The Egyptian decans: the zodiac cut into thirty six ten degree faces, each with a planetary ruler.
The decans are older than the zodiac that carries them. Egyptian astronomers used thirty six star groups to tell the hours of the night, and when the Greek zodiac arrived the two systems merged: each sign became three faces of ten degrees, and each face took a planetary ruler in the Chaldean order. Mars rules the first face of Aries, the sun the second, Venus the third, and the sequence runs on around the wheel.
The result is a finer grain than sign alone. Two people with the sun in Leo can sit in different decans and be read differently, one under the sun itself, one under Jupiter, one under Mars. The app gives the decan and its ruler for your sun, moon and rising.
How it is computed
The thirty-six decans with the Egyptian names Hephaistio of Thebes preserved, and the Chaldean-order rulers, Mars first at 0° Aries. The Sun's decan is the reader's.
The seven rulers
Seven planets in the Chaldean order, one to each ten degree face.
Mars
A face of Mars: force, haste, the will to cut through. Born under it, you act first and explain later; your work is aim.
Sun
A face of the Sun: authority, clarity, being seen. You are made to stand in the open; your work is to shine without burning.
Venus
A face of Venus: grace, pleasure, the making of peace. You smooth what is rough; your work is to want what is good for you.
Mercury
A face of Mercury: wit, trade, the quick word. You move between; your work is to land somewhere.
Moon
A face of the Moon: change, nourishment, the pull of the tide. You feel everything move; your work is to keep a shore.
Saturn
A face of Saturn: endurance, restraint, the long labour. You outlast; your work is to let something be easy.
Jupiter
A face of Jupiter: increase, counsel, good faith. You make things bigger and better; your work is to know when enough is enough.
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