“If I had to choose a religion, the Sun as the universal giver of life would be my god.”
― Napoleon Bonaparte
“You say we [Christians] worship the sun; so do you.”
― Tertullian
The Sun does indeed, as Bonaparte said, universally give life to all things on earth. Its bright rays coax and stimulate all plant life and provide nourishment and vitality to all human and animal life. Without its light, life on earth would wither away and perish.
A myriad of ancient cultures - Egyptian, Greek, Babylonian, Sumerian, Vedic, the list is endless – have all venerated the Sun or a solar personification as either the supreme deity or one of several supreme deities. Given the primality of the Sun in the generation of life, is it any wonder that, throughout times and places of human cultures, so many have worshipped the Sun?
You could even make the case (as some clearly have, per Tertullian) that other religions such as Christianity or Judaism are actually just sun-worship, when you take away the cultural and historical underpinnings and compare it plainly to other solar rites of ancient time and place.
While the Sun’s rays have clear physical benefits and generative powers, rays of sunshine can also carry energies and spiritual power that a trained mage, esotericist, or spiritual practitioner can utilize. The Sun’s power will cleanse and invigorate the physical and subtle bodies, helping to clear the mind, bring a sense of stability and presence, and reinvigorate the body and one’s sense of purpose.
Here’s something you can do right now to start connecting with the life-giving energy of the Sun. It only takes about 5 minutes. It can be done any time of day, but it is best during the morning or evening.
Meditation for Accumulating Solar Light
Go outside and stand with your bare feet on the earth, shoulder-width apart. Become aware of your peripheries, and take a few deep breaths. This should help you feel more centered and grounded in your body.
Once you feel centered and grounded, trace out the places where the earth meet the sky from where you are standing. This is called the local horizon. It may be very flat if you live in the plains, or quite varied if you live in the hills or mountains or around trees. If you’re by a building, that building’s outline will become part of your local horizon.
When you complete this portion of the exercise, you will have a greater awareness of yourself within your own place, and opens you up to receive more solar vitality. There is an ancient ritual that connects spirits of the horizon to the Sun, and we’re connecting with them here too.
Finally, determine the location of the Sun in the sky at the moment you are doing this practice. Close your eyes, and imagine a connection between yourself and the Sun developing. As you connect to the Sun, imagine the Sun pouring its light into your body. Try to feel its rays penetrating and piercing your physical body, emotional centers, your mind, and every aspect and dimension to your awareness.
Keep watching your breath, and allow the energy from the Sun to naturally fill you up. The longer and more vividly you can maintain a connection to your visualization and to the energy that you feel, the more effective this exercise will be. All you have to do is maintain your focus.
You may feel it helpful to have your palms facing up. The purpose of this is simply to aid in the accumulation of Solar chi, so find a position for your palms (high, low, outstretched, close to body, etc.) that actually feels like it’s helping you to accumulate the solar energy. Can you feel more sun-chi enter your vessel? If not, readjust your hands.
At first, you will just be imaging or visualizing this. People who have a daily meditation practice, however, will over time feel the energy pouring down from the Sun into them. As you practice consistently, you will feel the Sun cleansing you and purifying you more and more.
At sunrise or sunset, as the Sun is cresting your local horizon, this meditation can become quite powerful. During this time, you can do this meditation with your eyes open and staring at the Sun, because of the natural dimming of its rays at this time. This can open up psychic centers quite quickly. Some of my students have been shocked at the pace of their development seeing auras, energy, spirits, and more through practicing at sunrise or sunset consistently.
Don’t go for more than a few seconds to start. Start when the Sun is only a sliver, and then slowly work your way up to bigger and bigger slivers. With practice, you can extend the duration – some practitioners have spent entire days staring at the Sun. Imagine what kinds of things you’d see then.
It’s pretty simple – get your bare feet on the ground, trace out your horizon, and pull solar energy to you to cleanse your aura, quite your mind, open up psychic awareness, and more. It only takes 5 minutes. No tools, recitations, or magical formulae needed.
This kind of solar magic or energy work may be different from a lot of what traditional occultists and esotericists label as “magic” – generally, engaging in a ritual to call in a spirit to help you accomplish something. I like to refer to this as evocation or conjuration magic to distinguish it from other kinds of more energetic magic, because it works through summoning external spirits instead of just activating the energy of your own spirit.
That kind of magic is very effective too, and I teach it extensively in my course Gnosis, but working with the energy of your own spirit is also very effective. Here, you’re using your magic serve as a vortex to pull in energy from the Sun.
I teach a lot of this kind of magic in GNOSIS –magic with the power of your own energetic body, instead of just working with spirits. We go through multiple different meditations for accumulating power, as well as several different practices that incorporate and integrate the natural world like this one did. And of course, we apply all that power into our evocation magic – calling down spirits – as well.
If you’re interested in that kind of magic, you can join gnosis when it’s available again in a few weeks. Until then, this practice will serve as a great daily exercise for you – especially if you’re new to this kind of energetic approach to magic.