With this issue of Echo*, I am beginning a series of articles on the metaphysical and esoteric meanings of the planets, which follows the series I recently completed on the metaphysical meanings of the signs.  The Sun is the center of and comprises more than 99% of the mass of our solar system.  Since it is, by far, the largest, most massive and most important body around which all other bodies in the system revolve, it is the most important body metaphysically in a birth chart.  It represents the metaphysical center of our being, our soul, as well as the physical center, our heart.  Its glyph or pictograph is a circle with a dot in the center, a metaphor for Sun in the center of and the greatest body of the solar system with all other bodies gravitationally captured in endless orbits about it.  The circle is symbolic of the orbits of the planets and all other bodies in the system with no beginning and (to us) no end (seemingly infinite).  The circle is a good pictograph of a cycle of any kind and astrology is primarily the study of planetary cycles.  The calculation of the area circumscribed by a circle requires use of pi, a number with an infinite series of non-repeating decimal places – symbolic of the seemingly infinite number of cycles that are made by the planets and other solar system objects continuously moving around the Sun, most in nearly circular orbits.  The circle also represents the solar disc, the only constant circle in the daytime sky, despite the fact that we can't look directly at it.  The horizon forms a perfect circle only at sea and the Moon forms a circle only when full or when it is partially illuminated by the Sun and the dark portion is dimly lit by earth-glow.  All life on Earth is dependent on solar energy in the form of heat and light and some ancient religions have worshiped the Sun as a god.

The ancient masters knew that the Sun’s “orbit” around Earth was a mere reflection of Earth’s orbital position between Venus and Mars because the ancient Chaldean or Egyptian order of the seven “planets” of antiquity is according to speed:  Moon (fastest and closest to Earth), Mercury, Venus, SUN (Earth), Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.  The position of the Sun in the chart and in the sky defines whether it was day or night and whether the chart is diurnal (a birth during the day) or nocturnal.  This, in turn, is a general indicator of whether the basic nature of the personality is extroverted (diurnal) or introverted (nocturnal).  The Sun is the only star universally included in every birth chart and interpreted by every astrologer, although other stars are sometimes included and interpreted, but by a relatively small number of astrologers.  It dominates the sky when it is up and makes all other stars and most of the planets of antiquity invisible, hence Genesis 1:16 says, "and God made two great lights; the greater light [the Sun] to rule the day, and the lesser light [the Moon] to rule the night" (Bible).  The proximity of the Sun as the nearest star, the fact that it is responsible for the cycles of day and night and the seasons, and that without it, all life on Earth would quickly end makes it the most powerful body in the solar system and in the birth chart (unless it is extremely debilitated).  This is the reason that much of what has been written as “sun sign astrology” (based only upon what sign the Sun was in when we were born) has meaning and application in our lives.  As I finished this article, it occurred to me the need to discuss the meaning and significance of and to enumerate the many esoteric representations of the seven planets of antiquity in a separate article.