Taking Stock with 10 of Pents
This wasn’t what I was thinking of writing this morning when I woke up feeling inspired to organize some thoughts I’ve been having. But, after completing The Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe and reading about Virgo: Decan III in 36 Secrets, my mind has spun my thoughts in slightly different weave. Before I get too far in my own BS, let me break down a little of what I just said for anyone unfamiliar.
What is a Decan?
If you’re reading my work, you’re likely at least familiar with Tarot and Astrology being overlapping partners who speak to each other. Every Major Arcana card has a zodiac sign, planet, or element that it directly relates, or corresponds, to. With the Minor Arcana, they correspond to two Major Arcana cards, a Planet and a Zodiac.
This is a Decan Wheel. It shows the correspondences of the Minor Arcana so you can figure out it’s ruling Majors.
The center of the circle shows the 12 zodiac signs and their elemental information. These 12 slices take up 30° of the 360° circle. The next ring shows the 36 decans, aka 10° sections of each zodiac sign. Those decans have a different planet that “rules” it, or influences that time.
Each outer ring after that then provides more information about the decan.
Here’s how to use this chart. Let’s start with where we are now. Locate Virgo in the center ring (it’s the palest green next to the yellow). We see that it’s a Mutable (flexible; also last sign in the before the season changes in this case from Summer to Autumn) Earth sign. The next outer ring shows the glyphs of the planets: Sun, Venus, and Mercury. This means the first 10° (or nearly 10 days) of Virgo is ruled by The Sun, the second decan is ruled by Venus, and the third decan is ruled by Mercury. The next ring shows their approximate dates. The final ring shows the Minor Arcana cards associated with this time, in this case, the 10 of Pentacles.
This chart is also particularly helpful as it gives us a very easy, visual sense of where we are in the Astrological year. Right now we’re at the end of the first half of the Astrological year. Note that all astrological charts start on the left bottom-half and go counter-clockwise- so this one starts with Aries Decan 1 (the red slice).
Also, if you want to know more about decans and their Tarot cards, be sure to follow me on BlueSky where I am posting the astrological and elemental correspondences of each Tarot card this year.
The End of the Year?
I actually use more than one calendar to track my year, and I’m sure you do as well.
There’s the one that rules our society as a whole- the Gregorian Calender, the one that has January 1st as the first day of the new year. I also acknowledge and use the Astrological year starting with Aries season. Finally, I follow the Moon’s cycle and its 13 months from New Moon to New Moon- I say this because as a Jewish person living without community, I’m not particularly good about following the Hebrew calendar itself. So, I acknowledge it in this way as the Hebrew months also start on New Moons. In fact, the word for month comes from the word moon.
And, for us Jewitches, the Hebrew year is drawing to a close and Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new calendar year, is nearly upon us.
Personally, even before I came to know much about my Jewish heritage, the transition from Summer into Autumn always felt like a start of a new year. I think most people agree with this feeling- particularly because the school year always starts around this time. The fall has marked for most of us in the West a new beginning of sorts.
Now that I am working on synthesizing my different practices into something coherent, I find it rather beautiful this time of year is associated with the 10 of Pentacles. Something is ending so something new can begin. This means, it’s time for reflection on what we have learned in order to plant seeds not just for ourself, but for future generations (as depicted on the 10 of Pentacles).
About the 10 of Pentacles
The 10 of Pentacles is ruled by The Hermit and The Magician. The Hermit because it is Virgo Season. The Magician because it is the Mercury card, and Decan 3 of Virgo Season is Mercury’s turn to step forward in the pattern of planetary rulership.
Visually, these cards have a few things in common. The person with their back turned in the 10 of Pents potentially could be The Magician, and the white-haired person in the foreground could be The Hermit. There are staffs present in all- a symbol of fire, power, magic, control, etc.
We also see a narrative of endings and beginnings. The 10 of Pents has 3 generations on the card. The Magician appears to be a younger person, while The Hermit is certainly in their Crone years. 10s, as I see them in Tarot, are an epilogue of the endings we see in the 9s and hint at the new cycle to come. After all 10 is 1+0=1. It is the liminal space between the end of one story and the start of the next.
So, this card is an ending to Summer, an ending to the Light Half of the year, an ending to the Jewish New Year (sometimes), and an ending/culmination of number.
End of Year Thoughts with The Magician
Over this last Decan of Virgo, I will be reflecting on all the messages I’ve received this year. The communications I’ve had with friends, family, and with myself. The books I’ve read. What I’ve learned. What I’m interested in. I’ll be reviewing about my resources, my tools, and things that make me feel powerful. As a psychopomp, Mercury can transcend all planes of life and death, so it is also a good time to reflect over the ones those who have crossed the veil.
As The Hermit might say, reflecting over all things Mercurial would be prudent.
End of Year Thoughts with The Hermit
Making a list of things to reflect on is probably the first course of action.
Reflecting on all you have learned, your experiences that have provided you with the wisdom of experience, will help guide your path of where to go next. It’s about following your own light to guide the way forward.
Find some peace, some solitude, if you can. Connect with the earth. Go slow. Go with purpose.
End of Year Thoughts with The 10 of Pentacles
The 10 of Pentacles wants us to consider Mercurial themes with a Virgo Flair.
It also wants us to reflect on, not only ourselves, but our communities, our families, and the next generations. How all the pieces of reality come together to make up a single whole- whether you call that The Universe, Source, G-d. You must reach up and down the Tree of Life. Quite the Odyssey.
You are a piece of The Whole. You are The Whole. How might you use this incarnation, or expression, of that to serve humankind? To serve Yourself?