The horoscopes of Decan I of any sign are free to everyone, but Decans II and III are available to supporters of my Patreon account at the $3 or greater tiers. You can also schedule an appointment with me using Accuity Scheduling, for a natal or solar return consultation. My Almanac is also available! It’s for sale through my Etsy website as a PDF.
Gemini III, “The Executioner’s Sword” in Austin Coppock‘s language in 36 Faces, his book about the Decans, begins on June 10, 2021 at 12:16 pm EDT, with the Sun just about to cross the Midheaven — and the solar eclipse of the day just six hours earlier.
The Executioner’s Sword is associated with Praxidike, a relatively minor Greek goddess… minor, that is, until you realize that she has considerable overlap with the western popularization of the concept of karma, specifically in the form of the universe dealing out a righteous smiting of the unjust and the unworthy for their misbehaviors. Dike is the correct application of justice, and she rules a different decan in the year (Aquarius I); Praxidike is the power of the correct application of justice, as well as familial vengeance. In some myths she is the mother of the Eumenides or Furies — the snake-haired monstrous beings that punish both patricide and matricide, and inflict torments on those who do not take honorable vengeance on those harm their kin. This is the source of the dilemma of Orestes, as described in the trilogy of plays by Aeschylus — Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides — he would be punished for failing to avenge the death of his father, but also punished for killing his mother (since she was his father’s killer).
Vengeance and justice are tricky things. Lean too far into punishment, and justice vanishes — vengeance is all. Become too lenient, and justice vanishes in the other direction… and vengeance reappears as various factions try to settle their own quarrels. Praxidike governs that narrow circle of light where the laws are fair, and fairly administered, and the executioner’s sword comes down precisely where it means to.
It’s not surprising that this sort of higher mental function of discerning right from wrong is administered by the Sun under Mercury. Mercury communicates in the if-then statements of legalism, but the Sun brightly shines on circumstances to find the fact pattern that brings truth. It’s not surprising to find both Mercury and the Sun here in conjunction therefore — a model partnership of fairness and responsibility.
That partnership of fairness and responsibility, though, has literally just been eclipsed by the transiting Moon in an annular eclipse: the sort of eclipse that produces a ring of fire.
By the rules of judicial astrology — that is, the stories of nations and kingdoms and states — this eclipse is an exceptionally poor omen for the fair administration of justice and law over much of the next half-decade. The US, Canada, Mexico, and the Scandinavian nations are the ones that see most of this eclipse, but even the British Isles will be partially affected. Combined with the lunar eclipse of May 26 (whose effects last until October of this year), we see the emergence of a new trajectory for legal frameworks and judicial administration, in which the range of cases where justice comes to light is relatively small — and a lot more disappears into a black hole where the Sun’s fair light used to be.
Not inconsequentially, the eclipse takes place in the dodecatemoria or 2° 30′ swath of Gemini II that recapitulates Capricorn. With the ingress to Gemini III, the Sun hands over some managerial responsibilities to Saturn, since the first dodecatemoria of Gemini III is a resurgence of Aquarius energy — and Saturn is in Aquarius, trine to the Sun by sign.
More generally, the Sun will be passing through the dodecatemoria of Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, and Taurus during the next ten days. As he does so, the story the Sun tells will speak of precise and specific knowledge, and then the interconnectedness of all things. There will follow a new fire, and finally a practical if half-assed response to this new information. The COVID-19 pandemic has often been connected to Aquarius-related occurrences; the Sun passing through a dodecatemoria of Aquarius may bring news of a variant worth paying attention to.
The middle two dodecatemoria — that is, 22° 30′ to 27° 30′, corresponding to Pisces and Aries — roughly coincide with the shoulders of the constellation Orion, with the Pisces portion currently closely matching the head. It has long struck me as significant that just a few days before the Summer Solstice, Orion wears the Sun like a helmet or a hat, or a head. Invisible to ordinary folks due to the light of the Sun but obvious to initiates of astrology, this is perhaps the Executioner’s Sword that Austin Coppock noticed — the Sun being ‘chopped’ from the shoulders of the constellation Orion, bringing an end to the season of spring and heralding in the summer at last. A certain level of emotional release and an awareness of the joined threads of our common life together as human beings ought to accompany this moment, this year — but eclipses cast long shadows over our common life, and perhaps the constellation’s execution will pass unnoticed this year. Again.
Planetary Positions
The Ascendant together with The Lot of Fortune are in the middle decan of Virgo, The Hammer and Anvil, suggesting that there’s a need for us to use the current heatwave to beat ourselves into a new and more suitable shape. Metal’s very malleability is its strength and its weakness, but we’re called to forge a new identity for ourselves, tempered to the current challenges.
The South Node and the Imum Coeli both occur the middle decan of Sagittarius, The Bridle in the fourth house. We’re invited to identify those parts of our dreams that are both humane and feral, and give them room to play, at least in the privacy of our own homes — however, both theoretical points are in the Aries dodecatemoria, suggesting that passions are likely to be subdued by a mix of both weather-based heat and flared tempers.
Pluto in Capricorn’s third decan the Throne is our first real planet of the chart. In the fifth house but retrograde, he stands in opposition to Mars, accumulating all sorts of obstacles to having fun (“should I wear a mask? Should I not wear a mask? Are these people vaccinated? Are those? Do we want these folks in our tribe?”), and there’s going to be at least one fight with a friend over the rules and regulations that are currently in place in your vicinity.
Saturn‘s place in his own sign, retrograde in the middle decan of Aquarius, has been one of the indicators of the pandemic as a whole. Here, retrograde, he appears to offer evidence of a resurgence of illness; I myself have been keeping a close eye on variants, and evidence of rising numbers in my neck of the woods. People have been talking about “how bad the tree pollen has been this year”, though, and maybe it’s that? The square to Uranus is almost exact, and it’s hard not to think of this as the surprise discovery of upsetting facts that limit our behavior or working life in some fashion.
The seventh house is Pisces, and here we find Jupiter, the Descendant, and Neptune, activating all three decans — The Labyrinth, The Net, and The Cup of Blood. I’ve often described the Labyrinth as the wandering back-and-forth between “go deeper” and “get out”, while The Net activates mindsets like “is this a palace or a trap?” The Cup of Blood invites the question, “is this a sacrament or a poison?” The Seventh House involves our relationships with others — and so we may find ourselves asking these questions a lot about our relationships with clients, business partners, peers, spouses, and rivals. The thing to bear in mind here is that Jupiter invites an expansive and forgiving mood, and he’s the ruler here in Pisces — but that Neptune in particular is a chaotic and delusional force, rather like a crowd of people bursting out of the local drug den all at the same time, or escaped patients from a locked mental ward wandering down main street. A lot of unlikely and and irresponsible things are possible in such circumstances; it’s best to put a fair and forgiving face on, and find ways to muddle through, rather than attributing malice or villainy to events. Don’t assume they’re out to get you.
Uranus occupies the middle decan of Taurus in the ninth house — creating disruptions to long-distance travel, and upheavals in learning experiences, particularly higher learning or self-chosen adventures. Square to Saturn, he uses the language of traditionalism to create radical new positions.
Most of the real fireworks of the next ten days are in Gemini, where North Node, Midheaven, Sun, Mercury and the Moon all cluster together in a twelve-degree-wide arc. Mercury is retrograde, the Moon and Sun had an eclipse earlier today, and the Midheaven and the North Node are both pushing all of your business into the public sphere with far more ferocity or assertiveness than usual. Good luck keeping secrets these next ten days; you can expect that anything you’re hiding is likely to come to light in some fashion, and probably with the worst possible slant. OK, maybe not the worst. But coming clean is likely to result in a fairer response than if your secrets are discovered.
Venus and Mars are energizing the first and last decans of Cancer — the Mother and Child, and the Overflowing Cup. They’re a good model for how we’re likely approaching our reconciliation with the ‘end of the pandemic’ (whether or not it’s over is a question for another day), with a mix of gentle reunion and nurturing embraces with our chosen family and friends on the Venusian side; and a more wild celebration with more-aggressive responses of dancing, drinking, and bumping uglies on the Martial side.
Horoscopes by Rising Sign
As this is a Decan III column, the horoscopes are available only to my supporters through Patreon at the $3 tier and above. If you’d like to join them, you’ll also get access to the Decans Walk that I’m assisting them in working through.
Virgo
Libra
Scorpio
Sagittarius
Capricorn
Aquarius
Pisces
Aries
Taurus
Gemini
Cancer
Leo:
Colophon
I have a Patreon account for those who want to support this column as it continues its third year. We’re currently doing a decan walk through some Tarot, astrology, mythology, and magic. I hope you’l join us. I use Patreon funds (as well as my own funds) to support artists and artisans and thinkers that I regard as contributing to the well-being of the world. if you don’t want to become a regular patron, you can also buy me a Ko-fi in $3 increments, and any column I write after receiving a Ko-Fi donation will be open to the public. You can also schedule an appointment with me using Accuity Scheduling, for a natal or solar return consultation.
I use iPhemeris for my charting software, and screenshot it to make charts. I want to thank the team that develops iPhemeris for the addition of Terms and Decans to their charts, appearing here for the first time! I use Hugh Tran‘s Physis typeface to craft logos for this blog, as well.
I use Christopher Warnock‘s The Mansions of the Moon as the basis of my Moon placement delineations, and Austin Coppock‘s 36 Faces as the basis of much of my planetary delineations. Neither gentleman endorses me. My own book, A Full Volume of Splendour and Starlight, is now available as PDF download from my Etsy website, as is my Almanac for 2021. Any errors in these columns are my own.
If you’d like to schedule a consultation with me, you can find additional information on the Services and Classes page.
If you want to read some of my other astrologically-oriented poetry, To the Mansions of the Moon is a collection of hymns to the angels of the Mansions mentioned in these columns. For the Behenian Stars is a collection of hymns to the first/brightest sixteen stars. The Sun’s Paces are hymns to the thirty-six Hellenistic-era deities and ascended souls of the Greco-Egyptian Decans-calendar. While not astrological, Festae contains hymns to some of the older Roman gods and spirits from the calendar created by Numa Pompilius, the second ancient King of Rome.
