The Sun

ra — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:48:03 +0000

You appear in perfection on the horizon of Heaven,
A living disk, the origin of Life!
From the moment that You rise in the eastern skies You fill all beauty with Your beauty;
You are abundance, You are great and shining, rising above the land.

The Great Hymn to Aton,

The Living Wisdom of Ancient Egypt
Christian Jacq

Invite some warmth into your life with the aid of the sun. If you are feeling depressed, melancholic, or dark- the light, warmth and vibrancy that the symbol of the sun invokes will be an extremely helpful tonic. Employ this symbol when kicking off a new project or idea or perhaps when a relationship requires a fresh approach (remember your last holiday in the sun?) It is especially helpful when action is required as the sun is usually associated with new growth, energy and vitality. The sun is nourishing and life supporting- without it most living things would not survive.

I was recently given the symbol of the Sun to use in my Symbol Therapy work (see previous two posts) and found it of immense value to cut through some of my oldest, saddest and darkest thoughts. For me, carrying the image of a particularly magical sunrise in my mind, and recalling the warmth of the sun shining through my window on a cold winters’ day, then breathing these elements through my body and mind daily, was just the trick to get some old stuff moving.

If you are creating magic through ritual, you may like to enhance your sun symbol with other symbols or elements which are connected in some way, either traditionally or personally- for instance you may wish to use the symbol of a LION (Sun rules the astrological sign of LEO) or these natural substances were believed by the ancient magicians to be ruled by the sun- amber, hyacinth, topaz & chrysolite.

In ancient Egypt the Menet bird was a swallow Martin or swift. It appeared to be a ‘day greeting bird’ which announced the dawn and the sun’s approach- Some species of the birds built their nests in holes in the cliffs bordering the Nile- they emerge at dawn and return at sunset. You could use a similar approach if you didn’t wish to be too literal with your depiction of the sun, or if you wish to add more meaning to your sun symbol ie: depicting a bird with a sun disk behind it.

There are a huge array of symbols that have been used to depict the sun, from the ancient planetary sign of the sun , to eagles, winged or plumed serpents, the dragon of China. There are some lovely old glyphs from many different cultures. Go to Symbols.com if you are interested in taking a look. It’s a wonderful site full of so many signs, glyphs and symbols.

The sun has been worshiped and revered as ‘The heart of the Universe’ and ‘Destroyer of darkness’.

In many cultures the sun is associated with masculine energy, the complimentary other to the feminine qualities of the moon – The Yang to the moon’s Yin. Though in the Japanese tradition, for instance, the sun is a lady and a snake divinity Amaterasu’ she who possesses the great sun’.

The Egyptian sun god, Ra or Re was considered the creator of the world. God of birth and rebirth because he was reborn with the birth of each new day.

There is no visible thing, in the world, more worthy to serve as a symbol of God than the sun,
which illuminates with visible life, first itself,
then all the celestial and mundane bodies.- DANTE

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The Sun