The First Decan of Cancer

This is the first ten-degree segment of Cancer, the cardinal water sign, spanning 0 to 10 degrees. Its ruler in the Chaldean order of faces is Venus, following the unbroken sequence of the seven planets around the wheel of thirty-six decans. The decans are the oldest layer of astrology, beginning as thirty-six Egyptian star groups whose successive risings served as a calendar and a star-clock, and only later absorbed into the Greek zodiac as ten-degree subdivisions of the signs.

The Golden Dawn, from 1888, mapped the numbered minor cards onto the decans in order; this segment carries the Two of Cups, to which they gave the title Love, its Venus-in-Cancer attribution drawn from the face ruler, Venus in the tender water sign matching the card of union and affection. That tarot correspondence is a modern Western overlay on the ancient decan scheme, not something inherited from Egypt or the Hellenistic astrologers.