What Sun means
The Sun in the chart is the backbone: vitality, sense of self and what a person “shines” with when they're not playing a part. It is what they strive for and respect themselves for, which is why tradition links the Sun with self-regard: wherever the Sun is hurt, the “I” is hurt.
The Sun doesn't describe the whole character. How a person reacts and what calms them astrology gives to the Moon, the manner on first meeting to the Ascendant. That's why the description of “your sign” doesn't fit everyone: it is one point of the chart among many, though the best known. The Sun rules Leo.
Sun in the signs
The Sun's sign answers the question “how”: in what manner a person does things and what they're drawn to. The simplest layer is the element of the sign:
- In fire signs (Aries, Leo and Sagittarius) — things are done in a rush: start without permission, without waiting to be called.
- In earth signs (Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn) — things are done thoroughly: bring them to a tangible result — money, an object, order.
- In air signs (Gemini, Libra and Aquarius) — things are done through people and words: negotiate, connect, keep many options open.
- In water signs (Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces) — things are done by instinct: catch the mood of people and the moment, do it for your own.
In detail — Sun in each sign, with a “not about you” sign and a check on yourself:
Sun in the houses
The Sun's house is the sphere where it matters most to a person to show up and be noticed: in the 10th — work and name, in the 4th — home and family, in the 7th — the couple, in the 5th — creativity and children. The house needs the exact time: in a day the Sun goes through all twelve houses, about two hours per house on average. So the Sun's house is also a check of the calculation itself: it gives away the time of day of birth.
The Sun is never retrograde
Visible retrograde motion is an overtaking effect: the Earth overtakes an outer planet, or an inner planet overtakes the Earth. This never happens with the Sun: across the sky it always moves forward, about a degree a day. So the Sun has no ℞ sign in the calculation and cannot have one.
How to check it on yourself
Each statement below may turn out to be false about you — that’s how it’s written. Check it against your past, and write your answer down before you compare it with the chart. The first item checks the calculation itself, the rest — the interpretation.
If the birth time is known to the minute
What should match. The Sun in the 7th–12th house — birth in the daytime, when the Sun was above the horizon; in the 1st–6th — at night. More precisely — from the table above: each Sun house is its own third of the interval between sunrise, true noon, sunset and true midnight.
When it’s not about you. Born in the daytime but the Sun in the 1st–6th house (or the other way round), with more than a quarter of an hour to sunrise or sunset — the wrong time, time zone or city went into the calculation, and the houses in the chart aren't yours. This is a check of the calculation, not of the interpretation.
If you know the element of your Sun
What should match. Write down three things from recent years that you're proud of. At least two of them were done in the manner of this element from the list above. By chance this matches in about one case in six.
When it’s not about you. Two or three things done in the manner of other elements — this isn't about you.
If your Sun is in the 10th house
What should match. In your last two places of work or study you got a public role at least once: a speech, leadership, a position that strangers know you by.
When it’s not about you. Never, and you didn't want to — this isn't about you.
What retrograde motion is and where in the sky it happens for each planet — on the page of all planets. How we check the rest — the site’s method.