Here comes the sun, here comes the sun...And I say it's all right!
~ The Beatles (George Harrison)
Even after all this time, the sun never says to the earth, 'You owe me.' Look what happens with a love like that. It lights the whole sky.
~ Hafiz
While the Star is considered the most hopeful card of the tarot, the sun is thought by many to be the most positive. When the Sun appears in your reading it indicates that its tme to face the light, the sun is rising after the long dark night. In our modern times we mark this return of the sun with Groundhog’s Day on February 2nd, asking that little creature to let us know whether we will have six more weeks of winter or not. But really it is the time when we, metaphorically, stick our own heads up out of our winter dens and look towards the rising, warming sun, in order to re-member the light.
The Sun is such a powerful image of self generating, self sustaining light that generates and sustains life for others as well. Our planet was brought to life by the Sun, and is just far enough away and turns just the right way to get just the right amount to keep us going; rolling around and growing, thriving, flourishing and evolving. The Earth soaks in the sun where we face it and basks in its cool reflection on the tide pulling moon & sparkling planets as we face away, and the Sun just keeps shining and shining and shining. It doesn’t make any demands for the gift of life and light, it just keeps on giving as a matter of its own inherent being; that is what the Sun does, that is simply what it is. This beautiful dance of Giving and Receiving...The perfection of our Universe and our cyclical interdependence is amazing!
February 1st marks the return of the strength of the Sun, it is the midpoint between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox, it is the place where we start to notice the days getting longer, the power of the sun returning. In the ancient Celtic cultures, people celebrated Candlemas (St Brigid's Day) in honor of the Goddess (& Saint) Brigid who is a triple goddess of midwifery (in later times said to be present at the birth of Christ), poetry and smithery, a goddess of the hearth. It was at this time of year that all of the old, spent candle ends and leavings were brought out and melted down, new wax (often beeswax) was added in, and with the returning power of the sun to enliven & give strength and fortitude, the candles for the new year were created.
Coincidentally, this time of year also marks the return of my own Sun, as I was born on February 3rd, and since my mother & I put each other through 48 hours of intense labor, I like to think I was aiming for Feb 1st at the outset and just got caught up in the process. For many years after I discovered Candlemas in my 20’s, my birthday parties were based on candle making, usually with a crock pot warmed for old candles and new wax added in, as well as strings and molds to make new candles. There is something so satisfying about melting down the old and so enlivening about using the old in the mix for the formation of the new!
In the Sun Moon tarot deck that works with me, the Sun Card is represented by a winged couple, a man and a woman, holding hands running through a field of sunflowers, under a beautiful brilliant sun mandala. When I see this card in a reading it expands my heart and reminds me of my imagination that we are all a ray in the sunstar that is the heart of God/ddess. It tells the querent (who ever is being read for) that the sun is rising, the time of facing the darkness is over and the light is returning. It is a good portent for the enlivening of a relationship, not only with our own inner masculine and feminine but also with the masculine and feminine in our partners and friends.
Really there are 4 of us in every 2 person relationship: Feminine Me and my Inner Masculine (Animus) meets Masculine You and your Inner Feminine (Anima), or vice versa and any number of combinations of Masculine and Feminine, and then we all enter into a very intricate dance of giving and receiving from all the differing aspects of our selves. Regardless of the body we are in, we all have a masculine and a feminine side and the Sun card brings out the best in all of us! It's time to throw off our heavy coats and lighten up in the light. Grab your partner, or your best friend, by the hand and head out into the light of the day to enjoy the sunshine.
Enjoy it while it is here, because it will change. Our beautiful earth is so very good at helping us understand the transformation of energy, through the turnings of the days and nights into the turnings of the seasons and the life death life cycles that are inherent in our beings and in our lives. This too shall pass, and so shall that, and this will come again and pass again...breathe in...rest...breathe out...rest...breathe...I love the cycles of life!
So while I am grateful for the joy and blessings and expansion of Sunshine, all the while, like the John Denver song below (click on the words to go to a sweet YouTube version of the song), I am also grateful for joy and blessings and introversion that come when we face the other way. No matter which way we face, though, I’m truly grateful to remember that the Sun continues to shine just where it is, no matter what.
Come share a sweet sunshine smile with me on February 27th, say hello and maybe even get a reading!
