And Virgo II time in decan walk!
Let Venus and Saturn play their tricks in this decan…
It’s very strange that yesterday morning when I was walking my children to the school, I was thinking about the snail on the 9 of Pentacles in RWS deck though I will use another deck in this article. And then I heard my children screaming ‘Look at this snail, it’s huge mommy!’ Yes, a huge snail was there moving slowly as if telling me to start writing about the second decan of Virgo:))) Maybe I should have said: “Dear snail, you are very right! I need to start writing but September is starting, I am still working on ‘Water Series’ and ‘Metonic Cycle’ and I am only one person doing everything in traditional way, still resisting any practical help from AI! I am literally ‘the’ team behind all:)))”
After sharing my excuses about why I am running late with my writing plans, let’s start looking into the second decan of Virgo. Virgo is traditionally ruled by Mercury and in the current sky Mercury is still at home in Virgo and will be there until Sep 10 when it moves into Libra. That could be the time when more diplomatic ways of communication and more balanced ideas may be surrounding us although sometimes the waves of indecision along with over compromising might be present in our thinking process.
As we can understand from the subtitle, Venus and Saturn are the decan rulers according to Chaldean/Descending order and Triplicity order respectively. As Venus is in fall in Virgo, it’s not thought to be with a favourable position in this mutable, earth sign. However, I believe that it depends on how we approach things and what we really expect. Maybe we may not see a romantic dinner, prepared with candles lit as an expression of love with Venus in Virgo. However, we may see someone working in the kitchen whole day ‘perfecting’ a recipe so that the loved ones might enjoy a great dinner. Or putting a whole bookcase in order so that no one needs to deal with that mess and organisation later. It’s a different way of relating to people, it’s a different type of demonstration of love, and it’s completely different way of valuing things in life. A combination of service, order, efficiency and simplification wrapped in a package of many small but important details when it comes to harmony, artistic approach, values and love. When it comes to Saturn in Virgo, I have this natal placement in the previous decan, it can be quite interesting! I believe that Saturn in Virgo might be quite strict, attached to rules, to order with the fear of making a mistake or with the fear of not being ‘perfect’. There could be a lot of doubt, self-criticism coming along with this when it comes to structures, sense of authority, and times of reality check. BUT of course there is a but it could be very good for self-discipline, making sure that things work as they are supposed to be, and we are doing something in line with the real surrounding conditions, in a sterile structure, with no doubt despite of a lot of inner doubts. As per my experience, when Saturn opposition hits especially around mid 40s with the touch of Saturn in Pisces, even though this natal placement may sound quite ‘mature’, we still develop another world, another reality in which we end growing up emotionally and understanding that there are other important things in life and if necessary we should let go or give a break or sleep on things before we take action.
Well, it looks like that I have so much to say about Venus in Virgo and Saturn in Virgo. Now, do we look into some old texts as I always do before we move on with the 9 of Pentacles? Sure Teri, why not?
“On the second face of Virgo — The second decan of Virgo has the face of Venus. Its name is Magois. It rules the liver. It is a man standing, girded below from the waist all the way to the hollows of his feet, having four wings—two turned back and two on his breast. It has four Ibis heads having an iron beak. It rules the climate of Armenia.” That’s the definition on Liber Hermetis.
When we flip through the pages of The Daimon in Hellenistic Astrology by Greenbaum, it’s interesting to see that according to Cosmas of Jerusalem, the second decan of Virgo was associated with Moirai. “THE MOIRAI (Moirae) were the three goddesses of fate who personified the inescapable destiny of man. They assigned to every person his or her fate or share in the scheme of things. Their name means “Parts.” “Shares” or “Alottted Portions.”* That sounds quite strict and set in stone though there is an explanation that there could be some level of flexibility in terms of fate if Zeus thinks in another way and could turn things around. I like Hestia being associated with the third decan of Virgo and I will be sharing the statue of Hestia located by the riverside where I live.
Now, time for Tarot! Let’s make the opening again with a short quote from Dreaming the Decans by T. Susan Chang:
“Where skill and rigor intersect,
Jewels free from of all defect.
I am the loving architect.
Of details only I detect…”
The minor arcana card associated with this decan is the 9 of Pentacles. To understand the transition from the first decan to the second decan, it might be worth remembering some lines from Virgo I article with regards to the 8 of Pentacles: “What about the 8 of Pentacles? A level of perfection might be achieved only when we practise a lot. And practising may be more fruitful if we can put it in a routine. I agree that as routines bring order, they might sometimes make life monotonous. However, at this point we might ask ourselves what we would like to achieve or gain out of this practising routine. There is a risk of being part of a comfortable but vicious circle or we may really want to take our practise one step ahead in which the guidance and honing our existing skills, and working on new ones could be useful.”** It might sometimes feel like that we may not always get what we want at the end of this process, we may think that we are doing things but it’s not improving or going anywhere further though we may still continue with our usual work as it’s part of the routine and doesn’t hurt to have some kind of routine. While we are brainstorming in this way, here comes the 9 of Pentacles proving our doubts wrong and telling us ‘keep up with your good job, you never know when you collect the fruit of your hard work and sometimes from unexpected places.”
The 9 of Pentacles card from the Tarot of the Sevenfold Mystery deck by Robert M. Place
Would you ever imagine that a money tree will grow on a barren soil? I personally wouldn’t but even the possibility gives some hopes. This is the point when we might all realise that those long days of work, sometimes with boredom, sometimes with repetition, were worth something. At the beginning, when we start seeing the results, we may well be surprised, maybe we won’t believe that our dreams are coming true, our hard work is paying off, maybe we will be in doubt and say that this is not real! However, when the reality hits, we may value this result more than anyone else knowing we have come so far and we might building on this more while enjoying the benefits. It’s like sometimes we make an investment of money or time not expecting much in return. However, when the return comes, we may not let the capital slipping away from our hands. We may enjoy some of the interest or some part of the harvest making sure that we put some back into the capital to make it grow, not letting it to stay as a one day dream.
Then what happens in the 10 of Pentacles? In the third decan, I will use both RWS and Robert Place decks to give some different approaches.
Welcome September and please enjoy the second decan of Virgo! We may doubt ourselves but good work finally collects its awards…
All the best,
Teri
by Teri Nudelman a.k.a. amethystastrotarot as in Hello from Amethyst! –
*https://www.theoi.com/Daimon/Moirai.html
**Decan walk continues with Virgo decans! And here comes Virgo I… –