The Sun

The Sun rules Leo: this symbolizes the fact that the will controls energy and is a source of strength. Dominance in Leo gives the Sun direct power over the outside world: a strong Sun gives a person whose resistance to the direct will is very difficult, even if it is not backed up by any additional circumstances (which, however, is rare). Leo also gives the Sun the quality of stability in the face of both external and internal interference (if the Sun is in the Mutable Cross, this quality is weakened).

The Sun culminates in Aries: this symbolizes the fact that the development of the solar principle gives a person new energy opportunities which require understanding and development; that is, they need to be learned to control, otherwise they will quickly dry up. Managing powerful forces requires a lot of attention, subtlety and flexibility.

The Sun symbolizes the father, the fatherly figure and the main, most imperative, karmic programs that give you will, courage and stamina, but also demand the same; otherwise the person breaks down and burns out, losing independence and becoming someone’s follower.
The Sun and the Will
The Sun represents the will.

The question of what actually is personal will, and what is dictated by external influences that are subjectively perceived as personal will, is very complex. A person can perform various acts under the influence of specific people and social conditions, and relevant information about the driving force behind one’s actions can be obtained by studying the position of the Sun in the person’s zodiac sign, the House, and the Sun’s aspects. For example, an aspect of the Moon to the Sun means that the will is affected by general social conditions, while an aspect of Mars signifies the influence of energy, etc.

The word “desire” is used in two meanings, one of which refers to the Moon or Venus and means a subconscious need, an aspiration; the other meaning refers to the Sun and means intention. The Solar influence is felt by a person when he says “I want” in the sense of “I have the intention to achieve”. However, the Sun concerns not only the nature of human initiatives but also the circumstances of life in which they arise. Namely, the position of the Sun in the horoscope shows what external circumstances imperatively (necessarily) require the inclusion of a person’s will; that is, characterize those situations that force him or her to take initiative and act one way or another.

The principle of will (Sun) should be distinguished from the principle of action and manifestation of energy (Mars). The (Solar) initiative itself may not be crowned with any external or internal actions; however, the Sun is always primary: if a person lives in obedience to another person’s will or initiative, he or she will not be able to realize their personality and fulfill their karmic program.
The Solar Principle and its 4 Levels of Evolution
The evolutionary level of man is closely related to the awareness of the solar principle.
The Solar Principle’s First Evolutionary Level
At the first (lowest) level of the Sun’s development, a person perceives himself (his psyche) as a whole, without dividing life into separate actions, and without isolating separate volitional acts. Furthermore, he does not differentiate solar impulses from lunar ones, so the two meanings of the word “desire” merge into one.

At this level (characterized by a complete absence of evolutionary consciousness and differentiation of one’s own psyche), a person is a puppet of karma and his own subconsciousness.

The Solar Principle’s Second Evolutionary Level
At the second level of the Sun’s evolution, a person is already able to distinguish between solar and lunar influences (as in: needs and intentions), and if he does not yet identify them precisely, then at least he emphasizes his volitional acts and initiatives in the general life stream.

This allows him to make a conscious approach to the problem of finding his place in the world and the correct behavior in various life situations, because his will is now partially controlled by him, and he can (to some extent) consciously limit his needs if they disagree with his intentions (balancing the solar and lunar principles). However, at this level, a person still remains a puppet of karma, although a less primitive one.
The Solar Principle’s Third Evolutionary Level
At the third level of the Sun’s evolution, a person is aware of the higher and lower principles in herself, interpreting them either psychologically (recognizing and feeling within herself the existence of subconscious programs of various levels), or religiously (feeling an opportunity to follow a more or less spiritual path bringing her closer to God or further away from the Devil), and gets the opportunity (at least partially) to consciously choose the master she will serve.

Now, volitional acts dictated to the person by egregors do not pass by her attention: having caught the corresponding impulse, she realizes that she is acting according to the direct command of God, and she is usually very proud that she has received such a great honor.
The Solar Principle’s Fourth Evolutionary Level
At the fourth level of the Sun’s evolution, a person partially sees the karmic consequences of her volitional acts and begins to understand the structure of karma, karmic programs and egregors associated with them: both in the outside world and in her own subconscious. Here, her executive power sharply increases, but so do the requirements for accuracy and subtlety of impact on the world.

At some point, the nature of volitional acts changes qualitatively, becoming acts of pure attention (then egregors receive the most accurate information and the possibility of the most subtle influence on the situation through that person), and the choice comes down to choosing the direction of attention.
The Sun and the 4 levels of Individual Evolution
The study of the Sun is closely connected with an increase in true free will, which is illusory at the two lower levels of the solar evolution, and gradually becomes the freedom of creative participation in the evolution of the Universe at the third and fourth levels.

The solar principle of will naturally continues with the principle of power, which should be understood in two senses: external and internal, that is, power over the world, and over itself. The levels of man’s power over the world and over himself are interconnected and are largely determined by his level of vision: which, in turn, is closely related to the evolutionary level. Thus, four levels of power can be distinguished, which a person sequentially receives as his evolutionary development, and which are directly related to his solar evolution.
The First Level of the Personal Sun’s Evolution
At the first level of the personal Sun’s evolution, a person is a slave to his desires, which for him are inseparable from his essence. Here, the extent of power over oneself is negligible and there is no vision of subconscious motivations of one’s internal impulses. Accordingly, such a person’s power over the outside world is very small, because he can neither think over nor put into practice any serious decisions, being unable to resist the general chaotic background of his subconscious, which will necessarily block his any movement in the right direction. Consequently, such people do not take serious part in karmic programs (they are unreliable), or are completely controlled by egregors. At this level, the inner life is invisible to the man himself, and the external picture of the world is illusory.
The Second Level of the Personal Sun’s Evolution
At the second level of the personal Sun’s evolution, a person gains insignificant power over himself, mainly by primitive suppression or crowding out of some (from his point of view, the most odious) subconscious programs. Due to this, he has the opportunity to set life goals and carry out rather complicated and time-consuming programs, during the course of which he will have the opportunity to be creative, and at the end there will be a (mystical) feeling of increased power over the world; often this also increases his position in the administrative (military, political) hierarchy.

A characteristic feature of this stage of self-consciousness is, on the one hand, the separation of egoistic programs of the subconscious from the program to achieve a certain external goal (which the whole human will is directed a)t, and on the other hand, the absolute and uncritical acceptance of this external goal as part of the deep essence of a given person; he treats it merely like fate, an imperatively expressed fate.
The Third Level of the Personal Sun’s Evolution
At the third level of the personal Sun’s evolution, a person begins to understand the nature of power: the fact that her whole psyche is interconnected; that lower programs are necessary for a normal functioning of higher ones; that even the higher goals and ideals are by no means such in reality as they are only intermediate stages in her life; and, most importantly, that they are not her personal property but are generated by specific egregors within the framework of the general evolutionary development program, as well as many more private karmic programs related to her environment (if you understood this sentence, you are at least at the third level of the Sun’s evolution).

At this level, a person receives the first hint of executive power and, to some extent, consciously forms her ideals and higher goals. At the same time, there is a feeling of a connection between the inner and outer world and the keys to methods of influencing the outer world through inner work, which fundamentally changes the nature of human power over the world. Also, here the knowledge of the magical power of thought starts to form.
The Fourth Level of the Personal Sun’s Evolution
At the fourth level of the personal Sun’s evolution, a person gains access to the depths of the subconscious and begins to understand the intricacies of the karmic programs operating around her. At this level, she already realistically sees the action of the principle of “knowledge is power,” since the vision of the structures of the subconscious and karma allows her to make very big changes in the external and subtle world with insignificant (energy) influences.

In other words, a person receives conscious executive (magical) power over the world and can, on her own initiative, interfere in the karma of other people, influence any egregors, change subtle structures, etc. At the same time, the blows of karma hit her much more strongly if she is reckless with this power.
The Strong Sun
A Sun person, somebody in whom the Sun is stronger than the other planets, is very authoritarian, Since childhood, he instinctively respected authorities, sought to imitate them and, perhaps, studied the biographies of prominent people in order to achieve the same victories and heights. His ambition does not remain inconclusive, even if (which is rare) he does not achieve significant posts or results: in any case, he is respected by others for a certain inner strength, which may not be expressed explicitly, but is intuitively felt by everyone. The usual consensus is that if such a person did not achieve much, it was only because the tasks set by himself were too hard.

At the same time, the Sun is a planet of external manifestation; therefore, the goals and objectives that the human will of the Sun is aimed at are always of a concrete and practical nature, they are clearly visible. Even if a person has the Sun in a water sign and works as a psychiatrist, then all his forces will be directed to ideas like returning his patients back to society where they would be able to live and work normally, while the details and changes in their inner world alone will worry him much less.

The life of a man of the Sun can be scheduled by the hour, and maybe by the minute. In any case, he constantly takes part in very tough karmic programs over which he is not in control at a low and medium evolutionary levels (he will say: “The circumstances are stronger than me!“), but at a higher evolutionary levels he turns out to be quite tough himself. This is a common situation for dictators, rulers, owners of large corporations and other leaders of communities with hard egregors.

At a low level, this may be a servant who is sacredly observing the will of his master; at a high level, a solar person can be anyone: a psychologist, a writer, a preacher, a saint, but he will still transmit the imperative will of his egregor, and you can either accept it and follow him, or go in a completely different direction: there is no third option here.
The Weak Sun
The weak Sun does not mean a low evolutionary level of a person (generally speaking, it is impossible to estimate the evolutionary level by the natal chart). A weak Sun means that a person is not supposed to participate in imperative karmic programs; however, his level of the Sun’s development can be vary high, enabling him to take part in arbitrarily responsible and intense programs, although his role will not be too important.

At a low evolutionary and energetic level, the weak Sun means not so much weakness but indifference to what is happening and internal irresponsibility. It is difficult for such a person to create a significant obstacle to the karmic programs going around him, and he almost never has the intention to do so. All in all, he lives in relative safety, protected from the blows of karma.

At a higher evolutionary level, the weak Sun means greater freedom of life and creativity and the absence of external incentives for their constructive use. Here, any tense aspects of the other planets subside. However, at a sufficiently high evolutionary level a person no longer needs to be pushed towards spiritual development and cosmic cooperation, choosing that path of his own accord.

The Afflicted Sun
The afflicted Sun means a high confidence of fate in the man who was included in a strong and disharmonious karmic program with the hopes that he will:

not be offended;
understand what he has to do; and
fulfill it or, at least, make it more harmonious

The afflicted Sun means troubles, restrictions and hardships that begin in early childhood; it means poor relations with the father or stepfather, or the absence of a father’s figure, which is perceived painfully. One of the behavioral options here is bitterness accompanied by a narrowing of consciousness, an increase in egoism and the subsequent limitation of karmic responsibility. In another scenario, the person is trying to expand consciousness and to oppose cruelty of fate with softness and kindness, paying with the good for the evil, etc. This path often leads to self-realization: the person finds his place in his (rather difficult) life and avoids bitterness.

At a higher evolutionary level, a person, comprehending his bitter experience, eventually begins to understand that fate requires from him something quite definite than from the rest of people, and that it often does not coincide with what he wants, but not always contradicts it either. Further, he understands that his first volitional impulse in any situation, as a rule, is false but contains a rational seed that should be detected; and it is precisely doing this that leads to a harmonious resolution. Thus, a person with the affected Sun needs to learn not only to block his inappropriate and untimely initiative but also to find a way to transform it into an acceptable or even adequate one. For this, however, it is necessary to take an impersonal position, that is: to objectively assess the situation and your place in it, which is quite difficult given the strong ambitions of the afflicted Sun.
The Harmonious Sun
The harmonious Sun means that a person is a favorite of her superiors, subordinates and egregors; it is natural for her to obey authorities and lead, softly and definitely, her subordinates, and she is often lucky in life. The Sun (along with Mars and Saturn) is a rather rigid planet; therefore, the harmonious aspects of the Sun do not result in passivity: she will fulfill all her karmic duties, but she will not have the desire to do everything possible in unbearable conditions for that.

At a higher evolutionary level, the harmonious Sun provides great creative abilities that are constantly realized throughout the life path of the person who is capable of anything and is included in everything that happens around her. Not everything interests her, but if something does, she quickly understands and excels at it, showing a great talent and even a divine presence.
from A. Podvodny