The first decan of Taurus: the Five of Pentacles.
The card people fear drawing, and the detail that changes it is the window. The card does not say whether they will notice. It says the door is where it always was. If you are outside something at the moment, the card is not asking how you got there.
Pamela Colman Smith, 1909. Scan in the public domain.
- 78cards
- 24spreads
- 36decans
- The Sun, now☉ 1.8° Libra, Two of Swords
Snow, night, and a lit window that neither of them is looking at. One is on crutches with a bell at his neck and a bandaged leg; the other is barefoot, wrapped in a shawl, with her head down.
The Golden Dawn gave the Five of Pentacles the first ten degrees of Taurus, 0° to 10°, ruled by Mercury in the Chaldean order, and Book T (1888) calls it the Lord of Material Trouble. The Sun crosses it every year, about 20 to 30 April; next from 20 to 30 April 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 Five of Pentacles 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 Taurus I
Birthdays from about 20 to 30 April 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 Taurus. The old reading is a slow, exact mind that counts what it has, and notices first what it lacks.
In the Golden Dawn's scheme a birth here carries four cards: the Five of Pentacles for the ten degrees themselves, the Lord of Material Trouble; the Hierophant for Taurus; the Magician for Mercury; and the Knight of Pentacles, whose thirty degrees take this decan in.
Questions about Taurus I
- Which tarot card is Mercury in Taurus?
- The Five of Pentacles, which Book T calls the Lord of Material Trouble. The Golden Dawn gave it the first ten degrees of Taurus, 0° to 10°, in 1888, which is the whole reason a numbered card can carry a date.
- What are the dates of Taurus I?
- The Sun is in it about 20 to 30 April every year, and next from 20 to 30 April 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 Taurus?
- Mercury, in the Chaldean order Book T uses. The triplicity order, which most horoscope columns use, gives it Venus instead. Both are right in their own system; here are both orders for all thirty-six.
What is drawn on the Five of Pentacles, 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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