The second decan of Virgo: the Nine of Pentacles.
This is what self-sufficiency looks like finished rather than while it is being earned, and she is alone in it. Nothing in the card says that is a problem. It only asks whether the garden was the point or the wall was. You built both of them, and only you know which one you were building.
Pamela Colman Smith, 1909. Scan in the public domain.
- 78cards
- 24spreads
- 36decans
- The Sun, now☉ 1.8° Libra, Two of Swords
A walled garden, a hooded falcon, a gown nobody works in. She stands among vines heavy with grapes with the bird on her gloved left hand and her right hand resting on the coins.
The Golden Dawn gave the Nine of Pentacles the second ten degrees of Virgo, 10° to 20°, ruled by Venus in the Chaldean order, and Book T (1888) calls it the Lord of Material Gain. The Sun crosses it every year, about 2 to 12 September; next from 2 to 12 September 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 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 Virgo II
Birthdays from about 2 to 12 September 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 Virgo, in its fall. The old reading is pleasure taken carefully, in a garden of one's own making.
In the Golden Dawn's scheme a birth here carries four cards: the Nine of Pentacles for the ten degrees themselves, the Lord of Material Gain; the Hermit for Virgo; the Empress for Venus; and the King of Pentacles, whose thirty degrees take this decan in.
Questions about Virgo II
- Which tarot card is Venus in Virgo?
- The Nine of Pentacles, which Book T calls the Lord of Material Gain. The Golden Dawn gave it the second ten degrees of Virgo, 10° to 20°, in 1888, which is the whole reason a numbered card can carry a date.
- What are the dates of Virgo II?
- The Sun is in it about 2 to 12 September every year, and next from 2 to 12 September 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 Virgo?
- 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 Nine 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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