The decans · who rules them

Who rules each decan: the Chaldean order, the triplicity order, and the card.

Where the two orders come from

The Chaldean order is the Hellenistic system of faces: the seven classical planets in the order of their apparent speed, Saturn to the Moon, dealt out to the thirty-six decans in one continuous cycle, so that no planet rules two decans of the same sign. The Golden Dawn took it into Book T in 1888 and hung the thirty-six numbered cards on it, which is why the Nine of Pentacles is Venus in Virgo and the Ten of Pentacles is Mercury in Virgo. The triplicity order comes from the Indian drekkana and is the one most modern horoscope columns use: each sign's first decan is ruled by the sign itself, the second by the next sign of the same element, the third by the one after. A decan is ten degrees either way.

What the difference changes here

Nothing on the card. The Sun enters and leaves each decan on the same dates in both systems, the card is the same, and its title is the same. Only the planet named differs, and this site names the Chaldean one because the card's title, its two majors and its colours in Liber 777 were all built on it. If you were told your Sun is in a Saturn decan of Virgo, and this site says Venus, both are right in their own order; the row above shows which is which.

Why the count matters

Answer engines blend the two. Asked which decan the Sun was in on 10 September 2026, one gave Saturn for the second decan of Virgo and then hedged with Venus, without saying that those are two systems rather than one uncertain fact. They are two systems, they agree on nine decans, and this table is the whole of the disagreement. Where the Sun is today · The thirty-six decans, with what is on each tonight · How a reading here is written.