Before starting Vedic astrology I had been familiar with Indian concepts like Brahman, atman, etc. When I heard that the Sun represents the atman, this made sense, but then it also represents our individuality/ego. How can the Sun represent the atman, of which there is only one, and also each individual? When I look at a chart and the Sun is in Capricorn and has this or that condition and so much strength, etc., how do I understand that in relation to the fact that the Sun is also the atman?
After considering this for a while and trying to understand other various philosophical takes I created the attached image that shows how I have come to understand this process and what it means, and how I can integrate the Sun as atman and as ego.
There is a discussion of this in the Understanding the 5 Elements Course
Sun is atman, moon is manas which holds the jeeva along with Ahamkara, the ego. The individual self is thus in moon, which is the reflection of the sun. Atman is really the Sarvaatman, the soul of all. In a chart it indicates that little spark of god that is in us, but its not ego, its not a living being, its the bit of the one soul that is in us and it holds our essence.
What role does Saturn play in this? I think more and more about Saturn as the ego - the concept of separate existence, which is the reflection that moon gives, reflecting sun - Saturn as the son of the Sun. And Aquarius as the sign of the ego in opposition to Leo - the sign of our essence, because the ego is born through other people, or not?
Also partly for this reason Saturn is exalted in Libra - the sign of interaction with the world, acting as an instrument capable of doing this.
@konstantin_23 from a spiritual perspective we have to see the body and the world as not ourself. In this way the whole world and every experience is Saturn. What we want is only Sun.
The ego is in the moon, Saturn is the survival instinct. The ego is very attached to the survival as well as upon death, the separate existence becomes less as the body is the great Seperator. Saturn does support that by ruling the nervous system which gives us the illusion of separate existence by making it seem like we live in a tangible world of separate physical bodies. So Saturn does not represent the ego exactly, there is no ego in saturn, it's just the life force flowing into the body, keeping it alive, and that life force simply rushes in that direction like a raging river that does not want to stop and does not stop until the bounds of the river are over flowed and the river changes course.