Pamela Colman Smith · RWS deck
The Major Arcana
The Sun
- Hebrew Letter
- KAPH
- Element
- SUN
- Path
- Chesed ↔ Netzach
- Polarity
- Wealth / Poverty
Upright · Wealth
Self-expression so settled it doesn't need armor. What you put out into the world draws resource and welcome back to you without having to fight for it. This is identity operating as abundance, not performance.
Reversed · Poverty
You are trying hard to be you, to shine your light, but nothing gathers to it. This isn’t about hiding because the walls are low, the child is still riding in the open. However, reversed this is depletion at the level of who you are, giving out self without
The image
A naked child rides bareback beneath an open sun, no armor, no saddle, nothing between the body and the light. The wall behind is low enough to see over. Sunflowers rise taller than the wall itself, facing the same sun the child rides toward.
Kaph’s path runs from Chesed to Netzach, mercy poured out meeting what actually lasts. Nothing here is guarded. The child isn’t protected by the wall, he’s simply past needing it. The child’s identity is secure enough that full exposure costs nothing and draws everything.
Learn how to read The Sun in a spread
This page shows you what The Sun means. Knowing how to read it — how it shifts next to the other cards, what the reversal is really telling you, and how to turn a spread into a clear answer — is what the RWS Decoded course and book teach, card by card.
