Decan: 0°-9° Virgo

Dates 2024: 23 August – 2 September 2024

Ruling planet/luminary: Sol

Zodiac sign : Virgo ~ Mutable Earth 🜃

Tarot card: 8 of Pentacles

Golden Dawn Title: Lord of Prudence

Associated Major Arcana:

The Sun (Sol) & The Hermit (Virgo)

Focussing your Sun energy on the details that matter

The 8 of Pentacles speaks of diligence, craftsmanship, and the pursuit of mastery through focused effort and attention to detail.

In the Rider Waite Smith, we see a person diligently working on crafting pentacles, symbolising the meticulous effort required to hone a skill, perfect a craft, or achieve mastery in a specific area of life. The card is about showing up and putting in the necessary work, often through repetition and refinement, to achieve excellence.

The Sun in Astrology, and indeed Tarot is associated with the ego, identity, and the core essence of who you are and how you express yourself and shine in this life.

In contrast, The Hermit, ruled by Virgo and Mercury, relates to introspection, inner wisdom, and solitude. The Sage archetype relies on an inner light, his lantern, for guidance rather than external influence and validation. If the Sun is the outward expression of the self, the Hermit symbolises the inward journey, where one retreats to seeks truth, understanding, and enlightenment.

In the context of the first Decan of Virgo, I see The Hermit as taking all the glorious love and light of the Sun (ruler of the previous Decans of Leo) and focussing it, through a lens/his lantern, on the one small area that that needs dedicated attention (to refine and perfect) right now. That one small thing is the stepping stone to the next.

This positioning of the Sun and the Hermit in this card suggests the need for balance between external achievement and recognition and internal growth and development. The Sun energy here encourages you to pour your heart and soul into the task at hand, your current creation, and to strive for mastery and perfection as a way to shine in the world.

Such diligence is in itself soulful work.

As with previous Decans, I have found it useful to look at some keywords to see what ideas it may spark about the current Decan of Virgo I

I love a Virgo & I love this card

I’ve got to say I love a Virgo. In my experience they show up and they do what they say they are going to do… but, my goodness, there will only be one way to do it and that’s ‘the right way’.

As for the 8 of Pentacles, when I was a teenager practicing endless Tarot spreads at my best friend’s kitchen table we tended to skip over many of the earthy Pentacles. We preferred the drama and romance of the Major Arcana, the Swords and the cups.

Now, it’s a completely different story. I love this card when it shows up in a reading or a daily pull, reminding me to focus on the details and to let the big picture take care of itself. To surrender to the process and let the rest unfold.

Prompts for 8 of Pentacles ~ The Sun in Virgo

When it is time for you to show up and do the work…

Ask yourself:

• Where do you need to focus your energy right now?
• Have you found joy in your work?
• Do you see the divine in the detail? 

Observations and synchronicities ~ on Virgo I

I’m making a space here to return to over the coming days of Virgo I to add any thoughts, ideas and synchronicities as they arise…

The end of summer and the holidays is approaching. It feels like it’s time to get serious and knuckle down to all the projects that need my attention. I’ve got quite a lot on and I could do a lot worse than channel this Sun in Virgo energy of the 8 of Pentacles and to embody the Virgo drive to improve, and to perfect and make manifest my potential in the work that I do.

Notes on the Decan Walk 2024/25

For more information on Decans, Astrology and Tarot and how they all synchronise please read this Substack article by Rebeka Kulcsar-Kurdi and T. Susan Chang’s 36 Secrets: A Decanic Journey through the Minor Arcana of the Tarot.

And, if you care to join me for this continuing solar return, you’ll find me on Facebook and Instagram hanging out on the corner of #decanwalk2024 and #decanastrology And I will be following @astroco_op and @tsusanchang

Here’s to another trip around the Sun!