PROJECTS • TAROT

The Sun

Joy, brilliance, validation, attention, energy

Range of meanings

Light: Seeing things clearly. Experiencing intense joy. Celebrating your own successes. Knowing you’re good at what you do. Gaining recognition for your personal genius.

Shadow: Being dazzled by your own accomplishments. Becoming absorbed in your own self-image. Feeling rushed and distracted. Exerting yourself to the point of exhaustion. Overstating your abilities or misrepresenting your achievements.

Questions to ask

  1. Who do you respect the most? What would they do?
  2. In your situation, where do you connect with beginner's mind?
  3. How does a loss of innocence figure in your situation?
  4. If you were to undergo a spritual transformation, what would that mean to you?
  5. How can I take best advantage of the attention coming my way?
  6. What are my highest spiritual goals?
  7. How can I avoid being bedazzled by the energy swirling around me?

Advice

Personal Growth: Learn to win gracefully. Accept compliments with a humble heart. You can acknowledge and celebrate your own achievements without falling prey to greediness. Be who you are. You’ve earned this moment, but don’t let pride in your progress hinder further growth!

Work: With the proper strategy, you’re all set to be the golden boy (or girl). Approval and praise are the order of the day. Accept all this admiration with humbleness; give credit where credit’s due. Meanwhile, make hay while the sun shines. Remember: after noon, the rest of the day is a sunset!

Relationships: You’re turning heads without realizing it. Attention is coming your way -- and you deserve it! The admiration of others is a warm glow, so bask in it while you can. As all things begin to revolve around you, take care you don’t get blinded or burned by your own brilliance.

Spirituality: As your meditative and spiritual practices hone your sensitivities, you begin to feel your connectedness to the energies around you. Branch out. Spread warmth, love, and joy through your attitudes and actions. Today, embody the universal light.

Fortune-Telling: Everything’s coming up roses (or sunflowers, whatever the case may be). Whatever’s on your mind, go for it because you can’t lose today.

Associations

Planet: The Sun

Hebrew: Resh/Head/200

Archetype: The Holy Masculine

Religions: God the Father. Sun gods, including Ra, Apollo, and Helios. The moment of baptism. Claiming a new faith as your own.

Fool's Journey: At the climax of the story, the main character is victorious.

The Number 1: Origins, unity, seeds.

The Number 10: The End: finality, completion, the end of a cycle.

Sunflower: Sunflowers turn to follow the path of the sun through the sky, modeling the sort of attention paid to any sunny personality. Their shape and color emulates the object of their attention.

Baby: In RWS-influenced decks, the Sun card depicts a single gleeful infant. In other decks, we see two dancing cherubs. Both represent an energetic and mystical rebirth. In The Book of Thoth, Crowley writes, “They represent the next stage which is to be attained by mankind.”

Garden Wall: The wall separates citizens of the current world from spiritual purity. From Earth, like sunflowers following the sun, we gaze on this return to Eden with great longing.

White Horse: RWS-influenced decks place a single child on a white horse, long considered proper conveyance for heroes.

Red Banner: The banner signifies the RWS child’s victory over animal instincts and worldly influences.