The first decan of Aries: the Two of Wands.
Everything is on that globe and none of it has been tested. That is why it is so satisfying to hold. Small enough to carry means nothing on it has been tried. You have the plan and the reach, and having them is not the same as having started.
Pamela Colman Smith, 1909. Scan in the public domain.
- 78cards
- 24spreads
- 36decans
- The Sun, now☉ 1.8° Libra, Two of Swords
A man on his own battlement, the world in his hand. It is the size of an apple. He looks past it at the bay, one staff loose in his hand, the other bolted to the wall, roses and lilies cut into the stone below.
The Golden Dawn gave the Two of Wands the first ten degrees of Aries, 0° to 10°, ruled by Mars in the Chaldean order, and Book T (1888) calls it the Lord of Dominion. The Sun crosses it every year, about 20 to 30 March; next from 20 to 30 March 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 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 I
Birthdays from about 20 to 30 March 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. Mars at home in Aries. The old reading of a birth here is the first to move, and the least patient with anyone who is not.
In the Golden Dawn's scheme a birth here carries four cards: the Two of Wands for the ten degrees themselves, the Lord of Dominion; the Emperor for Aries; the Tower for Mars; and the Queen of Wands, whose thirty degrees take this decan in.
Questions about Aries I
- Which tarot card is Mars in Aries?
- The Two of Wands, which Book T calls the Lord of Dominion. The Golden Dawn gave it the first ten degrees of Aries, 0° to 10°, in 1888, which is the whole reason a numbered card can carry a date.
- What are the dates of Aries I?
- The Sun is in it about 20 to 30 March every year, and next from 20 to 30 March 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 Aries?
- Mars, 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 Two 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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