Sun

What the Sun represents

Psychological astrology treats the Sun as the core of identity: the sense of being someone, with a direction of one’s own. It describes less what a person already is than what they are trying to embody over the course of their life. It can be recognised in whatever makes them stand taller: a project seen through to the end, a cause defended, a talent finally owned. Where it can express itself freely, the person feels in the right place and shines without having to force it.

The Sun rules Leo, a fixed fire sign, where it finds its most generous expression: warmth, creativity, the wish to be seen. Tradition holds that it is exalted in Aries, where it takes the form of an urge to begin. It is in detriment in Aquarius, where identity is defined more by the group and by ideas than by personal radiance, and in its fall in Libra, where it takes shape through the eyes and the agreement of others. Its excess is well known: pride, and the need to take up all the room.

Its rhythm in the sky

Over the course of a year, the Sun travels through the whole zodiac. It spends about a month in each sign, and that sign is what people usually call their “star sign”. Its motion is regular and always direct: unlike the planets, the Sun is never retrograde. This yearly rhythm follows the seasons, and the tropical zodiac is in fact anchored to them, since Aries begins at the spring equinox of the northern hemisphere.

Because it changes sign roughly once a month, the Sun is shared by everyone born at the same time of year. The only exception is the day it passes from one sign to the next: on that day, the time of birth settles the matter. This is why the Sun alone cannot describe anyone: the Moon, the Ascendant and the fast-moving planets shade its portrait considerably. Its house, which requires the time of birth, points to the area of life where the person seeks to fulfil themselves, and its aspects show what supports or thwarts that drive.

The Sun in close bonds

The Sun shows what a person needs to live in order to feel like themselves, including within a couple. A relationship that keeps them from shining, creating or following their own direction often ends up weighing on them, even when the affection is real. Conversely, a bond in which each encourages the other to become more fully themselves tends to feed the vitality of both. The Sun also reveals what the person admires, and sometimes what they project onto a partner for want of claiming it as their own.

When two charts are compared, which is what synastry does, the Sun is among the points watched most closely. When one person’s Sun touches the other’s Moon, tradition sees a classic match between an identity that asserts itself and a sensitivity that welcomes it. A contact with Venus brings affection and esteem; a contact with Mars brings energy, and sometimes rivalry. These links say nothing about the future: they show where two people recognise each other and where each will have to make room for the other.

To go further

• Liz Greene and Howard Sasportas, The Luminaries (1992)