The 28 lunar mansions · 2nd of 28
Al-Buṭayn البطين
The little belly. A theme of quiet gathering and gestation: what is hidden begins to grow.
- Its stars
- three faint stars in the belly of the Ram (ε, δ and ρ Arietis)
- Where it lies
- 12°51′ Aries to 25°43′ Aries, 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-Buṭayn
You grow things quietly. The 'little belly' of the sky holds what is not yet visible, and you are the same: patient, private, building inside before you show anything outside.
Gifts
Patience, inner resources, a talent for nurturing
Watch for
Keeping too much to yourself for too long
A theme your life returns to. Your life tends to reward slow gathering. What you tend in private, an idea, a skill, a family, ripens into something others can see.
A night in Al-Buṭayn
The astrologers of Baghdad chose the night for a task by the Moon's mansion. For Al-Buṭayn the old lists say:
Good for
- sowing
- journeys
Better left for another night
- marriage
- hiring staff
A thought for the night I give a quiet idea time and care to grow before I show it.
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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