Nine of Disks

Three central disks intertwine and six others bearing planetary signs surround them; the pattern is rich and settled.

Yesod, Foundation, in Assiah, the world of action. Foundation, the sphere of the Moon: the astral, the image, the pattern on which the material world is built, and also stability, because Yesod gathers the forces above it into one channel. The Nines are Yesod in the four worlds and are the element at full strength before its final crystallisation.

Yesod in the world of Earth: matter gathered into one full channel. Venus in the second decan of Virgo gives the harvest its beauty and its ease.

Venus in the second decan of Virgo (10°–20°, about Sep 2–11). Venus is attraction, harmony, love, art and fertility. On the Tree it is Netzach, Victory; among the trumps it is the Empress, the door through which all forms are born.

Virgo is mutable Earth: the virgin and the harvest, discrimination, the seed and the wheat. Mercury both rules and is exalted here. Its trump is the Hermit. The trump of Virgo is The Hermit.

This decan is ruled by the Knight of Disks, whose arc runs from 21° Leo to 20° Virgo. The two Shem angels of the decan are Yehuiah and Lehahiah.

Stability: the forces above gathered into one channel, the foundation, the image. Yesod. The Nines are the element at full strength; the Hermit is trump IX.

Sensation fulfilled and stored; the material world as accumulated security. 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 Gain) is shared by both traditions.

Venus at its best gives grace, charm, artistry, loyalty, peace-making. At its worst: vanity, laziness, people-pleasing, jealousy, indulgence, love used as a bargaining chip.

Virgo (“I analyse”) brings precision, service, analysis, skill, humility, health-consciousness. Its shadow is perfectionism, criticism, anxiety, self-denial, getting lost in details.

Together: Venus is in its fall in Virgo, opposite its exaltation. 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 Sep 2–11, so it is the decan card of anyone born then; their court card is the Knight of Disks. Find a birthday.