posted February 02, 2014 09:05 AM            

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The Mystery of Solar Fire

We need the Sun to feel authentic. Without a conscious connection to our solar energy, we never feel ‘grown up.’ Any planet aspecting the Sun has to be a part of the basic identity. Sun/Pluto, you have to come to terms with power and how to wield it, and your ability to destroy and rebuild. Sun/Saturn, you need to become your own authority. Sun/Mercury, self expression and processing information is a fundamental task. Sun/Jupiter needs to learn to live by a personal philosophy, and acknowledge its own wisdom and instinct. Sun/Venus has to live by what it values most. Whatever house we find the Sun in will give us an obvious direction for the solar energies, but the Sun’s position affects the entire chart.

But what is the Sun, exactly? It’s the first thing we learn in astrology, the place of the Sun. But it seems that, after our initial explorations, we hardly ever venture back to considering the Sun, after getting caught up in the complex, myriad, ever-unfolding mysteries of the astrological art. Why would we bother focusing on something as simple as the Sun, a simple given, when there are all those great harmonics and points and new asteroids out there?

I’m finding that, the longer I practice astrology, the more of a mystery the Sun becomes. Astrologer Giordano Bruno (d.1600) called the Sun the ‘heart’ of the chart. When I heard this many years ago I dismissed it as ‘old astrology,’ full of fabulous metaphors with no modern meaning. It wasn’t until I watched the Sun, and it’s role in the progressed chart, that the energy of the Sun finally made sense to me.

Those folks who dismiss astrology because all they know is the most basic element of astrology, have a point.

Are you an Aries, a Virgo, an Aquarius? No. Of course, you are nothing of the kind. There are so many factors contributing to what you might consider the “I” that the idea rends itself ludicrous.

Can we define ourselves by our Suns? Why would we want to? Would you try to hang your whole being on the Moon, or the Ascendant, or any other single point of the chart? Defining ourselves by the Moon might have some validity. The Moon rules our physical life, our physical being. The Moon is only in a sign for two and a bit days per month. Much better than the 30 days that Sun sign astrology divides itself by. It’s silly, the idea that one twelfth of the planet should define itself by the particular qualities of a particular month (and a month that’s out of sync, virtual, not literal, as we go by the precession of the equinoxes– i.e., the Sun is not literally within the constellation of Leo in the sky right now. We are one sign out of sync. Astrology itself is a wheel within a wheel, the entire sky a progression. But discussion of that another time…)

Most of us don’t understand the function of the Sun in the chart. The best we come up with is a handful of simplified characteristic traits that may or may not apply, depending on the mitigating factors of the rest of the chart. We focus on the most minute and intricate points of the chart, without really understanding the way something as obvious as the Sun functions. What is its role in the chart? What does it actually do?

People born under Virgo, that most analytical of energies, routinely refuse to define themselves as Virgos. They will say, “I’m a Virgo, but…(my house is a mess, my love life is a mess, I’m the queen of chaos, I hate anything ordered…) Good old Virgos, always hitting the nail on the head, in spite of themselves.

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posted February 02, 2014 11:26 AM            

Because it's not affected by the other energies in the chart and expresses itself in a "pure" way. I suppose the sign and house become extremely important here.

posted February 02, 2014 11:33 AM            

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Originally posted by Doux Rêve:
It's even stronger, imo.
ll.

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posted February 02, 2014 12:28 PM            

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But it seems that, after our initial explorations, we hardly ever venture back to considering the Sun, after getting caught up in the complex, myriads, ever-unfolding mysteries of the astrological art.

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posted February 03, 2014 10:55 PM            

The Sun is our inner sense of identity and purpose. It's how and where we like to shine, and what we feel our personal mission is. When we are succeeding in the area of our Sun, it makes us feel vital and alive! Like we're really getting somewhere. The Sun is the central force in our lives, psychologically speaking, around which everything revolves. It's true that we tend to create lives for ourselves that revolve around the theme of our Sun's position. The rest of our chart is like our personal 'tool-box' for achieving the aims of our Sun. The Sun shows our motivation to move forward in life and creatively achieve, and the style in which we do this... That is how our Sun position does translate into a good chunk of our general personality traits. It's how we propel our life forward in terms of the situations we willingly create for ourselves. I agree with the part about he Sun being our inner reference point. In the sense that it's the place where we consolidate all the information we receive via the other planets, and then make decisions in accordance with our Sun's mission.

The Sun is associated with the 5th house, and it rules our sense of identity in a rather poetic, idealized light. If we were to write the 'saga' of our life, we would characterize ourselves with the traits of our Sun's position. The Sun in our chart shows our inner sense of being the 'hero' of our own story. It's the heart or essence of who we feel we are. And it's position shows what type of success, or abilities to shine in on the stage life, make us feel we've succeeded in our 'hero's journey'.

When the Sun is operating in a healthy way we feel vital, alive, excited, and enthusiastic about some kind of passion we have (a person, a project, a topic, a mission), that's close to our hearts.

When the Sun is not operating in a healthy way, we become egotistical, arrogant, and overly concerned with our standing in life. Or we may feel weak and ashamed, as if we've suffered a crucial failure, at the other end of the spectrum.

posted February 04, 2014 04:18 PM            

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Originally posted by Lotis White:
The essay was fairly good, but I felt like something was 'missing'. It almost sounded like this astrologer was saying that the Sun represents primarily our 'life-energy', and is not so strongly related to our actual personality. I don't agree with that part. I see the Sun as a person's core sense of who they are in the natal chart.

The Sun is our inner sense of identity and purpose. It's how and where we like to shine, and what we feel our personal mission is. When we are succeeding in the area of our Sun, it makes us feel vital and alive! Like we're really getting somewhere. The Sun is the central force in our lives, psychologically speaking, around which everything revolves. It's true that we tend to create lives for ourselves that revolve around the theme of our Sun's position. The rest of our chart is like our personal 'tool-box' for achieving the aims of our Sun. The Sun shows our motivation to move forward in life and creatively achieve, and the style in which we do this... That is how our Sun position does translate into a good chunk of our general personality traits. It's how we propel our life forward in terms of the situations we willingly create for ourselves. I agree with the part about he Sun being our inner reference point. In the sense that it's the place where we consolidate all the information we receive via the other planets, and then make decisions in accordance with our Sun's mission.

The Sun is associated with the 5th house, and it rules our sense of identity in a rather poetic, idealized light. If we were to write the 'saga' of our life, we would characterize ourselves with the traits of our Sun's position. The Sun in our chart shows our inner sense of being the 'hero' of our own story. It's the heart or essence of who we feel we are. And it's position shows what type of success, or abilities to shine in on the stage life, make us feel we've succeeded in our 'hero's journey'.

When the Sun is operating in a healthy way we feel vital, alive, excited, and enthusiastic about some kind of passion we have (a person, a project, a topic, a mission), that's close to our hearts.

When the Sun is not operating in a healthy way, we become egotistical, arrogant, and overly concerned with our standing in life. Or we may feel weak and ashamed, as if we've suffered a crucial failure, at the other end of the spectrum.

The 5th house is an extension of the Sun's theme in our charts... So looking at the 5th house can add extra details to this theme. People and transits to our 5th tend to fill us up with energy to express, and give us something to get excited about.

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