Sun

Sun - Although there are many mythologies in which the Sun is female (such as in Japan, whose most important Goddess is Amaterasu Omikami, the Sun Goddess), it is generally considered that the Sun is a male deity or a male attribute, in contrast to the Moon, which is almost always viewed as female. The Greek brother and sister Apollo and Artemis show this pairing of the Sun and Moon as complementary opposites.

Many mythical connections between the sun and the male spirit led to identification with men and the daylight, and the gods of light and fire. whereas female powers were viewed as being in the darkness, night, the womb, water, and the reflective light of the moon. Many symbols identified with the sun include the lion, gold, and the eagle. The Roman emperor Constantine had images of the sun on his coins, which were dedicated to the protective powers of the sun lord.

Yet the sun was always lost in the darkness before he was reborn again each morning, or, with the return of the sun at the winter solstice. Ra, Sun God of Egypt, was represented by a winged sun disc; he died each day as he entered the night/womb, and was born again each morning from her "eastern gate". The connotation of the sun god as dying and being reborn is consistent throughout many traditions; hence the importance of the "Birth of the Light" with the Christ Child at Christmas, which also occurs at the time of the solstice.