Today's Oracle 12th April 2020

Sun Wheels (Talismans)

Like the sun itself, sunlight gives protection and warmth. Carved or crudely fashioned sun wheels are talismans drawing the light and warmth of the sun into the chaos, pain, and sorrow of life and even into death. The sun wheel's qualities are trust and hope.

Invoking the Quality of Protection.

Sun wheels are signs of protection and healing. Worn as talismans, they protect warriors in battle. Buried with the dead and carved on tombstones, they comfort the dead and illuminate the mysterious journey to the Otherworld. Offered at healing springs and lakes, votive sun wheels are carried to the depths of the earth. Symbolizing the warmth and light of the sun within the fecund earth, they represent healing and protection amid chaos, sorrow, confusion, and pain.

To the ancient Celts, the sun in the sky was a life force rendering fertility to the moist earth, healing to the diseased and sorrowful, and solace in darkness and danger. Iron Age warriors embellished their body armour with sun wheels, seeking the sun's beneficence in danger and giving them courage in battle. Along with personal items suggesting a life after death, small sun wheels were buried with the dead to illuminate the passage in the afterlife, perhaps the journey to the Otherworld. Tombstones in Roman-occupied Alsace in France were decorated with solar symbols, as though to guide and enliven the dead in the Otherworld.

Sun wheels also adorned the bodies of small clay goddess figurines deposited as votives at healing shrines, springs, and lakes and buried with the dead. These figurines were mass-produced, inexpensively available, and crudely fashioned, and may have been popular among women seeking safety in the passage of childbirth. Sometimes referred to as "Venus" figurines, the goddesses were slim-figured and nubile, suggestive of sexuality and fecundity. Offered as prayers and left at curative springs and sacred lakes, these fertile and sun-filled figurines were conveyed to the depths of the Otherworld. This sacred union of the sun and earth brought healing and safety to their Celtic supplicants. At Bath in the southwest of England, the thermal springs of the goddess Aquae Sulis (in Gaelic sulis is suggestive of sun) gave comfort to thousands of supplicants before and after the Roman period. The hot springs and the steamy interiors of the shrine inspire a sacred link with sun and earth, a natural vortex of healing and protection to devotees.

Decorating armour and tombstones, worn as amulets, buried with the dead, and accompanying prayers, sun wheels gave hope to the weary and infirm and solace to those in danger.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, the brilliance of the sun banishes darkness and chaos and brings you comfort and security.
There are numerous ways to convey the qualities of the sun in your daily life. You might use a sun symbol as a talisman to carry in your pocket, in your purse or bag, or on a chain. Wear an amulet as jewelry, on a necklace, string, or key chain. Keep a symbol of a sun in your office or work area to serve as a reminder, or meditate with the sun as it rises. You might wish to use a candle flame as a focus of meditation. In your imagination, bring light to any darkness and confusion in your life. Allow the outer light to fill the interior reserves of your being. Conduct your daily activities mindful of the light and warmth of the sun.

Sunlight dispels darkness and confusion. The sun as talisman draws the light and warmth of the sun into the chaos, pain, and sorrows of life. Its brilliance will bring you renewed trust and hope.