The first decan of Cancer: the Two of Cups.
Union is the old word for this, and the picture is more exact. This is the moment of agreement, held still, with nothing built on it yet. The lion overhead is what agreements turn into, and it has teeth, and it is not there yet. Whatever you settled this week is still only settled, and that is not a small thing.
Pamela Colman Smith, 1909. Scan in the public domain.
- 78cards
- 24spreads
- 36decans
- The Sun, now☉ 1.8° Libra, Two of Swords
Two people, one step apart, each holding a cup out to the other. Above them two snakes climb a staff, and over that a red lion's head with wings. Neither has looked up.
The Golden Dawn gave the Two of Cups the first ten degrees of Cancer, 0° to 10°, ruled by Venus in the Chaldean order, and Book T (1888) calls it the Lord of Love. The Sun crosses it every year, about 21 June to 2 July; next from 21 June to 2 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 Two 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 I
Birthdays from about 21 June to 2 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. Venus in Cancer. The old reading is a nature that is only half itself alone, and knows it.
In the Golden Dawn's scheme a birth here carries four cards: the Two of Cups for the ten degrees themselves, the Lord of Love; the Chariot for Cancer; the Empress for Venus; and the Queen of Cups, whose thirty degrees take this decan in.
Questions about Cancer I
- Which tarot card is Venus in Cancer?
- The Two of Cups, which Book T calls the Lord of Love. The Golden Dawn gave it the first ten degrees of Cancer, 0° to 10°, in 1888, which is the whole reason a numbered card can carry a date.
- What are the dates of Cancer I?
- The Sun is in it about 21 June to 2 July every year, and next from 21 June to 2 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 first decan of Cancer?
- Venus, in the Chaldean order Book T uses. The triplicity order, which most horoscope columns use, gives it the Moon instead. Both are right in their own system; here are both orders for all thirty-six.
What is drawn on the Two 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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