The second decan of Sagittarius: the Nine of Wands.
The wound is old. The fence is good, and he is standing in front of it rather than behind it, which is where the strain comes from. Resilience is the usual word, and it is the wrong word for a man spending everything on a possibility. Nothing is attacking you at the moment, and you still have not sat down.
Pamela Colman Smith, 1909. Scan in the public domain.
- 78cards
- 24spreads
- 36decans
- The Sun, now☉ 1.8° Libra, Two of Swords
A man with a bandage round his head, leaning on a staff. Eight more stand behind him like a fence, all in leaf. He is looking sideways, out of the frame. There is nothing there.
The Golden Dawn gave the Nine of Wands the second ten degrees of Sagittarius, 10° to 20°, ruled by the Moon in the Chaldean order, and Book T (1888) calls it the Lord of Great Strength. The Sun crosses it every year, about 2 to 12 December; next from 2 to 12 December 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 Nine of Wands 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 Sagittarius II
Birthdays from about 2 to 12 December 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. The Moon in Sagittarius. The old reading is resilience: a nature that has been hit before and is still standing, wary and upright.
In the Golden Dawn's scheme a birth here carries four cards: the Nine of Wands for the ten degrees themselves, the Lord of Great Strength; Temperance for Sagittarius; the High Priestess for the Moon; and the King of Wands, whose thirty degrees take this decan in.
Questions about Sagittarius II
- Which tarot card is the Moon in Sagittarius?
- The Nine of Wands, which Book T calls the Lord of Great Strength. The Golden Dawn gave it the second ten degrees of Sagittarius, 10° to 20°, in 1888, which is the whole reason a numbered card can carry a date.
- What are the dates of Sagittarius II?
- The Sun is in it about 2 to 12 December every year, and next from 2 to 12 December 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 second decan of Sagittarius?
- The Moon, in the Chaldean order Book T uses. The triplicity order, which most horoscope columns use, gives it Mars instead. Both are right in their own system; here are both orders for all thirty-six.
What is drawn on the Nine of Wands, 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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