The Zodiac Decans

Do you feel like a typical (insert your Zodiac Sign here)? I know I only saw something of myself in the Sun sign descriptions. For example, I am a Cancer Sun and while I am family-oriented, love cooking and feeding family and friends, I don’t cry easily and I’m not big on cuddles. Most people, don't feel "typical" of their sun sign and this of course, has to do with the fact that you have to look at your birth chart as a whole. You have to take your Ascendant into consideration for example and any pile up of planets (referred to as a stellium in astrology) in a particular sign. However, here is a quick predictive technique that is not commonly used but is very effective in describing your character traits and it's known as decans.

But before we dive into that, here's a quick refresher on the 12 signs of the Zodiac.

Aries

March 21 to April 19

Taurus

April 20 to May 20

Gemini

May 21 to June 21

Cancer

June 22 to July 22

Leo

July 23 to August 22

Virgo

August 23 to September 22

Libra

September 23 to October 22

Scorpio

October 23 to November 21

Sagittarius

November 22 to December 21

Capricorn

December 22 to January 20

Aquarius

January 21 to February 18

Pisces

February 19 to March 20

Decans

Decans have their origin in ancient Egypt where they were part of their calendar system. The word decan comes from the Latin word for “ten”. Each sign of the zodiac is made up of 30º. These 30º can be further divided into groups of 3 made up of 10º. Some astrologers refer to decans as decanates.

0º-9º59’

10º - 19º59’

20º -29º59’

The first decan is from 0-9 degrees 59 minutes, the second 10-19 degrees 59 minutes and the third from 20-29 degrees 59 minutes.

The first decan always corresponds to the sign we are interested in. So if you’re an Aries Sun, then the first decan corresponds to Aries and is ruled by Mars.

The second decan takes on the characteristics of the next sign in the same element, in this example the element is Fire. So the next sign would be Leo, ruled by the Sun.

The last decan would correspond with the last sign in the sequence of the same element, so in the case of Aries it would be Sagittarius, ruled by Jupiter.

This, by the way, is known as the Triplicity Scheme of Rulership. There is another scheme for decans and it’s the Chaldean scheme. For our purposes we are interested in the Triplicity scheme.

A person born into the first decan would have the strongest correspondence with the traits and qualities of the sign, while a person born in the second and third decans would be less typical and would associate with th