The third decan of Libra: the Four of Swords.
Recovery, retreat, a stillness with a date on it. The only card in the suit where nothing is happening, and the one people most often need. Nobody lies down like that by accident. You have not given yourself the same permission, and the swords would keep on the wall without you.
Power draw Mercury is on this card tonight. Mercury moves on 30 September.
Pamela Colman Smith, 1909. Scan in the public domain.
- 78cards
- 24spreads
- 36decans
- The Sun, now☉ 1.8° Libra, Two of Swords
The knight lies in effigy on his own tomb, hands together. Three swords hang on the wall above him, points down. A fourth is carved into the stone he lies on. The window is the only colour in the room.
The Golden Dawn gave the Four of Swords the third ten degrees of Libra, 20° to 30°, ruled by Jupiter in the Chaldean order, and Book T (1888) calls it the Lord of Rest from Strife. The Sun crosses it every year, about 13 to 23 October; next from 13 to 23 October 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 Four 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 Libra III
Birthdays from about 13 to 23 October 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 Libra. The old reading is a diplomat who knows when to stop, and rests before the next round.
In the Golden Dawn's scheme a birth here carries four cards: the Four of Swords for the ten degrees themselves, the Lord of Rest from Strife; Justice for Libra; Wheel of Fortune for Jupiter; and the Knight of Cups, whose thirty degrees take this decan in.
Questions about Libra III
- Which tarot card is Jupiter in Libra?
- The Four of Swords, which Book T calls the Lord of Rest from Strife. The Golden Dawn gave it the third ten degrees of Libra, 20° to 30°, in 1888, which is the whole reason a numbered card can carry a date.
- What are the dates of Libra III?
- The Sun is in it about 13 to 23 October every year, and next from 13 to 23 October 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 third decan of Libra?
- 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 Four 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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