The sun in tarot

The sun is the oldest image of life, consciousness and clarity, and in Christian art it often stands for Christ or divine truth. In the Waite-Smith deck it rises behind the Fool, blazes over the angel of the Lovers, beams down with a human face on the Sun card, and rises again between two towers in Death, a sign that the ending is not the end. Temperance's path leads towards a crown of light at the horizon. In readings the sun means vitality, success and things coming into the open. Notice whether it is overhead or on the horizon: risen, or still rising.

Cards that show the sun

The Fool
The Fool: The sun and yellow sky
A white sun with long rays shines in the top right corner of a bright yellow sky. Waite describes it as a sun that 'knows whence he came, whither he is going'. The yellow ground of the card gives it daylight, optimism and clear air.
The Lovers
The Lovers: The sun
A huge yellow sun fills the top of the card behind the angel's head, its rays reaching to the edges. It is the light of clarity and consciousness: nothing between these two people is hidden.
The Chariot
The Chariot: The winged disc and shield
On the chariot's front is a winged sun disc, an Egyptian emblem of the divine, above a white shield bearing a red device like a spinning top. Its meaning is disputed; it is usually read as a sign of opposites joined.
Death
Death: The sun between two towers
On the far right a sun shines on the horizon between two pale towers. Waite called it 'the sun of immortality'. Whether rising or setting, it places the ending inside a larger cycle, and the towers recall the gateway on the Moon card.
Temperance
Temperance: The sun sign on the forehead
A small circle with a dot sits on the angel's brow, the old astronomical sign for the sun. Waite mentions it directly. Small marks on the collar are often read as Hebrew letters, but on this scan they are too faint to make out.
The Sun
The Sun: The sun with a face
A large yellow disc with calm human features fills the upper half of the card. Its rays alternate straight and wavy, a pattern Waite noted on older cards. A face in the sun gives it presence: a light that sees as well as shines.