What Do Decans Mean?
Every sign of the zodiac is divided into three decans. They hold 10 degrees each. So, for example, an Aries First Decan person was born with the Sun at 0-9 degrees. A Second Decan Aries has the Sun at 10-19 degrees. A Third Decan Aries has the Sun at 20-29 degrees.
Your Sun Sign Has Three Parts
Check Your Birth Chart for Your Decan
It’s the same for all the 12 signs. Are you a 0-9 degree, 10-19 degree or 20-20 degree sign person? You will need your time, date and place of birth to get this right.
If you are a Premium Member your chart will already be on the screen, so you can check.
Being born in a different decan to (say) another Cancer person gives you a different kind of Cancer personality and destiny. Prince William has the Sun in Cancer at 0 degrees. He is a First Decan Cancer man.
The Quick Guide to Decans
The decans can also be rounded up and down. A fast and easy way to get it (mostly) right is just to look at the dates for your sign. So with Aries for example, First Decan is March 21-30. Second Decan is March 31-April 9. Third Decan is April 10 to 20.
If you were born right on the cusp of a sign though (like Prince William) do check your timed, dated and ‘placed’ natal chart to be absolutely sure.
Decans At A Glance
If you were born on the first or last date of a decan date bracket, check your birth chart to be sure you are in the right section. Otherwise, this is a good quick guide to decans.
Aries First Decan: March 21 to March 30
Aries Second Decan: March 31 to April 9
Aries Third Decan: April 10 to April 20
Taurus First Decan: April 21 to 30
Taurus Second Decan: May 1 to May 10
Taurus Third Decan: May 11 to May 20
Gemini First Decan: May 21 to May 31
Gemini Second Decan: June 1 to June 10
Gemini Third Decan: June 11 to June 21
Cancer First Decan: June 22 to July 1
Cancer Second Decan: July 2 to July 11
Cancer Third Decan: July 12 to July 22
Leo First Decan: July 23 to August 22
Leo Second Decan: August 2 to August 12
Leo Third Decan: August 13 to August 22
Virgo First Decan: August 23 to September 3
Virgo Second Decan: September 4 to September 13
Virgo Third Decan: September 14 to September 22
Libra First Decan: September 23 to October 2
Libra Second Decan: October 3 to October 13
Libra Third Decan: October 14 to October 22
Scorpio First Decan: October 23 to November 2
Scorpio Second Decan: November 3 to November 12
Scorpio Third Decan: November 13 to November 22
Sagittarius First Decan: November 23 to December 2
Sagittarius Second Decan: December 3 to December 12
Sagittarius Third Decan: December 13 to December 21
Capricorn First Decan: December 22 to January 20
Capricorn Second Decan: January 1 to January 10
Capricorn Third Decan: January 11 to January 20
Aquarius First Decan: January 21 to January 30
Aquarius Second Decan: January 31 to February 9
Aquarius Third Decan: February 10 to February 18
Pisces First Decan: February 19 to 29
Pisces Second Decan: March 1 to 10
Pisces Third Decan: March 10 to 20
Why Astrologers Trust Decans
Astrologers including Sepharial gave every decan its own planet. Sasha Fenton believes your decan explains – why you’re not like everybody else. In fact, the list of distinguished astrologers who use decans is long including Frances Sakoian and Louis Acker as well as Margaret E. Hone.
We know Carl Jung had a chart which showed him, his decan. It was from the Rosicrucian Fellowship in California and was discovered in his archives (source: Liz Greene, Jung’s Studies in Astrology).
The Decans in Tarot
The astonishing accuracy of the Smith Waite Tarot is partly due to its astrological coding. Pamela Colman Smith and Arthur E. Waite, both in The Golden Dawn, used the decans to create the Minor Arcana in their cards, using the numbered pictures, without the Aces.
So the power of 36 is in the 78 Tarot cards too. Professional psychics like Katie-Ellen Hazeldine specialise in working with decans in the Tarot to great effect. There are so many Tarot decks on sale these days, based on everything from rock stars to cats, that the original purity of the psychic vision has gone. The Smith Waite Tarot, free for you to use on this website, has the Ancient Egyptian decans secretly hidden in the Minor Arcana.
Slow-Moving Cycles and Decans
Why do astrologers trust decans for a more specific, detailed, personalised Sun Sign reading?
The slow-moving cycles of Pluto are partly to explain. A First Decan Aquarian is experiencing Pluto in a rare conjunction with her or his Sun, for example, from 2024. A Second and Third Decan Aquarian are yet to go through this character-changing experience.
Another reason is the evidence of our own eyes. Why is Prince William so much like his mother, Princess Diana? They are both First Decan Cancerians. This is something they might have understood in Ancient Egypt (below, Ramses II at The Australian Museum).
Walk Like An Egyptian
Decans come to us from Ancient Egypt. Herodotus tells us the Egyptians, like the Babylonians, made great use of the number 36.
This is of course 12 zodiac signs, multiplied by three decans per sign. Coffin lids from the Middle Kingdom show the Egyptians dividing the sky into 36.
After 332 BC this core idea of 36 sections, fed into the zodiac. Astrology and Tarot professionals have used decans ever since.
I use them in the new book, Your Birthday, written with British history graduate and Sunday Times bestselling author, Rachel Wells.
Two more events in 2024 persuaded me to start using decans in your daily, weekly and monthly predictions.
One was a life-changing visit to the exhibition at The Australian Museum, Ramses and the Gold of the Pharaohs.
Another, just before, was the groundbreaking discovery of the complete zodiac, hidden under layers of dirt, in the Temple of Esna in Egypt.
The Tarot and Decans
The Smith Waite Tarot is inspired by decans. Arthur Edward Waite and Pamela Colman Smith (and Aleister Crowley with Frieda Harris) developed their Tarot Minor Arcana cards using them.
So, for example, the Two of Wands is based on Aries First Decan. The Three of Wands is based on Aries Second Decan and so on.
This all comes from the secret society known as The Golden Dawn, which involved these Tarot creators. Book T, the Golden Dawn’s bible, associated the Minor Arcana numeral cards, minus the Aces, were symbols of the 36 decans.
The Decans and Sabian Symbols
A few months after my visit to The Australian Museum to see the sarcophagus of Ramses II, I headed to the Blue Mountains to see my old friend, the renowned astrologer Lynda Hill.
Lynda is the world’s leading expert on the Sabian Symbols, channelled in 1925 by Elsie Wheeler with Dr. Marc Edmund Jones.
What is fascinating about the symbols is that they cover 360 degrees, so offer us stories about every decan, composed of a series of strong images.
William and Diana in the Sabian Symbols
William and Diana in the Sabian SymbolsGoing back to the example of Prince William and Princess Diana, both First Decan Cancer people, the sequence of original word-pictures channelled by Elsie Wheeler, associated with the first ten degrees of that sign, makes a story which could apply to either. It is the script for being a First Decan Cancer person.
The individual degrees (set for the day of birth) show the title of the story. The main plot description.
The other lines and illustrations reveal the whole decan. What makes a First Decan Cancerian like William or Diana, different to a Second Decan Cancerian or a Third Decan Cancerian? These are the original Wheeler/Edmund Jones interpretations of the first ten degrees of the sign.
The First Decan of Cancer
SAILOR READY TO HOIST A NEW FLAG TO REPLACE OLD ONE
A MAN ON A MAGIC CARPET OBSERVES VAST VISTAS BELOW HIM
AN ARCTIC EXPLORER LEADS A REINDEER THROUGH ICY CANYONS
A HUNGRY CAT ARGUES WITH A MOUSE, BEFORE EATING
AUTOMOBILIST, RACING MADLY WITH A FAST TRAIN,IS KILLED
INNUMERABLE BIRDS ARE BUSY FEATHERING THEIR NESTS
IN A MOONLIT FAIRY GLADE TWO LITTLE ELVES ARE DANCING
RABBITS IN FAULTLESS HUMAN ATTIRE PARADE WITH DIGNITY
NAKED LITTLE MISS LEANS OVER A POND TO CATCH A GOLD FISH
A WONDERFUL DIAMOND IS BEING CUT TO A PERFECT SHAPE
The Sabian Symbols are a gateway for psychic perception, but you don’t need to be a professional clairvoyant to see Cancerian themes in this First Decan Cancer sequence.
The symbols even show the natural squares and oppositions to Cancer from Aries, Capricorn and Libra. The aspects are very much part of the Sabian Symbols.
There is a warning in the First Decan of Cancer about going too fast – racing madly – which suggests the natural clash between Aries and Cancer. One can see both William and Diana in this first decan story.
Your Decan, Personality and Destiny
The Ancient Egyptians’ passion for astrology, recently uncovered in 2024 at the Temple of Esna, included a firm belief that 36 sections or 36 brackets, from 360, contained deep truths.
Astrologers including Deborah Houlding and William Lilly have used the decans to varying degrees (literally) ever since.
Starting in November, I will be introducing you to decan prediction, adding this detailed and specific new information to your monthly written horoscope, so you can see just why you are different from others born under your sign – and how that shows up in your prediction too.
If you’d like to see how your decan is used on video, you can become a paid subscriber to The Astrology Show on Substack, where host Alicia Fulton and I look at the Tarot for the 36 decans every month, using the Smith-Waite Tarot. (Alicia Fulton).
Main Image: Dreamstime.
Princess Diana: Shutterstock.
Jessica Adams: Author Photograph
