The Sun in Tarot: Sovereignty, Vitality and the Radiance of Revelation
Tarot AccessoriesTable of Contents
- TL;DR: The Sun Quick Reference
- The Archetype of The Sun in the Tarot
- Symbolism and Imagery of The Sun
- Meaning of The Sun in a Tarot Reading
- Reversed Meaning of The Sun in a Tarot Reading
- The Evolution of The Sun Throughout History
- Numerology and the Number Nineteen in Tarot
- Astrological Resonance of The Sun
- FAQs About The Sun in Tarot
TL;DR: The Sun Quick Reference
Upright: Sovereignty, clarity, vitality, success, joyful embodiment, radiant truth, spiritual integration
Reversed: Clouded joy, delayed success, fear of exposure, performative happiness, blocked vitality
The Archetype of The Sun in the Tarot
The Sun is not simply joy. It is sovereignty made visible.
It is the archetype of radiant truth - the self no longer hidden, no longer fragmented, but fully alive and fully seen. After the collapse of The Tower and the descent into the mysteries of The Moon, The Sun marks the return: a soul that has passed through fire, shadow, and silence - and emerges intact.
The Sun in the tarot is not about naïve happiness. It is the earned luminosity that comes only after surviving the night.
The Sun demands no permission. It shines because it is. It illuminates not just the world, but the Self - revealing what was always there beneath the ruins. The Sun does not heal by comforting. It heals by revealing.
In the tarot, The Sun is the card of vitality, clarity, and divine selfhood unchained from fear. Where The Star whispered of hope, The Sun commands life. Where Judgment called the soul home, The Sun crowns it.
Related Cards to Explore
The Devil in Tarot: Shadow, Desire and the Illusion of Chains
The Tower in Tarot: Divine Intervention Causing Chaos and Collapse
The Star in Tarot: Hope, Renewal and the Light After the Fall
The Moon in Tarot: Illusion, Intuition and the Journey Through Shadows
Symbolism and Imagery of The Sun
In the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, The Sun radiates over a naked child riding a white horse - a symbol not of infancy, but of reborn sovereignty. The child is not naïve, he's unburdened - free from all false structures and false scripts. It represents the soul stripped of pretence, moving forward without shame.
The white horse is purity of will - action aligned with essence, no longer corrupted by fear or ego distortion. Behind the wall, sunflowers bloom - the natural consequence of turning toward the light without resistance. Their golden faces track the arc of the sun, just as the soul in alignment tracks the arc of its own truth.
Above it all, the Sun itself - immense, inescapable, undeniable - pours down vital force. Its rays alternate straight and wavy: order and chaos reconciled. Nothing escapes this light. Nothing needs to.
Meaning of The Sun in a Tarot Reading
When The Sun appears upright, it signals sovereign vitality. Truth shines unobstructed.
Success blooms from authenticity. Joy radiates because the soul no longer fractures itself to survive.
This tarot card marks the moment when struggle transmutes into celebration - not because pain never existed, but because it no longer defines you.
The Sun invites you to stand unveiled, without apology.
It says: You are not here to chase light. You are here to realise you already are it.
Reversed Meaning of The Sun in a Tarot Reading
Reversed, The Sun does not lose its life-giving essence - but it suggests momentary eclipse. Clouds may obscure your clarity. Self-doubt may whisper against your truth. Performance may mimic joy without truly embodying it.
The Sun tarot card reverse is not failure - it's a call to return - not outward, but inward - to the source of your own radiance.
Reversed, The Sun asks: Are you still seeking permission to shine? Or will you simply rise?
The Evolution of The Sun Throughout History
Early Tarot Appearances - La Soleil
In early decks like the Visconti-Sforza, The Sun was depicted simply: the celestial source of truth, life, and revelation.
The Sun tarot card, back then, was not romanticised - it was inevitable; the cosmic force that dissolves distortion simply by existing.
Tarot de Marseille - Duality Illuminated
In the Tarot de Marseille decks, The Sun card often shines over two youthful figures, hands joined - symbolising the healed duality within the self: left hemisphere and right hemisphere, masculine and feminine, mind and soul, conscious and subconscious.
The light does not erase difference. It harmonises it.
French Occult Tradition - Wirth and Solar Initiation
Oswald Wirth framed The Sun tarot card in the French Occult as the arrival point after initiatory trials - the restoration of wholeness after the soul’s journey through fragmentation.
In Wirth’s vision, The Sun is not an external deity. It is the revelation of the inner divine self - crowned not by others, but by the soul’s own awakening.
Golden Dawn - Solar Integration on the Tree of Life
The Golden Dawn assigned The Sun to the solar principle itself - the animating core of consciousness.
On the Tree of Life in the Kabbalah, The Sun bridges Hod (intellect) and Yesod (emotion) toward Tiphareth (the soul), integrating the lower personality with the higher self.
The Golden Dawn were responsible for making The Sun the homecoming to consciousness that awakening itself denotes.
Rider Waite Smith - The Victory of the Authentic Self
Pamela Colman Smith’s artistic depiction of The Sun in the Rider Waite Smith captures the truth: the child rides forward because it has nothing to fear and The Sun blazes because it cannot be diminished.
Waite described The Sun as “the culmination of the entire journey - the radiance of the conscious soul returned to its divine origin.”
Modern Decks - Joy, Authenticity and Embodied Freedom
In contemporary decks, The Sun is often reinterpreted as: liberation from internalised shame, reclamation of the sacred child, and radical authenticity embodied through action.
The modern Sun tarot card calls the soul to stand uncloaked, unashamed - not perfect, but whole.
Numerology and the Number Nineteen in Tarot
The Sun in the tarot holds the number Nineteen which, in numerology, reduces to 10 (completion) and then 1 (new beginnings).
The Sun embodies this double threshold:
- The completion of fragmentation
- The beginning of sovereign embodiment
The Sun isn't the end of the story. It is the first true step taken in full awareness.
Astrological Resonance of The Sun
The Sun is its own astrological force - ruler of Leo, yes, but more fundamentally the source of light itself. It animates all things with vitality, consciousness, and identity.
In the tarot, The Sun is the return to original essence - not a mask, not a performance, but the sovereign blaze of truth incarnated in form.
FAQs About The Sun in Tarot
What does The Sun mean in a love reading?
The Sun heralds relationships rooted in truth, freedom, and joy. It signals bonds that nourish, rather than constrain - connections where authenticity breathes easily between souls.
Is The Sun a yes or no card?
The Sun is a radiant yes - but not a yes of wishful thinking. It is the yes of the soul recognising itself, unburdened and clear.
What does The Sun mean when reversed?
Reversed, The Sun suggests temporary eclipse - moments when clarity dims or the soul questions its right to shine. It is never denial. It is always an invitation to return.
What archetype does The Sun represent?
The Sun is the archetype of The Sovereign Self - the one who no longer begs light from outside, but lives it from within.
