First Decan of Gemini (0°–10°)

Jupiter in the first air of Mercury's sign

The first decan of Gemini runs from 0° to 10° of the sign. In the Chaldean order Jupiter follows Saturn, so after the Saturn face that closes Taurus, Jupiter takes the first face of Gemini. The triplicity scheme gives this face to Gemini itself and so to Mercury, the sign's ruler. Jupiter is in its detriment in Gemini, the sign opposite its own Sagittarius, yet here it holds the face, and it also takes part in ruling the air triplicity. It has some footing in a sign that does not suit it.

Jupiter looks for meaning, principle and the big picture. Gemini, under Mercury, collects facts, words and connections. The result is a mind that wants to know everything and understand why, with ideas multiplying faster than they can be used. Planets here lean toward learning, teaching, writing and conversation. The tension shows up as hesitation: with so many angles in view, it gets hard to pick one and commit. The later faces of Gemini bring Mars and then the Sun, each sharper and more decided.

The man with the rod who serves another

Agrippa, following the Arabic image lists that reached Latin through the Picatrix, describes the first face of Gemini as a man holding a rod, in the posture of someone serving another. The image grants wisdom and knowledge of numbers, and of arts that bring no profit. That last phrase is unusually frank. The face gives learning, but not necessarily the means to make the learning pay.

The rod could be a measuring stick, a pointer or a herald's staff, all tools of Mercury. Service suggests the scribe, the secretary, the tutor, the clever assistant who knows more than the master and works for him anyway. Jupiter's wisdom flows freely here but is spent on others' projects or on knowledge pursued for love. The Golden Dawn title of the face's card, Lord of Shortened Force, sharpens the point. A broad mind with no single direction can end up stopped short, its energy cut before it reaches the goal.

Star names passed into Greek

The decans were first Egyptian stars, thirty-six of them, each marking the night hours for about ten days, listed on coffin lids from around 2100 BCE. Their names were written with the sign of a god. When Greek astrologers adopted the decans, they took over the names too, often bent into Greek sounds. Sopdet, the star Sirius, became Sothis, and Hephaistion of Thebes later listed thirty-six names for the thirty-six faces.

That chain of copying, from hieroglyph to Greek to Arabic to Latin, fits a face of Mercury's sign, where knowledge travels by being written down and passed on. It also means that many names lost their Egyptian roots on the way, and the star that once stood behind this face cannot be identified with any certainty. The page on the Egyptian decan gods follows the names into Greek.

The Eight of Swords, Lord of Shortened Force

The Golden Dawn placed the Eight of Swords on Jupiter in Gemini, the first decan of the mutable air sign, with the title Lord of Shortened Force. Behind it stand the Wheel of Fortune for Jupiter and The Lovers for Gemini, the trump of choice.

The Rider-Waite card shows a woman bound and blindfolded, standing among eight swords stuck in the ground, with water at her feet and a castle on the hill behind her. The bonds look loose, and there is a gap in the swords. She could probably walk out if she could see. Read through this decan, the card shows the cost of Jupiter's breadth in a sign of thought: so many ideas and possibilities that the mind wraps itself up and stops moving. The way out is information and a decision, both Gemini specialities, applied to her own situation.

A Sun or several planets in the first decan of Gemini

A Sun here belongs to people born in roughly the last ten days of May. You tend to be curious, sociable and quick to learn, with an appetite for books, courses, languages and conversations. People come to you to have things explained. You may collect skills you never use, and you can feel stuck when a decision forces you to close off other options.

Several planets in this face give a chart a scholarly, communicative tone. Such charts often show up in teachers, writers, researchers and the people who keep an organisation informed. The common gift is breadth of understanding; the common difficulty is analysis that never becomes action, or talent spent in service of someone else's goals. Check Jupiter and Mercury in your chart, since their condition shows how well this decan's mind is supplied.

Working with the first face of Gemini

When you are stuck between options, write them all down, give yourself a deadline and pick one, knowing that most choices can be revised. Finish one course or book before you start the next. Teach what you know, since explaining an idea turns knowledge into use. Ask whether a project serves your aims or only someone else's. Give your mind a physical outlet, such as walking while you think or working with your hands, so thought has a place to settle.