The second decan of Pisces: the Nine of Cups.
Getting what you asked for, and the nickname for this card is the wish. The picture is more careful than the nickname. All the care is in his arms and in the cloth that goes to the floor. If you have got a thing you wanted, the card is interested in what you have put behind the cloth.
Pamela Colman Smith, 1909. Scan in the public domain.
- 78cards
- 24spreads
- 36decans
- The Sun, now☉ 1.8° Libra, Two of Swords
Nine cups on a curved counter, over a blue cloth that reaches the floor. A man sits in front on a low bench, arms folded, red cap, feet planted. Behind it all, flat yellow.
The Golden Dawn gave the Nine of Cups the second ten degrees of Pisces, 10° to 20°, ruled by Jupiter in the Chaldean order, and Book T (1888) calls it the Lord of Material Happiness. The Sun crosses it every year, about 28 February to 10 March; next from 28 February to 10 March 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 Nine of Cups 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 Pisces II
Birthdays from about 28 February to 10 March 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 at home in Pisces. The old reading is generosity and appetite together: a full table, and a host who wishes for more of it.
In the Golden Dawn's scheme a birth here carries four cards: the Nine of Cups for the ten degrees themselves, the Lord of Material Happiness; the Moon for Pisces; Wheel of Fortune for Jupiter; and the King of Cups, whose thirty degrees take this decan in.
Questions about Pisces II
- Which tarot card is Jupiter in Pisces?
- The Nine of Cups, which Book T calls the Lord of Material Happiness. The Golden Dawn gave it the second ten degrees of Pisces, 10° to 20°, in 1888, which is the whole reason a numbered card can carry a date.
- What are the dates of Pisces II?
- The Sun is in it about 28 February to 10 March every year, and next from 28 February to 10 March 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 second decan of Pisces?
- Jupiter, in the Chaldean order Book T uses. The triplicity order, which most horoscope columns use, gives it the Moon instead. Both are right in their own system; here are both orders for all thirty-six.
What is drawn on the Nine of Cups, 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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