Unlocking the Secrets of the Zodiac - A Decan Walk Journey
By Cathy Gnatek
Today marks the beginning of a unique journey—my year-long YouTube video series exploring the 36 decans of the zodiac. Many practitioners explore each 10-degree segment of the zodiac every 10 days throughout the year as a personal practice.
My approach is different. I hope to unlock the deeper meaning of the astrological signs through a multidisciplinary approach, grounding and deepening this process by weaving in Hellenistic and Traditional Astrology, esoteric wisdom (e.g. alchemy, IChing), Carl Jung's work, Rachel Pollack’s Shining Tribe tarot deck, and more.
Check out my YouTube video and abridged/revised transcript below to better understand the Decan Walk process. I’ve added and subtracted from the original transcript to make it more like a blog post for folks who prefer written content. If you want to join me on this journey, sign up for my Mailing List (link below) and/or subscribe to the video series on my YouTube channel.
Transcript (Modified and Expanded)
Introduction
Hi, my name is Cathy Gnatek. I'm an astrologer from the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and today is a special day. I'm starting a Decan walk.
A decan walk begins at the Equinox around March 19th-21st when the sun enters Aries—the astrological New Year. Every 10 degrees of the 360° zodiac wheel is associated with ancient esoteric images, including the Minor Arcana of the tarot where the cards of the “Minor Arcana” (cards 2-10), correspond with a different 10 degrees of the zodiac.
My Approach to the Decan Walk
As a personal experience, many folks explore each 10-degree segment of the zodiac every 10 days throughout the year.
My approach is a little different. While I will explore each decan every 10 days, I aim to explore and teach the meaning of each decan of the zodiac as a part of my walk. I hope to unlock the deeper meaning of the astrological signs through a multidisciplinary approach. I will ground and deepen this process by weaving in Hellenistic, Traditional, and Archetypal Astrology, esoteric wisdom (e.g., alchemy, IChing), Carl Jung's understanding of the archetypes, Rachel Pollack’s Shining Tribe tarot deck, and more.
What to Expect in This Series
This is the introductory video to ground you in the meaning of the 36 coming videos. Over the next year, I'll release a new video every 10 days about what it might mean to have your ascendant degree (your rising degree) in each of the decans.
If you do not know your Ascendant degree, you can book a reading with me or another astrologer to help orient you to your chart. If you are new to astrology and want to learn the basics, I offer a six-part introduction to astrology course with 60 minutes of one-on-one tutoring.
You can also access your chart online through various websites, including Astroseek.com (see the video below, where I walk you through how to access your chart on AstroSeek).
How to Use The 36 Decan Video Series
You can use the videos I release on each decan to understand how the world sees you—the essence of who you are. That's what the rising sign is all about. But you can also use this information if you have different planets in different decans. If you know a little about how the planets work, you can understand the meaning of receptive love or beauty in the arts (Venus) if Venus is in a particular decan.
This is an ambitious project—my Moon is in Capricorn, so working hard makes me happy. Beginning in March 2026, at the next Vernal Equinox, I hope to create YouTube shorts on the meaning of each planet in each decan, continuing with a new video every 10 days.
My Philosophy
I love to teach, and I believe in the value of self-reflection. The saying over the Oracle at Delphi in Greece—"know thyself"—is near and dear to my heart. A good part of my life has been spent trying to understand my personal patterns, karmic patterns so that I can step out of conditioned responses to the world. I've got a deep spiritual practice; you'll see all that on my website.
The Structure of the Decan Walk
For the decan walk, we'll start at the Vernal Equinox, around March 20th, at the beginning of the astrological New Year. The first decan is called “Aries I.” In my next video (link below), I'll unpack some of the symbolism in the tarot cards and astrological concepts to deepen our understanding of Aries I.
It takes 30 days for the Sun to go through each sign, so a decan is every 10 degrees—a third of a sign. There are three decans in each sign. It takes about 360 days to go through the entire chart, so we're going to walk from Aries I to Aries II to Aries III, then beginning in April, we'll start with Taurus I and Taurus II and so on until we end up next year at Pisces III around March 10th of 2026.
Drawing Wisdom from Tarot and the Heart
When preparing for this talk, I pulled a tarot card when I felt blocked.
Queen of Wands, Rider-Waite Tarot
The Queen of Wands appeared, a card I always use to represent myself in a Tarot spread. Wands represent fire energy—inspiration, intuition, and wisdom and understanding bigger than ourselves. In my experience, intuition is best grounded in an open-hearted approach to life. Centering our intuition in our hearts rather than our heads is essential to approaching this exploration. For a deeper understanding of this concept, I recommend the work of John Prendergast, particularly his book The Deep Heart.
This pull reminded me of the importance of approaching the project from intuition—from the right brain perspective. There's so much left brain as well, obviously, in looking at all the deep astrological wisdom, but the right brain is where the images come in, where we allow ourselves to open up to the meanings as we play with them.
Alchemy and The Atalanta Fugiens
This reminded me of my work with alchemy. Alchemy, like astrology and tarot, is a self-reflective process, and some of the images are ways to open oneself to more profound meaning. I studied with Janet Muff, a Jungian analyst, who taught classes on Alchemy for the Minnesota seminar in Jungian studies. She worked with a text called The Atalanta Fugiens, a series of 50 emblems that tells the story from Ovid's Metamorphosis.
Emblem 42 is one of my favorites. It shows a man walking at night. He has thick glasses and a lantern, so you get the impression he cannot see well. He is walking in the footsteps of a female figure, Sophia, the goddess of wisdom. The image reminds us that as we take up this task, we must let go of our intellect, open to the guidance from within that may emerge, and blend with the wisdom teachings we've learned.
Emblem 42, Atalanta Fugiens, Michael Maier (1617) (coloration, Adam McLean 1999-2010)
Astrology as a Path of Continuous Revelation
As an astrologer, charts and meanings continually open up to me. I'll have clients who come right when I'm trying to understand something about my own chart—they'll have a similar placement, and doing the reading with them helps me connect with the deeper meaning of astrology. On the esoteric path, remaining open and following instead of coming in with preconceived notions is really the best approach.
This is a reminder for myself and anyone watching: hold what I say lightly, consult with your own inner guidance, and don't take anything as dogma. We need to connect with our own wisdom and use these videos as a way of exploration and opening. There's an unlocking that can happen in the individuation or self-reflective process.
Unlocking the Gates
Another emblem from Michael Meier's Atalanta Fugiens, Emblem 27, shows a man with his feet stuck in the ground, his arms folded over his chest in a defensive position, before a door with three locks. In the background are images of the seven planets.
There is a way when we're on the sacred path where moments where we feel “stuck.” I’ve learned over the years that these are moments when I am stuck in my thinking around a subject, when I need to open to the creative to guide my path to a new understanding. Something in me refuses to allow me to move forward with a project until I let go into the unknown—this image shows that to enter the gates of wisdom, we must change our stance (feet can represent our ego’s “stance” in life) and let go of our ego defenses (folded arms), open our hearts, and trust that the next step will occur—that the gate will open at the appropriate moment. Astrology and tarot can be part of that path.
Interestingly, I was not an astrologer when I first encountered this image. I had no idea the symbols in the image included the seven planets—I only discovered that a few days ago when I began working with the image again. Years later, I now understand the truth of the image: that working with the archetypal understanding of the planets, using the sacred practice of astrology, is one path to unlocking gates of wisdom.
Emblem 27, Atalanta Fugiens, Michael Maier (1617) (coloration, Adam McLean 1999-2010)
Content of Upcoming Videos
My videos will include astrological teachings about which planets are dignified in each decan, images from tarot and other esoteric sources like the Picatrix, archetypal themes as understood through Carl Jung’s Analytic Psychology, teachings from Austin Coppock's 8-part course on the Decans, and chart examples—mostly from folks with their rising sign in each decan.
Feel free to comment if something resonates with you or if you want to share your chart placements. This is how we learn astrology—through personal experience of the energy.
Tarot Decks I'll Be Using
For these presentations, I'll be using several tarot decks: Rachel Pollack's Shining Tribe deck, which connects more with the transcendent self and incorporates indigenous cultural images with a more receptive feminine quality; the Rider-Smith-Waite Tarot deck; and the Thoth Tarot deck, which have a bit of a colonial/patriarchal vibe to them. I want to balance the receptive lunar energy with the solar/masculine energy as we explore these topics—opening up to multiple meanings rather than one dogma.
Astrology-Tarot Correspondences
The correspondence between astrology and tarot is fascinating. In tarot, we have wands, pentacles, swords, and cups that relate to the elements:
Wands = Fire signs (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius)
Pentacles = Earth signs (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn)
Swords = Air signs (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius)
Cups = Water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces)
Modes and Numbers
Another correspondence is between the modes in astrology and the numbered cards:
Cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn) = twos, threes, and fours
Fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius) = fives, sixes, and sevens
Mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces) = eights, nines, and tens
You get a feel for this in the diagram below, which shows the connection between the “Twos” in tarot and the Decan I of each Cardinal sign.
I'll also incorporate numerology because I have a Gemini North Node and am curious about connecting different systems. I'll sometimes include the opposing decan or sign to deepen understanding through differentiation—you can appreciate Aries better by comparing it to Libra.
I'm excited to have you join me on this journey. Please like and subscribe to help bring more people to this content. If you have questions or want to share your chart, I will try to respond to all comments. I look forward to walking the decans with you over the next year.