healing is found through encouragement (giving and receiving, but more often giving).
6 of Cups (Sun in Scorpio) – Making peace with the past (including past lives) and letting go of energetic bonds to people who have left us for various reasons.
10 of Swords (Sun in Gemini). Learning to see the silver lining and the joy of starting over.
4 of Pentacles (Sun in Capricorn) – Having firm personal boundaries.
8 of Pentacles (Sun in Virgo). Being responsible for one’s creation whether this is work, physical health or a relationship.
Remedies to increase the energy of The Sun in your life
- You can make a tarot essence to harness and increase the energy of the Sun card, using a card from the deck of your choice, along with any of the crystals above that you feel drawn to work with.
- Spend time outside, in the sun
- Wear gold (both the colour and jewellery)
- Eat/drink yellow foods
- Take centre stage
- Say ‘No’ to a request without justifying why
- Initiate contact rather than wait for the other to make the first move
- Be an alpha male/female
- Visualise breathing in sunlight through your Solar Plexus chakra, filling your whole aura
- Make your home as light and bright as possible
- Get rid of dampness in your home
- Drink alcohol (raises the Fire Element according to Chinese Medicine)
Balancing, grounding and banishing the influence of the Sun card
- Stay up late
- Wear black, grey or blue
- Go swimming
- Sit in the shade
- Wear shades
- Place water features in/around your home
- Wear silver jewellery
Affirmation: “I centre my little self in the radiance of Christ Consciousness so that my ego defers to the Christ in all its thoughts, words and deeds.”
Angelic Invocation to Archangel Michael
Blessed Archangel Michael, thank you for protecting me against the dark forces** that seek to pull me out of alignment with Christ in the world around me as well as within. Help me shine my light in the world with courage and faith strong enough to move mountains. Amen and so it is!
**The Ahrimanic and Luciferian impulses according to Rudolph Steiner
LOVE AND RELATIONSHIPS
The mists of The Moon drift off to show us clear blue skies and a Sun joyfully beaming down on us.
To really feel the energy of this card, you just have to step out into the sun on mild summer’s morning. The Sun card is full of promise, happiness, vitality, playfulness, confidence and faith that everything will turn out just right.
So what blessings can this card bestow on your relationship? A multitude – that’s for sure! However, just like the sun creates shadows, we cannot fully expect to escape shadows even when the skies are clear.
If The Sun describes the quality of your relationship, you can now relax into just enjoy each other. Yay!! This is especially true if it shows up next to The Lovers or the 2 of Cups… and if you throw the 6 of Cups in the mix, you’re in a happy soul mate relationship – double yay!!
So how could this lovely, shiny, happy card possibly throw a shadow on the relationship? Because The Sun is associated with the ego/personality, it can show a relationship that’s gone down the path of personal power struggles when reversed or next to cards like the reversed 2 of Cups, The Devil, 5, 7 or 10 of Swords.
Reversed and next to cards associated with work or career matters, it can be a sign of stress and lowered immunity brought on by stress, which in turn can impact the relationship in a negative way.
The Sun Personality
If this card describes your lover, he or she is likely to be extremely confident and charismatic. Sun card-type people also usually have the childlike gift of being able to be fully present in the now. They simply enjoy life too much to agonise over the past or worry about the future!
If The Sun signifies a single person, it is usually a good sign that he or she won’t be single for very long. This kind of charisma and natural happiness is very attractive to potential suitors. However, look to surrounding cards for the full picture.
The Sun and intimacy
The Sun card is the ability to fully enjoy all levels and permutations of intimacy by virtue of feeling completely comfortable and at ease in one’s own skin. Sex on the beach (not the drink) might be indicated… or anywhere else (private!) outdoors where the sun may shine freely where it usually doesn’t…
Action advice
If you’re going through a rough patch with your beloved and this card comes up as the advice card, it’s an indication that you would be better off if you lighten up a bit and stop taking yourself so seriously. Try to just relax and have fun together. But make sure to have fun when you’re on your own too. Otherwise, you won’t bring much positivity to the table.
The Marseille Tarot image in this post is from the CBD Tarot by Yoav Ben-Dov.
Take me back to the Tarot Card Meanings page
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