And here comes Gemini Decan II
The decan rulers are Mars and Venus in two different orders so?*
As I start writing this humble piece on the second decan of Gemini, the month is slowly turning into June and the Sun is already moving through the second ten degrees of mutable, air sign Gemini.
“You, lost in the sunken place—-
Take your hands off of your face!
I hear your voice upon the air.
I choose to face that which I fear .”
says T. Susan Chang in ‘Dreaming the Decans’ for this decan and the associated minor Arcana card the 9 of Swords.
I will come back to this card very soon but let’s first look into the decan rulers which are Mars in Chaldean order and Venus in triplicity order. What kind of energy do we think about when Mars is in Gemini? There is a warrior within us that fights with words, with ideas, with rational approach…Maybe sometimes changes direction fast as we don’t have to stick with the initial plan if we see that it doesn’t work, we may always need to keep other options in mind in case things take a turn…But we can be sure about one thing; even though sometimes we may feel weak, we have the courage, enthusiasm and drive to fight against anything with our minds. In a way “we may choose to face that which we fear…”.
And Venus in Gemini? I think that what is attributed to Gemini as a quality, social butterfly, could be a good name for Venus in Gemini as well. It’s about building relationships, getting into contact with people in social environments. There could be sometimes an element of jumping from one flower to another one and not hanging around in a certain place for a long time in this ‘butterfly’ as well! I think that once the curiosity is fed, all possible mental exchanges are consumed, it might be time to move on…However, the intellectual values, things that speak to our minds may carry more value for Venus in Gemini as well…Art, beauty in changing forms…
Interestingly, in Picatrix in Chapter 12 second decan of Gemini is expressed as follows: “The second face of Gemini is of Venus, and in it an image is made to bring back absent people and cause fugitives to come back to a place.” And in the chapter related to figures, colours, garments etc. it goes as follows: “The second face of Gemini is red and is made in this way…”
“On the second face of Gemini — The second decan of Gemini has the face of Mars. Its name is Samurois. It has a double face. It is walking. It is aimed. In its left hand it is holding a bow and arrows and with both its feet it treads upon hares. This rules the climate of the Persians.” is how Liber Hermetis explains this decan.
And when we look at the decans in Cosmas of Jerusalem, we get Cybele associated with the second decan of Gemini. For the ones who are not familiar with Cybele or how I know as Kibele, I leave a definition of this very important deity: “KYBELE (Cybele) was the ancient Phrygian Mother of the Gods, a primal nature goddess worshipped with orgiastic rites in the mountains of central and western Anatolia. The Greeks identified her with their own mother of the gods–the Titaness Rhea.” https://www.theoi.com/Phrygios/Kybele.html
After taking a short stroll among different cultures, let’s keep going with the 9 of Swords. Just a short reminder about the 8 of Swords from my previous article:
“Coming back to the 8 of Swords card, sometimes either we overthink or we exaggerate for better or worse, and we may not be able to see things clearly anymore. Is it the reality or is it only in our heads? Maybe we are too much invested in a certain situation, more than necessary and this refrains us from seeing the bigger picture or the real picture! In a way, we blindfold ourselves with our own hands and minds. As we see on the card, actually none of the swords seem to be touching the person neither they are blocking her way. She may not be seeing (or maybe she has the capacity to peek through the blindfold) but she can walk since her feet are not bound. So, there may be ways to get out of that situation!
At this point, you may tell me that when you are not the one there, it might be easier to talk and make comments etc. However, I think that it’s another message for us from this card. When we are stuck in a certain mindset or focused on a subject deeply and we start struggling, we always have a chance to step out, let it rest or let it go for a while and even observe as a third party before we go back and look at things with more fresh eyes…We do have a choice…”
We have a choice…
But how do we approach it when we come to the 9 of Swords? Less calm or a bit more anxious than before?
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Swords09.jpg
Sometimes there are memes about this card saying with the flavour of ‘Oh God why did I drink so much, what did I do? What was I thinking?’ As if we acted without thinking while we are normally supposed to take every step forward with rational thinking, no ‘nonsense’ way…Or not? The horizontal swords tell us that ‘it’s not that bad mate! Not as bad as you think. You may still need to be careful where those tips of the swords are turned towards to, where do they lead to, what needs to be mitigated….But maybe calm down a bit for the moment, take a deep breath and rewind back. You see when you reflect on, you understand that you are overthinking yet once again! Now try to go back to sleep with that wonderful cover on you bringing many things to you sometimes memories, sometimes the sacred language of the skies! And the carving on your bed, that’s quite intriguing…You may be feeling intimidated by someone or something but that doesn’t mean that you have to towel in. Once it’s morning, you wake up after a good sleep, you may rethink about the past and the future and take necessary actions with that mental warrior of yours leaping forward with values that are dear to your mind!”
We have a choice here as well even though to move forward, to take action might require bravery, stamina, pioneering energy at a mental level maybe sometimes with a pinch of butterfly touch…
All the best,
Teri
by Teri Nudelman ak.a. amethysastrotarot as in Hello from Amethyst! –
*Original article published on my Substack account on May 31, 2026.
And here comes Gemini Decan II – by Teri Nudelman
For the first decan of Gemini:
With the opening of Gemini season, we also step into the first decan of Gemini –