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The Sun
After The Moon's uncertain passage through shadow and instinct, The Sun rises — unhurried, unambiguous, and full. The night journey is over. The light is here, and it is yours.
What Does The Sun Mean?
The Sun carries the number nineteen, arriving after The Moon's long night and just before Judgement's call to awakening. In the tarot's story, it is the moment the dark passage ends and full light returns — not the tentative hope of The Star or the uncertain shimmer of The Moon, but the full, warm clarity of day.
At its core, The Sun is a card of joy — the particular joy that comes from genuine clarity, from having survived something difficult and arrived on the other side with more of yourself intact than you feared. It is also a card of vitality and confidence: the energy that moves freely when nothing is obscured, when you know where you stand and feel good about what you find.
The Story in the Image
In the 1909 Rider-Waite-Smith deck, a radiant sun fills the upper half of the card, its face open and benevolent, rays alternating between straight and wavy — the combination of conscious and unconscious energy, both illuminated. Below it, a naked child rides a white horse through an open garden, arms wide, a red banner streaming behind them.
The nakedness of the child is significant: nothing hidden, nothing armored, nothing to conceal. The child has not yet learned to guard what they feel or moderate what they express. This is not naivety — it is the recovered wholeness of someone who has passed through the dark and come out the other side with nothing left to hide.
The sunflowers growing behind the garden wall face the sun, as sunflowers do — turning always toward the source of light. The white horse moves without a saddle and without a bridle, guided by trust rather than force. Everything in the image moves freely, openly, without effort.
The Sun Upright
Upright, The Sun is one of the most welcome cards in the deck — a genuine confirmation that clarity, vitality, and joy are available, either right now or approaching. It is not a card of qualified optimism; it does not say "things may get better." It says, with unusual directness: things are genuinely good here.
It can mark the end of a difficult period — the morning after The Moon's dark night, the warmth that arrives after The Tower's collapse and The Star's quiet healing. It can also appear simply as an affirmation of present health and wholeness, a card that says "trust what you are feeling; the goodness is real."
The Sun also speaks to authentic self-expression — the willingness to let yourself be seen without armor, to act from genuine enthusiasm rather than calculated caution, to enjoy what you actually enjoy without apology.
The Sun Reversed
Reversed, The Sun does not become a dark card — it is one of the few cards in the deck that retains its fundamental positivity even when inverted. What changes is access: joy that feels slightly out of reach, optimism that keeps getting interrupted by doubt, a sunny period that has been obscured by clouds rather than ended.
It can also point to an overcorrection in the direction of brightness — forced positivity that papers over genuine difficulty, a relentless cheerfulness that doesn't leave room for the harder feelings that also need attention. The Sun reversed sometimes asks: are you genuinely joyful, or are you performing joy?
In some readings, reversed The Sun simply indicates a delay — the clarity and warmth are coming, but something needs to clear first before the full light arrives.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is The Sun always a positive card?
The Sun is one of the most consistently positive cards in the tarot deck. Even reversed, it tends to indicate joy that is temporarily obscured or harder to access rather than absent altogether. It is one of the few cards that retains its fundamental brightness in almost any position.
What does The Sun mean in a love reading?
In love readings, The Sun is one of the most welcome cards to draw. It points to genuine warmth, ease, and authentic connection — a relationship where both people can be fully themselves. It can also signal a new relationship with naturally bright energy, or the renewal of warmth in an existing connection after a difficult period.
What does The Sun mean after difficult cards like The Tower or The Moon?
Following difficult cards, The Sun confirms that the hardest part is behind you and that genuine clarity and vitality are returning. In the Major Arcana sequence, The Sun arrives after The Moon's uncertain passage specifically to offer this: the dawn that was always going to come once the night had run its course.
What is the difference between The Sun and The Star?
Both cards are positive, but they speak to different qualities. The Star is quiet, gentle, and healing — the gradual return of hope after difficulty, poured out carefully in small streams. The Sun is full and open — not tentative hope but active joy, not healing in process but vitality arrived. The Star helps you survive the night; The Sun is the morning.
Kenya Ferguson — Founder, The Sacred Heart Collective LLC
Kenya Ferguson is the founder of The Sacred Heart Collective and the creator of Whispers & Wonders. Tarot and crystals are personal practices for her — she shares what she has learned as a genuine enthusiast, not a certified reader or healer. Her approach favors curiosity and honesty over authority.