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The Sun
Tarot Card: Major Arcana Number: Sephirah: Sephirah Number:
The Sun 19 Tipareth/Beauty 6
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In a sense, the Sun placement represents the area of a chart where there is salvation for the personality. The Sun is closely related to Mercury and Jupiter in terms of brightness, ability, and luck. These three areas of an astrological chart have many of the same meanings, only expressed in different ways. What they have in common is that they describe areas of great beneficence, where there are great cognitive skills and particular achievements to be had or developed in one's own life. They represent the great rapport taking place within one's life and mind. Interestingly, though not surprisingly, these three archetypes are linked numerologically within the Tarot itself.
The number of the card representing the Sun, the card entitled The Sun, is 19. The number of the card The Magician, which represents Mercury, is 1, and the number of the Fortune card, which represents Jupiter, is 10. We find the relationship between these cards through simple numerological reduction. 19 = 1+9 = 10 = 1+0 = 1, or, Sun=Jupiter=Mercury. It is no mere coincidence that these cards of the Major Arcana are so similar in expression and share a common ground, and the same goes for all other cards related numerologically in this way. Interesting correlations may be uncovered if one experiments with Tarot through this reduction technique (see the Major Arcana page). The combined elements of the Sun, Jupiter and Mercury are certainly great allies to be aware of in one's astrological birth chart, and it's also a very good sign if their respective cards (right) show up in a Tarot reading (upright and well dignified of course, meaning that the card is in the upright position, not reversed, and that the cards surrounding it also lend to a positive interpretation). The best way to utilize the Sun placement is through simple gratitude for the gifts and experiences one has on these almost electric archetypal levels indicated by the Sun's Sign and Decan. The Sign an individuals' Sun occupies is lit up and radiates the qualities of that Sign within him or her. |
The Sun - 19
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The journey of hero figures in many myths and cultures can be taken as a metaphor for the journey of the Sun through all the signs and houses of the Zodiac, through all the underworlds and heavens, ultimately returning to where it began but with "special powers" or "gifts" that were developed along the way. In Joseph Campbell's book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, he describes the common thread, or what he termed the monomyth, that runs through cultures around the world:
A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.
This is a very telling statement. Given the ancients' use of oral tradition to preserve truths in story form, and given their penchant for anthropomorphizing and mythologizing nearly everything they encountered in space and time, let's read it again but in a slightly different way.
A hero (the native and his Sun placement) ventures forth from the world of common day (the natives' Sign that is the most familiar and natural feeling) into a region of supernatural wonder (the Signs following the native Sign that are unfamiliar and not of his nature): fabulous forces are there encountered (confronting the many different Zodiacal seasons throughout the solar year) and a decisive victory is won (the Sun has completed its cross and has passed through all the Signs victoriously): the hero comes back from his mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man (using all the accumulated experiences and wisdom of the different Signs in order to further liberate the natives' own Sign; that is, to see the whole in the part and the part in the whole)
The Sun placement in particular shows where an individual is most happy and comfortable, and where there is the most drive to achieve success. One's birthday is like a religious holiday. There are many kinds of good sensations one gets returning to her native sign, and it's quite possible that even if she for some reason never knew her birthday, that she would be able to figure it out judging from her feelings. Early in life there is much unconscious learning of one's Archetypes and geometries, all of which are completely unique to the individual. One gets excited about the prospects of some things, but not so much about other things, and so on and so forth. One identifies with subjects and objects in varying degrees depending on what exactly she is interested in, what jumps out at her, and this jumping out can very much be found within the Sun, Mercury and Jupiter placements (Within Evolutionary Astrology, the planet Pluto is an important indicator of desires and preferences within the life as well). It is because children are taught in a highly homogenized way in school that they become so bored; they don’t feel the subjects they are studying are speaking to them. I personally feel that even a cursory knowledge of a child's sign would work wonders for teachers trying to keep their attention, because the child would intuitively know he is being recognized at a deep level.
A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.
This is a very telling statement. Given the ancients' use of oral tradition to preserve truths in story form, and given their penchant for anthropomorphizing and mythologizing nearly everything they encountered in space and time, let's read it again but in a slightly different way.
A hero (the native and his Sun placement) ventures forth from the world of common day (the natives' Sign that is the most familiar and natural feeling) into a region of supernatural wonder (the Signs following the native Sign that are unfamiliar and not of his nature): fabulous forces are there encountered (confronting the many different Zodiacal seasons throughout the solar year) and a decisive victory is won (the Sun has completed its cross and has passed through all the Signs victoriously): the hero comes back from his mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man (using all the accumulated experiences and wisdom of the different Signs in order to further liberate the natives' own Sign; that is, to see the whole in the part and the part in the whole)
The Sun placement in particular shows where an individual is most happy and comfortable, and where there is the most drive to achieve success. One's birthday is like a religious holiday. There are many kinds of good sensations one gets returning to her native sign, and it's quite possible that even if she for some reason never knew her birthday, that she would be able to figure it out judging from her feelings. Early in life there is much unconscious learning of one's Archetypes and geometries, all of which are completely unique to the individual. One gets excited about the prospects of some things, but not so much about other things, and so on and so forth. One identifies with subjects and objects in varying degrees depending on what exactly she is interested in, what jumps out at her, and this jumping out can very much be found within the Sun, Mercury and Jupiter placements (Within Evolutionary Astrology, the planet Pluto is an important indicator of desires and preferences within the life as well). It is because children are taught in a highly homogenized way in school that they become so bored; they don’t feel the subjects they are studying are speaking to them. I personally feel that even a cursory knowledge of a child's sign would work wonders for teachers trying to keep their attention, because the child would intuitively know he is being recognized at a deep level.
The Electric Universe
The Electric Universe is a theory that may help one better understand the connections between the electric, highly charged and vital archetypes of the Sun, Mercury and Jupiter. Of course people will recall that the Greek Zeus and Roman Jupiter used lightning bolts as their weapon of choice. When looking at Fortune, the Major Arcana card associated with Jupiter, we do in fact see lightning bolts in the background that act as a reminder of the source of this archetype. When we look further into Mercury we will also see a close connection to electricity, our nervous system, kundalini, the spinal column, and many other interesting things that have to do with lightning-quick cognition and information assimilation in our minds, brains and bodies. But, up until recently many may not have connected electricity with the Sun; that is, until this new theory was born which states that the entire cosmos may not be governed by general relativity, fusion and gravity in the exact ways we have been led to believe. It is being discovered that nebulae behave and look more like electrical discharges, and that stars and our own Sun may in fact be more like giant electromagnetic plasma light bulbs rather than these fusion reactor infernos made up of chemical explosions as we've been told.
As stated in the introduction of the documentary Thunderbolts of the Gods:
Sir Isaac Newton was the first to state the law of gravity. Eventually everybody agreed that gravity alone formed galaxies and stars and planets, and that gravity alone holds the universe together. Then we discovered and force a thousand, billion, billion, billion, billion times more powerful than gravity. Until recently we believed that the space between the stars and planets was empty, a vacuum. We now know it is teeming with charged particles. We see glowing electric filaments spanning millions of lightyears. We see stellar and galactic formations shaped by magnetic fields. Only electric currents create magnetic fields. It is possible that the predominant force in the universe is not gravity, but something else.
As stated in the introduction of the documentary Thunderbolts of the Gods:
Sir Isaac Newton was the first to state the law of gravity. Eventually everybody agreed that gravity alone formed galaxies and stars and planets, and that gravity alone holds the universe together. Then we discovered and force a thousand, billion, billion, billion, billion times more powerful than gravity. Until recently we believed that the space between the stars and planets was empty, a vacuum. We now know it is teeming with charged particles. We see glowing electric filaments spanning millions of lightyears. We see stellar and galactic formations shaped by magnetic fields. Only electric currents create magnetic fields. It is possible that the predominant force in the universe is not gravity, but something else.
The Hidden Hand
The 10th card, Fortune, is attributed the letter Kaph meaning 'fist.' You see this fist at the bottom of the wheel in the Thoth deck version. Of course the 10 is related to the 19, the Sun, as 1+9 = 10. So they have a special relationship, even with the Magician card whose number is 1. The card before the 10th is the 9th, the Hermit, whose letter is Yod meaning 'hand.' Lines of 'destiny' are seen on the palm of the hand. We also have the 'helping hand,' the 'hidden hand' and even the 'hand of God.' The fist of Kaph braces itself. It both impacts and is impacted by the world. We understand this as the path between Chesed and Netzach.
You could say this movement from 9 to 10, from Yod to Kaph, indicates secret Knowledge guiding you and protecting you in the world through thick and thin, i.e., through the Rota Fortunae (the wheel of fortune). We see this when moving from 18 to 19 as well, from Qoph to Resh, from 'back of head' to 'head.' This again represents a hidden union working with and supporting the seemingly separated surface, integrating the unseen with the seen, and subsequently experiencing the sun blazing in your own heart, just as it is outside of you.
You could say this movement from 9 to 10, from Yod to Kaph, indicates secret Knowledge guiding you and protecting you in the world through thick and thin, i.e., through the Rota Fortunae (the wheel of fortune). We see this when moving from 18 to 19 as well, from Qoph to Resh, from 'back of head' to 'head.' This again represents a hidden union working with and supporting the seemingly separated surface, integrating the unseen with the seen, and subsequently experiencing the sun blazing in your own heart, just as it is outside of you.