Steampunk Sun
Let’s spend this summer studying The Sun card! Each entry between May and August (8 total) will feature a Sun card from a different deck along with the text the creator wrote for it. It will be interesting to see how so many people see difference aspects of this apparently simple card.
Today we visit the Sun in the Steampunk Tarot by Barbara Moore and Aly Fell, in which the author tells us what she really thinks, provides an interpretation, and gives a bonus reading tip.
XIX, The Sun
“Dance with me.” “Why?” “Because life is amazing.”
Core meaning: Clarity that brings joy.
Tarot authors share some qualities with Victorian writers…the tendency toward verbosity being one of them. That trait, coupled with the demands of book construction and editors, both of which value consistency, means that we authors tend to say more about this card than is absolutely necessary. After all, if we only wrote a few lines for the Sun—compared to several paragraphs for the other cards—it wouldn’t be fair to the Sun, and, worse, it would be inconsistent.
But the truth is that the Sun is a very simple card. The sun symbolizes solar wisdom, a conscious understanding. We all know that knowing something can be either good or bad; that knowledge can make us either happy or unhappy (or some other emotion). There is a reason they say, for example, “The truth hurts” and “If you don’t want to know, don’t ask.” The knowledge of the Sun card, though, is joyful.
If you’ve ever just felt so happy that laughter bubbled out of you, then you’ve experienced the Sun. In those moments, it seems like there is no real reason for such happiness—but there is. When I said the Sun was a simple card, perhaps I should have said that the experience of it is very simple; the reasons are complex. What happens is that everything in the universe lines up perfectly, and you experience this moment of crystalline clarity. You are connected in a mil- lion different indefinable ways to the universe, and it feels amazing. We see this interconnectedness in the card: the male and female elements are dancing together; the rational self (the sun) and the intuitive self/soul (the dog) are both present and shining; the creations of man (wall) and nature (sunflowers) exist in harmony. Everything is, at least for this brief moment, utterly and completely perfect.
When this card shines in your life, it promises happiness and joy based on truth and understanding. Its presence uplifts all other cards and makes everything just a little bit better.
Reading tip: If you are looking for a yes or a no as part of your reading, the Sun, as well as the aces, are usually read as clear yeses. The Sun card can also represent a full year if you are looking for timing, and it is associated with birth- days (which are referred to in astrological circles as your solar return).
