The first decan of Aquarius: the Five of Swords.
Winning badly looks like this. A hollow victory: the field is his and the field is empty. The card is unusual in the deck for having a clear villain and refusing to say whether you are him.
Pamela Colman Smith, 1909. Scan in the public domain.
- 78cards
- 24spreads
- 36decans
- The Sun, now☉ 1.8° Libra, Two of Swords
He has three of the swords and a look on his face. Two figures walk away towards the water with their heads down. Two swords lie on the sand. The sky is torn.
The Golden Dawn gave the Five of Swords the first ten degrees of Aquarius, 0° to 10°, ruled by Venus in the Chaldean order, and Book T (1888) calls it the Lord of Defeat. The Sun crosses it every year, about 20 to 30 January; next from 20 to 30 January 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 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 Aquarius I
Birthdays from about 20 to 30 January 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. Venus in Aquarius. The old reading is affection on its own terms, and a willingness to win an argument at a cost.
In the Golden Dawn's scheme a birth here carries four cards: the Five of Swords for the ten degrees themselves, the Lord of Defeat; the Star for Aquarius; the Empress for Venus; and the Knight of Swords, whose thirty degrees take this decan in.
Questions about Aquarius I
- Which tarot card is Venus in Aquarius?
- The Five of Swords, which Book T calls the Lord of Defeat. The Golden Dawn gave it the first ten degrees of Aquarius, 0° to 10°, in 1888, which is the whole reason a numbered card can carry a date.
- What are the dates of Aquarius I?
- The Sun is in it about 20 to 30 January every year, and next from 20 to 30 January 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 Aquarius?
- Venus, in the Chaldean order Book T uses. The triplicity order, which most horoscope columns use, gives it Saturn instead. Both are right in their own system; here are both orders for all thirty-six.
What is drawn on the Five 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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