An Ode to the Sun and its Importance in Astrology

As I write this, it is Sunday, the day of the Sun. The Sun has been shining beautifully these last few days after a patch of cloudiness and rain. It has only been 2 months ago from today as I write this on February 25, that the Sun has been rising from its rebirth since the Winter Solstice. I have really craved the presence of the Sun, as it has been one of the most difficult winters of my life, literally(-ish) and metaphorically. I only saw the Sun for a few fleeting moments and glimpses during these last 2 months of my hibernation due to a fractured patella which had me bedridden for most of the time. In little less than a month, Spring will finally be announced (also the season of my birth), and hopefully, life will, more or less, be back to normal(-ish). Well, my life is a whole other story, but this article isn’t about me; it’s about the Sun. 

So as my 2^nd article, why The Sun, out of all the other more mysterious and maybe more interesting constellational phenomena happening in the Universe? Haven’t we all studied enough about the Sun in school? (I don’t actually know what about the Sun they are teaching in school these days. I haven’t been in Primary school in almost 20 years.) Well, let’s put it this way: Without the Sun, none of us would exist. None of the life on Earth, the plants, the animals, the mushrooms, the protists, and even Us humans, would even exist without the light and warmth generated by the Sun. I think many of us take the Sun for granted and don’t realize that we owe it almost everything for our existence. Whether or not you find the joy or the bane in your own existence, neither the Sun nor I can do anything about that, but I digress. 

The Sun generates about 400 trillion Watts of energy, of which the Earth receives 340 watts of that energy per square meter, covering a total surface area of 5.1 trillion m². Trillions of organism species inhabit the Earth, all requiring the Sun for life whether directly or indirectly. Even if you are a meat-eater, your prey will most likely be a plant-eater whose food needs the Sun to grow. The Sun is needed for plants and algae to produce energy to grow. The Sun provides light for us to see. Even nocturnal animals use the sunlight reflected by the Moon to see at night. No matter what or who you are, the Sun is needed for even the possibility of existence. Humans knew and have known this for a long time. Many of our cultures in history have placed the Sun at a prime spot in our ideology and theology, in our myths and legends, in the pantheon of our gods.  

One of the most famous representations of the Sun in human culture was the Sun God Ra (or Re) in ancient Egyptian religion. Ra was originally believed to be the first ruler of Egypt who relinquished his throne due to old age and decided to rise to occupy the sky instead. His promoted status to Sun God now obligated him to carry the Sun across the sky on a barge every day, where he would retire to the underworld at night (having to fight a snake named Apophis while traveling through the 12 gates of the underworld, which is a whole fun story by itself!). Ra was usually represented with a Hawk head in the day and a Ram head during the night. Ra was worshipped as the creator of all things and the bringer of life. He was attributed to sustaining the vital force for sustaining all living beings and for the gift-giving rays that nourished abundant crops. The daily barge journey across the sky represented Ra’s power and influence. The beginning of his journey during the dawn represented rebirth, while the end of his journey at sunset represented death and the afterlife. Throughout Egyptian history, Ra was also merged and/or renamed or re-identified as other gods such as Amun-Ra, Ra-Horakhty, or the Aten. The worship of the Aten became the world’s first known monotheistic religion, possibly being the father of all currently known monotheistic religions such as Judaism, the father of Christianity and Islam, which also originated from Egypt. Anyway, there’s a lot more history which I won’t cover here, but please research more at your own leisure. 

Another very old sun god from Mesopotamian (Akkadian/Sumerian) times is Shamash. It’s interesting to note that similarly the word in Hebrew for Sun is “Shemesh”, most likely because they both are derived from the Semitic language family. Shamash (earlier known as Utu in Sumerian times) was known as the divine judge and overseer of the world as his light, shown across the earth, illuminated the deeds or misdeeds of all. He was the god of Justice and judged both gods and humans alike. He was also the judge of the underworld during the night. He usually rode across the heavens on horseback, by boat, or in a chariot. He is typically depicted wearing a “horned crown of divinity” with a saw in hand that possibly represents, per some scholars, the judgement that must be “cut”. He has also been displayed with a ring and rod in hand instead representing “time and eternity” which signified his rulership of such. 

There are two other Sun gods that share very similar physical representations, that may have been influenced by each other through trade and cultural exchange. Helios of Greece and Surya of India. Both are pictorialized as riding a chariot with white horses across the sky carrying the Sun with their presence giving light to all during the day hours.  

One of the most interesting stories of Helios, yet one of the most tragic, is when his mortal son Phaethon asked for the reins to Helios’ chariot to prove that he was his father’s son, yet Helios urged his son that driving his chariot could prove fatal and discouraged the request. Phaethon refused to let down and begged his father, promising he would be careful. Helios eventually gave in and let Phaethon take the reins. Everything was well and good until Phaethon got carried away and riled the anger of Zeus who sent a lightning bolt to stop his preposterous behavior. Of course, the lightning bolt ended up turning the poor boy Phaethon into a pile of ash, bringing his zealous “jovial” excursion to an end. 

Surya was one of the oldest and longest reigning gods of the Indian pantheon who was worshipped to invoke health, strength, and protection; however, the god’s current worship has decreased dramatically due to Muslim invasion and destruction of its temples during the 13^th century. Surya’s worship has been largely replaced by the worship of Vishnu and Shiva. Surya was one of the major 5 deities in the Hindu Smarta tradition. Surya is also the lord ruler of the zodiac sign Leo (or Simha) in Vedic astrology. Surya is known by many other names such as Aditya, Savitr, Mitra, and Pushan which also can designate different characteristics of the sun depending on the context of which these names are mentioned. It’s also interesting to note that Mithra was also the name of an Iranian deity that was also associated with the Sun along with symbolizing Justice, Oath, Friendships, and Contracts also known as the “overseer of all.” Mithra also had come to be known as a deity worshipped in an underground Roman cult as well where he was shown as a hunter who performed bull sacrifice. 

I know it has already been a long history lesson about Sun gods and the bell is about to ring for lunch, but before we go on to the main significations of the Sun, I would like to touch on one more personification of the Sun as a deity. This one is a very stark contrast to the gods mentioned above as this god requested blood sacrifice to maintain its energy, light, and rays. In the pre-Columbian civilization in what is now Mexico, the Aztecs had a very daunting and cowering view of the Sun. For the world was literally in the Sun’s hands, and if the Sun were to die, so would the people (I mean which is true). But the Sun had a very strict (non-vegan) diet of human hearts and blood; apparently a diet high in iron. Who knew the Sun was anemic and iron-deficient? The Aztec Sun god Huītzilōpōchtli was the first to perform the ritualistic sacrifice when he tore out the heart of his detested nephew and threw it across the land of Mexico, then ordering the Nahuatl peoples to search for a new land to communize by searching for the discarded heart. Huītzilōpōchtli, who was the god of war as well as the sun, requested a continuous blood nourishment in order to carry the sky and to prevent the infinite night.  

It seemed a lot of these human sacrifices were prisoners of war or captives by Aztec warriors. Those warriors who were willing to ritualistically cannibalize their hunt elevated their status in the hierarchy in Aztec society. I am very curious to know what kind of disillusionment occurred unto the Aztecs after the Spanish colonized and they came to realize that blood sacrifice wasn’t necessary to maintain the rise of dawn. It’s probably why they accepted the new Catholic religion with open arms considering it was a safer bet for life than possibly being sacrificed to a hungry Sun god. Ironically, it is a conspiracy that Christianity adopted (or “created” some theorize) by the Roman emperor Constantine was actually a transformed version of Sun worship with Jesus being a personification of the Sun. Considering Jesus was born on December 25^th, which is also when the Sun is born after the Winter solstice, and considering he has 12 disciples which correlate with the 12 constellations that surround the Sun, it’s not such a far cry. The Catholic church also has a lot of Sun symbolism associated with it. But don’t take what I say for fact, do your own research and draw your own conclusions. 

So after a whirl-winded, or long-winded, however you want to look at it, view of the Sun as it applies to Earth, Humanity, and our History, let’s dive into the symbology and characteristics we give the Sun, especially in its relation and application to Astrology (I mean, that’s what my whole website is about right?). So…the Sun, exists as a central figure to our galaxy, our solar system, being the “father” to 9 planets in astrological terms. Its light reaches out and shines and reflects on all of these planets; some of them reflecting the light back to us on Earth from which we can visually see their presence. The Sun is the life giver to our planet and even metaphorically the giver of life to the planets which have no life, in the sense that they seem alive to our eyes, in comparison to stars, as they make their orbits across the sky.

The Sun takes 365.5 days (about 1 year) to circulate the entire zodiac with it covering each sign for about a month. In tropical Astrology, which is what I follow, the zodiac is just a symbolic representation of the earth’s path around the sun and does not actually represent where the Sun and earth are in relation to the actual constellations that bear the zodiacs names. Sidereal astrology however does take this into account and the actual precession of the equinox through these constellations from which the original zodiac was based that had aligned with each particular month, so in this case it might be likely your sun sign in Tropical vs. Sidereal is different, but originally, it would’ve been the same back in history around 285 AD when the two systems were last aligned. My sun sign in Tropical is Aries while my Sidereal sun sign is Pisces. In Tropical, my mercury sign is in Pisces anyway, so either way I have Pisces characteristics. I have a lot more research to do on the Sidereal side of things, but that’s another topic for another day. The Sun will manifest its energies differently depending on which zodiac sign it is in, and I will eventually make a blog post for how the Sun is represented in each sign. 

The Sun as it applies to Astrology is the representation of self: of our drive and vitality. It is the source and motivation of our everyday life. It is our impulse and capacity to be. It is how we put ourselves forth into our lives. It is the torch we carry with us every day and every night. It is the energizing force of our mind and of our spirit. It is the style of how we meet challenges in our life. It is the activating energy to how we manifest our desires. The Sun gives us the strength and the authority to be. It is our creative driving force. It is THE reason for our existence and defines HOW we exist. It gives an overall indication of our health and well-being. The Sun represents our beating heart, our solar plexus. It represents us being alive. It is the reason we are alive. 

The Sun outside of ourselves can also represent our natural father, masculine authority figures, our caregivers, husbands, other male influences, as well as the children we may have. The Sun also represents royalty, higher authority, government, law, wisdom, and justice. There is a reason the Sun is represented in many government faculties and on nation’s flags as well as in many religious sanctities. It represents the ruler and giver to all. Kings throughout history have ruled in the name of the Sun, many even claiming descendance from the Sun. Even Constantine claimed rule by the cross, with the cross often a symbol associated with the Sun representing the rays of the Sun. Aspects to the Sun in your natal chart can also represent the type of environment you grew up in with good aspects signifying a well-supported environment in childhood and negative aspects describing issues and dysfunctions of your early life. 

I hope you enjoyed my composition on the Sun and its significance in our lives. It’s already night and the sun has gone to sleep as I finish this, which means I probably should be going to bed also. I forgot to mention one last thing! It is very important for you to go outside (RIGHT NOW!) in the sunlight as our bodies use it to generate Vitamin D which is a very important prohormone that affects many systems in the body including the uptake of phosphorous and calcium in the body and can also be protective against depression. But let me not turn this into a whole health article about why it’s important to go outside, exercise, and take your vitamins, I hope you know that already. I am going to bid you adieu for the night and see you in my next article. I am thinking about doing an article about the Sun in Pisces next as the Sun is currently in Pisces.