Source texts on the manāzil

Abū ‘Alī ibn al-Ḥātim. c 10th century (maybe, see blog post). “On celestial images.” Classical Arabic.

Kristen Lippincott & David Pingree. 1987. “Ibn al-Ḥātim on the Talismans of the Lunar Mansions.” (Arabic → English)

Marc Oliveiras. 2009. “El de imaginibus caelestibus de Ibn al-Ḥātim.” (Arabic → Spanish)

This text contains the earliest list of the names of the spirits who rule each lunar station. It has a really fascinating history in the tradition of the stations (and the name of their ruling spirits). Lippincott & Pingree have the definitive translation into English. Oliveiras provides a Spanish translation and discussion of some proposed origins of the stations’ talismanic images. Check out the longer essay I wrote on this text in my blog post.

Abū al-Ḥasan 'Alī ibn Abī al-Rijāl al-Shaybani. c Early 11th century. Kitāb al-bāri' fī aḥkām an-nujūm • Complete Book on the Judgement of the Stars. Classical Arabic.

Gerold Hilty edition, Yehuda ben Moshe ha-Kohen translation: 1954 (1254 translation) (Arabic → Old Spanish)

Erhard Ratdolt edition: 1485 (Old Spanish → Latin)

Benjamin Dyke’s translation, in Choices and Inceptions: 2012 (Latin → English)

Al-Rijāl gives a foundational treatise to electing by the lunar stations in his astrological textbook. For each station he gives its name, its ecliptic degrees, and two lists of elections. The first is from “the Indians” and I do not know where it comes from. I believe these are quoted (and perhaps expounded upon) in Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm (see below). The second section are from “Dorotheus.” Dykes explains that these same Dorothean elections are given in various sources with the same predictions applied to the decans, lunar stations, or tropical zodiac signs, and it doesn’t sound like we know which was the original. Considering the timeline, it’s highly unlikely that Dorotheus would have been referring to the stations originally (I have no comment on the decans vs the signs), so the use of these delineations for the stations is probably a relatively late interpolation and probably best suited to interpreting the stations’ tropical placements. Regardless, this book was widely circulated in Europe especially and likely would have informed many of the later writers on the stations (especially the European ones).

The lunar stations part is found in Book VII, Chapter 101. As far as I know, we don’t have a copy of the original Arabic and only one Old Spanish manuscript (which contains just the first 5 books). Book VII is only extant in Latin and Dykes has the only English translation that I am aware of. It begins on p 61 of Choices and Inceptions.

Abū Rayḥān Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Bīrūnī. 1029. Kitāb al-tafhīm li-awa’il ṣina’āt al-tanjīm • Book of Instruction in the Elements of the Art of Astrology. Classical Persian and Arabic.

R. Ramsey Wright translation: 1934 (Persian & Arabic → English)

in Warnock’s Mansions of the Moon (see below)

Al-Birunī’s list of the lunar stations, their names, and indicator stars is often cited as authoritative by later authors. Early authors like al-Ḥātim give suggestions of the indicator stars but their names aren’t always very clear. At the point of al-Biruni, the stations are becoming fully defined and integrated into Islamicate culture. Al-Biruni traveled extensively in India and even wrote a treatise on Indian culture, so his perspective is probably the most cosmopolitan of any of the early sources, clearly in the middle of the dialog between Islamicate and Indian culture at the time. He was definitely influenced by all of that in compiling his work. Wright’s translation was a labor of love is available in a bilingual edition, which is very rare to find.

Paragraphs 164 - 166 deal with the lunar stations.

pseudo-Majrīṭī. c 11th century. Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm • The Goal of the Sage. Classical Arabic.

c 13th century. Picatrix. Medieval Latin.

Hellmutt Ritter & Martin Plessner’s translation: 1962. (Arabic → German)

Christopher Warnock & John Michael Greer’s translation: 2011 (Latin → English)

Dan Attrell & David Porreca’s translation: 2019 (Latin → English)

David Pingree. 1981. “Between the Ghayā and Picatrix: I”

David Pingree, Charles Burnett (editor). 2005 (published posthumously). “Between the Ghayā and Picatrix: II”

in Warnock’s Mansions of the Moon (his edition, see below)

Picatrix nearly speaks for itself and will be the subject of a future blog post. There are two English translations from the Latin. The first, by Warnock & Greer, makes the astrological information especially clear. Attrell & Porreca’s translation is more scholarly in scope and research, but sometimes obscures the astrological information. There is only one well-regarded translation of the Arabic into a European language, the 1962 German edition prepared by Ritter & Plessner (Ritter was also the person who prepared the Arabic critical edition). To learn more about the differences between the Arabic and Latin texts, read the essays from Pingree (who prepared the Latin critical edition).

The Latin edition contains two sections on the lunar stations: Book 1, Chapter 4 and Book 4, Chapter 9. The original Arabic contains only the first section (the second being Ibn al-Ḥātim’s, see above).

Abraham bar Ḥiyya ha-Nasi. c Beginning of the 12th century. Ḥeshbon malakhot ha-Kokhavim • Calculation of the Courses of the Stars. Medieval Hebrew.

Shlomo Sela’s translation: 2016 (Hebrew → English)

This was essentially the first serious work on astronomy written in Hebrew, part of the explosion of Jewish science in the 12th century in al-Andalus. Chapter 17 deals with the constellations, fixed stars and lunar stations. Bar Ḥiyya’s was an authoritative astrological text and is the one who coined the Hebrew names of the stations. He was one of Ibn Ezra’s teachers and you can find many references to his work in that of Ibn Ezra. Shlomo Sela has prepared a translation and a critical edition of the Hebrew that is very good.

Abraham ben Meir ibn Ezra. c First half of the 12th century.

Keli ha-Neḥoshet • The Bronze Tool (aka Treatise on the Astrolabe). Medieval Hebrew.

A manual on the use of the astrolabe. Provides a list of the names of the stations in Arabic and Hebrew as well as a brief description of the number and names of the stars of each station. Some manuscripts also give a drawing of the asterisms. This seems on first glance to me to be an excerpt of Bar Ḥiyya (see above), but I haven’t been able to get ahold of a good critical edition of the Hebrew yet.

Sefer ha-Olam • The Book of the World. Medieval Hebrew.

Shlomo Sela’s translation and critical edition: 2010 (Hebrew → English)

This is Ibn Ezra’s mundane astrology textbook. There are snippets about the stations in a few of his works, but this is the one that has the most to say. It discusses the stations in the context of weather prediction and gives a list of which stations give rain, which are dry, and which are temperate. This comes amidst his discussion of the use of lunar astrology for the specific purposes of weather prediction, a fascinating treatise that I hope to research more some day. Ibn Ezra also gives his thoughts on the calculation of the stations, coming down on the side of a constellational or sidereal approach, which was very influential on my own thinking.

Sections 62 and 63 (starting on p 93 in Sela’s translation) deal with the lunar stations. See also Sela’s commentary starting on p 148.

Jacob ben Abba Mari ben Simson Anatoli. 1230-1240. (Untitled translation of Al-Farghani’s Elementa Astronomica • Elements of Astronomy.) Medieval Hebrew.

Shlomo Sela’s translation and critical edition: 2016 (Hebrew → English)

Anatoli’s translation of Al-Farghani contains a list of the lunar stations and their indicator stars which is not found in any Arabic manuscript of Al-Farghani. Sela debates whether there was a second edition of Al-Farghani that we lost and was only preserved in Hebrew, or if Anatoli was adding in information from other authors (perhaps al-Biruni, for example). The answer isn’t clear but I believe Sela comes down on the side of Anatoli adding in other authors work and crediting it to Al-Farghani, so I’ve listed Anatoli as the author here.

Abū Abdullāh Muḥammad ibn ‘Arabi al-Ṭāʼī al-Ḥātimī. c 13th century.

Titus Bruckhardt & Bulent Rauf (tr). 2001. Mystical Astrology According to Ibn Arabi. Fons Vitae.

Esmé L. K. Partridge. 2020. The Celestial ‘Polished Mirror’: The Mystical Dimension of the Moon according to Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi. The Journal of The Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi Society, 68

I debated whether to include Ibn ‘Arabi. He seems to use the familiar structure of the lunar stations in Arabic, but his mystical interpretations appear to be his own gnosis. It’s interesting to see a divergent take from the same cultural sphere as the others and really shows that these stations have been continually interpreted over the centuries. Additionally, Ibn ‘Arabi is part of al-Buni’s lineage since they were both students of al-Mahdawi, a renown Tunisian Sufi shaykh. I’ve only read this short work about his takes on astrology by Titus Burckhardt (written originally in French) but I thought I would offer it as a lead for someone else to research further.

Ahmad Al-Būnī al-Malkī. c 13th century. Shams al-Ma’arif • The Sun of Knowledge. Classical Arabic.

Amina Inloes & JM Hamade translation and commentary: 2022 (contains chapters 1-8, 17 and 19) (Arabic → English)

Jaime Coullaut Cordero’s full translation with extensive commentary: 2009 (Arabic → Spanish)

Daniel Martin Varisco. 2017. “Illuminating the Lunar Mansions in Shams al-Ma’arif”

This grimoire was foundational in the Islamicate world regarding the occult virtues of the stations. It is probably one of the earliest work to be widely disseminated among popular audiences of magical practitioners rather than astronomers and astrologers. See Inloes translation for an entry point, and Coullaut Corder’s extensive and dense edition for Spanish-speakers. Varisco’s commentary on the lunar stations section is also very helpful. Check out the longer essay I wrote on this text in my blog post.

Anonymous. At least 13th century, maybe older. Liber Lunae • Sefer ha-Levana • Book of the Moon. Medieval Latin, Medieval Hebrew.

Don Karr & Calanit Nachshon translations: 2017 (2nd edition) (Latin & Hebrew → English)

in Warnock’s Mansions of the Moon (see below)

This is a really weird little text that seems to have been quite popular among magical practitioners, at least in Europe. We have no idea where it originated or what language it was written in but the manuscripts we have are definitely translations of another older text that is no longer extant. There were several Hebrew editions floating around in history, suggesting it was well-known amongst Jewish magicians, but the Hebrew text we have is definitely a heavily corrupted late translation. Some of the Hebrew manuscripts appear to be translations from Arabic, others from Latin. Parts are variously attributed to Belenus, Hermes Trismegistus or Aristotle, but who knows who its actual author was. The earliest reference we have to it is from Rabbi Moshe ben Naḥman, a famous Kabbalist rabbi in the early 13th century. A French bishop around the same time named William of Auvergne may also have written about an early version of the book. Karr’s edition includes transcriptions of original Latin and Hebrew manuscripts with translations (from Latin by Karr, and from Hebrew by Nachshon) and a paraphrase in contemporary English (by Karr). Karr’s manuscripts are from the 15th century and represent a long decayed version of whatever the original texts (probably in Arabic) would have looked like.

Alfonso X of Castile (attributed). c 1280. Book of Astromagic • Libro de astromagia. Old Spanish.

in Warnock’s Mansions of the Moon (see below). (Old Spanish → English)

Aside from Abu Ma’shar and al-Bunī, this text is one of the few that contains information about the stations in nativities. It contains less information than Abu Ma’shar but is comparable to Al-Bunī, giving about a sentence for each station. It was compiled originally in Old Spanish by Alfonso X of Castille’s court translators and probably represents what medieval Europeans’ first takes on the stations looked like. Although it is an original work, it is essentially a summary of what his translators had learned from their research (similar to Agrippa’s occult encyclopedia below). Note that other sections of Astromagia pertaining to the stations are available via Warnock’s Mansions of the Moon mini-course and his full course on astrological magic.

Anonymous. c 15th century. MS. Ashmole 396. Middle English.

Bodleian library catalog entry

in Warnock’s Mansions of the Moon (Middle English → Modern English, see below)

Another very interesting and weird little text. It is sometimes attributed to Elias Ashmole, but it just originates in his collection. Ashmole (one of William Lilly’s mentees) was a geek like us who was the 1600s century equivalent of a trust fund kid. He spent a lot of his extra time and money on collecting esoteric texts. This one contains one of the most extensive lists of elections appropriate for each of the stations, written in the Middle English of the 1400s. The actual manuscript contains several sections and it’s not clear which of them the widely circulated lunar stations text comes from and I haven’t managed to get my hands on scans of the manuscript. As far as I can tell, it is not a direct quotation of a previous work but may be related to al-Rijāl (above).

Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa. 1531 - 1533. De occulta philosophia libri tres • The Three Books of Occult Philosophy. Medieval Latin.

Eric Purdue translation: 2021 (recommended) (Latin → English)

Donald Tyson edition, James Freake translation: 1992 (1651 translation) (Latin → English)

in Warnock’s Mansions of the Moon (Tyson/Freake edition, see below)

Agrippa’s work is more like an encyclopedia than his own original research. Book 2, Chapter 33 contains his version of the Picatrix chapter on station elections and Book 2, Chapter 46 contains his version of what is ultimately Ibn al-Ḥātim’s text on station talismans.

Anonymous. 1596. Planeten Buch • Book of the Planets. Early New High German.

Peter Stockinger’s excerpt of the lunar mansions section (German → English)

In the late 1500s, astrology books began being written in vernacular languages in Europe (rather than Latin, as before). These manuals in languages more people could read give us an interesting glimpse into what normal people might have used astrology for, rather than what rulers and empires had been doing. This short chapter seems to use constellational or sidereal stations!

William Ramesey. 1653. Astrologia Restaurata • Astrology Restored. Early Modern English.

1st ed: 1653

Kim Farnell’s fully annotated edition: 2014

in Warnock’s Mansions of the Moon (see below)

Ramesey’s work was what initially sparked my interest in a sidereal approach to the stations. He was in the generation of astrologers that came after William Lilly (who he famously did not get along with) and gives us an important later source on electional astrology. That portion of the book contains a passage on the lunar mansions and looks similar to that of the Book of the Planets above. It also seems to use constellational or sidereal stations! Does this represent some kind of underlying lineage? I still haven’t figured out how that came about in these later works in vernacular languages but it’s a historical question I’m obsessed with.

I highly recommend Kim Farnell’s version. Ramesey has a tendency to lapse into Latin whenever he encounters anything that makes him squeamish. Farnell gives translations for all of that good stuff!

Francis Barrett. 1801. The Magus, or Celestial Intelligencer. Modern English.

Sacred Texts retyped edition

Chapter 33: Of the 28 mansions of the moon and their virtues

Chapter 44: Of the images of the mansions of the moon

I believe this is a restatement of Agrippa or Picatrix in another one of those occult encylopedias. It would have probably been one of the most accessible references on the stations for people in the 19th and early 20th centuries because it was widely circulated and written in English.

Alexandre Volguine. 1936. Astrologie lunaire • Lunar Astrology. French.

John Bruglio translation: 1974 (French → English)

This was another source I came across relatively early on and have long been fascinated with. Volguine was one of us for sure and was a major inspiration for this work. He has really interesting and unique things to say about the stations and must represent some of the first original astrological observations on them in a European language in centuries. He was clearly familiar with many of the sources we are, which must have represented a lot of research for that time period. In my own work, I’ve also found many of his observations to be true, especially his notes about the stations in nativities. He’s also one of the earliest astrologers I’ve found who documented and compared the manāzil, the xiù and the nakshatras.

William Butler Yeats. 1937. A Vision. 2nd ed. English.

Neil Mann. The mansions of the moon.

WB Yeats and his wife created a fascinating and weird esoteric system through a series of automatic writing sessions together and, underlying all of it, is a 28-fold pattern. It’s really complicated and I don’t understand it yet, to be honest. Mann has written extensive commentary on it and explains that it has some relation to the lunar mansions. I came across his work because it’s highly rated on Google if you search for “lunar mansions,” and it’s something I’m still studying. I’m including it because it has eery intimations of Ibn ‘Arabi’s dense, mystical work that observes a 28-fold pattern underlying reality. Someone please dig into the occult implications of Yeats’ work!

Richard Hinkley Allen. 1963. Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning. English.

This book is a wonderful starting place for any kind of stellar lore. It was originally published in 1899 by G.E. Stechert but had been long out of print when this present edition was printed and corrected by Allen. I have no idea how much changed between the 1899 and 1963 versions but I assume the differences are somewhat substantial (considering that the original author’s name is left out everywhere except the copyright page). There is a very, very brief page or so on the stations, much of which is common knowledge by now. Still, there are many references to the stations in the sections on individual stars with lots of interesting information. It’s too bad that finding it all is like hunting for a needle in a haystack!

Christopher Warnock. 2010. The Mansions of the Moon: A Lunar Zodiac for Astrology and Magic. English.

2nd ed: 2019 (recommended)

An amazing sourcebook. Contains lunar stations excerpts from the Latin Picatrix, Al-Biruni, El libro de astromagia, Agrippa, Liber Lunae, MS. Ashmole 396 and Ramesey, along with Warnock’s own thoughts. Check out the longer essay I wrote on this text in my blog post.

Oscar Hoffman. 2022. The Lunar Mansions Guide: Rediscovering the Western Lunar Zodiac. English.

A very interesting project. Hoffman takes a similar approach to what I describe, rooting into the constellations and the fixed stars. He uses a very novel measurement system which places the beginning of the first station at the degree of its earliest indicator star (Mesarthim, γ Arietis), and interprets the stations primarily through the myths of their Greco-Roman constellations with some support from the Indian nakshatras. He is also unique in that, of all the texts on the stations out there, he gives an example nativity with the Moon in each station. I don’t find myself agreeing with all of his takes but this is without a doubt an extremely unique and interesting book!

J.M. Hamade. 2024. Procession of the Night Theatre: An Exposition on the Lunar Stations. English.

This just came out and I’ve only begun reading it. It looks like an amazing, sidereal-focused cross-cultural take on the stations. Hamade is unique of all the sources on this list in that they give a delineation for each of the 7 traditional planets in each of the 27 stations. Plus a collection of poems! So far I’ve found it to be very refreshing and original. I’ll add more notes when I can!