The Sun provides everything we need for physical life. Without it there would be no life as we know it. Therefore we associate the sun with joy and happiness and all the good things life provides for us.
When this card appears in a reading, you may be assured that your life is delivering many beautiful and satisfying things to you. You may be involved in a relationship that feels divinely inspired. You may feel inspired each day to pursue your career or other goals.
The capacity for happiness is foretold in this card, so even if your life seems limited or a bit sour, this card promises a happier future. You can choose to strengthen ties with family and to establish meaningful business or other partnerships that will carry you to a satisfying future.
"Although this card pictures a moment of tremendous spiritual illumination, it is significant that its meaning is enacted - embodied - in actual physical bodies pictured in a down-to-earth setting. According to an old alchemical saying, 'The mind should learn compassionate love for the body.' Here body and soul express the joy of compassionate love.
"The feeling of body and soul as equals interacting harmoniously is not one easily achieved. Naturally such an inner experience of unity will transform your relationships in the outside world.
"The sun is the source of all life on this planet. We receive energy directly from its rays and also indirectly from coal and natural gas, which hold in store sun power absorbed aeons ago. Many people have worshipped the sun as the supreme creator. Each day the sun brings with it a new day with new warmth, new light, and new opportunities."
- Sallie Nichlols
"Where there is complete harmony, the forces of discord can not intrude."
- C. C. Zain
"I am the Sun
Whose rays are the spring of life and action.
The Sun in this material world
Is the father of all bodies therein,
And the cause of every movement.
Yet though I am thy Sun,
I am also every Sun.
"Lose not the spirit in the symbol."
- Paul Foster Case
We find true freedom when we discover our own wholeness. Suffering originates because we feel separate, or different, or bad, or "other" than what we truly are. To step into the sun, we only need to step into a relationship with ourselves. Yes, we depend on other people for many things - food, clothing, and shelter in childhood; jobs, money, and material things in adulthood. We seek love from others. Illumination occurs when we begin to have compassion for ourselves. Then we gain freedom and the joy that comes with it.
Sources
Zain, C. C., The Sacred Tarot. Los Angeles, The Church of
Light, 1936.
Nichols, Sallie, Jung and Tarot:
An Archetypal Journey. York Beach, Maine, Samuel Weiser, 1980.
Case, Paul Foster, The Book of Tokens: 22 Meditations on the Ageless Wisdom. Los Angeles, Builder of the Adytum, 1968. Quoted with permission from Builders of the Adytum, 5101 North Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA. 90042; http://www.bota.org/. Permission to use Builders of the Adytum images in no way constitutes endorsement of the material on this site.
De Angelis, Roberto, Universal Tarot Deck. Torino, Italy: Lo Scarabeo, 2003. Lo Scarabeo has graciously granted permission for the use of the Tarot images on this site. Copying the images without their permission wuld be a violation of copyright law.
