The 28 lunar mansions · 21st of 28
Al-Balda البلدة
The town, the void. A theme of open ground and foundation; space to build and plant.
- Its stars
- a patch of sky almost empty of stars, beside Sagittarius
- Where it lies
- 17°09′ Sagittarius to 0°00′ Capricorn, as Baghdad counted it
- How often
- The Moon passes through about every 27⅓ days and stays roughly a day
- Next visit
- Calculating…
Born with the Moon in Al-Balda
You are a founder. 'The town', an empty stretch of sky, was a station of open ground and foundations, and you see space where others see nothing.
Gifts
Vision, independence, a builder's eye
Watch for
Loneliness on the paths you open
A theme your life returns to. Building from scratch is your theme. You do your best work where there is room to plant something new.
A night in Al-Balda
The astrologers of Baghdad chose the night for a task by the Moon's mansion. For Al-Balda the old lists say:
Good for
- building
- sowing
- buying land
- major purchases
Better left for another night
- hiring staff (Picatrix)
A thought for the night I clear a little space, at home or in my mind, for something new.
The readings are modern, drawn from each station's traditional name and meaning. They describe tendencies, not events, and are offered for reflection and fun.
Sources
- Al-Bīrūnī, The Book of Instruction in the Elements of the Art of Astrology (1029), the chapter on the lunar mansions. Translated by R. Ramsay Wright (1934).
- Picatrix (Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm), Book I, chapter 4: the 28 mansions and the works begun in each.
- Ibn Abī l-Rijāl (Haly Abenragel), The Distinguished Book on the Judgements of the Stars, Book VII: elections by the Moon's mansion.
- Star identifications follow Paul Kunitzsch, Untersuchungen zur Sternnomenklatur der Araber (1961), and the usual modern lists.
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