Tabula Mundi Tarot – Page 7 – an inspired Thoth based tarot deck by M.M. Meleen

Cancer 1: first decan of Cancer, Two of Cups

The Two of Cups is also called the Lord of Love. At first, I found the decan image listed in 777 (which appears to be loosely based on the Picatrix images) a bit perplexing for a card of Love. 777 lists it as “A man with distorted face and hands, a horse’s body, white feet, and a girdle of leaves“. Picatrix lists it as “A man having twisted and crooked fingers and head, and his body is like the body of a horse, and having white feet and upon his body fig leaves. And this is a face of teaching, knowledge, of love, subtlety, and of skills.” Thinking about this made me see him as a Chiron-like figure. Chiron the Centaur was very learned, and a loving teacher and father-figure to many great heroes whose rearing was entrusted to him in their childhood. You can see the illustrious list of his students in the link, and he formed many loving relationships as he reared and cared for them.

Agrippa’s decan description is different, and fits with the idea of Venus as the decan ruler: “In the first face of Cancer ascendeth the form of a young Virgin, adorned with fine cloathes [clothes], and having a Crown on her head; it giveth acuteness of senses, subtilty of wit, and the love of men.” Likewise Bruno’s description is very Venusian: “In the first face of Cancer is a crowned woman who is luxuriously dressed. She is holding an olive branch in her right hand and a drinking cup in her left hand.

36 Airs of the Zodiac gives an association with Nike, the goddess of Victory who was Zeus’ charioteer. At least the charioteer reference fits for the introduction of the sign of Cancer, whose trump card is the Chariot. Nike however had no consort, and no children. While she could indeed be a crowned virgin, it’s a curious association for the Lord of Love except that she was often paired with Eros, the god of love and child of Aphrodite/Venus, who flew along behind her chariot in the celebrations that followed Victory.

I’ve also included the dolphins “argent and or” (silver and gold in heraldic terms) that are in the traditional Golden Dawn description of the card, and as seen in the Thoth deck, in my Rosetta, and as the lower half of the hippocampi (horse-dolphin hybrids which in consideration of the horse references of the decan image is interesting) of Tabula Mundi. Dolphins are associated with the womb and with the womb’s alchemy. The idea of them as silver and gold are likely a lunar-solar thing, a fertile combination of female and male. Makes some sense with the idea of Cancer and Venus (both feminine and lunar) in the sephira for Twos, Chokmah considered masculine and associated with the Zodiac itself, composed of stars that are after all suns, so solar.

One thing you will notice if you look at the Two of Cups in almost any classic tarot deck is that every one contains some curving twisting sinuous shapes. You can see it in the card from Rider Waite Smith, Thoth, Golden Dawn decks, my own Rosetta and Tabula Mundi, and even many Marseilles deck. Looking at them all together one thing pops out at me – in every one these entwining shapes form a vesica piscis by their intersection. This is very symbolic and intentional, for it not only references the “bladder of a fish” – an indirect reference to the dolphins and the womb – but also form a quite feminine shape, that of a portal through which things are born. Quite appropriate for the maternal sign of Cancer paired with decan ruler Venus, the Empress and mother figure.

So I’ve put both the male centaur-like figure in, as well as the young female figure. Perhaps the bundle she so lovingly holds will someday be entrusted to the wise centaur for rearing. Perhaps she is the vision of love that arises from the alchemical mixing of the fluid in silver and gold cups he holds. I’ve seen this card predict a future pregnancy, before it even happened and was just as they say, a “twinkle in the eye” (which sounds very zodiacal and vesical!) In any event, this card can signify the start of love – and that love can take many forms. It can be romantic love, or the love of a mother for a child, or a mentor for a student, or that higher love where 0 = 2. One becomes Two, or two become one and none.

black and white line art Two of Cups — copyright 2021 M.M. Meleen

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Gemini 3: third decan of Gemini, Ten of Swords

The third and final (in more ways than one) decan of Gemini corresponds to the tarot Ten of Swords, the Lord of Ruin, ruled by the Sun. As Gemini, again we have twinned beings, but this time, just like in the Gemini mythos of Castor and Pollux, one twin must die.

777 lists the decan image as “A man in mail, armored with bow, arrows, and quiver“. 36 Airs of the Zodiac associates the decan with Praxidike, the executor, the dispenser of justice, and mother of the Erinyes (Furies). Praxidike was also an epithet of Persephone, who dispensed final justice in her role as Queen of the Underworld and the dead.

This decan also has the flavor of finality for another reason, as it was the last decan of the Egyptian year, and ends just as the Summer Solstice in the Northern hemisphere begins. The Oak King, or the Sun King, or the Green Knight – whatever you want to name him, must die here, sacrificed for the fertility of the land. At the Solstice, the days reach their longest, the Sun reaches it’s full strength only to begin the inevitable period of its waning.

During this days of this decan, the Sun appears above and behind the head of the constellation Orion – though you can’t see it, he appears to wear the Sun like a hat – or a head. As Solstice passes and the Sun proceeds into the next decan of Cancer, it descends from his shoulders as if stricken off by a sword. So while pondering this I realized that the “man in mail, armored with bow, arrows, and quiver” could indeed be an Orion figure. Depictions of the constellation sometimes show him with a sword in one hand held overhead and a bow in the other in front of him. Some illustrations have the bow replaced with either a lion’s pelt or a shield, but to me when I look at the constellation I see a belted warrior armed with a curving bow.

The constellation Orion is right next to that of the constellation Gemini, whose stars distinctly show two twins. Most often we think of these as Castor and Pollux – one mortal and one immortal. Yet history has many stories of twins or brothers, one of whom is slain, sometimes by the other. There is the story of Horus and Set, battling over the right for kingship, and a symbolic battle of light and darkness, that we see hinted at in the hilts of the two swords closest to the foreground.

[coming soon]

Gemini 2: second decan of Gemini, Nine of Swords

The tarot card for the second decan of Gemini is known as the Lord of Cruelty, or by the full title of Lord of Despair and Cruelty which is often more fitting. Crowley’s 777 gives the decan image description as “An eagle headed man, with a bow and arrow. Wears crowned steel helmet.”

The god form listed in the fragment 36 Airs of the Zodiac is the goddess Cybele, who is often shown accompanied by lions. Some of the mythology about her says that she was originally a hermaphrodite, both male and female in one body, but the other gods were jealous of the power this gave her and so they split her into two parts by striking off her male half, which died and was reborn as the god Attis, who as her twin flame of course eventually became her consort. Yet more cruelty and despair fills the tale as it is told that Attis castrated himself at his despair over having to marry another – or that Cybele does so herself at his apparent betrayal.

So for this image, I have them as twinned beings – one the eagle-headed man hunting with a bow described in 777 (and Picatrix), and the other as a lion-headed woman stabbing herself with a sword – both the suit of the card and the letter Zayin associated with Gemini. They stand back to back on a raised peak yet still cannot see their way out of the dark forest – a forest of pines referring to Attis, who in Ovid’s Metamorphoses transformed himself into a pine tree, and who represents the death of things in winter reborn in spring.

The decan ruler is bloodthirsty Mars. Here in Gemini these are the twin faces of Cruelty and Despair, the tarot Nine of Swords. They can be directed outward (Cruelty) or directed inward as self-cruelty, which often stems from Despair.

[coming soon]

Gemini 1: first decan of Gemini, Eight of Swords

I suppose I should say what this is for newcomers to the site. These posts are a series of line art drawings of the minors, the 36 astrological decans, of my new tarot, name not yet revealed, based on decan descriptions from 777.

Well, this is an interesting one! The Eight of Swords, Lord of Interference. Crowley’s 777, roughly based on the Picatrix description, gives us a great image to work with: A beautiful woman with her two horses.

Some inspiration was also drawn from Ibn Ezra, who says that the beautiful woman is “standing in the air“.

So here she is, standing beautifully poised upon her two steeds, seemingly almost floating.

36 Airs of the Zodiac has the deity as Tethys/Tethus. Now at first glance I thought that was different. Tethys is a Titan goddess, (usually as daughter of Gaia and Ouranos) associated with Water, but this as a Swords suit card is an Air card. There isn’t a lot of information out there about Tethys; most just consider her the consort of Oceanus/Okeanos the primordial sea. As Titans, some think they are so far off from mankind’s ken that they in turn also don’t pay much attention to us, so many magicians don’t work with them. But I actually once did a working focused on Tethys. (Out of desperation!) What I learned about her is that she isn’t only just associated with the Sea as the Ocean(s). I think of that as her husband’s domain. Tethys draws from the source, the great world sea, to fill the rivers, for she rules over fresh water. Fresh water is part of a whole cycle which in a simplified way is how water is drawn up from the oceans into the air and then comes down as fresh rain that rivers return to the oceans.

There are not many portrayals of her – but the few that still exist show her as having wings sprouting from her forehead. Which seems very Mercurial (Gemini), does it not?

She was the mother of not only the Oceanids, ocean nymphs, but also the Potamoi, gods of the innumerable rivers of the world.

Which leads to the point – or rather, the rivers lead somewhere. The river system shown in the background of the card shows how rivers split, and split, and split again into infinite streams of water or infinite decision points or choices. Follow one, and at certain points as it branches off, a choice is made and other choices eliminated. First as twins – one must be eliminated – and then so many more choices to follow. The woman has a myriad of choices to make, and is seemingly blindfolded (though free to remove it) while poised upon two horses, either of which could mean a different way, or a different twin to die. And the river branches on, again and again, a Fibonacci sequence of choices, A Jupiterian (aka Jovian) multitude! For while Mercury rules Gemini and Eights, Jupiter rules the decan – probably why she has horses!

Each sword is a different type. Eight choices (8 is part of the Fibonacci sequence) – but really an infinite number of river branches to follow.

This one was really fun to do. The woman trick riding in this way popped right into mind, and I’m grateful I know Tethys the unknowable at least the tiniest bit. I spend a lot of time around rivers.

Next up, some even more challenging Gemini decan cards. I’ll be glad to get to the Cancer decans!

Taurus 3: third decan of Taurus, Seven of Disks

Taurus III: third and last decan of Taurus, Seven of Disks, is the Lord of Failure – otherwise known as Success Unfulfilled. I like to think of it though as in, unfulfilled as of yet. Because there is always, or should be, a Plan B.

The image described in Crowley’s 777 is a challenging one: “A swarthy man with white lashes, his body elephantine with long legs; with him, a horse, a stag, and a calf.”

The image is done, and yes it was done during the decan period – there was no failure! I think it may be my favorite decan card yet, which is funny because actually getting this card usually feels like some form of bummer! Just finally getting around to posting about it.

So doing a black and white drawing and having “white lashes” show up is one thing. Ok, I think I managed but it will show better in the color version, making it obvious that this older gentleman has white lashes and brows. Next is that he has to have an “elephantine” body, with long legs. The word “elephantine” is interesting, as while of course it means “like an elephant” I figured it probably had an additional archaic meaning. And when I looked into it, it does, for it also means very large in size, and also “ponderously clumsy”. I suppose one might be clumsy if one was both enormous and long-legged as well as old enough to have white lashes. I suppose another meaning of “white lashes” could also be scars – it would fit, though is more Martial. But I chose the other meaning as I saw him as an old farmer (Saturn) working the Earth (Venus, for both Taurus and Sevens).

All this reeks of Saturn, and yes indeed Saturn is the decan ruler. One inspiration for this card was the painting “Man with a Hoe“. That guy looks long-legged, swarthy, and clumsy! But the guy in this card is instead sharpening his scythe, for he has to have a Plan B.

He also is long-legged and swarthy with white lashes, large and clumsy, and elephantine, with those large old man ears and nose, wrinkles, and that scythe blade suggests an elephant’s trunk!

Crowley’s 777 also says that with him is a horse, a stag, and a calf. Those are his Plan B. His crops have failed; does he harvest and replant? Is there still time (Saturn)? The horse in the disk representing his thought-bubble is pulling a plow, perhaps he can plant again. If that fails though, he might have to hunt this winter (the stag) and/or kill off his cattle to eat in the spring (his calf).

The fragmentary text 36 Airs of the Zodiac lists the deity for the card as “Litae“. Litae is Greek for “prayers”, and these goddesses surround the person who prays, trying to prevent the calamity or failure. These wizened daughters of Zeus follow after his other daughter Atë (Folly) goddess of ruin who brings death or downfall. The seven Litae goddesses shown praying here among the disks are not just old and lame, but skeletal, fitting the Saturnian theme. They alternately could stand in for the Pleiades and Hyades – each a group of seven sisters associated with the decan.

Taurus 2: Second decan of Taurus, Six of Disks

The Six of Disks or Pentacles, Lord of (Material) Success, is the middle decan of Taurus, Taurus II. While Taurus itself is Venus ruled, the decan is ruled by the Moon, which is exalted in the sign. To make things even better, it is placed in Tiphareth, the sephira of the Sun. Moon and Sun, conjoined by the loving yoking of Venus, in fertile Taurus yields success.

The Hellenistic fragmentary text 36 Airs of the Zodiac attributes the Horae to this decan. The Horae were goddesses of proper timing – thus their name referring to “hours”. There were actually a few different triads of Horae. There were three seasonal goddesses known as Horae, associated with Aphrodite (Venus): Thalo of Spring, Auxo of Summer, and Carpo of Autumn. Thalo brought the spring blossom, Auxo the full plant growth, and Carpo the harvest. In the card image below, the three lower disks represent this triad, with a rose bud of spring, a full blown rose, and ripened rose hips as the fruit of the rose, the flower of Venus.

The upper three disks represent the other most common triad of Horae. Eirene (Peace), has iconography of the overflowing cornucopia, the celebratory rhyton of ale, and the scepter. Her iconography also seems very Taurean and Venusisan! Dike (Justice) is shown as the disk with the balancing scales of Justice, which is both a symbol of Venus’ other sign Libra, but also is featured in the Rider Waite Six of Pentacles card, as the scales that measure out the proper amount of alms as the figure altruistically shares the bounty with those less fortunate. The third upper disk shows an open book for Eunomia, Order – a goddess whose name refers to “good laws” – and also makes a pun on “fields” for the agricultural motif. The open book also is a symbol of the Priestess, for the Moon as ruler of the decan. The disks all have a hexagonal (six-sided) insert, for the sixth sephira of the Sun.

These two triads make for six goddesses, shown as dancing maidens on the hillside. I admit that these dancing maidens were totally inspired by a famous Pre-Raphaelite painting (now in the public domain). They were too perfect to pass up, as they appear to be dancing in a ring, and the central flower-wreathed and beribboned pole – very phallic-yonic – is none other than the Maypole. This pole shows the result at the end of their dance, when the ribbons have been successfully wound to the end in a ritual fertility rite performed by young maidens at Beltane, which falls in this decan.

There were also Horae associated with goddesses of the four seasons, who were said to be children of Helios (the Sun) and Selene (The Moon) – the two drivers of agricultural timing for the Earth. We see this fortunate pairing above, with Selene as the crescent and curving female form conjunct the solar-rayed face of Helios.

But what about the decan imagery? Glad you asked!

The major image to hit correctly comes from 777: A man of like figure (to the ascendant decan, aka the female figure from the 5 of Disks) with cloven hoofs like an ox.

So, torn clothing like the Five’s figure, cloven hoofs; check. He is carrying a cauldron of spring flowers and a key, as the image also pulled (cherry-picked!) from other decan sources:

Liber Hermetis: Its image is a man, erect (note to self: do they mean erect or “erect” – guess the pole is a stand in here), having tightly curled hair on both sides of the head. On his chin there is a growing of fine hairs and on his face there is a beard hanging down on his neck from both parts of his chin.

Picatrix: A man like figure of a camel and having on his fingers are hooves like those of cows, and he is completely covered by a torn linen sheet. He desires to work the land, to sow, and to make things…

Agrippa: In the second face there ascendeth a naked man, holding in his hand a key; it giveth power, nobility and dominion over people.

Vedic:…a man with a discriminative intellect with good knowledge of lands, grains, houses, cows, arts, ploughing and carts, hungry, sheep faced, dirty clothes and shoulders like the hump of an ox…

Lastly, the Egyptian god form is Helitomenos, or sanctuary of Helios.

[coming soon]

Taurus 1: First decan of Taurus – Five of Disks

The Five of Disks, first decan of Taurus, is known as the Lord of Material Trouble, or Worry. The sign is Venus-ruled Taurus, the decan ruler is Mercury, and the ruler of the Fives is Mars. In the Thoth deck, five leaden gears grind against each other. In the RWS, two barefoot vagrants in raggedy clothes trudge through a snowstorm past a church window. In my Rosetta deck, five gauges show a mercurial machine on the brink of implosion. In my other deck Tabula Mundi Tarot, the turntable set up of the Magus (Mercury) is locked up by the Hierophant’s (Taurus) lock and key. The electronics are smoking, with five broken records on rotation. Here is another take, a new image for the Five of Pentacles or Disks.

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, this decan is when we begin to till our gardens and plan and seed our first plantings. (As a matter of fact, we did this in our household this week!) We see this agricultural theme in the decan descriptions as many of them mention planting and plowing. We wonder: will our seeds bear fruit? We worry: will the weather be conducive or destructive for our harvest? Will there be enough to eat? In my image the five disks bear the symbols of the five elemental Tattvas. In each is a particular potential calamity: the triangle of Fire shows the hot sun and drought baking the earth, the circle of Air shows a cold and harsh wind blowing, the crescent of Water shows a flooded field, the square of Earth shows a devouring locust, while the central egg of Spirit shows a cracked seed. The energy of the Five (Mars/Geburah) cracks open the land and the seed, but will this cracking mean it has successfully sprouted and will grow, or will it perish?

The decan is ruled by Mercury (in Western astrology; Vedic assigns Venus). Mercury is a mathematician. The disks surround a geometric measuring device, that divides according to the Golden Ratio.

36 Airs of the Zodiac gives the deity of the decan as Charis (“Charity”), representing the youngest of the Charities or Three Graces of mythology who was also named Aglaea, an attendant of Aphrodite (Venus, ruler of Taurus). After Aphrodite’s husband, the smith-god Hephaestus, left her for her infidelity with Ares, it is said he married Aglaea. Perhaps this is why her clothes are described as burnt – it gets hot hanging out with a blacksmith!

The image is first based on Crowley’s decan description in 777, but also incorporates ideas from other decan description texts.

777: A woman with long and beautiful hair, clad in flame-coloured robes.

Ibn Ezra: A woman with hair, who has a son, and who wears clothes partly burnt.

Picatrix: A woman of curly hair, having a single child who is dressed in clothes like unto fire, and she herself dressed in similar clothes. And this is a face of plowing and working the earth, of sciences, geometry, of sowing seed, and making things.

Agrippa: In the first face of Taurus ascendeth a naked man, an Archer, Harvester, or Husbandsman, and goeth forth to sow, plough, build, people, and divide the earth, according to the rules of Geometry.

Bruno: In the first face of Taurus is someone naked, ploughing, wearing a hat of woven straw, of dark complexion, followed by a rustic or a woman sowing seed.

Vedic: The first face of Taurus represents a woman with torn ringlets, pot bellied, with fiery clothes, hungry and thirsty, with a penchant for gold and food. This is a female decanate and fiery.

Here is the line art for the design. These images I’m posting now only show the basic structure of the design; the final art will have more details and shading added, and then will be painted in color. (Ignore the guidelines on the sides of the image – these won’t be in the picture and are only for me so that I can leave plenty of room for potential cropping of the finished image.)

The Five of Disks or Pentacles, Taurus decan I, the Lord of Worry (Material Trouble).

Aries 3: Third decan of Aries – Four of Wands

We are in the last decan of Aries with the 4 or Four of Wands, Lord of Completion. First is the main decan description from Crowley’s 777 that I’m using as the main guideline for these images, plus some alternate decan texts that may have influenced the image in some way. The deity from 36 Airs of the Zodiac for this one is Eros, the child of Aphrodite (Venus) with her lover Ares (Mars), appropriate as Mars rules the sign of the card (Aries) and Venus rules this particular decan. So the beings depicted in the card are appropriately both Martial and Venusian.

Crowley’s 777: Cadent decan of Aries. A restless man in scarlet robes, with golden bracelets on his hands and arms.

Liber Hermetis: It is like a woman erect, adorned with linen tied with gold strings tinted a dark rose color. She has a royal gold [crown] on her head. In the middle of her belly there are belly emeralds. She is holding a four-headed serpent on the top of a staff. The two heads in the middle are to one side and the [other] two are to the opposite side.

Ibn Esra: A yellow man whose hair is reddish, and he is irascible and contentious, and in his hand are bracelets of wood and a wand, and his clothes are red, and he is a blacksmith, and he desires to do good but he cannot.

Picatrix: There ascends in the third face of Aries a man in red and white with red hair, appearing to be angry and deeply concerned, holding a sword in his right hand and a horn in his left hand, dressed in red. He is learned with a perfect knowledge of science and a skilled master in the art of ironwork. He wishes for good and does not want evil.

Agrippa: In the third face ariseth the figure of a white man, pale, with reddish hair, and clothed with a red garment, who carrying on the one hand a golden Bracelet, and holding forth a wooden staff, is restless, and like one in wrath, because he cannot perform that good he would.

Bruno: In the third face stands a man with reddish hair, wearing ruddy clothing, with a bridle in his left hand, wearing a bracelet and carrying a hardwood walking staff in this right hand. Restless and wrathful. his face shows a longing for wealth which he can neither obtain not hang on to.

I’m not sure if I will post every one of these or not. Obviously they are unfinished as not yet colored or shaded, but every one will have the line art finished during the appropriate decan period, or that is the intention. I should probably hold some back though so there can be some surprises. I hope you like these; I am having a blast with this.

Aries 2: Second decan of Aries – Three of Wands

The Three of Wands from my new deck in progress:

I’m following 777 mainly and strictly for the decan descriptions but occasionally incorporating some symbolism from other decan descriptions.

Crowley’s description of the decan per 777, Succedent decan of Aries: A green-clad woman, with one leg bare from the ankle to the knee.

Picatrix: A woman dressed in green clothes, lacking one leg.

Agrippa: A woman, outwardly clothed with a red garment, and under it a white, spreading abroad over her feet.

Liber Hermetis: The second decan has the face of the Sun. It’s name is Sabaoth. It has a two headed face and the lotus of kings is open upon its head. In the compass of the lotus there are stars of the splendor of gold. He has in his right hand a water jug which is called life, in his left a scepter the extremity of which is bifurcated. This decan is clothed in linen and he treads under his feet a tortoise entirely covered with a net.

The Three of Wands card is Aries II, the second or middle decan of Aries. Whereas the Two of Wands has association with Aidoneus (Hades) per the 36 Airs of the Zodiac, the Three corresponds to his Queen Persephone or Kórē, the goddess who rises in the spring to green the world yet is the powerful ruler of the Underworld realm. As such, the three wands are shown in the form of a trishula or three-pronged staff behind her, that is a composite of the Egyptian forms of the soul: the Ba (personality), shown as the human-headed bird with outstretched wings, combines with the Ka (life force and vital essence of life), shown as the upraised hands, to form the Akh which takes the form of the crowned ibis. The Akh represents the “effectiveness” of kings, and the character and intelligence that makes up a person – which has a lot to do with the meaning of the Lord of Virtue.

The middle decan of Aries is ruled by the Sun, and in the springtime the solar force awakens the seeds of the Earth, cracking them open with the force of Mars (Aries) so they emerge. The idea of a woman in green upon one leg is reminiscent of a sprout, and indeed when seeds sprout with their initial two curling leaves they look just like the glyph of the sign Aries!

The Invocation for the Lord of Virtue is in sonnet form. I don’t usually write sonnets as I prefer something more freestyle with fewer constraints on form but was inspired by Andrew Watt’s decan walk series where he ritualized the process of sonnet writing, and had one burn the first one written as an offering to Persephone’s realm.

Invocation for Aries II, Virtue, by M.M. Meleen

A maiden I once was, but now a Queen.

Good governance my gift to lands beneath.

Each Spring I rise again and growth is green.

Obedience to me all souls bequeath.

I warm Earth, and crack seeds embryonic.

Crowned with the Sun I cause the primal surge.

I bear Earth-fire rising from the chthonic.

I wear the vernal bright as sprouts emerge.

My virtue drew the virile nether lord.

I, Kora, gathered blooms of the flowers.

With horses dark he took me as his ward,

enthroned and crowned with underworld powers.

He fed me pomegranate seeds of six,

and I became the Queen of Spring and Styx.

Aries 1: First Decan of Aries – Two of Wands

That’s right – I’m taking another spin on the wheel, and an image and invocation style decan walk as part of the process to create another deck. Aries Decan 1, 1st, the first face of Aries, the tarot Two of Wands.

I began this process on the vernal equinox at dawn (Sunday March 21, 2021) and started work on the image Tuesday (Mars’ Day and hour) and finished the art, consecrated it with a personal decan invocation during Mars hour today, Sunday with the Sun still in the first decan of Aries.

Aries 1 – First decan of Aries

I’m mainly using the description from Crowley’s 777, but also looking at other decan description sources:

Crowley; Ascendant Decan of Aries: A tall, dark, restless man, with keen flame-coloured eyes, bearing a sword.

Picatrix: The form of a black man, restless and great in body having red eyes and holding a cutting axe in his hand, girded about with white garment; and there is great worth in this face. And this is a face of strength, high rank, and wealth without difference.

Agrippa: Therefore it is said, in the first face of Aries, ascendeth the image of a black man, standing and clothed in a white garment, girdled about, of a great body, with reddish eyes, and great strength, and like one that is angry, and this image signifieth and causeth boldness, fortitude, loftiness and shamelessness.

Bruno: In the first face of Aries is a man with a radiant black complexion, of immense stature, with burning eyes and a grave countenance, standing clothed in a dazzling white garment.

Vedic: The First Drekkana of Aries represents a dark complexioned man with a white cloth round his waist, liberal minded, ready to don the garb of the Redeemer, oriented to protect, with awesome red eyes & with a lifted axe. This is a human decanate and an armed decanate.

Aries 1 – First decan of Aries; talismanic art of the Two of Wands: The Emperor (Aries) and decan ruler Tower (Mars)

Invocation of Aries I by M.M. Meleen. For staking claims of true precedence, claiming sovereignty of self, leading the pack, and winning.

See?

I plant my flag.

I claim dominion of the directions.

Ram regardant, I lead the beastly circle.

First son, last born: the decans my destiny.

I break ground.

Motion is mine.

Martial flint, solar spark, as year revolves.

My serpent mouth consumes all, circling round to satiety,

where my dominion is sealed.

Here first I was.

I Am, and ever shall be.

North and South, East and West, Above and Below:

Dominion is mine!

All see:

I AM.

As it was, as it is, as it shall ever be.

It is known.

Son of the Morning, I marshal the hosts of the mighty.

I draw from the earth-star, the chthonic fiery core. I draw from the star-fire, lead the celestial parade.

By the Ram and the Boar, I claim the peak and the trough.

Above and below, I claim dominion.

By crown and scepter, by hook and flail, by shield and spear,

I prevail.

I declare I am:

Angaraka, born from the celestial sweat of the Lord of Beasts;

Assiccan, Aroueris, Zazer.

As Horus, I stand upon the pillar.

As Emperor, I look out over the rampart.

As Grand Architect, I survey my domain.

See?

I stake my claim on sovereignty.

First I was.

I AM

and shall ever be.