The three decans of Gemini.
The Sun is in Gemini about 21 May to 21 June each year, ten days in each of its three decans. The Golden Dawn gave each decan a numbered card, so a Gemini birth is one of three: the Eight, Nine and Ten of Swords, depending on the day. Which one is yours is below, with the planet that rules it and what the tradition reads into a birth there.
- 78cards
- 24spreads
- 36decans
- The Sun, now☉ 1.8° Libra, Two of Swords
Which decan of Gemini am I?
Eight of SwordsGemini I · Jupiter · 0° to 10° · Lord of Shortened ForceBorn about 21 to 31 MayJupiter in Gemini, in its detriment. The old reading is a mind with too many roads open at once, and a habit of taking none of them.
Nine of SwordsGemini II · Mars · 10° to 20° · Lord of Despair and CrueltyBorn about 31 May to 11 JuneMars in Gemini. The old reading is a quick, sharp tongue, and a mind that works hardest at three in the morning.
Ten of SwordsGemini III · Sun · 20° to 30° · Lord of RuinBorn about 11 to 21 JuneThe Sun in Gemini. The old reading is someone who thinks a thing all the way to its end, including the ends nobody wanted.
The boundary between decans 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.
Which tarot cards are Gemini?
Six, in the Golden Dawn's scheme. The Lovers is the card of the sign itself. The Eight, Nine and Ten of Swords are its three decans. And two court cards hold thirty degrees each across it: the King of Swords over Gemini I and II, and the Queen of Cups over Gemini III and the first two decans of Cancer. A reading here that turns any of them says so.
Why a sign has three cards and not one
A decan is ten degrees of the zodiac, a third of a sign, and there are thirty-six of them around the year. Book T (1888) gave one to each numbered card of the minor arcana, which is the whole reason a card can carry a date. All thirty-six · where the Sun is today · who rules each decan, in both orders.
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