The first decan of Gemini: the Eight of Swords.
Trapped, people say, and say it too quickly. Look at the trap. It is not shut. Nothing is holding it closed except the not looking, and you know it, which is the part that stings.
Pamela Colman Smith, 1909. Scan in the public domain.
- 78cards
- 24spreads
- 36decans
- The Sun, now☉ 1.8° Libra, Two of Swords
Bound and blindfolded, in a red dress, in marsh water, she stands among eight swords. The swords make a ring and the front of the ring is open. A castle sits on the crag behind her, with nobody at its windows.
The Golden Dawn gave the Eight of Swords the first ten degrees of Gemini, 0° to 10°, ruled by Jupiter in the Chaldean order, and Book T (1888) calls it the Lord of Shortened Force. The Sun crosses it every year, about 21 to 31 May; next from 21 to 31 May 2027.
Why this card can carry a date
A decan is a third of a sign, ten degrees of the zodiac, and there are thirty-six of them around the year. The Golden Dawn gave one to each numbered card, so every numbered card is also a place on the calendar, and when the Sun, the Moon or a planet is inside those ten degrees the card is, in an old and literal sense, in season. All thirty-six are listed here, and where the Sun is today is computed on the server so anyone can check it.
The Sun spends about ten days in each decan every year. The Moon passes through each one for under a day, roughly once a month. Mercury and Venus run close to the Sun; Mars, Jupiter and Saturn move slowly, and can sit on one card for weeks or months. What this site prints about the Eight of Swords is computed at the minute you read, so it can be checked against any ephemeris, and it stops being printed the hour it stops being true.
Born with the Sun in Gemini I
Birthdays from about 21 to 31 May fall in this decan. The boundary moves by a day or so from year to year, which is why the birth card page works from an ephemeris and not a table. Jupiter in Gemini, in its detriment. The old reading is a mind with too many roads open at once, and a habit of taking none of them.
In the Golden Dawn's scheme a birth here carries four cards: the Eight of Swords for the ten degrees themselves, the Lord of Shortened Force; the Lovers for Gemini; Wheel of Fortune for Jupiter; and the King of Swords, whose thirty degrees take this decan in.
Questions about Gemini I
- Which tarot card is Jupiter in Gemini?
- The Eight of Swords, which Book T calls the Lord of Shortened Force. The Golden Dawn gave it the first ten degrees of Gemini, 0° to 10°, in 1888, which is the whole reason a numbered card can carry a date.
- What are the dates of Gemini I?
- The Sun is in it about 21 to 31 May every year, and next from 21 to 31 May 2027. The boundary moves by a day or so from year to year, so a birthday on the edge can fall either side; the birth card page settles it from an ephemeris rather than a table.
- Who rules the first decan of Gemini?
- Jupiter, in the Chaldean order Book T uses. The triplicity order, which most horoscope columns use, gives it Mercury instead. Both are right in their own system; here are both orders for all thirty-six.
What is drawn on the Eight of Swords, and the four things people go to on it. Draw a card and if this is the one that turns, the reading will say which body is on it. The sky, and why a card here can carry a date.
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