Playing Cards and Decans: Taurus I — The Five of Diamonds
See the master post on my 2024 decan walk and playing cards
Five of Diamonds
Taurus I is the decan of the first 10 degrees of Taurus.1
Taurus I is a decan ruled by Mercury, in a sign ruled by Venus. It corresponds to the five of pentacles in Tarot, which further corresponds to the five of diamonds in playing cards.
The traditional English method divinatory meanings for this card are:
- A settlement.
- Unexpected news, generally of a good kind.
- shows that you will have good children, who will endeavour to make your life easy.
- Unexpected news.
- Unexpected news.
Reflection
The connections of the meanings of the five of diamonds to the decanic astrological imagery are immediate. Receiving news? Mercury. A settlement? Mercury. Specifying that it is good news, and a good card for children? Mercury ruled by Venus.
Reading this card in reference to the decan almost feels too easy for the start of this decan walk journey. Let’s compare it with the Rider-Waite deck:
Five of Pentacles
The difference here is quite stark: two people stumbling through the snow outside a stained glass window, and Crowley went so far as to emblazen “WORRY” as the title of this card on his deck. Unexpected news can be anxiety inducing, but anxiety relates more to the feeling of something coming round the corner, even if undefined. Worry about where one is going, or if those inside the building will let you in from the cold.
This can reframe “unexpected news”. Anxiety can arise when the unexpected is being expected — when the mind is occupied by all kinds of “what ifs” and other possibilities. The five of diamonds represents both that aspect of worry — news could be coming at any moment — but combined with the divinatory irony that because you have predicted the news, it is no longer unexpected. The Venusuvian character of the overall sign of Taurus comes through in this moment, much more explicit in the playing card than the Tarot card: the children will be good, the news will generally be good. Yes, the mind may induce all kinds of worries and fantasies about the future, but the ultimate arc of the five of diamonds tends towards the unexpected bringing goodness.
(Phew.)
Peace,
⭕
Yes, this also makes it the third decan of the zodiac. I’m starting these posts with Taurus I because that’s when I began this decan walk.↩︎