The Sun

The long night of The Moon is over. Dawn has come and it is magnificent. The Sun blazes above a child riding a white horse, arms wide, sunflowers behind them, a red banner waving. There is no irony here, no ambiguity, no shadow. The Sun is the card of unambiguous joy the feeling of being genuinely alive, of things working out, of clarity after confusion. In the Fool's journey, The Sun is the return: the child that began as The Fool has passed through every trial and rediscovered what was there at the beginning the capacity for pure, open delight.

The Sun is one of the most joyful cards in the deck. It speaks to success, vitality, confidence, happiness, and the clear light of truth revealing everything as it really is. When it appears, things are working. Energy is high. Vision is clear. Children, creativity, and radiant self-expression are all in its domain. It is also the card of seeing yourself clearly and liking what you see. Reversed, The Sun does not become The Moon it simply suggests that joy is available but not yet accessible, or that clarity is being blocked by doubt.

The child on the white horse is The Fool reborn the same openness, the same wonder, but now earned, not naive. The white horse is purity of purpose. The sunflowers facing the sun represent the soul turning toward what gives it life. The red banner is the same as Death's flag showing that what Death transforms, The Sun illuminates. The twenty-one rays of the sun (alternating straight and wavy) mirror the twenty-one numbered cards of the Major Arcana that the Fool has passed through.

• The Sun is ruled by the Sun itself the centre of the solar system, the source of all life on Earth, and in astrology the planet of identity, vitality, and purpose.
• The child depicted on The Sun card is sometimes called "the philosopher's stone" in alchemical interpretations the achievement of perfect spiritual and material integration.
• In the original Visconti-Sforza tarot (15th century), The Sun was depicted as a cherub holding the sun, rather than the child on horseback the imagery evolved over centuries.
• The number 19 reduces to 10 (Wheel of Fortune) and then to 1 (The Magician) The Sun brings us back to conscious creation, but now informed by the entire journey.
• The Sun is statistically the card most associated with positive health outcomes in traditional tarot reading systems that address wellbeing.