Welcome to the first decan of Cancer, the start of summer here. The Solstice, marking the Sun’s entry to the decan and the start of this Cardinal sign hinge point of the year, was at 10:42 PM EDT last night here, to this is a few hours late. But on the very last day of Gemini 3 decan, Lord of Ruin, the last working upper fan in my PC decided to die. There were originally two, and one died long ago. But it seemed to work just fine with the one. But the last twin was finally met with Ruin, and no fans is a no go, as we are scheduled for extreme heat in the high 90s the next few days. Luckily I had two spare fans, and now it is back to tip-top order. But I thought it was fitting that it’s last gasp was at the end of Gemini 3. Something was bound to go to Ruin I guess.

But now we are here in Cancer decan 1, the Lord of Love. Cancer, the Chariot, ruled by the Moon. The decan ruled by Venus – the Empress.

Note how in the RWS image above, the female figure wears lunar colors but a solar/masculine crown of laurel, and the male figure wears solar colors with a more lunar/feminine crown of roses. Not sure how the Sun comes into play here? Read on…

Ascendant Decan of Cancer: A man with distorted face and hands, a horse’s body, white feet, and a girdle of leaves.

I originally found the decan image description above, as listed in 777, a bit perplexing for a card of Love. 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 a very learned and loving teacher, a father-figure to many great heroes whose rearing was entrusted to him in their childhood.

Agrippa’s decan description 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, subtlety of wit, and the love of men.” Bruno’s description is similarly 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.”

In the Rosetta deck (above) I included the dolphins as “argent and or,” (silver and gold in heraldic terms). (Not the best drawing of dolphins, but neither were Lady Harris’, who in the Thoth deck as shown below look more like koi fish.)

They are also present as the lower half of the hippocampi in Tabula Mundi Tarot, seen at the top of the page. Hippocampi are horse-dolphin hybrids, which in consideration of the horse references of the decan image is interesting.

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, which is considered masculine. Chokmah corresponds to the Zodiac itself, composed of stars that are after all suns, so solar.

The 36 Airs of the Zodiac fragment gives an association with Nike, the goddess of Victory who was Zeus’ charioteer, which fits for the introduction of the sign of Cancer, whose trump card is the Chariot. One could argue that the Chariot, though military in nature, fits the fierce protectiveness of the mother, and the Chariot as a stand in for the body as the vehicle of the soul. Nike’s Chariot was often followed by Eros, the god of Love.

Apollun/Apoltun, the deity per 777, refers to Apollo, another charioteer. He was the protector of the young, which fits this decan, and a solar god of healing, poetry, music, and prophecy. He was born to Leto and Zeus, and twin or brother to lunar Artemis, reflecting a bit of the solar/lunar play of the card. He protected not only the young, but also flocks, herds, and shepherds, roads and homes. His iconography of the bow and the circlet of leaves seems cognate with the centaur image of the decan. Apollo also fathered Asclepius, god of healing, who studied under the centaur Chiron to learn the art of medicine.

The Picatrix talismanic applications describe this image as used for bringing clouds and rain, as well as for bringing home travelers safely, by land or sea. With this heat wave coming on, it might be fun to see if I can manifest some clouds or rain. Maybe a thunderstorm. None is predicted – the forecast is HOT and sunny/hazy, so it would be a good test!