The zodiac of twelve signs follows the Sun, which takes a year to travel through it. But there is another zodiac, older in many cultures and today almost forgotten in the West: that of the lunar mansions, the stations of the Moon. Instead of twelve sectors it counts twenty-eight stations, one for each night the Moon takes, roughly, to complete its circuit among the stars.
Why twenty-eight
The Moon returns to the same position relative to the fixed stars in about 27.3 days: this is the sidereal month, different from the synodic month of about 29.5 days that governs the phases. Dividing the circle of the zodiac into twenty-eight parts gives sectors of about 12° 51': each night the Moon "lodges" in a different mansion, like a traveller stopping each evening at an inn along the road.
The number twenty-eight also has a symbolic appeal: it is four times seven, the four main lunar phases multiplied by the seven days of each, and it is a "perfect" number in the mathematical sense, equal to the sum of its divisors (1 + 2 + 4 + 7 + 14).
Three great traditions
The Arabic manazil
In the Arab world the mansions, called manāzil al-qamar, "the stations of the Moon", were known even before Islam and were tied to the calendar of rains and winds. Each mansion took its name from stars or groups of stars: the first, al-Sharatain, "the two signs", corresponds to the stars of the horns of Aries; the third, al-Thurayya, is the Pleiades; the fourth, al-Dabaran, is the star we still call Aldebaran.
The Indian nakshatras
In Indian astrology the mansions are called nakshatras and usually number twenty-seven, sometimes twenty-eight with the addition of a mansion called Abhijit. They remain fundamental in Indian astrological practice today: the nakshatra occupied by the Moon at birth is considered as important as the sign, and many ceremonies are scheduled according to it.
The Chinese xiu
Chinese astronomy also knows twenty-eight "lodges", the xiu, grouped into four sections associated with the four celestial animals of the directions: the Azure Dragon in the east, the Vermilion Bird in the south, the White Tiger in the west and the Black Tortoise in the north.
The fact that three such different civilisations developed systems of twenty-seven or twenty-eight lunar stations shows how universal the observation of the Moon among the stars has been.
The mansions in European astral magic
The lunar mansions reached Europe through translations of Arabic texts. The Picatrix, a treatise on astral magic translated into Latin in the Middle Ages, lists the twenty-eight mansions, giving for each the activities considered favourable or unfavourable and the images to be engraved on talismans. In the Renaissance Agrippa of Nettesheim took them up in the second book of his De occulta philosophia.
In these texts, for example, some mansions were considered suitable for travel, others for building, others still for reconciliation or sowing. It was a very refined electional system, allowing the day to be chosen according to the Moon's exact position and not only its sign.
Tropical or sidereal zodiac?
In the European version the mansions were often counted from 0° tropical Aries, whereas originally they were tied to particular stars. Because of the precession of the equinoxes, the two systems now differ by about 24°, almost two mansions. Anyone studying this tradition must therefore choose consciously which reference to use.
Following the mansions today
The lunar mansions are a valuable tool for anyone who wants a daily relationship with the sky. At Studio Esoterico Cornelio a simple approach is suggested:
- Get a calendar that gives the zodiacal position of the Moon day by day.
- Work out the mansion by dividing the lunar longitude by about 12° 51' and counting from 0° Aries.
- Watch the sky, when possible, looking for the stars near the Moon: the Pleiades and Aldebaran are easy to recognise.
- Keep a diary for a full sidereal month, noting the character of the day beside each mansion.
The aim is not to find mechanical confirmations but to develop attention to a rhythm that is faster and more intimate than the solar one.
In short
- The lunar mansions divide the zodiac into twenty-eight parts, one for each night of the sidereal month.
- Arabs, Indians and Chinese developed their own systems of lunar stations.
- The Picatrix and Agrippa passed them on to European astral magic.
- Precession and the choice of zodiac change how the mansions are calculated.
- Following them daily is a practice of attention to the rhythm of the Moon.