Three of Disks

Three wheels form a pyramid seen from above, bearing the signs of sulphur, mercury and salt; the ground is a desert made fertile.

Binah, Understanding, in Assiah, the world of action. Understanding, the Supernal Mother, the great sea in which the Father's line becomes a triangle and so a form. Binah is Saturn, time and limitation, and also sorrow, because to be understood is to be bounded. The Threes are Binah in the four worlds, and the Queens belong here.

Binah in the world of Earth: matter given form, the pyramid. Mars in the second decan of Capricorn is exalted, and its energy builds rather than breaks.

Mars in the second decan of Capricorn (10°–20°, about Dec 31–Jan 9). Mars is force, war, energy, the breaking of forms so that they can move. On the Tree it is Geburah; among the trumps it is the Tower. Mars also opens the sequence of the decans at the first degree of Aries.

Capricorn is cardinal Earth: the goat that climbs, the winter solstice from which the light returns, ambition and structure. Saturn rules it and Mars is exalted here. Its trump is the Devil. The trump of Capricorn is The Devil.

This decan is ruled by the Queen of Disks, whose arc runs from 21° Sagittarius to 20° Capricorn. The two Shem angels of the decan are Nemamiah and Yeialel.

The Plane: three points enclose a surface and form begins. Binah, Understanding. The Threes show the element taking shape; the Empress is trump III.

Sensation organised into craft; the material shaped by patient effort. The Disks are usually read as the sensation function in Jung's typology, an interpretive convention rather than a text of Jung's.

Rider-Waite calls the suit Pentacles or Coins. Its small cards carry scenes; the Thoth small cards carry the suit emblems arranged geometrically, with the keyword printed at the bottom and the colours of their Sephirah and decan. The Golden Dawn title (Lord of Material Works) is shared by both traditions.

Mars at its best gives courage, decisiveness, protective strength, passion, independence. At its worst: violence, impulsiveness, cruelty, rage, or, when repressed, passive aggression and burnt-out apathy.

Capricorn (“I use / I build”) brings discipline, ambition, responsibility, patience, strategic thinking, dry humour. Its shadow is coldness, workaholism, rigidity, status-obsession, pessimism.

Together: Mars is exalted in Capricorn, an honoured guest. Dignity explains part of the title and the Sephirah explains the rest: a planet at home in its sign can still sit in a hard sphere, and a weak planet can be carried by a strong one.

The Sun crosses this decan around Dec 31–Jan 9, so it is the decan card of anyone born then; their court card is the Queen of Disks. Find a birthday.