The first decan of Sagittarius: the Eight of Wands.
Whatever this is, it left somebody's hands a while ago. The staves are still in leaf and the ground is close, and the river underneath has not noticed. It is already in the air, and there is nothing left for you to do but be where it lands.
Pamela Colman Smith, 1909. Scan in the public domain.
- 78cards
- 24spreads
- 36decans
- The Sun, now☉ 1.8° Libra, Two of Swords
Eight staves in the air, parallel, all coming down. There is nobody in this card. Below them a river, a hill with trees, a small house, and none of it moving at all.
The Golden Dawn gave the Eight of Wands the first ten degrees of Sagittarius, 0° to 10°, ruled by Mercury in the Chaldean order, and Book T (1888) calls it the Lord of Swiftness. The Sun crosses it every year, about 22 November to 2 December; next from 22 November to 2 December 2026.
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 Wands 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 Sagittarius I
Birthdays from about 22 November to 2 December 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. Mercury in Sagittarius, in its detriment. The old reading is a fast talker and a faster traveller, already halfway there.
In the Golden Dawn's scheme a birth here carries four cards: the Eight of Wands for the ten degrees themselves, the Lord of Swiftness; Temperance for Sagittarius; the Magician for Mercury; and the King of Wands, whose thirty degrees take this decan in.
Questions about Sagittarius I
- Which tarot card is Mercury in Sagittarius?
- The Eight of Wands, which Book T calls the Lord of Swiftness. The Golden Dawn gave it the first ten degrees of Sagittarius, 0° to 10°, in 1888, which is the whole reason a numbered card can carry a date.
- What are the dates of Sagittarius I?
- The Sun is in it about 22 November to 2 December every year, and next from 22 November to 2 December 2026. 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 Sagittarius?
- Mercury, in the Chaldean order Book T uses. The triplicity order, which most horoscope columns use, gives it Jupiter instead. Both are right in their own system; here are both orders for all thirty-six.
What is drawn on the Eight of Wands, 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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