In many prehistoric and ancient civilizations, the sun was the centre of worship. In every culture, people viewed the bright disk making its way in the sky and they all interpreted it as a great force behind all life on earth. The sun was often explained as a god, or demon. Examples are the sun cults of the Ancient Egyptians, or the Inca’s who considered themselves "children of the Sun”, and Apollo as God of the Sun to the Greeks.
In some civilizations, the sun is seen as the founder of the tribe and the tribal leaders are seen as direct heirs of the Sun, as the emperor of Japan who has always claimed to descent from the Sun Goddess, Ameratsu Omikame.
The Aborigines believed that the Sun-Woman carries a torch across the sky. On her trip to the west she would spill some make-up and color the sky red. During the subterranean way back to the east she would warm the earth and cause plants to grow.
Since pre-historic times, people saw the sun as the force of the female, like a mother, a goddess, a queen or Sun woman. Sometimes the goddess was not the sun itself, but the force behind the Sun or the mother of the Sun. With the upcoming male domination of the first settlers, female divinity was overthrown and the image of the Sun underwent a sex change. The Sun turned into a male force in most cultures. Now, the dualism of sun/male and moon/female is found in most cultures around the globe.
The sun sustains all life on Earth and is a classical symbol for the source of life, the soul, the wholeness of the self. As such, the Sun relates to exemplar masculine behavior. The Sun symbolizes everything that is masculine; glory and brilliance, but also knowledge, wisdom and authority. However, in a few cultures the Sun is still referred to as a ‘she’, like in Northern Europe, Arabia and Japan.
Solar symbols represent the Sun and are used in astrology, religions, mythology, psychoanalysis and more fields; the sun is the most used symbol that humans ever created. Solar symbols can be found in different shapes, are used in different contexts and have different meanings to different societies. A circle with a dot in the center is used as a symbol in the major civilizations of history (ancient Egyptians and early Chinese). This icon also symbolizes the blending of male and female forces. The sun cross or sun wheel, a cross inside a circle, is a popular solar symbol of new religious movements, also referred to as swastika. It commonly represents the sun and the four seasons. And of course the most famous symbol of the sun in our age is the circle with wavy rays springing from it. Sometimes drawn with a happy face in it.
Suns are also often used on national flags. The suns of the flag of Macedonia, the naval ensign of Japan, the flag of China, and the flag of Rwanda all symbolize the hope and the progress of the country.
Dreams about the sun always promises something positive; glory, triumph, success. Carl Jung described that it ‘always symbolizes or indicates consciousness and may connote masculine energy’. Sunrise may indicate new beginnings while sunsets suggest a period of closure.
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