Decan Walk: Sagittarius decan 3

Lord of Oppression

Cadent Decan of Sagittarius: A man leading another by his hair and slaying him.

Sagittarius: ruled by Jupiter. Decan 3, ruled by Saturn. Triplicity ruler is the Sun.

The juxtaposition of Caldean decan ruler Saturn with triplicity decan ruler the Sun is interesting. Saturn is dark and cold, while the Sun brings heat and light. This is the last decan before the Winter Solstice here in the Northern hemisphere, so we are approaching maximum darkness, the longest night. It feels very Saturnian. Yet at the end, at the Solstice when we enter the next decan, the light begins to increase again.

This decan is also the run-up to the Christmas season, which for some, just feels like a burden. I personally celebrate the Solstice, not Christmas. I don’t celebrate Christmas, yet since family members do, I feel obligated to participate. The scheduling, the gift buying…it sometimes seems something born of necessity to get through. I like getting together with family in the Capricorn decan 1. But here in this Sagittarius decan 3, the preparation to get there is just a weight to bear.

Excerpt from Scions of 777:

“The magical image from 777 is quite challenging and grim, fit for Saturn the reaper: “A man leading another by his hair and slaying him.” The brutal man wields ten wands bound together. The wands are bound as a Fasces. The fasces is a bundle of rods around a central rod with an axe blade, symbolic of authoritarian force. It is seen in governmental regalia and was oft adopted by dictators and fascists.

This comes from Latin Fascis, which has meanings of:

1. A bundle of sticks
2. A burden, a load.
3. (plural) A bundle carried by lictors before the highest magistrates, consisting of rods and an axe, with which criminals were scourged and beheaded.
4. A high office, like the consulship.

We can see the image contains the fasces as the weapon used by the violent figure to slay and oppress, and as the burden in the form of the bundle of sticks the oppressed peasant is weighed down with. It is a necessary burden; he needs that wood to thatch his roof to survive the winter. Its necessity does not make it any easier to carry, and makes it even harder to fight unarmed against his oppressor, while awkwardly weighted down.” [end of excerpt]

In the Telos Tarot of 777 image at the top of the page, I also included the horse skull, inspired by Austin Coppock’s 36 Faces, as he used a horse’s skull as his glyph of the decan. I like how it combines Sagittarius (the centaur has a horse’s body, though not the head) and Saturn (a skull, bones are very Saturnian.) I almost put a dying campfire there instead, which would have also fit the waning Sagittarius fire. But at the time, I just couldn’t deal with drawing more sticks!

The Hellenistic deity per the “36 Airs” fragment is Anangke/Ananke: Time and necessity.

The Ptolemic deity per is Teraph/Zeraph. Teraph is the term for a Semitic household god, and an ancestral deity. As many of us know, ancestral work comes with its own set of challenges.

This is a face of obstinate will in pursuit of ambitions; yet with exhaustion via enduring responsibilities. Use it for things that must be done and borne of necessity, though they demand heavy tolls. The Ten of Wands card indicates taking on responsibility because it is necessary and someone has to do it.

I also see this card as indicative of overly powerful regimes, those 800 lb gorillas, David vs Goliath sort of things. “You can’t fight City Hall,” as they say. So it goes.

Off to work on packing books…