I’ve always been fond of this card, the Six of Swords. It’s one of the most pleasant of the Swords series: Science, also known as the Lord of Earned Success. What better feeling after the last card, Defeat, than success that you have earned yourself, through the strength of your will (the solar Sixes), and […]
The Five of Swords is something most of us prefer not to see: Defeat! The ruler of the decan is warm and loving Venus, who likes harmony and bringing things together. But we are in the rough-and-tumble destructive world of the Fives – Mars energy – in the sign of Aquarius, ruled by the other […]
777 lists the magical image of the decan for the Four of Disks (Power, or Lord of Material Power) as “A man holding a book, which he opens and shuts.” Probably a book of his accounts, for he is a grasping and covetous fellow who cannot help but keep checking his bank balance. The Picatrix […]
Once again I’m late to post this, and the next few cards as well, but not late to complete the actual works. I’ve been hard at work, completing each of the decanic minor cards within the ten or so day span of the actual decan, and even squeezing in time to work on a few […]
Tough times in Sagittarius land for this one, known as the Lord of Oppression. The fiery and Jovial Sagittarius here is oppressed and smothered by serious Saturn, ruler of the decan and also of the earthy Tens through the association with Malkuth on the Tree of Life. The magical image from 777 is quite challenging […]
I’ve been late in posting, but not late in the doing. Things are humming along and getting done in their appropriate decan. The posting bit tends to drag behind. The middle decan of Sagittarius is known in the Thoth tarot as “Strength”, or more formally in the Golden Dawn tradition as the Lord of Great […]
The Seven of Cups is called “Debauch” in the Thoth deck, or titled by the Golden Dawn, the Lord of Illusionary Success. In 777, the magical image for this decan of Scorpio, corresponding to the Seven of Cups, is described simply as “A horse and a wolf“. Two creatures of appetite; one wild but perhaps […]
Combine Scorpio, a water sign, with the Sun’s influence and get the Sun-warmed waters of Pleasure. The tarot Six of Cups, Lord of Pleasure, is the middle Scorpio decan. Scorpio is Mars ruled but the middle or second decan is Sun ruled; doubly so as Sixes also have solar associations through the sephira Tiphareth on […]
Now we have entered spooky Scorpio season, the days growing shorter and darker here in the Northern hemisphere. For me, the first frost that occurs here in this decan is always a bit of a disappointment, but so it goes. The tarot Five of Cups is called the Lord of Disappointment, also known as Loss […]
The third and last decan of Libra corresponds to the tarot Four of Swords. While Libra is Venus-ruled, both the decan and the numeric Four cards are Jupiter ruled (Wheel of Fortune, the Greater Benefic or Fortune). 36 Aires of the Zodiac gives the deity as Nemesis, who we think of as a goddess of […]
