♎ Libra · 0 to 10 degrees
The first decan of Libra
Libra with the Moon: balance sought for the sake of peace rather than of justice.
At a glance
| Degrees | 0 to 10 degrees of Libra |
|---|---|
| Face ruler (Chaldean) | Moon |
| Decanate ruler (modern) | Libra (ruler: Venus) |
| Golden Dawn card | Two of Swords |
| Element and modality | air, cardinal |
The Moon in the first face of Libra is read as harmony as an emotional need. Considerable sensitivity to the atmosphere of a room, and real discomfort with open conflict.
Associated with the deferred decision, which is exactly what the corresponding Two of Swords depicts.
Two systems, two answers
There are two decan rulership systems in circulation and they give different rulers for the same ten degrees. The older face system runs the seven classical planets in Chaldean order around the whole zodiac, and gives this decan to Moon. The modern decanate system gives each decan to one of the three signs of its own element, here Libra.
Neither is presented here as the correct one. The tarot attributions follow the face system, most popular modern astrology follows the decanate system, and knowing which one a source is using explains most of the apparent contradictions you will find elsewhere.
What Moon means →The tarot connection
The Golden Dawn mapped the 36 decans onto the 36 minor arcana pips, two through ten. This decan is the Two of Swords, which is why that card carries Moon and Libra as its attributions in any Golden Dawn-derived deck.
The pips run by modality rather than in zodiacal order: the cardinal sign of each element takes two to four, the fixed sign five to seven, and the mutable sign eight to ten. It is the detail most often got wrong, including by us until a test caught it.
Two of Swords on Memento Arcana →Which decan are you?
Your decan is decided by the degree of your Sun, not by the date alone, and the chart gives you the degree of every planet as well.
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