The Twenty-Eight Mansions of the Moon, Named and In Order

The Moon crosses twenty-eight stations in a little over twenty-seven days, spending somewhere between twenty and twenty-seven hours in each. What the mansions are and where the system came from is covered separately. This page is the list.

Each entry gives the name, the span of the zodiac it covers, the current it carries and the first of its uses. Each name opens that station's own page, where the full reading sits. The spans are tropical, measured from zero degrees Aries, which is the system used in the Picatrix and in the Western tradition that follows it. If you work sidereally the boundaries will differ.

To find the current one, open the Moon Mansions calculator, or look up the Moon's position in degrees and find the span it falls inside.

The twenty-eight

1. Al-Sharatain, the Two Signals. 0° 00′ to 12° 51′ Aries. The act of beginning. Directional rather than gentle. It favours the woman who has already decided. Best used for: Departure. Beginning a journey, whether literal travel or the launch of something that takes you somewhere new.

2. Al-Butain, the Little Belly. 12° 51′ to 25° 43′ Aries. The seated authority, close enough now to be approached. A window that was not open a station ago. Best used for: The ask. A raise, a pitch, an appeal to someone with the power to rule in your favour.

3. Al-Thurraya, the Many Little Ones. 25° 43′ Aries to 8° 34′ Taurus. Abundance and creative blessing. The most generous station in the arc. Best used for: Beginning creative work, particularly work you want other people to want.

4. Al-Dabaran, the Follower. 8° 34′ to 21° 26′ Taurus. Active dispersal of what is working against you. Not passive protection. Best used for: Responding to a rival, a competitor, an adversary who has made themselves known.

5. Al-Haqa, the White Spot. 21° 26′ Taurus to 4° 17′ Gemini. Intelligence meeting expression. The well made case, received as intended. Best used for: The presentation that has to land.

6. Al-Hana, a Mark. 4° 17′ to 17° 09′ Gemini. The force that draws people toward each other and holds them there. Best used for: Introductions, and bringing together two people who would benefit from knowing each other.

7. Al-Dhira, the Forearm. 17° 09′ Gemini to 0° 00′ Cancer. The merchant's station. Genuine asking, carried to where it was sent. Best used for: Bringing something to market. Launching a product, offering a service, opening the trade route.

8. Al-Nathrah, the Gap. 0° 00′ to 12° 51′ Cancer. The step that commits. Bonding and decisive resolution in the same current. Best used for: Naming a connection that has been circling for months.

9. Al-Tarf, the Eyes. 12° 51′ to 25° 43′ Cancer. Clean cutting. The station of the necessary ending. Best used for: Ending what has overstayed.

10. Al-Jabhah, the Brow. 25° 43′ Cancer to 8° 34′ Leo. Obstruction removed. Healing and attraction in one movement. Best used for: Clearing what has hardened between two people. The misunderstanding that calcified, the distance that became habit.

11. Al-Zubrah, the Mane. 8° 34′ to 21° 26′ Leo. Being seen rightly by people whose view of you has material consequences. Best used for: Presenting yourself to a superior, a client, anyone whose recognition changes your position.

12. Al-Sarfah, the Changer. 21° 26′ Leo to 4° 17′ Virgo. Clear sight of what a situation actually is. Best used for: Naming what has been pretending to be fine.

13. Al-Awwa, the Wings. 4° 17′ to 17° 09′ Virgo. Union. The commitment itself, not the approach to it. Best used for: The significant step in a relationship. The commitment, rather than the building toward it.

14. Al-Simak, the Unarmed. 17° 09′ Virgo to 0° 00′ Libra. Safe passage. Love that holds through what is not easy. Best used for: Tending a relationship through a hard passage of strain, illness or outside pressure.

15. Al-Ghafr, the Covering. 0° 00′ to 12° 51′ Libra. Interior attention. The mind with the room to itself. Best used for: Deep research, and the question that needs to stay open a while longer.

16. Al-Zubana, the Claws. 12° 51′ to 25° 43′ Libra. The scales. The transaction itself, weighed precisely. Best used for: Closing the sale.

17. Al-Iklil, the Crown. 25° 43′ Libra to 8° 34′ Scorpio. Alert guardianship of a position already established. Best used for: Securing what has real value. A home, a workspace, intellectual property, whatever the previous stations built.

18. Al-Qalb, the Heart. 8° 34′ to 21° 26′ Scorpio. Concentrated healing that rebuilds stronger than before. Best used for: Beginning treatment, particularly for fever or anything to do with what enters the body.

19. Al-Shaulah, the Sting. 21° 26′ Scorpio to 4° 17′ Sagittarius. Cold precision. Not heat. Best used for: The decisive response to something that has encroached on what is yours.

20. Al-Na'am, the Beam. 4° 17′ to 17° 09′ Sagittarius. Single pointed pursuit. Rider and horse in one body. Best used for: The one goal that matters most, pursued narrowly.

21. Al-Baldah, the City. 17° 09′ Sagittarius to 0° 00′ Capricorn. Completion seen clearly. Sufficiency to yourself. Best used for: Naming what has finished. A path, an arrangement, a version of yourself that no longer fits the life you are living.

22. Sa'd al-Dhabih, the Fortune of the Sacrificer. 0° 00′ to 12° 51′ Capricorn. The decisive break. Winged feet do not creep. Best used for: Leaving what has become untenable. The role, the arrangement, the agreement that turned into a trap.

23. Sa'd Bula, the Fortune of the Glutton. 12° 51′ to 25° 43′ Capricorn. Dissolution of what should never have been held together. Best used for: Separation and divorce, formal or otherwise.

24. Sa'd al-Su'ud, the Luckiest of the Lucky. 25° 43′ Capricorn to 8° 34′ Aquarius. Provision arriving. The most fortunate station in the cycle. Best used for: Receiving. Being in a position for the good thing to land rather than chasing it.

25. Sa'd al-Akhbiyah, the Lucky Star of Hidden Things. 8° 34′ to 21° 26′ Aquarius. Structural protection. Roots going down out of sight. Best used for: Protecting long term growth. A business past the point where growth alone sustains it, a body of work, a relationship at depth.

26. Al-Fargh al-Awwal, the Upper Spout. 21° 26′ Aquarius to 4° 17′ Pisces. Love created and love returned. The pour. Best used for: Acting on an attraction that already exists on both sides.

27. Al-Fargh al-Thani, the Lower Spout. 4° 17′ to 17° 09′ Pisces. Abundance circulating rather than hoarded. Best used for: Closing the deal, taking the payment, receiving what is owed.

28. Batn al-Hut, the Belly of the Fish. 17° 09′ Pisces to 0° 00′ Aries. Culmination. The fish that knows its own water. Best used for: Bringing a long endeavour to its final form.

Reading the list properly

Two things are worth knowing before you use it.

The Moon can occupy two mansions in a single day, because she moves fast enough to cross a boundary inside twenty-four hours. When that happens the crossing time matters. What you do before it falls under the earlier station and what you do after falls under the later one.

And the mansion is only half the picture. The phase is the other half, and the two run on different cycles, which is covered in the article on how the system works.

Where this sits

The mansions divide the Moon's month. The planetary hours divide each day among the seven planets and are the fastest timing instrument available. The seven planets each govern a defined department of life underneath both.