The Golden Wheel

The Nature of the Solar Being

In this extraordinary card we see the Sun represented and one of its supreme manifestations, that is, ourselves, since the human being is a creature of the Sun, it is an emanation of it, in particular its essence, that is, the soul, the divine essence.

In this beautiful image by Mila Losenko we see a human being riding freely and enthusiastically with a gaze turned towards a distant infinity. This horse represents the human soul, our main engine, white like original purity, impeccable and powerful, the true force that allows us to "travel" in experiences.

Around the neck of the noble knight, who is us, a red cloth flutters, a bright color, a living color, the very color of our blood, which for some would be the seat of the soul: blood is a living thing, a magical lymph that vivifies matter.

The knight with one hand clings to the running steed, with the other he seems to touch the sun, creating a bridge of connection between the soul and the Sun, between us and the Star, between the source and its manifestation.

To guide the knight towards his goal, towards his own realization, is the intention, that noble, intelligent and wild force that we call Spirit.

This card is for me one of the most beautiful interpretations of the Sun card, it is part of the beautiful deck The Golden Wheel, one of my favorites, designed by Mila Losenko and inspired by the traditions and folklore of Eastern Europe and Slavic countries.

I want to report these beautiful words that fit very well with this image, they are the words of the mystic Ibn Arabi, a Sufi master born in Spain in 1165 and died in Damascus in 1240:

"The Essential Divine Reality is too high to be contemplated by the contemplating eye, as long as a trace of the creaturely condition remains in it. But when that which has not been, and which by nature is perishable, ceases to exist, and that which has never ceased to be, and which by nature is durable, then the Sun of the decisive test for authentic Vision rises; then the absolute sublimation is produced, in the absolute Beauty, which is the Eye of Synthesis and Realization par excellence and the Station of Quiet and Immutable Self-sufficiency.

This Eye then sees the Numbers as Unique, the number One, which makes a journey through the degrees of multiplicity, in which it makes the entities of the Numbers manifest."

- from The Book of Extinction in the Contemplation of Ibn Al-Arabi -

And in this card the symbolism is perfect: the Sun, the number One, which creates multiplicity, the Sun and Life that travel periodic cycles, the horse that represents the journey of the Being, manifestation of the One, through these multiplicities.

All that is life is the Sun that manifests Itself!