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

DECAN WALK – PISCES 3, TEN OF CUPS – Part I

Decan Walk: Pisces 3, Ten of Cups

Lord of Satiety (Perfected Success)

Cadent Decan of Pisces: A man of grave and thoughtful face, with a bird in his hand, before him a woman and an ass.

Pisces, ruled by Jupiter (classical) and Neptune (modern)

Decan ruled by Mars

Triplicity ruler Mars

This is the last decan in the traditional zodiac, and thus the last decan in our “decan walk” series. There will be one more post wrapping up after this. After that – something new begins with the Vernal Equinox. The decan and triplicity ruler Mars gives a heads up of the approaching fire – and more Mars – at the Equinox with Aries decan 1.

It is the end of the line for the water suit as well, as a Ten.

From Scions of 777:

“While it is the maximum expression of water elementally, it is the place in the decanic sequence of Chaldean rulers were there are two in a row ruled by Mars. This is a double-shot of Mars, as a spark of fiery energy to reignite the sequence.

The Ibn Ezra and Varahamihira images mention the possibility of approaching fire. The upright triangle [in the Telos image above] is a symbol of Fire, for the fiery nature of Mars, ruler of this decan and the next. Upright triangle structures containing wooden pails were used as traditional Japanese fire-bucket stands in the Edo period. As fetching water was time-consuming and difficult in a fire emergency, these were filled and placed outside of valued buildings like temples, for quick access in the event of fire. It is colored scarlet for Mars, and topped with a Mars glyph. The ten buckets stand in for the ten cups, colored in the color(s) for Malkuth of Briah: Citrine, Olive, Russet, and Black. In Malkuth, home of the Tens, these represent the primary colors of the four elements present in the Earth realm, each muddied as commingled with each other slightly.

Yet as is appropriate for the ultimate Cups card, water abounds in the image: ten buckets filled and waiting, a woman pouring more water into a pond, a well atop the hillside, and water in the sky in the form of the rainbows. The well is a symbol of life, sublime aspirations, of life itself as a pilgrimage, of the soul and mystic contemplative wisdom (Pisces).

Like the Ten of Cups card in the Rider Waite Smith card, there is a rainbow in the sky – in this case, a double. The rainbow is a manifestation that combines fire (light) and water (rain). It tends to symbolize the descent of the energy of heaven upon earth. That is likely how Waite as a Christian mystic viewed it, for the idea of “Perfected Success.” Yet the rainbow also has connotations of endings. This is after all, considered the end of the zodiac. They signify impermanence as they are fleeting by nature.

The double rainbow also has qualities of the “dream within a dream.” Crowley has renamed the card Satiety, for what has been perfected will eventually be disrupted. He says of Pisces that “In all these watery cards, there is a certain element of illusion; they begin by Love [Two of Cups], and love is the greatest and most deadly of the illusions. The sign of Pisces is the refinement, the fading away of this instinct, which, begun with dreadful hunger and carried on with passion, has now become “a dream within a dream.”” While he went on this tangent in the section on the four Nines, it seems especially applicable to the Ten of Cups.”

“36 Airs of the Zodiac” fragment; Kosmas	Elpis
Ptolemaic Egyptian deity (Kircher; 777)	Phallophorus

For deities we have Elpis, the daimon of hope and mixed blessings, a concept connected with the story of Pandora’s Box wherein all manner of evil was released from the box before she slammed it shut on hope. From 777 we have the Ptolemaic deity Phallophorus, meaning “carrying a phallus.” The Phallophoria was an Ancient Greek phallic procession in which massive erections were paraded about in a Dionysian ecstatic celebration.

Each of these deities in their own way expresses the energies of the Pisces 3 decan in which perfection is seemingly achieved but is due for disruption. Elpis retains hope in the box – yet is that a blessing or a curse. Was hope retained as a blessing, or withheld from mankind as a curse? Was hope itself a blessing, or one of the evils? Likewise, Phallophorus is associated with Dionysus, a god of wine, ecstasy, and ritual madness, and the phallus is the ultimate Mars or Tower symbol, this is a perfectly fitting expression for the Pisces/Mars combination. The image given by Gundel for Phallophorus is cognate with Satiety: “A man who leads a goat. He leads an epicurean life.”

I’ll be back near the end of the decan, with a final wrapping up of this series.

DECAN WALK – PISCES 2, NINE OF CUPS – Part II

This is just a brief Part II update with observations on the decan, now that it is almost over.

I wouldn’t say this decan has been over-brimming with Happiness. But sometimes, happiness is, or should be realized when, there is a lack of unhappiness. If you have your health, and your loved ones’ are healthy and not in crisis or extreme pain or difficulty, if you have your basic needs met, and a lack of something stressful happening – well then, you are blessed with good fortune from Jupiter, ruler of both the sign and the decan. Realize that and happiness is quite accessible.

Because of course, even with Jupiter’s blessings things can change. One minute you are on top of the wheel, another, maybe trying to climb it or falling down.

It is these little things that make all the difference in the world. Maybe nothing extraordinary is going on. But nothing extraordinary needs to be going on. Today is the first beautiful warm sunny clear-sky day in a long time, after an absolutely brutally long-feeling winter here in New England. That alone is enough to raise my spirits. Look up at the sky on such days!

That’s all for now. I have to cut this short to get the post for the next decan started for completion tomorrow. And, I’m working on getting the Decan Walk Workbook, as promised to you all in the pages of Scions of 777, ready before the vernal equinox. I’d hoped to have it done in this decan, but to every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven, as the song goes.

DECAN WALK – PISCES 2, NINE OF CUPS – Part I

Pisces decan 2: **A grave man pointing to the sky.**

Decan Walk: Pisces 2

The penultimate decan of our decan walk, the middle decan of Pisces which is next-to-last of the zodiac. Here a sort of perfection is reached, called Happiness. But what is true happiness all about?

From left to right: RWS shows a rather self-satisfied burgher. Thoth shows amethyst cups being filled with golden liquid light from gold lotus flowers. Tabula Mundi shows the creatures from the Fortune card (Jupiter) frolicking with Piscean fish.

In the Telos Tarot of 777 (seen top of page), things turn more spiritual based on the decan image for Pisces 2: A grave man pointing to the sky. Yet he keeps some Jupiter and Pisces symbolism, with a great water wheel (Jupiter, the Wheel of Fortune) and Pisces, the revolving fish.

Magical image of the decan per 777: A grave man pointing to the sky.

Nine of Cups, the Lord of Happiness

Pisces, ruled by Jupiter (classical) and Neptune (modern)

Decan ruler: Jupiter

Triplicity ruler: Moon

Nines correspond to the Moon, through Yesod

Pisces, Jupiter, Neptune, and Moon all have spiritual components, both watery and astral, so it isn’t altogether surprising.

Deity per 36 Airs of the Zodiac fragment: Dolos

Ptolemaic deity per 777: Sourut

These deities are a bit slippery, but do have some things about them that seemingly can fit, which is explored in the Scions of 777 companion text.

The 777 description of the decan is a bit different than some of the others, like these:

Picatrix image and significations	A man upside down with his head below and his feet raised up, and in his hand is a tray from which the food has been eaten. Great reward, and strong will in things that are high, serious and thoughtful.
Henry Cornelius Agrippa image and significations (Three Books of Occult Philosophy)	A woman of a good countenance, and well adorned. To desire and put oneself on or about high and great matters.
Giordano Bruno image (De Umbris Idearum)	A man dressed as though for work, with bare arms, with a lively bearing and with a happy countenance.

Yet I found that Raphael’s image (Raphael aka Robert Thomas Cross, published 1879) mostly agrees to Crowley’s.

Raphael image and significations

An ancient man pointing with his hand to the sky. Praising one’s self, of a high mind, of seeking after and intermeddling with great and high things.

It seems likely that Crowley either got it from Raphael or they both referenced the same source. That source may be the Astrolabium planum by Pietro d’Abano, published in 1488 by Johannes Engel.

excerpt from Scions of 777:

“In art, figures that point to the sky are often calling one to contemplate the spiritual, or heaven. His “pointing at the sky” perhaps reminds us of the source of all happiness: following the true will that comes from our connection with that which is above Yesod on the middle pillar. Yesod is home base for all the Nines but especially this one because of Pisces association with the Moon card. The pointing suggests of course a hand (Kaph, the letter of Jupiter), pointing at the sky, which is Zeus’ (Jupiter’s) domain.

close up detail from The School of Athens painting

The man pointing to the sky suggests a painting by the artist Raphael (a coincidence there, no relation to the astrologer mentioned, whose pen name was Raphael.) The fresco called The School of Athens was painted between 1509 and 1511 in the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City. It is quite an impressive masterpiece depicting a multitude of figures: philosophers, astronomers, mathematicians, and scientists. But two central figures are the focus: Aristotle and Plato. The elderly figure representing Plato, points to the sky. In his other hand, he holds a copy of his book Timaeus (c. 360 BC). In the book’s dialogue, Socrates describes his ideal state. Timaeus opens with a contrast between the finite physical world and the eternal, or spiritual world. He suggests that the cause of the universe must be a god, who must have used the eternal model to create it. Plato reminds us that understanding begins with returning our mind to the cause (source) rather than being preoccupied by effect.

Plato’s gesture to the sky shows his philosophy of idealism, arguing that the real world is not the imperfect material realm, but the spiritual realm of abstract ideas, and the inevitable and joyful return to source. Yet we seem confined to the physical realm, while longing to escape it and achieve something higher: an ideal realm of universal truths like beauty and wisdom. We all seek to manifest an ideal version of ourselves. Perfect happiness is achieving the idealized self that exists somewhere “up there” in the spiritual realm, above the delusions of polarizations. Transcending the material brings true freedom, the summom bonum or highest human goal.” (end of excerpt)

DECAN WALK – PISCES 1, EIGHT OF CUPS – Part II

Telos Tarot of 777 Eight of Cups © 2020-2026 M.M. Meleen

Decan Walk – Pisces I

Here we are finally at the end of Pisces I. This is the Part II update with personal observations on how the decan manifested for yours truly. (See the prior Pisces decan I Part I post for the correspondences.)

For me this has been a pretty low-energy period of time, which makes sense for the Eight of Cups, known as the Lord of Indolence, or Abandoned Success. I have been struggling with motivation, or lack thereof. Or maybe it isn’t lack of motivation exactly, as there is a lot I want to do. It is more like a lack of enough energy to go around for all the things that need it.

Besides this being called Indolence or Abandoned Success, the decan is ruled by Saturn. Saturn does reward discipline and effort, but is also a heavy and limiting factor at times. But this decan is interesting also because of the Pisces I decan image: A man with two bodies, but joining their hands. It has gotten me thinking about the link between our physical body and mental body, and how our mind influences our level of physical energy while simultaneously, our physical body influences our mental state and level of mental energy. The Eights are Mercury (mind) influenced, while the decan ruler Saturn is structure, which could be our physical structure. I’ve really been noticing what takes energy, what gives energy, and the balance between them in mind and body, which can be very hard to regulate, leading to Indolence.

It is also the dance between Jupiter, classical ruler of Pisces, and Saturn, ruler of the decan. One famously gives, one takes away.

That this is Pisces also brings in the major arcana of Pisces, The Moon card.

Note the solar disk carried by the scarab. It’s clearly a brain (letter Qoph, meaning “back of head” is perhaps cognate.) Here is a closer look:

excerpt from Scions of 777:

“The solar disk the scarab rolls here is revealed to be the two halves of the brain. One half controls the conscious, logical functions, while the other oversees the creative, imaginative, and intuitive. The deep groove between them, the cerebral fissure, separates them, yet allows for crossover as the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body, and vice-versa. It is another fitting symbol for the duality of the two fishes of Pisces.”

This connective area known as “the cerebral fissure” connecting the right and left halves of the brain, which control the left and right side of the body, also reminds me of the connection in the Telos Eight of Cups image for Pisces I. The figure’s two bodies, joined by the left and right hand.

“A man with two bodies, but joining their hand.” Two bodies, one soul?

DECAN WALK – PISCES 1, EIGHT OF CUPS – Part I

Telos Tarot of 777 original line art for Pisces 1 decan card

Ascendant Decan of Pisces: A man with two bodies, but joining their hands.

Lord of Indolence (Abandoned Success) – **Telos Tarot of 777** Eight of Cups

Decan Walk: Pisces 1

In the tarot Pisces’ first decan corresponds to the Eight of Cups, Indolence or Lord of Abandoned Success.

Pisces is ruled by Jupiter
the Chaldean decan ruler is Saturn
Eights have a Mercury influence through Hod, the eighth sephira.

The description is a strange one: A man with two bodies, but joining their hands. It seems rather Mercurial, like the Gemini twins. The Picatrix version says it “looks as though he is giving a gesture of greeting with his hands.” Agrippa says he is carrying burdens, and Bruno that he is carrying his possessions as he looks for a new dwelling place. But the 777 image description is simple, so I kept it as such.

The Pisces card in tarot is The Moon, which accounts for the lunar imagery in the Telos Tarot of 777 Eight of Cups: the dark side or “earth shine” of the Moon in the sky shows a sleeping face and the waves are like the brain waves of sleep. The figures are between two towering formations, like the Moon card’s towers. The Eight cups in the foreground are gold (Jupiter) and black (Saturn) and show the eight major phases of the Moon. The cups all have their eyes closed – except for one, the last phase of the waning crescent, which is also in the sky. Some of the cups are turned upside down. They have been used to make the ultimate symbol of “Abandoned Success,” a sandcastle whose grains of matter will soon be dissolved by the encroaching sea. Sand itself corresponds to both Pisces, and to decan ruler Saturn, according to astrological rulership.

The cups were inspired by this ancient two-faced golden cup, whose story is told in Scions of 777. It languished under a bed for years, as the owner thought it was worthless and not a solid gold precious artifact!

Hellenistic god per 36 Airs of the Zodiac:

Okeanos, the primordial Titan who encircled the Earth and was father to the thousands of Potamoi, river gods, and Oceanids, water nymphs. He has some possible connection to the serpent Ophion who was cast into the ocean by Kronos (Saturn, ruler of the decan).

Ptolemaic Egyptian god per 777:

Rephan, is the Greco-Egyptian god listed in 777, and is probably Remphan, the Babylonian name for the star-god Saturn, also known as or Moloch. In the New Testament the martyr Stephen who refers to the worship of idols and the golden calf, also references “the star of your god Rephan.”

The Picatrix talismanic applications mention the use of this face for successful and safe journeys by sea, and for fishing in the sea.

I suggest using this image for exploration of Piscean themes such as: dream work the arts, divination, and psychological insights.

This first decan of Pisces signifies myriad thoughts, journeys, and seeking after substance, yet with a tendency toward stagnation.

Therefore, one might also use this image for renunciation of worldly things, as success abandoned.

Austin Coppock calls this face “The Labyrinth,” and as such it can be something to become lost in, or something traveled to find your center. The “sleep” references in the Telos card are appropriate, for sleep “knits up the raveled sleave of care,/ The death of each day’s life, sore labor’s bath,/ Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,/ Chief nourisher in life’s feast.” (Macbeth)

In sleep we abandon worldly things, and travel the labyrinths of the soul (Pisces) mind (Mercury). But sleep can also be a form of escapism. The Eight of Cups indicates success abandoned due to decline of interest and spiritual self-undoing, when one lacks commitment for things of this world, preferring to enter the liminal space of the dream world. Decan ruler Saturn wants limits and structure, but Pisces wants to transcend all limits and dissolve structure, like the sea erodes a sandcastle.

DECAN WALK – AQUARIUS 3, SEVEN OF SWORDS – Part II

Here we are, at the end of the last decan of Aquarius, for the Part II observations. Today there was a new moon, and eclipse at the penultimate Aquarius degree. The Tabula Mundi card for this decan references an eclipse, but a lunar eclipse instead of like today’s new moon eclipse, which is actually a solar eclipse, when the Sun in Aquarius is eclipsed by the Moon in Aquarius. The Moon rules Aquarius decan 3, so is especially relevant here.

Excerpt from Book M: Liber Mundi, for the Seven of Swords and Aquarius 3 decan:

“From the Priestess card, for the Moon, we see the Moon itself in the background, at the dark and sometimes blood red stage of the totality of a lunar eclipse. In a blood moon eclipse, people sometimes experience negative effects. At the physical level there can be lethargy and at the psychological level, negative thoughts especially about spiritual motifs. The moon’s action of “flux and reflux” leads to vacillation and instability, and people are more prone to make poor decisions as the intellect is compromised.”

While this has been a fairly uneventful decan personally, I have noticed the lunar effects of “flux and reflux,” or the waxing and waning of both the energy of the physical body, and the mental realm (Aquarius). I’m sort of an honorary Aquarian, in that I have it rising natally, plus two important personal planets there. So I definitely do the usual Aquarian thing of detachment very well. I can live in my head and “suppress and deny” the physical. But lately I’ve been tuning into that. And I have definitely noticed the waxing and waning of these energies. Ignore the body for too long and your energy, both physical and mental, will definitely flag. I’m learning to be more strategic about that – strategy is a theme of this card.

But for the record, I see today’s solar eclipse as a positive event – at least as much as an eclipse can be seen as positive. For they aren’t exactly auspicious, especially in Vedic astrology. But eclipses come in pairs, so today’s new moon solar eclipse will be followed by a lunar eclipse at the next full Moon. The time in between these two events is potent and portal-like. One can and should consider today: What do I want to release through this portal? As in, something you want to no longer be with you. I’d suggest releasing what you realize is futile. And at the same time, what instead do I want to enter through this portal in its place? As in, a recomposing or transformation of your state of existence.

The Sabian symbol for this eclipse is about transformation: Aquarius 29, “A butterfly emerging from a chrysalis.”

Today is also the Lunar New Year, which feels like a potent time for an eclipse. We release the year of the Wood Snake, and usher in the year of the Fire Horse. From Earth to Fire, or Yin to Yang, which echoes the transition of both Saturn and Neptune from Pisces into Aries. They meet at the fiery start of the Zodiac, at the Zero Point, or zero degrees of Aries.

But there are still lots of planets in Pisces. The Moon already entered Pisces after the Aquarian eclipse, to join Mercury and Venus. And sometime tomorrow, the Sun is also moving on to the next decan, the first decan of Pisces. We are almost to the end of the decan walk.

Yet it always begins again; after Pisces the Sun continues on into Aries, to a new decan walk.

Welcome to the year of the Fire Horse.

DECAN WALK – AQUARIUS 3, SEVEN OF SWORDS – Part I

Decan Walk: Aquarius decan 3

Aquarius, ruled by Saturn (classical) and Uranus (modern), meets up with the ever-changing Moon, ruler of the decan in the Chaldean system. The Sevens have a correspondence to Venus, through Netzach on the Tree of Life. The triplicity ruler is also Venus, another planet that like the Moon, has phases.

Magical image of the decan per 777: A small-headed man dressed like a woman, and with him an old man.

The following is excerpted from Scions of 777, Volume I, Six-and-thirty decans, for the Seven of Swords:

“This is an instance where the 777’s decan description deviates from the rest somewhat, with the image of “A small-headed man dressed like a woman, and with him an old man.” Various of the descriptions describe the man as angry, envious, or deceitful; the Picatrix has the man with a mutilated head, accompanied by an old woman.

The “small-headed” bit rather reminds me of a quote from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. “I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams. Which dreams, indeed, are ambition; for the very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream.” Hamlet’s frustration as he grapples with the human condition, and his vacillation, resonate here.

The idea of being “small-headed” may also reflect the need to think outside the box and use your wits, to overcome a limitation or weakness. Or to outsmart someone who is trying to undermine you. It can represent needing to use your head to get out of a jam, and perhaps not always feeling up to the task or making appropriate effort. He is “dressed like a woman,” for both Venus and the Moon influence the card. The old man is of course for Saturn, ruler of Aquarius.

This small-headed man travels with an old man, under the influence of a waning moon, as six sabers threaten them. The cross-dressing man carries the seventh sword, but is hardly dressed for fighting in his long gown and wrap. The old man probably will not be much help either, bent and leaning on his cane. Yet he may be able to lend wisdom on this journey.

The figures taken alone are also purposefully ambiguous. The small-headed one is behind the old man with a sword. Is he ready to stand with him against the encroaching six dueling swords, or will he double-cross him?

The combination of a man dressed as a woman and an old man also reminds me of Achilles. In some accounts, his mother Thetis dressed him as a girl to hide him and keep him safe from war. But wily Odysseus (perhaps the old man figure) disguised himself as a peddler of women’s clothes and tricked Achilles into revealing himself. These themes of Achilles, by being in disguise, and Odysseus, being crafty and somewhat deceptive, fit with the reputation of the card for sometimes representing conniving. For while the Greeks admired Odysseus’ cunning and cleverness, the Romans considered his deceits as dishonorable.

Aquarius has a body correspondence to the ankles. Achilles is also known for his one spot of vulnerability, where the term “Achilles’ heel” originates. Thetis had dunked him in the Styx when he was an infant, to make him invulnerable to weapons, but had to hold him by the heel (or really, the tendon on the ankle near the heel). So, she missed a spot in the dunking, which was his undoing. This contributes to the idea of some weakness in play: futility or unstable effort.

The changeability of the moon as decan ruler adds instability here, along with the incompatible combination of Venus and Saturn. Aloof and cool Saturn-ruled Aquarius is not exactly the best place for warm Venus or the emotional Moon. In the sky, a seven-pointed figure combines the emblems of a star (Aquarius) and a rose (Venus), and contains a sliver of the moon. It picks up seven points along a ring of 56 “holes”, like the Aubrey holes at the monument of Stonehenge that mark out the lunar cycles, for the changes of the Moon influencing the decan.

Seven-pointed stars are also known as Faery Stars, associated with the notoriously tricky Fae. Where a pentagram is associated with the earthly magic of the elements, the seven-pointed septagram star is more celestial. The pentagram represents the four elements plus spirit, or the four directions plus the above. The seven-pointed star expands that to include the points below and within, places normally hidden from view. One should be careful when dealing with the hidden realms, as they are the “between” places of the Fae, who are known for tricking mortals.” (end of excerpt)

The Seven of Swords and the Aquarius decan 3 are both associated with deceit, betrayal, thievery, envy, and the detection of it, as seen in the Raphael image and significations:

Raphael image and significations

A man having an envious look, holding his hand on his sides. Detection and affronts.

The deity per the “36 Airs of the Zodiac” fragmentary text is Osiris, who was cruelly betrayed and dismembered by his bother Set – and cleverly re-assembled by his sister(s) and sister-spouse, Isis and Nephthys. The only part missing was the phallus, so in a sense, he was like a woman, like the man of the decan description.

The Ptolemaic god is Proteus, the shape-shifting and wily “Old Man of the Sea” – more of an Odysseus figure like the old man in the image.

DECAN WALK – AQUARIUS 2, SIX OF SWORDS – Part II

This is the Part II update for Aquarius decan 2, which just is me rambling about any observations of the decan period. The previous Part I posts give all the correspondences.

Aquarius decan 2 contains my spouse’s birthday, and is also the decan of my Moon sign. Yes, Sun/Moon conjunctions between partners are great synastry! I think especially in Aquarius 2, it can mean your partner is also your best friend.

Since we both have winter birthdays, it sometimes feels like kind of a bummer as the weather is often a limiting factor for fun things to do and getting out in nature. So we often decide to spend a day around birthday time visiting a local greenhouse and botanical garden. This one we go to is old, it was started in the 1800s. Which means it has a lot of really cool old plant specimens, that have attained massive size.

Like this cactus. The picture is deceiving as this thing is HUGE. They also have mature cacao trees, banana trees, the biggest pony tail palm I’ve ever seen. The cactus room is amazing, the water plant room is too, with some cute frogs hanging out in there as a bonus. They have tropical rooms, hot steamy rooms, cool temperature rooms, collections of everything from ferns to fruit trees to air plants, all in a very old greenhouse of many rooms. The orchid room is awesome!

We also went to a butterfly conservatory. Which sort of fits as butterflies are associated with the Air signs. You see them in the Star cards (Aquarius) and Fool cards (Air element).

The butterfly conservatory was very cool – the colors alone were stunning. A beautiful red and black and yellow one (I think maybe a “Mormon” butterfly?) landed on me and laid an egg! I deposited it onto a leaf in there, as I didn’t think it would fair so well otherwise! They also had birds and reptiles.

Anyway, I suppose these trips could definitely qualify as “Science” as both sites offered a lot of opportunities for learning (Mercury rules the decan Aquarius 2) about plants and and animals in the environments.

DECAN WALK – AQUARIUS 2, SIX OF SWORDS – Part I

Aquarius decan 2. line art from *Telos Tarot of 777* © 2020-2026 M.M.Meleen

Lord of Science (Earned Success)

Succedent decan of Aquarius: A man arrayed like a king, looking with pride and conceit on all around him.

Telos Tarot of 777 Six of Swords — Aquarius 2 completed image Telos Tarot of 777 © 2020-2026 M.M.Meleen

The sign Aquarius, ruled by Saturn
The decan ruled by Mercury (both Chaldean and Triplicity)
The sephira ruled by the Sun

With Mercury as the decan ruler in both the Chaldean and Triplicity order systems, inventive intellect comes to the forefront. Mercury is high-functioning in the rational and brilliant far-seeing sign of Aquarius – Uranus, modern ruler of Aquarius, is said to be the “higher octave” of Mercury.

Crowley’s rename of the card is “Science” which is fitting. The original Golden Dawn Hermetic title of “Earned Success” is also fitting. Aquarius/Saturn, Mercury, Sun: The success is earned through the strength of your will and the power of your mind, which shows the way forward.

777 lists the magical image of the decan as “A man arrayed like a king, looking with pride and conceit on all around him.” Proud kings seem to emphasize the solar nature of Tiphareth. It also underscores the hubris that is a pitfall when intellectuals decide their knowledge is superior and infallible. But Tiphareth is balanced, and perhaps here his pride is justified, for it has resulted in admirable progress and achievement.

The Hellenistic deity in the 36 Airs fragment is Phobos – which surely seems a mistake that should be Phoebus Apollo, god of reason and rational ordered thinking. But assuming it is correct, Phobos is associated with fear, and perhaps fear of the unknown drives discovery.

The Ptolemaic deity is an unfamiliar entity called Vucula, who is also seemingly associated with Apollo. I speculate on the meaning of this name’s etymology as the “microscopic view” in Scion’s of 777 (Volume 1, Six-and-thirty Decans).

You can see how the Tabula Mundi Tarot image combines the far-seeing and aspirational brilliance of The Star/Aquarius with the knowledge and intellect of The Magus/Mercury: the orrery and the sextant , tools of celestial navigation. Likewise in the Telos image is an “armillary sphere” or spherical astrolabe, marking out the latitudes and longitudes. The decan, and the card, describes getting where you want to go via the means of intelligence.

Lady Harris’ brilliant design for the Thoth card includes a different form of navigation: the geometric lines map out a fencing diagram, showing the fencer how to place his or her footsteps for success.

Pamela Coleman Smith’s RWS card also shows a journey, from turbulent waters to somewhere beyond.

This decan contains the cross-quarter holiday Imbolc, around Feb 1st or 2nd, a time of seeds awakening though still underground. It is a Gaelic and pagan celebration of the goddess Brigid. It is associated with both milk and cleansing, which does make me think of the “milk of the stars” that the Aquarius maiden of the Star card bathes in. The Star card is called the “daughter of the firmament‘ and the “dweller between the waters” – celestial and terrestrial. The Thelemic festival called the Feast of Stars coincides. Christians appropriated Imbolc as Candlemas, associated with light, purification, and the Virgin.

As seen in the Six of Swords, Aquarius decan 2, the central decan of Aquarius, shows the way.

DECAN WALK – AQUARIUS 1, FIVE OF SWORDS – Part II

Aquarius Decan 1: This is the Part II update with personal observations on the decan. For the general info and correspondences, see Aquarius decan 1 Part I. To summarize, it is Aquarius ruled by Saturn, with the decan ruler as Venus, in a sephira ruled by Mars.

This has been quite the decan. In terms of the theme of “Defeat,” I certainly feel that way in relation to the increasingly Orwellian tone of the mundane world. Some (of many) things of note:

The murder of peaceful (Venus) protesters, attacked by “enforcers” (Mars/Saturn)
The constant barrage of “verify your identity” or else (Saturn/Aquarius)
Of course, supposedly this is because of so many scammers, just trying all the time to get something out of the undefended (Venus). But it is simultaneously more than that; this identity badgering is an attack too.

It’s all similar in that it is relentless, outmatched battle, outright surprise attacks, and increasingly unfair. It is easy to feel defeated by it all.

This reminds me of the deities involved with this decan, which I forgot to post in the Part I summary. The Hellenistic deity is Dike, “moral justice,” who was placed on Earth by her father Zeus for the purpose of keeping mankind just: an impossible task.

But we have to remain vigilant and defend ourselves. Giving up isn’t an option. Think outside the box (Aquarius) because the box is a panopticon.

On a personal level, its also easy to feel defeated by the relentless march of Time (Saturn). Venus sure doesn’t want to face those harsh (Mars) realities (Saturn). You can’t win that battle, but you can put up a good fight.

On a lighter note, there have been some good things happening in my personal life too. It sounds trivial, but hey, I actually got a decent haircut (Venus hair/Mars cut) for the first time in a long time (Saturn). I hadn’t cut it in over a year, and it was really long and overdue (Saturn).

It’s trivial but it is a big deal to me because I’m never usually too happy with haircuts in general and I really dislike getting haircuts, in a similar but less visceral way than things like going to the doctor or dentist so I avoid it. Too invasive of my personal space, or something. But this time I knew exactly what I wanted and told the stylist (an Aquarian decan 2 native, whose Sun is close in orb to my Moon). She instantly understood the mission and did a fantastic job. I had a secret weapon though – my ascendant is in this decan 1 and at the time of the cut, Venus who has face dignity here, was approaching it closely by conjunction.

Keep fighting the good fight, and here comes Aquarius 2 right around the corner.