Understanding the Meaning of the Sun in your Natal Chart
Have you wondered why Sun Sign astrology is so persistently popular in mainstream culture?
More than 90% of the population in western countries know their Sun sign. Tens of millions regularly read Sun Sign horoscopes across all media. Most astrologers express serious concerns about Sun Sign astrology being only a small piece of the puzzle, and I share this concern. Yet, there is an inherent validity in emphasizing the Sun in astrology. I intend to share here just how cool the hot Sun is and how crucial it can be in helping you move towards understanding who you are.
To get started on understanding the meaning of the Sun in astrology, following are some of its key archetypal dynamics. The Sun is referred to as The Giver of Life. It is the natural ruler of Leo and the 5th House of personal creative expression.
It symbolizes the sacred father, the animus and Yang or Creative energy. It rules the heart, which powers the entire human body.
The Sun - NASA Science
The Sun in the Solar System
Astronomically speaking, the Sun is the center of gravity in our solar system. Every planet revolves around it, submitting to the powerful force of its existence.
On Earth, we experience the Sun’s energy-giving qualities, its light and warmth. The Sun compels seeds to new life, infusing them with the will to grow towards it.
The Sun as the Core of Your Being
Just as the Sun is the central force directing the planets in our solar system around it, in astrology, it archetypally acts as the leader over all the planets in the birth chart, which in Transpersonal Astrology is the map or blueprint for your life.
The Sun represents the core of your being. It is the center of gravity from which your life purpose emerges. It is how you shine in the world, what fills you with the life force and vitality to take on the challenges you face, both external and internal. Symbolically, the Sun is the fire within that drives you and pushes you to grow. In esoteric philosophy, the Sun’s rays represent the divine force emanating love through your heart out into the world.
When you are focused on creating something out of a seed idea, putting your heart-pumping will into it, you might have noticed how you radiate with joy. This is what it feels like to express the nature of your Sun fully. Being in this state is fun! It is like playing. It makes you feel alive and real. In The Hero’s Journey, Joseph Campbell calls it “following your bliss.”
“The Sun represents the core of your being. It is the center of gravity from which your life purpose emerges. It is how you shine in the world, what fills you with the life force and vitality to take on the challenges you face, both external and internal. ”
All this doesn’t happen automatically, however. The birth chart is a set of potentials we are challenged to actualize. It takes our focused attention and conscious effort to follow our inner light as it reveals areas in our unconscious – our demons and our undiscovered gifts. This is what leads us towards greater self-awareness. If we do not put forth this effort, our light will dim, we lose our way.
Understanding your archetypal Sun can open you to making choices that lead you to living your highest spiritual expression. Knowing the Sun’s crucial role within the whole of your unique birth chart provides even deeper understanding. Transpersonal Astrology takes a holistic approach to interpreting your personal birth chart. It is a unique portrait rendered from all the archetypal elements characterizing the fundamental nature and potential of humanity.
Let’s see how you shine in the world!
Below are brief descriptions of the Sun through each sign.
Keep in mind this is but one aspect of your chart that must be developed and integrated with the whole of your blueprint for you to fulfill the potential of your personhood.
Sun in Aries
Think of Aries as the seed. Sun in Aries shines brightest when that seed, out of its own volition, pushes itself up as a plant into the sunlight of day. The attention and focus of Sun in Aries are on the process of self-determination through creative acts that bring something new into being. Aries is driven by the sheer force of its will, the more groundbreaking the better. Perhaps truly knowing in your heart that you exist, that you are an innately creative being, and that you matter is as groundbreaking as it gets.
Sun in Taurus
Sun in Taurus shines brightest when it puts focused attention into developing its inherent talents and abilities. This requires also developing a set of values, what is deemed most important in life and true to your deepest soul nature to manifest in your life. Seeing the beauty in all creation is deeply important to the sensual Sun in Taurus, which leans into syncing up with the natural rhythms of nature. Developing the beauty of your own spirit to its fullest expression may be your greatest talent and ability of all.
Sun in Gemini
The Sun in Gemini shines brightest when it is engaged in using its curious, often witty intellect in pursuit of quality information, exchanging ideas and sharing insights with others. It is highly perceptive and intrinsically motivated to always be learning something new as a way of connecting with the world around it. Yet the Sun in Gemini is perhaps at its most radiant in moments of quietude when its stilled mind opens to greater truths flowing in from the universal database of consciousness.
Sun in Cancer
The Sun in Cancer shines brightest when it seeks experiences that foster a sense of belonging, a being at home in one’s skin, a total acceptance of who one is. This applies locally within a family and outwards through expanded arenas of activity – social, cultural, global and cosmic. The Sun in Cancer needs to develop its own special place and role to play as a co-participant in kinship with others. Further it needs to actively nurture and protect its place with the force of love connecting it with its greater Cosmic home.
Tourists observing the July 2016 Manhattanhenge on 42nd Street
Sun in Leo
The Sun in Leo shines brightest when it is fully engaged in expressing itself creatively, through any manner of activity. This playful and magnanimous act is itself an expression of radiant love revealing its core nature as a shining star. As the natural ruler of Leo, the Sun here exudes warm and inspirational qualities when it is creatively expressing simply for the joy of it, with no hidden agenda for adulation or reward. The Sun in Leo leads by example to motivate others to shine their brightest as well.
Sun in Virgo
The Sun in Virgo shines brightest when it acts in service to something outside itself. Its motivation is to purify through selfless deeds. It perceives how best to provide support in relationships or refine systems of living using a practical, analytical approach. The Sun in Virgo radiates when it surrenders its own preferences for method and discerns whether its usefulness is truly wanted or needed. Engaging in service to the world of others requires loving acceptance and appreciation of their different ways of doing things.
Sun in Libra
The Sun in Libra shines brightest when it is collaboratively engaged with others with grace and harmony. It seeks to understand the needs of others and establish balance in all relationships. It seeks to experience beauty as an intrinsic quality of spirit manifesting where love is present. It is supportive of others, yet must also honor its own needs to maintain equilibrium. The Sun in Libra radiates most beautifully when it is totally at ease expressing its unique self in relationship regardless of how others may feel or respond.
Sun in Scorpio
The Sun in Scorpio shines brightest when it is totally immersed in an endeavor. Its passions take many forms within various types of relationships as it seeks to know the true core of its authentic being. This transformative process leads it through a symbolic death of the limited ego self to the birth of the creative soul self. The Sun in Scorpio radiates most intensely when it harnesses its whole self, its attention and imagination, talents and resources, towards a shared purpose to create something greater than itself.
Sun in Sagittarius
The Sun in Sagittarius shines brightest when it takes in the breadth of its life experiences and finds deep meaning in it. It seeks to understand the workings of the cosmos and our role in it. Taking in the rich diversity of humanity, it comes to an expanded view of what it is like to live together on this planet. The Sun in Sagittarius becomes our north star as it develops wisdom, guiding us in the art of living together harmoniously within our shared reality.
Sun in Capricorn
The Sun in Capricorn shines brightest when it is focused on the principal of organization. It is motivated to manifest structures to house a family, company, government or all humanity. The foundations of living systems depend upon their integrity. They must be strong practically and spiritually. The Sun in Capricorn shines most formidably when its organizations are inclusive, can serve the diverse evolving needs of group and individual, with the integrity of structure and spirit in dynamic interaction over time.
Sun in Aquarius
The Sun in Aquarius shines brightest when it uses its power and wisdom in service to humanity. It is motivated to develop its potential to innovate and provide creative solutions to the world’s biggest problems. Perhaps its true purpose is to use its psychological maturity to lead the larger collective beyond limited, self-serving thinking. This represents a spiritually evolutionary movement from fear to love. The Sun in Aquarius radiates most powerfully when it galvanizes humanity towards this unified purpose.
Sun in Pisces
The Sun in Pisces shines brightest when it expresses unconditional love and compassion. Seeking mystical experiences to ignite its powerful intuition and imagination, it must develop the courage to battle its inner demons. It needs to show up fully emotionally engaged in its life, no matter how challenging to its sensitive nature. The highest expression of Sun in Pisces is to remain true to itself through cycles of change. Its spiritual mission is to remain aware of the interconnectedness of all existence and to evolve towards Unity Consciousness.