*While we are not in this decan currently, the Telos tarot cards chose this as the decan to post about.
The Decans and Tarot.
“The decans and tarot” is not the name but is the subject of the new book I’ve been working on, as promised for Telos Tarot of 777. This book is focused on the talismanic use of the 36 decan and tarot images, and the symbolism of the art choices in Telos Tarot of 777. As you may know if you followed the creation of this deck, the minor tarot cards were directly based on the magical image of the decans in 777.
This book also compiles a lot of information about the decan gods, angels, and demons, comparing the various decan images and decan names, and gives advice on ways to use them. While also delineating the tarot meanings and mythologies inherent in each card.
The tables in actually have so much information that I was getting a little bogged down in the weeds just compiling them and writing the chapter on where each bit of information comes from.
Attention to detail and minutia can also be an attribution of the decan Virgo I.
Why am I posting something about the Virgo I decan, when currently we are in an Aquarius decan? No reason other than I pulled a card from Telos asking which tarot card and decan to work with and use as an example for this post, and this is what I got. It actually is kind of appropriate, given that in the Picatrix, a talismanic use for the Virgo I decan image is for skill in writing, and the promotion of such. So here I am, writing to give a teaser on this new decan based tarot work.
The decan info table for the Eight of Disks
Speaking of detail, check out this (rough and unorganized) table of decan data! It’s not even done yet, as there are a few more elements I’d like to include. It will ultimately be organized differently to be less overwhelming though; I need to use some Virgo skills of discernment and organization here eventually.
Magical image of the decan per 777: A virgin clad in linen, with an apple or pomegranate
Symbols of the Virgo decan I drawing:
The decan images almost all specify a virgin, maiden, or a “good girl;” sometimes specific in her manner of dress in linen or woolen cloth, natural materials sometimes specified as being dirty or showing wear – appropriate Cinderella-like Virgo images. Virgo the maiden is an archetype of purity, virtue, and restraint, and being sufficient unto oneself. She holds in her hand either an apple or a pomegranate, fruits that have developed over the season. Virgo is the mutable sign signaling the approaching end of summer in the Northern hemisphere, and the first fruits of autumn are often just appearing.
In the Virgo I decan drawing, the pomegranate is depicted, a symbol of fecundity, perfection, and the chthonic fire of the underworld; chosen for the symbolism of its many small seeds. These are the many small details that Virgo diligently sees to completion. There are eight fully ripened fruits in all amongst the blossoms for the denomination of the card, including the one she holds – for the large opened one in the foreground is an exploded diagram of the one in her hand.
It shows the pomegranate as a constructed object, like a Fabergé egg, opening to reveal the Sun, ruler of the decan. I think of the crafting of these eggs as a good symbol of the decan, as goldsmithing brings together the Sun (ruler of the decan, whose metal is gold) and Vulcan (the smith god sometimes associated with Virgo). The Vulcanalia festival of August 23rd falls in, and often marks the day of the Sun’s entry into, this decan.
The tree in the Telos image has a face hidden in the twisting folds of its bark. Tree deities and tree nymphs were usually benevolent young goddesses, offering their gifts of fruit, as well as creativity and fertility.
The Rider-Waite card shows a craftsman making pentacles, the Thoth card shows a twisty tree with eight blossoms in the Sun, and the Tabula Mundi card has the solar lantern of the Hermit warming a nest of eggs. The carefully constructed gold trinket box in the Telos image likewise shows Virgos craftsmanship and attention to fine detail, and the care and patient husbandry of resources in the orchard, ripening them to completion.
The virgin in the Telos Tarot decan image wears a crown of myrtle, often associated with both chastity and fertility, good works, and virtue. The natural undyed linen she wears is also a symbol of purity, righteousness, and humility, and was the perfect canvas for the color of Virgo’s first decan, yellowish brown flecked white.
Artist’s notes on the decan image created:
The inspiration for the virginal maiden of the decan image was a neoclassical sculpture of a goddess based on one of the Horae (Seasons), reminiscent of Pomona. Pomona is a Roman wood-nymph goddess of the orchard, named for the Latin pōmus meaning fruit or fruit tree. Rather than the harvest, she watches over the orchard’s cultivation and growth, fitting for the meaning of the Eight of Disks/Virgo decan 1 as well as for the “apple or pomegranate” imagery of the decan description. Both apples and pomegranates share the Latin pōmum, meaning ‘apple’. She was said to carry as a weapon not a spear or sword, but a pruning-knife. Thus is the nature of Virgo, ever practical and discerning.
Horae were personifications of the seasons and goddesses of order and natural justice who bring ripeness and fertility. The have association with things cultivated over time, as the name refers to both seasons and to hours. Hora means ‘the correct moment’. In the Dionysiaca they were daughters of Helios, the Sun god (note the Sun rules this decan); though in the Orphic hymn to the seasons they were children of Zeus and Themis.
Hellenistic and Ptolemaic Egyptian Gods of Virgo decan I
The 36 Airs fragment lists the deity of the decan as Themis, ‘order’, a female Titan, daughter of the primordial Gaia (Earth) and Ouranos (Sky). Themis was said to oversee justice in the sense of divine law and order, the proper procedures considered necessary for civilized societies. Indeed, she bore Dike, goddess of moral justice and judgements. One of Dike’s epithets was Astraea, a term for the constellation Virgo.
Themis was an advisor, and sometimes second spouse, to Zeus. With Zeus, Themis also bore the Horae, as already mentioned above. In the Homeric Hymn to the sun god Apollo, Themis was present as witness to his birth and nursed him with divine nectar.
The Ptolemaic deity in 777 is Isis. It is hard to summarize Isis in a few words as her iconography is all-encompassing. She has the mystique and power of the eternal virgin yet is also a divine mother figure. With a throne upon her crown, Isis is one of the Ennead descended from either Atum or Ra, both solar deities. Herodotus equated her with the maternal earth goddess Demeter. The throne symbolism, and her role as wife of Osiris and mother of Horus, also associates her with the divine rule of kings, as the symbolic wife and mother of the pharaohs.
Her parents, like Themis, were personifications of Earth (Geb) and Sky (Nut). She was a nearly universal creator goddess with sovereignty over nations and kings. Throughout history she has been redolent with magic, mystery, fertility, and healing, as the story of her role in resurrection of Osiris attests.
The attribution of Themis and Isis, children of Earth and Sky, to this decan suggests great power in purity and order, the divine laws which govern creation. Attention paid to cultivation bears glorious fruit.
Talismanic use of the Virgo I decan image
This is a decan of sowing and germination, plowing and peopling, good harvests, and a healthful diet. The body part is generally the belly, and Virgo is associated with food production, making healthy eating a potential focus. It is also associated with Mercury’s realm of commerce, and the accumulation of wealth as time accrues. The Picatrix text associates it with skill in writing and business promotion. Use this image for those things as well as for obtaining skill in harvesting, husbandry, and detailed craftsmanship. With it, one may attain patience, diligence, and humble yet skillful competence.
For permanent talismans, the best planets to have in the decan are the rulers, Mercury and the Sun. One might also use the waxing Moon for works involving good germination, planting, fertility, and good diet, for the lunar affiliation to the belly, womb, and the growth of plants in general.
General meaning of the Eight of Disks in a tarot reading
Economic methodologies yield interest over time. Patiently plant seeds and wait for growth, but also actively cultivate the things you seek to develop. Prune, fertilize, and water when necessary as you wait; these can be taken literally or metaphorically. You can refine and nourish small things; with attention to detail, these things bring fruitfulness.
This may indicate a time of gaining aptitude in a craft. Create order in your environment, and perfect the things in your purview. Be prudent, virtuous, and humble; use proficiency, earnestness, restraint, and good judgement and you may attain solar splendor in the earthly realm.
Decan work continues…
I hope you enjoyed an advance look at this decans and tarot work in progress. It truly is a work in progress. This is a rough draft and merely a start, and the final book will be subject to many revisions and planned additions. But hopefully this will give you a hint of the book that is coming for Telos Tarot of 777 and the use of its decan and tarot images for astrological talismanic magic.
Yes, there will be chapters devoted to the actual practical aspects of making of various forms of talismans, other astrological and decan magic, and all of the sources of the table information will be provided and explained, in addition to the decan by decan tarot card delineations.
Brought to you by decan Virgo I, The Sun, and all the decan deities and spirits. May your prudent endeavors be fruitful.