on the lunar stations
an introduction to my station stroll
I’m excited to share the project I’ve been building for some time. Let this introduction serve as the first entry in what will surely be a long series of writing.
In 2023, my 6th house year, was the site of many expected and unexpected shakeups, all bourn down the river of time by my initiation into the 28-fold pattern of the lunar stations.
Last year, under the auspices of the crescent Moon’s first emergence after the dark Moon in Capricorn, I began a project that, unbeknownst to me, would completely change my relationship to astrology, not to mention the rest of my life.
I had, at that point, studied ancient astrology in what is increasingly becoming the conventional way: through the immersive study of English translations of the great Greek, Arabic, Persian, and Latin textbooks in our art, as well as modern textbooks interpreting the approach of these ancient works. I had quite enjoyed this approach—after all, I am a lover of textual scholarship at my core. Sometimes I would even lose sight of the astrology, so delighted as I was to dig through these ancient esoteric texts. My introduction to astrology was through magic (not the other way around) and so I’ve always paid close attention to the spirits that haunt these edges of these old books, both the spirits of the planets and stars, as well as our ancestors in this art. Over the years, I became completely entranced by what we conventionally call the lunar mansions. As I began to work with them more and more, I realized that I wanted to experience all of them for myself.
That curiosity bore this project.
What are the lunar stations? Sidereal or tropical?
A diagram of the phases of the Moon from al-Biruni’s 11th century astrology textbook, Kitāb al-tafhīm li-awa’il ṣina’āt al-tanjīm • Book of Instruction in the Elements of the Art of Astrology
The lunar stations, also called the lunar mansions (more on that below), are one of the aspects of astrology that entranced me on first sight. My first exposure to them, like many of you probably, was through the English translation of a Latin translation of a Spanish translation of an Arabic grimoire called Ghayaat al-Hhakiim. This collection of magical recipes is conventionally called by its Latin name by most: Picatrix. This grimoire contains two lists of 28 talismans, each of which are associated with the lunar mansions. That’s all—no information about the essential nature of these stations, how they may function in a nativity or even truly what they are outside of their tantalizing name and that they are activated for the making of these talismans by the Moon transiting through them. This is the exact kind of thing that really hooks me! They seem relatively simple on the surface but as you immerse yourself in their patterns, the questions begin to quickly mount. What is a lunar mansion? Why are they mansions? Why does the Moon in this mansion destroy buildings while in another mansion it makes two people fall in love? Why do some of the uses of the mansions in the first section seem so different from their uses in the second section? What’s so special about the Moon (after all, many of these talismans seem to do very non-lunar things)? Where do their powers come from?
The mansions/stations are a division of the ecliptic based on the presence of various fixed stars. If the zodiac is the division of the 360º of the ecliptic into 12 equal parts, then the stations divide the ecliptic into either 27 or 28 parts (that may or may not be equal), with the Moon transiting through a different station on each day of the lunar month. There are different ways of defining the length of a lunar month. Stated in astrological terms, the most relevant are:
The synodic month, essentially the amount of time between new moons. This period ranges between 29.27 and 29.83 days.
The sidereal month, essentially the amount of time it takes the moon to return to a similar position among the fixed stars. This period lasts 27.321 days.
They’re very close in length but the nearly 2 days of difference adds up quickly; you can see why there might be variant systems. To me, it seems like the many different approaches to the lunar stations are trying to deal with the fundamental issue that a systematic approach to the moon is difficult. It’s not her way to be pinned down by numbers. Each different approach essentially selects portions of the Moon’s monthly journey to focus on in a technical sense.
In general, it will be helpful to take these technical considerations with a loose grasp. We can respect the lunar spirits by not getting too wrapped up in borders.
I have been drawn to working with the stations in a sidereal context, personally. I’ll explain the motivations and technical details in more length later, but for now here are the key foundations of the approach I have taken:
I ground the stations in their indicator stars. The stations are regions of the sky which are interpreted via their indicators so, for me it makes the most sense to apply those interpretations to the areas the indicators actually inhabit.
I start with the equal sized stations but don’t end there. If we divide the ecliptic into 28 equal parts we end up with each station taking up 12 degrees, 51 minutes, 25 seconds, 714 milliseconds…it’s a nightmare. So I’m not too strict about these boundaries.
Any time I encounter doubt or confusion, I return to the indicator stars as a principle. I’ll explain more about what that looks like in a technical sense next time.
Although I have focused my attention on the Moon’s presence in these stations, every element of the chart can be interpreted through the lunar zodiac.
This approach is a framework for integrating the stars into all of our astrology through.
Why “stations” and not “mansions?
In English, we have conventionally called this pattern the “lunar mansions” but I don’t really think “mansion” is a very good word to describe them by.
The Arabic word used for this concept is منزل manzil, its plural is منازل manāzil. In contemporary Arabic, the word means “dwelling” or “residence” but it originates from an Arabic root that means “to settle down.” In the past, it was used to refer to way stations used for temporary lodgings for travelers during a longer journey, and that’s what it is referring to here. The manāzil are like inns, stopovers, or truck stops that the Moon stays in on her monthly journey on the highway of the stars. The Latin word used to translate this concept was mansiō which means basically the same thing.
When the concept arrived in the English language, our ancestors chose to use our word that is a cognate to the Latin word: mansion. But mansion doesn’t really have the right energy, does it? The Moon is of the common people—would she really stay in a mansion? I feel like the Moon would be more comfortable camping in the woods on a road trip over staying in some AirBnB McMansion! For these reasons, I (and many others) have been pivoting to the word station. It feels much more in line with the Arabic.
Where are they from?
Anthropologists and historians often draw a connection between these monthly moon-focused divisions of the ecliptic in ancient India, China, and Persia. Some theorize a Babylonian origin to the system, others a Chinese or Indian. The tradition we’ve been handed via Arabic-speaking cultures shows the influence of pre-Islamic Arab starlore without a doubt. The most compelling theory to me is that the systematized 28-shape skeleton of the lunar zodiac originated in India, then spread to the Arab world via Sassanian Persia. Once arriving, the skeleton was fleshed out with Islamic culture and Arab starlore to essentially be reborn as a new system.
Perhaps they all have multiple unrelated origin points that harmonized over millenia of contact between all of these ancient cultures? But also: there appears to be a remarkably similar system used in Hawaiian culture, clear on the other side of the planet [1] and I’ve seen a number of other very similar systems in other cultures as well. Maybe it’s just natural for people to track time via the Moon’s phases and presence among the stars?
A Station Stroll
2023 was far from my introduction to this concept. As far as I can tell from my notes, I elected my first working with the lunar stations in 2019, at least a few months after encountering the lunar mansions chapters of Picatrix. For my introduction, I used a station that has become one of my strongest allies: the 7th station, al-Dhirā’ “the Forearms.” I used it to make a paper talisman and an infused oil made of plantain, comfrey, and colloidal oats. At that point I was fully immersed in my nascent studies of talismanic astromagic and had made stone, metal, and paper talismans for several of the traditional planets, following the instructions laid out in Picatrix and interpreted by Christopher Warnock and others, but I could not shake off the enticement of the stations.
In the following three years, I produced several more talismans following recipes in Picatrix. I even started experimenting with various kinds of experimental talismans and materiae. I learned that during certain stations, especially my comrade Dhirā’, you can make potent herbal medicines. I learned all I could about the history of this system, as well as its sisters and cousins in other cultures. Slowly this project revealed itself to me in its present form: the station stroll.
Modeled after the Decan Walks popularized by folks like T Susan Chang, the Station Stroll is a framework for meeting the Moon in all 28 of her stations over the course of a year. The structure of the year and the stately, regular motion of the Sun makes it easy to approach the decans in a systematic way. Our erratic Moon doesn’t lend herself to anything so neat, but I followed divination and the urges of my spirit to find a way to invoke the spirits of all 28 lunar stations over the course of the year. My goals were the following:
To request the audience of the spirit inhabiting each of the 28 lunar stations and journal my impressions of them and take note of anything the revealed to me. In other words: gather personal gnosis on each station.
To develop a specific relationship with the spirit inhabiting my natal lunar station by invoking them every month in their different phases throughout the year. I wanted to know how a given station’s spirit may appear differently depending on the Moon’s phase when she reaches that station. Who else would be better to study in this depth than the one in charge of me?
To find out what would happen when I had completed my own introductions to all 28 of these spirits.
I called this a “stroll” as a lunar synonym for the more solar “walk.” To me, A Walk refers to something with a more purposeful direction, whereas A Stroll has an air of leisurely wandering.
We might walk to the store or walk through the park, but I wanted this stroll to look more like wandering off into the forest. This stroll would be more circuitous and roving. We might stop for a rest under a tree or spend an hour investigating the mosses growing on the stones. We might end up getting lost, or even retracing our steps back to where we started in the first place.
This project was a profound experience that touched my life in many ways I didn’t exactly expect, and I’m so grateful for all the people who have showed up with me throughout the process. I could have never done this alone without being able to discourse with my loved ones. I’d like to especially acknowledge the extensive contributions to this project made by my partners, Eli and River, who were my gnosis companions at every step.
I would also have never worked this out without the hours of conversation, explanation, and encouragement with fellow astrologers. I’m especially thankful to Chloe’s insight on the nitty-gritty of stellar gnosis gathering, Ione’s sharing of their own extensive gnosis of the stations and their stars, Hawk’s contributions to both the ritual and technical elements of this work, and Héloïse’s love for the 28-fold pattern and desire to make it accessible. Finally, this project could have never arrived in its current form without the contribution of the mystery club and everyone else who barked and howled at the Moon with me in 2023.
Welcome to the project! I look forward to sharing more next time.
Notes
[1] Here’s an infographic I found on the Hawaiian “stations.” It is essentially a lunar zodiac where each day of the Moon is assigned to the region of the stars the Moon is in. Tell me more about this in the comments on Substack if you know anything else!