The second decan of Leo: the Six of Wands.
This is a return, not a battle. Recognition, and the card arranges it exactly: one man mounted, everyone else walking, his eyes already past the crowd. The moment does not repeat, and if it is yours, you are the one person in the procession most likely to miss it.
Power draw Jupiter is on this card tonight. Jupiter moves on 3 October.
Pamela Colman Smith, 1909. Scan in the public domain.
- 78cards
- 24spreads
- 36decans
- The Sun, now☉ 1.8° Libra, Two of Swords
A rider with laurel on his head and a second wreath tied to his staff. His horse is white and dressed for the day. The people on foot walk alongside, staves up, faces half out of the frame, and he is not looking at them.
The Golden Dawn gave the Six of Wands the second ten degrees of Leo, 10° to 20°, ruled by Jupiter in the Chaldean order, and Book T (1888) calls it the Lord of Victory. The Sun crosses it every year, about 2 to 12 August; next from 2 to 12 August 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 Six 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 Leo II
Birthdays from about 2 to 12 August 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 Leo. The old reading is confidence that expects to be met with applause, and often is.
In the Golden Dawn's scheme a birth here carries four cards: the Six of Wands for the ten degrees themselves, the Lord of Victory; Strength for Leo; Wheel of Fortune for Jupiter; and the Knight of Wands, whose thirty degrees take this decan in.
Questions about Leo II
- Which tarot card is Jupiter in Leo?
- The Six of Wands, which Book T calls the Lord of Victory. The Golden Dawn gave it the second ten degrees of Leo, 10° to 20°, in 1888, which is the whole reason a numbered card can carry a date.
- What are the dates of Leo II?
- The Sun is in it about 2 to 12 August every year, and next from 2 to 12 August 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 Leo?
- Jupiter, in the Chaldean order Book T uses. The triplicity order, which most horoscope columns use, gives it Jupiter instead. Both are right in their own system; here are both orders for all thirty-six.
What is drawn on the Six 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.
← Five of Wands · Leo: Five of Wands · Six of Wands · Seven of Wands · Seven of Wands →