Playing Cards and Decans: Gemini III — The Ten of Spades
See the master post on my 2024 decan walk and playing cards
Ten of Spades
Gemini III is the decan of Gemini 20° to 29° (inclusive). Astrologically, it is ruled by the Sun, in a sign ruled by Mercury.
The traditional English method divinatory meanings for this card are:
- Sickness.
- Disgrace: crime: imprisonment. Death on the scaffold. A card of caution.
- is a card of bad import; it will, in a great measure, counteract the good effects of the cards near you.
- Grief and trouble.
- Grief, imprisonment.
Reflection
Unlike sickness in the previous card, this card indicates grief more overtly, with the possibility of being restrained or contained (although as the first source indicates, sickness is related to this). The Sun in this decan shines a lights on the back-and-forth movements of Mercury, apparent in Agrippa’s image for this face:
In the third, ascendeth a man seeking for Arms, and a fool holding in the right hand a Bird, and in his left a pipe, and they are the significations of forgetfulness, wrath, boldness, jeasts [jests], scurrilities, and unprofitable words
The symbolism of the Sun in this decan is perhaps best understood through the idea of combustion: When a planet is too close to the Sun, it becomes literally invisible to the naked eye, and is considered to be burnt up and significantly less capable of undertaking what it wants to do. Such disappearance is indicated in one literal format with imprisonment in the delineation, but grief and crime come through in the archetype here — things that take place when no-one can see. Agrippa’s mention of forgetfulness follows this out-of-side delineation, with ‘unprofitable words’ reflecting what this could become in the Mercurial realm.
The Rider-Waite is not subtle about this.
Ten of Swords
The “upside” to this card is, essentially, this is the end of whatever cycle this is (which, in almost all cases, is not actually grief or physical restraint). The sword/spade cards have been introduced to the zodiac through the highest numbered cards of the suit — the most extreme indicates are done early. The culmination of the spades journey has been reached, and yes, it sucks, but the problems are now in the past — the present is a case of rebuilding, healing, and deciding where to go next to find a new, productive path.
Peace,
⭕