The second decan of Aries: the Three of Wands.
He has done the thing, and now he stands watching it happen without him. Enterprise, trade, the first results of something begun. If something of yours is out of your hands this week, this is the card for the waiting and not for the sending.
Power draw Saturn is on this card tonight. Saturn moves on 21 October.
Pamela Colman Smith, 1909. Scan in the public domain.
- 78cards
- 24spreads
- 36decans
- The Sun, now☉ 1.8° Libra, Two of Swords
His back is to us. He stands on a rocky ledge with one hand on the rightmost of three staves planted in the ground, looking out over a yellow sea at three small ships, and the sky is the same yellow as the water.
The Golden Dawn gave the Three of Wands the second ten degrees of Aries, 10° to 20°, ruled by the Sun in the Chaldean order, and Book T (1888) calls it the Lord of Established Strength. The Sun crosses it every year, about 30 March to 10 April; next from 30 March to 10 April 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 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 Aries II
Birthdays from about 30 March to 10 April 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 Sun exalted in Aries. The old reading is someone who takes the head of the table without asking, and holds it.
In the Golden Dawn's scheme a birth here carries four cards: the Three of Wands for the ten degrees themselves, the Lord of Established Strength; the Emperor for Aries; the Sun for the Sun; and the Queen of Wands, whose thirty degrees take this decan in.
Questions about Aries II
- Which tarot card is the Sun in Aries?
- The Three of Wands, which Book T calls the Lord of Established Strength. The Golden Dawn gave it the second ten degrees of Aries, 10° to 20°, in 1888, which is the whole reason a numbered card can carry a date.
- What are the dates of Aries II?
- The Sun is in it about 30 March to 10 April every year, and next from 30 March to 10 April 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 Aries?
- The Sun, in the Chaldean order Book T uses. The triplicity order, which most horoscope columns use, gives it the Sun instead. Both are right in their own system; here are both orders for all thirty-six.
What is drawn on the Three 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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