Rose Lalonde Posted March 23 Posted March 23 (edited) Our decan walk begins with Aries decan 1, a decan ruled by Mars. The 2 of Wands. Meleen's first post for this decan And Part 2 is here 2 of Wands in the Telos Tarot of 777 Meleen's blog has some gifts -- a downloadable b&w copy of the card above to color in, a magic square of Mars, and an invocation for this decan which begins: 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... And part 2 has more gifts: a Mars playlist, a decan 1 Aries spell, some other names for Mars, and a big list of all the Aries decan 1 deities and daimons to inspire your research or poetic invocations Post anything you like between now and March 30 that relates to the 2 of wands and this current time of the year. See the Start Here page if you need some inspiration. In the northern hemisphere which influenced these decan correspondence, Aries 1 is the first spark of spring and a fitting place to being our decan walk. What do you normally do at this time of year, and how might that relate to the 2 of Wands? Other cards in the deck that correspond to this decan and more, are the Queen of Wands and the Emperor. (Telos Tarot of 777 is 15% off while we cycle through the 3 decans of Aries with code DECANWALK2025.) Edited April 10 by Rose Lalonde
Rose Lalonde Posted March 23 Author Posted March 23 (edited) I think I'll color in the Telos card from the blog and post it here when I'm done. And read a bit about the golden fleece of the Ram in Jason and the Argonauts mythology. I love to cook, but this seems like a decan for hot peppers, and spicy food is not my thing! 🥵 So not this decan. In addition to my copy of Telos, there are some more decks I'm looking at -- Edited March 23 by Rose Lalonde
JoyousGirl Posted March 23 Posted March 23 I'm in the southern hemisphere, so I'm thinking I will try this from a dual angle. How that takes shape, I'm not sure!
Nemia Posted March 23 Posted March 23 (edited) This is very exciting! I've been doing my own decan walks for seven years now and always have my tarot calendar with the cards corresponding to the zodiac sign, the decan, the Moon phase and the weekday before my eyes. I haven't switched from Pisces to Aries yet - I had some pretty hectic days and I'm going to celebrate the entrance of Aries tomorrow. I have always wondered how all this works in the Southern Hemisphere. We're talking about the night sky - and the zodiac is the same. The constellations look different in each place in the world - you have a very different night sky if you live in Norway, Hawaii or Chile. I even see a difference when I travel to my mother in Europe. I can't see the Scorpion's tail from there. So Aries is Aries, but its energy works differently in nature because the seasons are different. I have always wanted to know how people in the Southern Hemisphere deal with that! And I have read a lot about fixed stars lately - you see different stars that never appear on our night skies, so there are probably subtle and not-so-subtle differences. It's a fantastic idea for a club and now is the right time to start! The "seam" between the last decan of Pisces and the first decan of Aries is obvious: Mars rules them both, and it gives us a tremendous push. Sometimes I feel that this push is a bit too much for me! M.M. Meleen writes about this decan here and you can see the incredible work that she has done with her decan cards for the Tabula Mundi. I can't recommend this deck warmly enough. Each decan card incorporates elements of the three decans, of the three planetary rulers of those decans. Some years ago, when I studied the Thoth more deeply, I arranged all the minors ruled by each planet and took pictures. These are the minors ruled by Mars, who is represented by the Tower. We have the Two of Wands, starting the cycle of a new astrological year around the Vernal Equinox. The Three of Disks/Pentacles turns Mars energy into hard but joyful work. The Five of Cups deals with disappointments and plans going wrong. In the Seven of Wands, we are stuck again - this energy turns into aggression that we feel is directed against us. The rusty Nine of Swords forces us to take stock, overcome our blockades and deal with things we just stared at before. In the Ten of Cups, Mars reaches a lovely equilibrium. You might say that there are three "positive" Mars minors and three "problematic" ones. Obviously, each card holds potential and challenges, but what do we see first? In the Two of Wands, Three of Disks and Ten of Cups, the potential just jumps out to us. And in the Five of Cups, Seven of Wands and Ten of Swords, we see the problems first. On the Tree of Life, Gvurah, the sephirah associated with Mars, is the fifth "station" of the divine light on its journey from high above to our daily world, and it shines red like the planet. Right now, where I live, I can watch Mars every night. Some months and weeks ago, he was really close to the Twins, Gemini, and now slowly moves away from them. These three celestial lights together form beautiful patterns. If you can, go out and watch them. When Mars stands alone, he really looks like a fiery eye, a bit threatening. The Gemini stars and the patterns they form with Mars tone this impression down a bit. It's worth looking at. The relationship between the planet and the major is never a 100% fit; we wouldn't need two systems if it were. There is an overlap between Mars and the Emperor: this "masculine" energy is traditionally associated with men... but even the ancient Greeks knew that the Amazons had it, too. We all have it. The question is, how can we use it without Tower destruction? The decans give us some hints. So does mythology. I have to work a bit now but I'll write about Mars and the Amazones later if anyone is interested 😉 Edited March 23 by Nemia
Rose Lalonde Posted March 23 Author Posted March 23 5 hours ago, Nemia said: M.M. Meleen writes about this decan here and you can see the incredible work that she has done with her decan cards for the Tabula Mundi. Thanks for the link! I've been mainly reading with Tabula Mundi since the color ed. came out in 2016. 6 hours ago, Nemia said: I'll write about Mars and the Amazones later if anyone is interested Definitely interested!
Nemia Posted March 24 Posted March 24 Much as I love the ancient Greeks (the Romans a bit less, mythology-wise, because they simply adopted the more colourful and multi-faceted Greek Gods into their Pantheon of local gods), I have to face their deep-set misogyny. Even the word misogyny is Greek, and rightly so. In all their philosophical and medical theories, the Male/Masculine is associated with positive values: hot and dry like Fire or hot and moist like Air, active, outgoing, changing the world and ready to fight. The Female/Feminine is associated with the "lesser" elements: cold and dry like Earth or cold and moist like Water, and the coldness, the absence of Fire, means that the Feminine principle is passive, reactive, resists change and won't fight for its place in the world. Source for the graphic: this site about Aristotle In the grand scheme of things, you need both. Only against the shadow of the passive, un-creative Feminine, the active, radiant Masculine can shine. In the ancient Greek house, there are gendered spaces. In the andron, the room for the male head of the family and his friends, men celebrate their symposia, their drinking parties. In the gynaeceum above, the lady of the house and her maids spin and weave. Their spheres are separate. In mythology, the situation is more complex because goddesses are powerful, which Greek women are not. A goddess like Athena/Minerva rules intelligent warfare AND the textile arts. However, the epitome of femininity is the goddess Aphrodite/Venus, and the epitome of masculinity is Ares/Mars, and that's why we still use their attributes for the symbols of male and female in these well-known symbols. The mirror of Aphrodite/Venus (self-reflective, self-care, vanity) vs the shield and spear of Ares/Mars (defend and attack). So where are the Amazons in all this? This mythical nation belongs to the groups of fictive enemies, used in Greek literature to throw their own values into sharp relief. The Amazons do everything upside down! The females are more respected than the males, and they rule their people. Even worse: they fight. So they have to be subdued. However, the first Amazon queen was believed to have been the daughter of Ares, the god of war, with the nymph Harmonia. The Amazons inherited Ares's courage and combative spirit, how could that have been a bad thing? It made the Greeks deeply uncomfortable, and their art shows it. There are two main ways in which Amazons are depicted in art and literature: the amazonomachia/Amazonomachy and the Wounded Amazon. The Amazonomachy simply means "battle against Amazons", and the Greeks win every time. Here, the Amazons are depicted as a chaotic mass of white (female) bodies, struggling to fight against the Greek heroes. This battle must be won because the Amazons are an unnatural enemy - who would ever think that women taking up arms can be natural or justified? Even if they're daughters of Ares - they have to be defeated. By defeating them, the Greeks re-establish the natural order where women are shown their places - at the loom. You can see the importance of this motif in the sculptural program of the most important temple in Athens, the Parthenon on the Akropolis. The metopes (panels in deep relief between the columns and the roof) on the four sides of the building depict four important battles that the Greeks have to win: against the Trojans, the Giants, the Centaurs and the Amazons. An example of a metope from the West side of the Parthenon - a Greek fighting an Amazon, and you can see who is winning. Then there is the topic of the Wounded Amazon, a popular motif for sculptures. There are different types of such sculptures, and they all show the Amazons in their battle garb - shockingly, they are dressed in chitons! they usurp male clothing and expose one of their breasts! While Aphrodite bears her breasts because she's beautiful and invites the infamous male gaze, the Amazons wear chitons for purposes of practicality in battle. And where Aphrodite holds her legs close together, daintily taking up as little space as possible, the Amazons have a tendency to manspread. Unspeakable horror! So the Amazons are established as enemies because they rebel against the role ancient Greeks see as the law of nature, but of course, they're still objects of The Gaze. No woman can escape objectification, and taming a rebellious woman is an all-too-popular trope from Amazon queen Penthesilea to Shakespeare's shrew Kate and Scarlett O'Hara. This cultural stereotype is more attractive as a heroine than poor Griseldis or Melanie Wilkes who fit into the passive, people-pleasing pattern from the outset. The Amazon has to be battled and overcome, and then, she's perfect. And in the case of Queen Penthesilea, she's dead, too. Achilles, the ultimate Greek hero, kills Penthesilea, and after her death, "falls in love" with her, i.e., does unspeakable things to her body. The Greeks were pretty brutal with rebellious females. No wonder that women (and also men) have always felt sympathy for the Amazons who fought for their rights. Many novels have taken up the story from the Amazon point of view, and the masculinity-obsessed Greeks don't look too good. Probably Achilles took revenge on Penthesilea for the humiliating trick played on him when he was a youngster - his mother hid him between girls, dressed as a girl, to avoid having him drawn into the Trojan War. The Greeks discovered him with an even better trick - they displayed jewellery and weapons to the group of girls. All the real girls flocked to the pretty stuff but young Achilles showed interest in the shield and sword - the attributes of Ares/Mars. And off he went to war where he was killed. What do we learn from all this for our own relationship with the god of war and destruction? First of all: we have to acknowledge that our Western culture and civilization carry the DNA of Ancient Greece, for better, for worse. While enforcing gender separation and gender hierarchy on the real women of their time, creating a pattern that is very difficult to break, they also created myths that show their deep ambivalence towards any kind of "gender fluidity". Queen Penthesilea with her weapons and aggressiveness makes them as uncomfortable as the sight of young Achilles dressed as a girl, and yet, these images are deeply fascinating to them and also to us. Beneath all this gender propaganda, there lies the suspicion that maybe, this separation is arbitrary and has to be held up constantly because it's unreal. If Mars energy makes us uncomfortable, there are good reasons for that. For men, Mars is the stereotype they were forced to conform to over generations, even if they feel oppressed by it. For women, Mars is the incarnation of the force of war that has battled against passive and active women because Mars always has to dominate women. And for those who reject all gender stereotypes for themselves and others, Mars embodies the aggressive power used to force these stereotypes on them. Surrender or die. And yet - while fighting against the Amazons, the Greeks gave us a powerful pattern of identification. While telling us the Amazons are unnatural, they admit that they exist. We can undermine and subvert the stereotypes by filling the Amazon with our own ideas and energies. Movies like Wonder Woman try to do exactly this. I call myself an Amatron - an Amazon that has turned into a matron, but the power is still there. I have Mars in Aries, and I have battled against myself for many years. In the tarot, many cards show traces of Amazon energy - M.M. Meleen describes all four princesses as Amazons. In her decks, the Princesses echo the famous poses of the ancient sculptures, but they are not wounded. They are strong and powerful. The Amazons are a powerful symbol of Mars energy that anyone can access and use peacefully, defensively or aggressively, as they see fit. The Tower shows Mars energy as destructive and cataclysmic, but often, you can build something new from the bricks and stones of the dilapidated Tower. The Emperor reveals the stable side of Mars and Aries; by controlling his power and using it to uphold structure, law and order, the Emperor can protect those who can't fight for themselves. In the Four of Wands, Venus in Aries, we see the joyful balance of Mars and Venus. The ram and the dove. Here, we see the three decans of Aries with the minor cards (Two, Three, Four of Wands) and their planetary rulers: Mars, the Sun and Venus. Wild power - radiant power - balanced power.
FindYourSovereignty Posted March 24 Posted March 24 Like Nemia, I am in the Northern Hemisphere and, although it has been snowing here all day, we have entered our spring season. I need to think a little more on how to make this a success for me. I have been fascinated by your decan posts, @Nemia, and always wanted to try it. I need to do it in a way that will work for me. I also made the mistake of thinking the Holy Lights deck followed the decans as T. Susan Chang does in 36 Secrets. I think I need to make this first time as easy as possible for myself. 😊
Nemia Posted March 25 Posted March 25 The Holy Light Tarot uses its own system of decans. The Aces stand for the first decan, the Twos for the second decan etc. It's an interesting experiment. I have the Holy Light Two of Wands right now on my tarot calendar, even though the card says it's Aries ruled by the Sun. I hesitated - shouldn't I take the Ace instead? In the end, I decided to go with the card number, not the planetary ruler. It's an interesting experiment. But personally, I prefer the conventional method with Aces and Princesses ruling the seasons and the globe. How to start? Three cards characterize the decan: the zodiac ruler (e.g. the Emperor for Aries) - the planetary ruler of the decan (e.g. the Tower: Mars rules the first decan of Aries) and the minor card that expresses the planetary rule over the zodiac sign (e.g. the Two of Wands for Mars in Aries). You can also add the court card ruler (e.g. the Queen of Wands who rules the last decan of Pisces and the first and second decans of Aries). Just by looking at these cards, you realize that this decan is about Fire. It's like a blowtorch needed to break Winter. Where we live, we had some very hot days last week, and in my mother's European garden, all the spring flowers are out. You get a heightened awareness of the character of a season by following the tarot cards ruling these ten-day phases. Looking at these cards, you can also see the willpower necessary to turn the potentially catastrophic energy of the Tower into something productive, creative and long-term success. Aries is impatient, but the Queen of Wands and the Emperor emphasize the importance of patience. In a way, the tarot offers a counterbalance to the zodiac signs. (Taurus stands for sensual pleasure; the Hierophant counterbalances this etc - all tarot minors are like a commentary to the zodiac sign, not only a representation. It's an overlap, not a 100% fit.) I also added a card of the Tree of Life (from the Tabula Mundi Tarot but many other decks have similar decks - you can also make your own using a simple divider. Make a Flower of Life and pick out the ten sephiroth. I marked the relevant sephirah with a simple magnet with a glass drop. We're in Chochmah now. That's the planning aspect of the Two of Wands: lots of Fire energy, tamed by intelligence. What this gives you is deeper insight into the way astrology and tarot play together, it gives you added insight into each card and trains your brain and intuition to feel the "astrological backstory" of each card. These four cards are enough to get you started. If you want to strip it back to three, leave away the court card.
dancing_moon Posted March 25 Posted March 25 Thank you for starting the group, @Rose Lalonde, and to M.M. Meleen for initiating the walk! This is something I've been wanting to do lately - and presto, here it is 😄 Thank you so much, @Nemia, for profound and erudite posts, as always. Looking forward to more of your decan writings! In addition to the Thoth and RWS, I'll be using images from an old favorite - Golden Dawn Magical Tarot. I'm still formulating the exact things I want to do with them, so I'll be back.
Rose Lalonde Posted March 25 Author Posted March 25 12 hours ago, Nemia said: How to start?... Beautifully explained @Nemia. On 3/24/2025 at 2:52 AM, Nemia said: The Amazons are a powerful symbol of Mars energy that anyone can access and use peacefully, defensively or aggressively, as they see fit. Also thanks for adding the info about the Amazons. (Your Wonder Woman image reminded me that I used to watch the Super Friends cartoon as a kid and loved her lasso of truth and invisible plane. From there I became fascinated with the Amazons and Greek mythology in general, but at the time, I was too young to realize that they were meant to be outside the 'natural order'.
fire cat pickles Posted March 26 Posted March 26 I am excited for this group and that so many people are interested. I've tried in the past to get a group together to study decans, and I am pleased as punch that @Rose Lalonde has made a breakthrough with it! Mars is prominent in my chart, most of my natal aspects being formed by him. This is an apt starting off point for beginning studying for me. My belief is that many of my personality traits come from these planetary interactions 😉 both "good" and "bad." Mars in Sagittarius (5th House) Mars trine Sun Mars square Moon Mars opposition Venus Mars sextile Jupiter Mars trine Ascendant The deck I'm using is Liber T Tarot of Stars Eternal. I think it's better for me to focus on one deck. The clean imagery in this deck allows me to focus on details that, I think, easily refer back to the essence of the decan and the core concept of what its meaning is. For instance, in this card the character is in forward motion using all the strength and resilience he possesses to manifest the best possible outcome. He is the master of his own destiny. Confidence without arrogance, power without corruption, force without violence. What struck me as particularly poignant to my situation was the kind of Aries energy that @Nemia mentions, the type that "can protect those who can't fight for themselves." This card shares this characteristic with the Aries Emperor. On March 20 I had a job interview for a part time position (Fire-Medic) and got the job. Today was on-boarding. I feel like things are heading in the right direction. I am considering moving full time eventually if this situation is agreeable. There is quite a bit of directional Mars energy in the air lately. This will be a high-paced, "alpha" quality environment. Definitely not for the fainthearted! "It's all Mars all the time" is a brief understatement! And this: I plant my flag. I claim dominion of the directions. [...] I break ground. Motion is mine. It will be interesting to see how my planetary (transits) aspects align with the decans as time goes along with our study. The timing of the beginning of this club is certainly opportune. Personal transits for today: Sun, Mercury, Venus all trine with Mars --- and all in Aries 😉
FindYourSovereignty Posted March 26 Posted March 26 29 minutes ago, fire cat pickles said: On March 20 I had a job interview for a part time position (Fire-Medic) and got the job. Today was on-boarding. I feel like things are heading in the right direction. Congratulations!
Rose Lalonde Posted March 26 Author Posted March 26 (edited) Things I didn't remember about the Golden Fleece until re-reading today... The golden fleece was once Chrysomallos, a flying ram who was the child of Poseidon and the grandchild (on his mother's side) of Helios and Gaia. Born a ram because his parents had sex as a ram and ewe as a disguise to avoid being found by her other suitors. After rescuing some kids (I'm leaving so much out) he was either sacrificed to Zeus in their place or volunteered himself for sacrifice (I'm reminded of the creepily obliging bovine in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe). None of his life has much of anything to do with his 'meaning.' It's after he's sacrificed when his golden fleece is in a protected, sacred grove of Ares aka Mars that he becomes a symbol of power and associated with the constellation of the ram for Aries. So dead Chrysomallos brings Aries and Mars together as in the 2 of Wands. Medea is his relative, since she's a great-grandchild of Helios and Gaia. I forgot that Media's love for Jason wasn't natural but due to an arrow from Eros in some accounts. And in addition to killing her brother, and later famously her children when Jason left her, she's also involved in killing for ambition. Like the way she makes King Pelias' daughters think they can return him to good health if they cut him up and bring her the parts. Then she makes him into a gooey stew, and says, Whoops, I must have forgotten an ingredient. All of that to have Jason be king in his place, but Jason... doesn't want it. There are other examples after the breakup that have nothing to do with Jason. An attempted murder of Theseus for one, since she had ambitions for her son, Medus. Reading a lot of it, I was struck by what @Nemia was saying about the Amazons being considered unnatural. Medea has magic powers, and she also does the most horrible thing a mother can do. Very "outside of nature." It's interesting that she ends up in immortal paradise in the Elysian Fields. Edited March 26 by Rose Lalonde
Rose Lalonde Posted March 26 Author Posted March 26 39 minutes ago, fire cat pickles said: pleased as punch that @Rose Lalonde has made a breakthrough with it! I think it's more that Meleen is beginning a decan walk now... I wouldn't have thought to start it otherwise. @FindYourSovereignty let me know it was going on, and I wanted a place where I could follow along with anyone else who's interested in either Meleen's work or the decans in general, or both.
JoyousGirl Posted March 26 Posted March 26 3 hours ago, fire cat pickles said: On March 20 I had a job interview for a part time position (Fire-Medic) and got the job. Congratulations! This is such a perfect job to go for and the perfect day to interview it considering the decan. And with all the Mars in your chart and the timing and the position itself - it's close enough to a soldier - it certainly requires courage. Wow! This is a key example for the textbooks. Go forth and conquer you little red fire engine!
Ferrea Posted March 26 Posted March 26 Thank you for initiating this club, @Rose Lalonde! And a happy new astrological year to all club members! I want to take the opportunity to study the Thoth a bit more. I just had the borders of a larger version (imperfectly) removed and found a nice corner-cutter with small diameter. So this deck will on a certain level come into being in its final form during these walks. Hopefully I can stay with it. I'm Aries rising—the initial fire is intense but then... What I love about the Two of Wands in the Troth deck is the watery turquoise background. As if these wands had just erupted from an underwater volcano. A birth. Oddly enough, it reminds me of Botticelli's Venus. There is freshness and naiveté in this Two of Wands.
Babalon Jones Posted March 26 Posted March 26 (edited) Just for a little more Aries 1 inspiration, here is part II of the post for the Aries 1/Two of Wands decan. It's got a whole lotta Mars energy...a Mars playlist, a decan 1 Aries spell, some other names for Mars, and a big list of all the Aries decan 1 deities and daimons to inspire your research or poetic invocations https://www.tabulamundi.com/decan-walk-aries-1-two-of-wands-part-ii/ Edited March 26 by Babalon Jones
FindYourSovereignty Posted March 26 Posted March 26 54 minutes ago, Babalon Jones said: Just for a little more Aries 1 inspiration, here is part II of the post for the Aries 1/Two of Wands decan. It's got a whole lotta Mars energy...a Mars playlist, a decan 1 Aries spell, some other names for Mars, and a big list of all the Aries decan 1 deities and daimons to inspire your research or poetic invocations https://www.tabulamundi.com/decan-walk-aries-1-two-of-wands-part-ii/ Thank you. MM Meleen is our inspiration! I only wish I had her Tabula Mundi deck with the decan cards and Book M.
Ferrea Posted March 26 Posted March 26 39 minutes ago, Babalon Jones said: ...a Mars playlist Great selection! I want to add a song by The Queens of the Stoneage that I find particularily epic and orgasmic: The live version of I think I lost my headache. In the last century, I did my thing as a techno DJ. My music had to blast and rumble. This tune is one of my all time favourites: The Ark – Punkadelic. So raw! Imagine listening to this on a good sound system in a car driving down an empty motorway at night. It made me drunk with bliss.
Rose Lalonde Posted March 26 Author Posted March 26 1 hour ago, Babalon Jones said: Just for a little more Aries 1 inspiration, here is part II of the post for the Aries 1/Two of Wands decan. It's got a whole lotta Mars energy...a Mars playlist, a decan 1 Aries spell, some other names for Mars, and a big list of all the Aries decan 1 deities and daimons to inspire your research or poetic invocations https://www.tabulamundi.com/decan-walk-aries-1-two-of-wands-part-ii/ Thank you for the extras! It's great to see you here. We appreciate all of your posts for this! It's a lot to do for a year while you're also writing a book!
Rose Lalonde Posted March 26 Author Posted March 26 ...and now I really want to add Sabotage from @Babalon Jones playlist to this thread. I haven't heard that in so long. (Maybe I can swing back to them on some other card, because I also love their The In Sound from Way Out, which is a 180 degree turn from Sabotage.)
FindYourSovereignty Posted March 26 Posted March 26 (edited) As some may have noticed, I find myself slow to get started on this. I really wanted to keep it simple for myself, however, I've invested in so many decks to do a Decan Walk that I have to at least try. Over the past five days, I've had the Tabula Mundi bundle in my cart. She lives in the state right next to me. I could likely arrange to pick it up. Maybe that is what I need to do. Wouldn't that be amazing? Not having her deck with the decan cards and guidebook has kept me paralyzed. I am learning so much about myself. In my natal chart, I have Libra in my first house. As Libra is the Sign opposite Aries, I have felt like it has some significance to my chart to have all my Signs in their opposite Houses. Edited March 26 by FindYourSovereignty Replaced picture
FindYourSovereignty Posted March 26 Posted March 26 (edited) My daily reading for yesterday was for the Sun transit in Aries at 5° and this was the ‘What do you want me to know card?’ I immediately thought of it when I saw @Nemia’s Wonder Woman card. Like @Rose Lalonde, I wanted the lasso and invisible plane and also those cuffs. I wear metal or leather cuffs most days now. Maybe this is why. 😍 Edited March 26 by FindYourSovereignty Shrink image
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