← Encyclopedia of Astrology · lesson 27/235
Sun
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The Sun is the centre of the chart in the same way it is the centre of the sky by day. It signifies vitality, will and purpose — the part of a person that wants to shine, to be recognised and to give direction. Traditionally it also stands for fathers, rulers, those in authority and one's honour and reputation. In a reading, the Sun's sign describes the style in which someone tends to seek recognition, and its house the area of life where they are most inclined to put themselves forward.
Nature
The tradition calls the Sun hot and dry, masculine and diurnal: it is the leader of the day sect, with Jupiter and Saturn as its companions. It is one of the two luminaries, and neither benefic nor malefic in itself — its light gives life, but too close an approach overwhelms another planet, which is why a planet near the Sun is called combust, under the beams, or, in the heart of the Sun, cazimi. Its virtues are constancy, generosity and leadership; its faults, pride and the wish to dominate.
Signs it rules and where it is strong or weak
The Sun has a single domicile, Leo, the sign of high summer in the northern hemisphere. Its exaltation is Aries, where the light returns at the spring equinox, traditionally strongest at 19°. It is in detriment in Aquarius, opposite its home, and in its fall in Libra, where the days begin to shorten. Modern astrology keeps all four.
Motion
The Sun moves about one degree a day and spends roughly a month in each sign, crossing the whole zodiac in a year. It is never retrograde: retrograde motion is an appearance created when the Earth overtakes another planet or is overtaken by it, and the Sun's path through the zodiac is simply the reflection of the Earth's own orbit. Its pace varies only slightly, a little faster in the northern winter, when the Earth is nearest to it.
In a chart
In a natal chart, the Sun's house is where a person tends to seek significance — the 10th inclines toward public standing, the 5th toward creativity and play, the 12th toward a quieter, more hidden kind of purpose. Planets in aspect to it colour how freely that purpose can be expressed. In a day chart (Sun above the horizon) it carries more weight still, as the leader of its sect.
In transit
As a transit, the Sun is quick, so it acts more as a spotlight than a long chapter: for a few days it lights up whatever natal planet or angle it touches. Its yearly return to its natal place is the solar return, the astrologer's birthday. Its passage through each house of the natal chart gives a month in which that area tends to ask for attention.
In the tarot
The Golden Dawn's correspondences, which most English-language decks follow.
Major Arcana: The Sun
Decans it rules: Three of Wands (Aries 10°–20°), Ten of Swords (Gemini 20°–30°), Eight of Pentacles (Virgo 0°–10°), Six of Cups (Scorpio 10°–20°), Four of Pentacles (Capricorn 20°–30°)