The twenty eight mansions of the moon, counted from zero Aries as the Picatrix and Agrippa count them.
Long before the zodiac of twelve, the moon's own path was divided into the stations it occupies on successive nights. The Arabic manazil, the Indian nakshatras and the Chinese xiu are three branches of that older idea. The Western line, the one this tradition follows, runs through the Picatrix and Agrippa: twenty eight mansions measured from zero degrees of Aries, each with an image, a nature and a set of things it was held to favour.
The mansion your moon occupied is the one that is yours, and the app also gives the mansion of your sun. Without a birth time the moon of noon is used, and a moon sitting near a boundary is flagged rather than rounded off, because on a boundary the difference is a whole mansion.
The twenty eight mansions
Twenty eight stations of the moon, each with an image and a nature.
Mansion 1
Al-Sharatain, the two horns of the Ram. A Moon born here sets out. Yours is the mansion of departures and first steps: you are at your best beginning, and least at ease waiting.
Mansion 2
Al-Butain, the belly of the Ram. The mansion of what is found again and made whole. You mend, you recover, you bring back what was lost; you are slow to give anything up for good.
Mansion 3
Al-Thurayya, the Pleiades. The many-in-one, the little cluster. You gain by gathering: people, skills, things of worth. Craft and company are your luck.
Mansion 4
Al-Dabaran, Aldebaran, the follower. A hard mansion in the old books: the eye that follows. You see what others avoid and you do not look away; your gift is honesty, your cost is enmity.
Mansion 5
Al-Haq'a, the head of Orion. The mansion of the returning traveller and of favour won by learning. You go out to learn and come back with it; teachers find you.
Mansion 6
Al-Han'a, the brand of the Twins. The mark on the neck of the camel: alliance. You are made for friendship and for the hunt in company; alone you lose your edge.
Mansion 7
Al-Dhira, the forearm, Castor and Pollux. The outstretched arm: a fortunate mansion, of gain and love. Things come to your hand; the work is to hold them lightly.
Mansion 8
Al-Nathra, the manger, Praesepe. The gap, the manger where the beast is fed. Yours is the welcome: love and friendship gather around you, and strangers are fed at your table.
Mansion 9
Al-Tarf, the glance of the Lion. The Lion's look, before it moves. You read a room in a glance and you guard what is yours; the old books warn of loss to the unwary, so you learned to be wary.
Mansion 10
Al-Jabhah, the forehead of the Lion, Regulus. The royal star's mansion: benevolence and the strengthening of what is built. You are trusted with things that must stand; carry them without pride.
Mansion 11
Al-Zubrah, the mane of the Lion. The mane: gain, trade, and the release of what was held. You do well in exchange and in setting free; you do badly holding grudges.
Mansion 12
Al-Sarfah, the changer, Denebola. The mansion of the turn: weather, harvest, the change of season. You feel the turn before it comes, and you are the one who says it is time.
Mansion 13
Al-Awwa, the barker, the Virgin's arm. The mansion of harvest and marriage, of what ripens in company. Your gains are shared gains; you build a household as easily as a fortune.
Mansion 14
Al-Simak, the unarmed one, Spica. The bright ear of grain: marriage, healing, safe passage. You are a steadying presence, the one people sail with.
Mansion 15
Al-Ghafr, the covering. The veiled mansion: digging wells, finding what is buried. You look beneath; you find water where others see dust, and you keep your own depths covered.
Mansion 16
Al-Zubana, the claws of the Scorpion. The claws, which the Greeks made the scales: trade, profit, the weighing of things. You bargain well and you free what was held for ransom.
Mansion 17
Al-Iklil, the crown of the Scorpion. The crown: friendship and the strengthening of what is built together. You bind people to a purpose; loyalty is your currency.
Mansion 18
Al-Qalb, the heart of the Scorpion, Antares. The red heart: a warning mansion in the old books, of conspiracy and the fall of enemies. You feel intensely and you keep the knife sheathed; that restraint is the whole work.
Mansion 19
Al-Shaulah, the sting of the Scorpion. The raised sting: the besieging of cities, the driving out. You end things others cannot; use it on what deserves ending.
Mansion 20
Al-Na'am, the ostriches. The birds going down to drink and coming back: taming, the return of what serves you. You gentle wild things, animals and people; patience is your method.
Mansion 21
Al-Baldah, the district, the empty place. The empty stretch of sky: harvest, gain, buildings that stand. You need open space to work and you leave things standing behind you.
Mansion 22
Sa'd al-Dhabih, the luck of the slaughterer. The first of the lucks: the escape of captives, the cure of the sick. You get out, and you get others out; you are at your best when something must be cut loose.
Mansion 23
Sa'd Bula, the luck of the swallower. The luck that swallows: healing and the freeing of the bound. You take things in whole and you make them harmless; you loosen knots.
Mansion 24
Sa'd al-Su'ud, the luck of lucks. The most fortunate mansion: marriage, victory, the soldier's luck. Things turn out for you; the work is to deserve it.
Mansion 25
Sa'd al-Akhbiyah, the luck of the tents. The luck of the hidden: the guarding of crops and of what grows unseen. You protect what is still small; you are slow to show your hand.
Mansion 26
Al-Fargh al-Awwal, the first spout of the water-jar. The first pouring: love, union, the traveller kept safe. You give freely and you are given to; you carry people home.
Mansion 27
Al-Fargh al-Thani, the second spout of the water-jar. The second pouring: gain, trade, the strengthening of walls. You finish what the first pouring began and you make it last.
Mansion 28
Batn al-Hut, the belly of the Fish. The last mansion: marriage, the increase of harvests, safe travel. You carry the whole cycle in you; endings are your beginnings.
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