The second decan of Cancer: the Three of Cups.
Celebration, and the card is exact about the size of it. Three is the most people who can all look at each other at once, and a fourth puts somebody at somebody's back. Count the ones who would actually turn up for you. The number is smaller than your list and better than it.
Pamela Colman Smith, 1909. Scan in the public domain.
- 78cards
- 24spreads
- 36decans
- The Sun, now☉ 1.8° Libra, Two of Swords
Three women in a ring, cups up and touching at the top. The middle one is in red with her back to you. On the ground, a pumpkin, grapes, apples, more than they can eat.
The Golden Dawn gave the Three of Cups the second ten degrees of Cancer, 10° to 20°, ruled by Mercury in the Chaldean order, and Book T (1888) calls it the Lord of Abundance. The Sun crosses it every year, about 2 to 12 July; next from 2 to 12 July 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 Three 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 Cancer II
Birthdays from about 2 to 12 July 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. Mercury in Cancer. The old reading is a memory for people, and a talent for the table where they gather.
In the Golden Dawn's scheme a birth here carries four cards: the Three of Cups for the ten degrees themselves, the Lord of Abundance; the Chariot for Cancer; the Magician for Mercury; and the Queen of Cups, whose thirty degrees take this decan in.
Questions about Cancer II
- Which tarot card is Mercury in Cancer?
- The Three of Cups, which Book T calls the Lord of Abundance. The Golden Dawn gave it the second ten degrees of Cancer, 10° to 20°, in 1888, which is the whole reason a numbered card can carry a date.
- What are the dates of Cancer II?
- The Sun is in it about 2 to 12 July every year, and next from 2 to 12 July 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 Cancer?
- Mercury, 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 Three 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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