In astrology, the Sun by house position in your natal chart shows where the Sun shines brightest in your life. The Sun rules Leo and is associated with the Fifth House in your natal chart. As the Sun is the most important body in your birth chart, it highlights the area of the chart in which it is situated – and this makes the part of your life touched by the Sun a dominant feature in your life.
We associate the Sun with the people and things that we aspire to achieve in life, such as role models, father figures and people who are influential in our lives. However, we can’t express out true solar nature if all we do is look up to other people. The inspiration we feel when we observe those we admire, encourages us to embrace our own power; we grow into our solar potentials as our confidence, ability and authority grows. Expressing your solar power takes practice. It takes application to reach your full potential – and the Sun’s house is where you need to do that work.
The Sun’s house in astrology is the place where you will learn to exert your authority. It’s the place you will most powerful in expressing your individuality. It’s also the place where you will feel most creative; your self expression has a powerful and vital force in the house of the Sun and this boosts your self-confidence. If you need to feel good about yourself, or you need a place where you can grow in self-assurance or expertise – focus on your solar house. The gifts you need are all there.
On this page, you will find descriptions of how the Sun performs in each house of your birth chart – and this will give you an insight into how well your Sun is performing in your natal chart. It’s a huge subject area, so I’m going to focus on the thing that is the most important solar power of all – developing the self-confidence you need to be able to express your authentic self.
The Sun: Keywords
Authority, Consciousness, Competence, Confidence, Creativity, Dignity, Ego, Fidelity, Father, Gold, Gravitas, Gravity, The Heart, Individuality, Kings, Life Force, Male Role Model, Masculine Identity, Men, Important People, Nobility, Personal Identity, Power, Potential, Rulers, Royalty, Self-assurance, Self-expression, Self-importance, Sense of Purpose, Sense of Self, Vitality, Will, Will Power
The Sun in the First House
When the Sun is found in the first house of your birth chart, the focus is on you. You may have a radiant personality and you are likely to have a powerful presence that draws people towards you. You may not need to seek attention, as your persona is naturally powerful. However, you may have ego issues; your natural self consciousness may make you thin-skinned, as you identify so strongly with your self-image. You may also suffer from a sense of entitlement and inflated pride. Your challenge may be to avoid being egotistical and focus on the warmth and positivity that you have in ample supply.
Positivity and enthusiasm are the traits you need to express – but try to avoid being overbearing. You may be naturally confident – or at least you project that image – but to be truly confident – and to be yourself – you need to embrace your own desire and determination to do things your own way. Fortune favours the brave, so you need to express the courage of your convictions and be pro-active in asserting your individuality. You will feel most at ease with yourself when you realise that the greatest opportunities in life may result from your own enterprise – but come from the heart.
More information about the First House…
The Sun in the Second House
With the Sun in the second house of your natal chat, the urge ‘to own’ is strong. Ownership gives you control, and control enables you to maintain that ownership. The power that gives you enables you to assert your sense of who you are. The risk here is that you identify with what you have rather than who you are, so your challenge may be to focus on what you value, rather than on what you possess. You will always be driven my a desire to have material security – and that may make you wealthy or financially independent and secure. You may even feel you need to possess other people (and their assets) too.
The issue here is one of self-worth. You need to value yourself as much as you value things that are external to you. Developing a strong value system is central to your ability to be confident about who you are. When you measure your own worth in terms of your core values, then you can progress in life on the basis of a secure sense of self. The value of being true to yourself is greater than the net worth of your bank account, property and material goods; it’s the basis of being comfortable in your own skin – and that’s important to you. Commit to that and you will own the greatest treasure of all.
More information about the Second House…
The Sun in the Third House
The primary association we make in connection with the Sun in the third house is literally that – to connect. Making connections requires you to be mobile, mentally active – and have the curiosity to forge those connections in the first place. However, the fundamental motivation of the Sun here is more than simply to gossip or flit from place to place on the pretext of being ‘busy’. The true purpose of the Sun in the third house is ‘to learn’ and to take pride in your ability to learn. Education – both as a student and teacher – is a natural habitat for you.
Many of you may follow that as a career path in some form, others may take pride in what they have learned – and some may claim that they ‘know it all’. No-one can ever know everything, and the key to confidence for you is to recognise that fact. Remaining receptive to life-long learning – across a whole spectrum of knowledge – requires you to maintain a high level of curiosity and create the opportunities to feed your desire to know more. You will feel true to yourself when you are ‘in the loop’, as communication is as essential to you as breathing.
More information about the Third House…
The Sun in the Fourth House
With the Sun in the fourth house, there is the potential for you to be a deeply private person. Shyness is often associated with this solar placement, and this stems from a fundamental characteristic of this house – a desire to defend – and when the Sun is involved, that defence is directed towards yourself as it’s your core identity and sense of who you are that may seem under threat. Your concept of self runs deep; it may include your family and your wider heritage including your home and homeland. You may be proud of who you are and where you have come from, and you may be driven to create your own home and family.
What is actually happening here is a pro-active drive to create a firm foundation for your life, a home base that enables you to function with confidence in the outer world. When you achieve that aim, it enables you to satisfy your conscious desire to face the future without letting go of the past. The past is important to you – but would be a mistake for you to spend your entire life there. Your route to confidence rests on the knowledge that what you do is part of a much longer term ‘project’. That makes your attachments emotionally secure; that way, you feel ‘at home’ with yourself – and that’s what matters most.
More information about the Fourth House…
The Sun in the Fifth House
The Sun in the fifth house is playful. It needs to feel special and be the centre of attention – and you may feel at your best when you are engaged in activities that bring out your inner child. However, children can be demanding. Your challenge may be to let go of the desire to be in the spotlight (and the use of attention seeking behaviours) and direct the Sun’s rays towards a more adult expression of the solar impulse. You can remain enthusiastic, fun-loving and filled with wonder at what the day may bring, however, you can do so in the spirit for which it was intended; everything can be a pleasure if approached in the right way.
The creative impulse is a strong one. It impels us to take risks, and explore those avenues that allow us to be recognised for our unique gifts and talents. Self-expression is not the same as a desire for adulation; the creative spirit wants you to take positive actions to affirm your potentials and abilities – and the person you need to impress most is yourself. Of all the chart houses, this is the one most related to self-confidence. It’s the place where you can free your spirit and become yourself. Whatever outlet you choose for help you achieve this – art, science, sport or life itself – if it makes you happy, then it’s working well.
More information about the Fifth House…
The Sun in the Sixth House
A lot of people think that the Sun in the sixth house is a tough placement. The good news is that it is not – it simply appears as if there is room for improvement. And that is at the core of this solar placement. The Sun here is conscious of the fact that if something is worth doing, then it’s worth doing well, and one of the way’s in which you can gauge if something has been done well is the response you get from the outside world. Identifying with external validation can be an issue with this placement. Your challenge is to learn to judge when your efforts have been good enough and to accept that no-one is perfect.
Perfectionism often lies at the root of the mental anguish often associated with the Sun here, and it stems from the Sun’s fundamental impulse in this house – which is ‘to be competent’. Competence is a core solar strength; we become competent by refining, seeking to improve and paying attention to detail. It’s a learning process and we learn by distinguishing between what what works – and what does not. You will desire to be seen as competent – and that’s a great driver towards achievement, confidence and life satisfaction. Ultimately, it enables you to take life as it comes – because you know how life works.
More information about the Sixth House…
The Sun in the Seventh House
In the seventh house, the Sun is conscious of a desire to relate, to the extent that your sense of self may leave you feeling incomplete without a partner. Your inclination is to reach out, collaborate and be co-operative with others. It’s a sociable sun sign and that’s largely because sociability – in its purest sense – involves creating and maintaining relationships at its heart. And it’s the maintenance part of that concept that involves you most of all. Developing skills of diplomacy and negotiating techniques that would be the envy of many, your core impulse is to establish harmony and it’s an impulse that extends far beyond the world of human and social relations.
Harmony can be defined as all that is pleasing and those with the Sun here will be conscious that the environment they are expected to inhabit needs to be as harmonious as their enviable relational skillset. Style, personal presentation and aesthetic awareness are as likely to be as pronounced as your notable charm and congeniality. However, you will need to watch out for being overly judgemental of those who do not meet your high standards. Libra Suns can be critical – as if they don’t want anything – or anyone – to ruin their view. Flipped on its head, that can also lead to being a ‘people pleaser’. Vanity and self-regard may also be an issue.
More information about the Seventh House…
The Sun in the Eighth House
This is often considered a challenging placement as the eighth house is where we are required to let go in order to move on. It’s a difficult concept, but with the Sun here you will become conscious that life is evolutionary and, to progress, you need to shed your old skin. Personal transformation is at the core of the Sun here; to achieve that requires a willingness to become vulnerable, be brutally honest with yourself and trust that others are going to treat you as you would treat them. That’s requires a great deal of bravery and risk – particularly as life may be telling you the polar opposite – that no-one is to be trusted at all.
So, you often need to dig-deep with this placement and ensure that not only are you aware of what’s happening on the surface, you need to be able to read between the lines too. Fortunately, it’s a placement where such issues are likely to occur in your life with regularity. That may sound terrifying, but you will develop in confidence with each crisis that you face, until – eventually – “Crisis, what crisis?” may be your motto. It’s not that you minimise issues, you simply understand how and why they occur – and what you need to do to avoid them. That combats any fear of the unknown; bravado is for fools.
More information about the Eighth House…
The Sun in the Ninth House
The Sun in the ninth house is expansive. To see more, know more and be more underpins the core of your existence. You may push yourself to the limit – and beyond – and this may result in recklessness. There is always an element of risk taking with the Sun here. You are adventurous, spirited and fearless – those qualities underpin your drive to experience more of the world around you, and to explore life beyond the geographical, cultural or social limitations of your birth. Many with this placement will be travellers in the broadest sense of the word, seeing life as a series of adventures or the pursuit of personal freedom. Restraint is anathema with the Sun here.
To avoid the pitfalls of extravagance and irresponsibility that often accompany this placement, you need more than the philosophical, ‘easy come, easy go’ attitude that is also typical of the Sun here. The message contained in the ninth house is one of enlarging your understanding of the world – and of life itself. That is the direction in which your personal philosophy is best applied – to cultivate a world view, or a perspective on life, that deepens your appreciation of humankind’s place in the universe. In some cases, that may be gained through academic study, religious faith, political ideology – or simply a boundless optimism that things can only get better.
More information about the Ninth House…
The Sun in the Tenth House
With the Sun in the tenth house, the primary association we make is one of ambition. The solar drive pushes you to achieve a certain – and recognisable – status in life and those with this placement are often driven to ‘become’ something in this world. Hard work and a marked sense of personal responsibility are seen with the Sun here, as is a concern with personal reputation; to be regarded as a respectable, law-abiding, dutiful and responsible citizen, or a person who plays by the rules, is as important to those with the Sun in this house, as their more material or worldly ambitions.
This is a placement associated with authority and hard work may result in those with this placement becoming ‘an authority’ in whatever direction their career takes them. Career matters are likely to be important; success is likely to come through long, hard work – but the overall objective may be to have a career that is long lasting and provides for the future. That may be a route to establishing self confidence. The challenge you have is to avoid being judgemental or self-important, as you can be highly critical of those who fail to meet your high standards. Such attitudes reveal that your confidence may be lacking.
More information about the Tenth House…
The Sun in the Eleventh House
Those with the Sun here are often driven to belong to something in a social or societal sense. It’s the placement for a ‘team player’ as the urge with this placement is to become involved in enterprises that have more than a material outcome; shared ideals, shared aspirations and common goals are important. It’s a place where the value of abstract concepts is seen as connecting factor in how we seek to organise society, so those with this placement may intellectualise the bonds that hold society together (think political ideologies or doctrines) or they may seek new ways of making groups or connections (think technology and social media).
Those with an eleventh house Sun like to be at the forefront of things that are new – or move life forward into a new dimension. So, being with like-minded people is important; there is more power in the collective than there is in the individual and in this house, idealism may be both a blessing and a curse. Idealism enables us to visualise a better world but it also blinds you to your own power as an independent individual. The challenge here is to avoid being tribal or partisan; true confidence comes from acknowledging that everyone’s contribution matters. You are not alone – yet you are a unique individual – and you need to realise that.
More information about the Eleventh House…
The Sun in the Twelfth House
With the Sun in the twelfth house, it’s not uncommon to have an identity crisis. The Sun represents our sense of self, but when it’s in the house of transcendence, a place of unconscious shadows and dreams, it can be hard to locate the certainty that is needed to appreciate who you truly are. In this house, the urge is to escape – and with the Sun here, you may be (unconsciously) trying to escape fro yourself – or from becoming yourself. So, with the Sun here, you may be your own worst enemy, as you avoid the challenges that will enable you to develop your solar nature – and that can lead to damaging outer behaviours too.
What is really happening with this dynamic is a pressure to look within. More than anyone else, twelfth house Suns need to engage with their inner life and understand the impulse that drives them, in some cases, to self-destruction. A rich imaginative and creative life can help to build the confidence that is sorely needed to become more resilient in the face of external pressures and a reality you may not find easy to understand. Contemplation and meditation may be helpful; developing a positive and imaginative strategy to incorporate ‘escapism’ into your daily life will be beneficial. ‘Me time’ may be a good place to start.
More information about the Twelfth House…
Next: Moon | Mercury | Venus | Mars | Jupiter | Saturn | Uranus | Neptune | Pluto
Return to Planets in Houses Main Page
Subscribe Now
© Sara Shipman