Decans/Faces

Definition

Decans, also called faces, are the thirty-six 10-degree slices of the zodiac — three to each sign (Greek dekanos, Latin facies). They form the fifth and weakest level of the Hellenistic dignity system, the layers that show where a planet has rulership-strength. In the Chaldean order, rulership passes from planet to planet — Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon — repeating across all twelve signs, starting with Mars for the first decan of Aries.

In Tradition

In Hellenistic doctrine the decanic faces are the lowest rung of essential dignity, marking a small slice of planetary ownership across a 10-degree band. Brennan, Holden, and Coppock, following Hephaistio, Paulus Alexandrinus, and Firmicus, keep the Chaldean-order assignment as the standard form. Beyond the simple rulership, the decanic imagery carried through the Egyptian transmission — Liber Hermetis, Picatrix, and Agrippa — supplies extra interpretive content.

In Practice

You divide each sign into three 10-degree decans (0-10, 10-20, 20-30) and assign rulership in the unbroken Chaldean planet-speed order Saturn-Jupiter-Mars-Sun-Venus-Mercury-Moon, restarting after the Moon. The first decan of Aries is Mars, the second the Sun, the third Venus; the first decan of Taurus is Mercury; and so on through all 36. A planet in its own decan — Mars at 5° Aries, for instance — gains a little essential dignity, far less than domicile, exaltation, triplicity, or bounds; the score (commonly 1 point in Lilly's scheme) rarely decides anything on its own and mostly serves as a tiebreaker between candidate almutens, the planets competing to be the strongest ruler of a point. Beyond rulership, traditional practice reads the per-decan imagery — warrior, queen, ascetic, and so on — preserved through Liber Hermetis and Picatrix to add character-color to a placement; Coppock's 36 Faces gathers this pictorial layer for modern use.

Historical Origin

The decanic system begins in Egyptian Middle Kingdom 36-decan star clocks (c. 2150 BCE diagonal star clocks; the Senenmut tomb ceiling). The Chaldean-order rulership assignment is documented in Vettius Valens' Anthologiae I (c. 145-175 CE), Hephaistio of Thebes' Apotelesmatics, Firmicus Maternus' Mathesis II.4 (4th c. CE), Liber Hermetis (Greek into Latin), and Picatrix (the Arabic Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm, 11th c.; Latin translation 13th c.). Modern recovery came through Brennan, Holden, and Coppock's 36 Faces (2014).

Etymology

Origin: Egyptian/Greek. Meaning: Tenth, a ten-day period.

Definition

In Tradition

In Practice

Historical Origin

Etymology

Further Reading