Five of Disks

Five disks bearing the Hindu tattva symbols are strained into an inverted pentagram against a heavy, dark background.

Geburah, Severity, in Assiah, the world of action. Severity or Strength, the power that breaks what Chesed has built so that it can move: motion, disturbance, the pentagram. Geburah is Mars. The Fives are Geburah in the four worlds and are the hardest cards of each suit, because the settled four has been set in motion.

Geburah in the world of Earth: settled matter set in motion, and the motion is strain. Mercury in the first decan of Taurus is nervous mind in the sign of the slow bull.

Mercury in the first decan of Taurus (0°–10°, about Apr 21–30). Mercury is the messenger: mind, speech, writing, trade, sleight of hand, the go-between. On the Tree it is Hod, Splendour; among the trumps it is the Magus, and the Magus's ape is the lie that language makes possible.

Taurus is fixed Earth: the bull, endurance, fertility, pleasure in what lasts. Venus rules it and the Moon is exalted here. It is the kerubic sign of Earth, and its trump is the Hierophant. The trump of Taurus is The Hierophant.

This decan is ruled by the Prince of Disks, whose arc runs from 21° Aries to 20° Taurus. The two Shem angels of the decan are Achaiah and Cahetel.

Motion: the solid set moving, disturbance, the pentagram, the microcosm entering matter. Geburah, Severity. The Fives are the crisis cards of each suit; the Hierophant is trump V.

Sensation disturbed; the body and the world no longer trusted. 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 Trouble) is shared by both traditions.

Mercury at its best gives wit, eloquence, adaptability, curiosity, skill. At its worst: manipulation, lying, anxiety, superficiality, nervous overthinking.

Taurus (“I have”) brings patience, loyalty, sensuality, steadiness, practical skill, love of beauty. Its shadow is stubbornness, possessiveness, laziness, materialism, resistance to change.

Together: Mercury has no essential dignity or debility in Taurus. 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 Apr 21–30, so it is the decan card of anyone born then; their court card is the Prince of Disks. Find a birthday.