Second Decan of Leo (10°–20°)

Jupiter twice over in the Lion's middle

The second decan of Leo covers 10°–20° of the sign, its fixed and steady middle. Jupiter rules it in the Chaldean order, and Jupiter rules it again in the triplicity order, because the second face of a fire sign belongs to the next fire sign, Sagittarius. Doubled rulers are rare, and they concentrate a decan's flavour. Here the flavour is Jupiter's: expansion, faith, generosity and the larger view.

Leo's own ruler, the Sun, still presides over the sign, so this face reads as a king on a good day. Where the first decan has to win its crown, the second wears it and hands out gifts. Astrologers link it with public honour, ceremony, patronage and the kind of confidence that makes other people braver. Jupiter is also the night ruler of the fire triplicity in the Dorothean scheme, so a planet here sits in a face with deep ties to its element. The danger in all that abundance is size without substance.

The crowned figure with a drawn sword

Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy (1533) gives this face a figure with raised hands and a crowned man who looks angry and threatening, a drawn sword in his right hand and a shield in his left. Agrippa reads it as hidden quarrels and victories nobody hears about, and as the causes of fights. The Picatrix, the Arabic manual of astral magic behind much of Agrippa's material, crowns its figure with white myrtle and puts a bow in his hand, a face of beauty and horsemanship as well as of war.

The old images are more warlike than the modern reading of the decan, and that is worth keeping. Jupiter's victory here is a defended one: the crown is real, and so is the sword kept ready to protect it. The Golden Dawn's title, Lord of Victory, takes the moment after the fight, when the winner rides home. Agrippa's hidden victories add a quiet note. Some triumphs of this face are private ones that never reach a parade.

Lion-headed gods of the decans

Like every face, this one began as a star group in the Egyptian night clock, a cluster whose dawn rising marked about ten days of the year. The lists of those stars vary between monuments and centuries, and none can be matched to 10°–20° of the tropical zodiac with certainty, so this page does not name one.

What Egypt adds is a picture. On late temple ceilings at Edfu, Dendera and Esna the decans gain bodies, and many of them are lion-headed gods crowned with a disk and standing in boats. Late texts also link the decans with the messengers of Sekhmet, the lioness whose anger brought plague and whose favour held it back. The match with the Lion's middle face is an echo across traditions, not a documented line of descent, but it fits the decan well: a royal power that protects or punishes depending on how it is treated. More on these figures is on the Egyptian decan gods page.

The Six of Wands: Jupiter in Leo

The Golden Dawn attributed this decan to the Six of Wands, Jupiter in Leo, titled in Book T the Lord of Victory. Pamela Colman Smith painted a rider on a white horse wearing a laurel wreath, with a second wreath tied to his staff, while people on foot carry their own staves beside him. It is the most public card in the suit: success that is witnessed.

Read with the decan, the card shows Jupiter's growth meeting Leo's need to be seen. The rider is honoured because others carry him forward, which is the double Jupiter at its best, a confidence that lifts the group around it. The two trumps behind the pip are the Wheel of Fortune for Jupiter and Strength for Leo. The Wheel is a useful reminder inside the triumph: victory is a turn of fortune, not a permanent state, and the rider's grace shows in how he handles the next turn.

A Sun or planets in the second decan of Leo

With the Sun here, born in roughly the first half of August depending on the year, you have the Sun at home in its sign and coloured by Jupiter. You tend to think big, to celebrate other people readily, and to expect that things will work out, an expectation that often helps them do so. People trust your enthusiasm. You may feel most alive when you are leading something visible, such as a team, a performance or a cause. The challenge is staying honest when praise flows easily and noticing the person who is quietly unconvinced.

Several planets in these degrees give a chart breadth and appetite: larger plans, a larger social circle, and a habit of generosity that needs a budget. Jupiter itself here rules its own face and is strongly placed. Whatever gathers in this decan tends to work best in public and with an audience, and to grow restless in obscurity.

Working with the second decan of Leo

Give credit out loud. This decan's generosity is strongest when you name the people who carried the staff beside you. Mark your wins with some ceremony, a dinner or a written note, because Jupiter's face responds to celebration, then set the next goal within a week so the triumph does not harden into a resting place. Before a big promise, check the numbers with someone who is not a fan. If you read tarot, place the Six of Wands between the Wheel of Fortune and Strength and ask what you would keep doing if the next turn of the wheel went against you. Teaching what you have learned is one of the best uses of this face.