[S]he of all the Planets has the greatest similitude and correspondance with inferior things...to pass by her daily effects which she causes in all things here, and the frequent revolutions about the Elements and Elementary Bodies by reason of the nearness of her Orb to the Earth, and smaller circle than any other Planet; so she seems a Mediatrix between Superior and Inferior Bodies.

In horary astrology the Moon, unless it is a significator of the quesited (thing or person asked about) is always the co-significator of the querent (person asking the question). Certainly, the Moon is also widely used in electional astrology and astrological magic for timing events, actions and magical rituals and astrological talismans.
Often the monthly phases of the Moon are used for timing, particularly in timing magic. Modern western astrologers are probably less familiar with the monthly cycle of the Mansions of the Moon. The lunar mansions, known as the nakshastras, are a key component of Vedic astrology, but they were also significant in medieval Arabic astrology where they were passed to Western Europe as part of the reception of the Arabic New Science in the 12th and 13th centuries.
The eleventh century Arabic astronomer/astrologer Al-Biruni writes that as the Zodiac, which is the course of the Sun throughout the year, is divided into twelve signs, so also the monthly path of the Moon among the fixed stars is divided into twenty eight daily stations, the Mansions of the Moon. Al-Biruni, Book of Instructions in the Elements of Astrology [Ghaznah, 1029] trans. R. Wright London, Luzac, translation originally published 1934, Ballantrae, undated reprint §164, page 81. Thus the Lunar Mansions are, in effect, a Lunar Zodiac. The Arabic Mansions of the Moon, used by medieval and Renaissance astrologers and magicians, are a twenty-eight fold division of the monthly orbit of the Moon as opposed to the Indian Vedic system of twenty seven nakshastras.

3rd Mansion Talisman

According to Richard Hinckley Allen, to the Arabs the mansions were known as Al Nujum al Ahdh, the Stars of Entering or Al Ribatat, the Roadside Inns. They were best known, however, as Al Manazil al-Qamar, the Mansions or Resting Places of the Moon, as manzil originally referred to the noonday halt of camel and rider in the desert. Richard Hinckey Allen, Star Names and Their Meanings [1899] New York, NY, Dover, 1963, page 8.
The Mansions were used in traditional, that is pre-1700 European, astrology for electing appropriate times for various activities. We can see this in the famous grimoire Picatrix in this extract, on the Mansions of the Moon. Thus we note that, for example, that Mansions 1, 5, 11, 13, 21 and 28 help journeys and voyages while mansions 9, 15 and 16 hinder them (14 hinders journeys by land). If we wished to take a trip, therefore, we would select a time when the Moon was in an appropriate Mansion and avoid times when she was in a Mansion that hindered travel.
However, the predominant use of the Mansions of the Moon in traditional astrology was for the creation of astrological talismans. Here is another extract from Picatrix providing instructions for specific talismans for each of the 28 Mansions by explaining the purpose of talisman, an image for the talisman, materials for its construction, appropriate incense, a short invocation and, very importantly, the name of the lord of each Mansion. Here are a number of examples of actual electional charts for talismans using the Mansions of the Moon. Each of them comes from Picatrix.
The first three are examples of using the constellational boundaries of the Mansions:

9th Mansion

6th Mansion Love Talisman
15th Lunar Mansion-Friendship Talisman
11th Lunar Mansions-Respect Talisman

The rest use the Tropical Zodiac boundaries, which was the predominant method of finding the boundaries of the Mansions in traditional astrology:

13th Mansion talisman for love
17th Mansion anti-theft talisman
25th Mansion ecological talisman
3rd Mansion talisman for good things
5th Mansion talisman for favor from kings and divinatory dreams
16th Mansion talisman for prosperity
11th & 12th Mansion talismans for power & victory
26th Mansion love talisman
13th Mansion love & sex talisman

Generally the Mansions were used for electional astrology and for astrological talismans. However, in Astromagia, a text of medieval Arabic astrological magic translated at the court of Alphonso the Wise of Castile, we have a listing of the Natal Moon in her Mansions, indicating what it means to be born with the Moon in a particular mansion. The complete Astromagia mansion listings of elections, talismans and natal Mansion placements can only be found in my Mansions of the Moon Mini-Course.



Tropical versus Constellational Mansions

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There are a variety of different methods for locating the boundaries of the lunar Mansions. The most famous grimoire of astrological magic, the Picatrix, orients the 28 Mansions to the Tropical Zodiac traditionally used by traditional Arabic and European astrologers. The Tropical Zodiac is based on the Sun and the Seasons of the year, with the Sun entering Aries on the Spring Equinox, the first day of Spring, entering Cancer on Midsummer's Day, the Summer Solstice, entering Libra on the Autumnal Equinox and entering Capricorn on the Winter Solstice.

14th Mansion

In the Tropical mansions, the first Mansion began with Aries, the 8th Mansion with Cancer, the 15th Mansion with Libra and the 22nd Mansion with Capricorn. These tropical Mansions are regular in size, approximately 12 degrees and 51 minutes. The Vedic astrology of India uses a sidereal Zodiac in which the Mansions are again regular and of equal size, approximately 13 degrees and 20 minutes. The beginning of Aries in the sidereal Zodiac is oriented not to the Seasons, but to the fixed stars which move very slowly, approximately a degree every 72 years due to the precession of the equinoxes.
Despite the effectiveness and accuracy of the Tropical Zodiac, many moderns reject it on philosophical grounds because they feel it does not correspond to the "real stars" With the regard to the Mansions they insist that a constellational Zodiac, that is a Zodiac based completely on the material stars is the only possible method. The constellational Mansions therefore are based on the location of certain fixed stars and are highly irregular in shape.
Al-Biruni, the noted medieval Arabic astrologer, notes that the constellational Mansions were used by the Arabs for weather prediction, and says, "The Arabs, being illiterate people could not recognize the Lunar [Mansions] except by fixed marks, visible to the eye. Therefore they marked the [Mansions] by those fixed stars which lie within them." Chronology of the Ancient Nations, Sachau trans. at 336.
Al-Biruni then says that, "...the Arabs attribute all meteorological changes to the influence of the rising and setting of the stars, in consequence of their ignorance of physical sciences, thinking that all changes of the kind depend on the bodies of their stars and their rising, not upon certain portions of the celestial globe [ie the Zodiac] and the Sun's marching therein..." Chronology of the Ancient Nations, Sachau trans. at 336-337.
Al-Biruni goes on to say that, "...the nature of pecularities which are attributed to the first [Mansion]...are peculiar to the first part of Aries and never leave this place, although the star (or stars which form the Lunar [Mansion]) may leave it. In a similar way all that is peculiar to Aries does not move away from the place of Aries, although the constellation of Aries does move away." Chronology of the Ancient Nations Sachau, trans. at 338.
The constellational Mansions exert an almost uncanny fascination for moderns since they follow the "actual" stars. Because of the influence of materialistic science, even when doing magic and astrology, both spiritual sciences, moderns wish to apply materialistic concepts and theory. Because they cannot see the action of the Mansions arising from anything other than some sort of rays or beams or field from the physical stars themselves there is an immediate tendency to embrace the constellational mansions. There was certainly a strand of traditional astrology that followed along these lines, but the majority of traditional astrologers and magicians took a more Platonic approach that saw the regular, even harmony of the Tropical Mansions as reflecting the perfection of higher spiritual realities, which are distorted and imperfect in their material manifestation.
While I follow my illustrious predecessors in preferring the Tropical Mansions, In my books and courses, here are both boundaries of both the Tropical and constellational mansions so you can experiment with both and decide for yourself!

Constellational Mansions

The current positions of the Mansions of the Moon, based on the location in the tropical Zodiac of their indicator stars for 2010, with their Arabic names as given by Al-Biruni are as follows:

1. Al-Sharatain 3 Taurus to 18 Taurus. 2. Al-Butain 18 Taurus to 29 Taurus. 3. Al-Thuraiya 29 Taurus-10 Gemini. 4. Al-Dabaran 10 Gemini to 24 Gemini. 5. Al-Haqa 24 Gemini to 9 Cancer. 6. Al-Hana 9 Cancer to 20 Cancer. 7. Al-Dhira 20 Cancer to 7 Leo.	15. Al Ghafr 4 Scorpio to 15 Scorpio. 16. Al-Zubana 15 Scorpio to 3 Sagittarius. 17. Al-Iklil 3 Sagittarius to 10 Sagittarius. 18. Al-Qalb 10 Sagittarius to 24 Sagittarius. 19. Al-Shaulah 24 Sagittarius to 13 Capricorn. 20. Al-Naaim 13 Capricorn to 16 Capricorn. 21. Al-Baldah 16 Capricorn to 4 Aquarius.
8. Al-Nathrah 7 Leo to 18 Leo. 9. Al-Tarf 18 Leo to 28 Leo. 10. Al-Jabhah 28 Leo to 12 Virgo. 11. Al-Zubrah 12 Virgo to 22 Virgo. 12. Al-Sarfah 22 Virgo to 27 Virgo. 13. Al-Awwa 27 Virgo to 24 Libra. 14. Al-Simak 24 Libra to 4 Scorpio.	22. Sa'd al-Dhabih 4 Aquarius to 12 Aquarius. 23. Sa'd Bula 12-23 Aquarius. 24. Sa'd al Suud 23 Aquarius to 4 Pisces. 25. Sa'd al-Akhbiyah 4-23 Pisces. 26. Al Fargh al-Awwal 23 Pisces to 9 Aries. 27. Al Fargh al-Thani 9 Aries to 0 Taurus. 28. Batn al-Hut 0-3 Taurus.

Tropical Mansions

Here are the later tropical regular mansions from Cornelius Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Book Two, Chapter 33,

1. Alnath, 0 Aries to 12 Aries 51 2. Allothaim or Albochan 12 Aries 51 to 25 Aries 42 3. Achaomazon or Athoray, 25 Aries 42 to 8 Taurus 34. 4. Aldebaram1 8 Taurus 34 to 21 Taurus 25. 5. Alchatay or Albachay, 21 Taurus 25 to 4 Gemini 17. 6. Alhanna or Alchaya, 4 Gemini 17 to 17 Gemini 8 7. Aldimiach or Alarzach, 17 Gemini 8 to 0 Cancer.

15. Agrapha or Algarpha 0 Libra to 12 Libra 51. 16. Azubene or Ahubene 12 Libra 51 to 25 Libra 42. 17. Alchil, 25 Libra 42 to 8 Scorpio 34. 18. Alchas or Altob, 8 Scorpio 34 to 21 Scorpio 25 19. Allatha or Achala3 21 Scorpio 25 to 4 Sagittarius 17 20. Abnahaya, 4 Sagittarius 17 to 17 Sagittarius 8 21. Abeda or Albeldach, 17 Sagittarius 8 to 0 Capricorn

8. Alnaza or Anatchtraya, 0 Cancer to 12 Cancer 51. 9. Archaam or Arcaph, 12 Cancer 51 to 25 Cancer 42 10. Algelioche or Albgebh, 25 Cancer 42 to 8 Leo 34 11. Azobra or Ardurf 8 Leo 34 to 21 Leo 25 12. Alzarpha or Azarpha, 21 Leo 25 to 4 Virgo 17 13. Alhaire, 4 Virgo 17 to 17 Virgo 8 14. Achurethor Arimet2 17 Virgo 8 to 0 Libra

22. Sadahacha or Zodeboluch4 O Capricorn to 12 Capricorn 51 23. Zabadola or Zobrach, 12 Capricorn 51 to 25 Capricorn 42 24. Sadabath or Chadezoad, 25 Capricorn 42 to 8 Aquarius 34 25. Sadalbracha or Sadalachia, 8 Aquarius 34 to 21 Aquarius 25 26. Alpharg or Phragol Mocaden, 21 Aquarius 25 to 4 Pisces 17 27. Alcharya or Alhalgalmoad, 4 Pisces 17 to 17 Pisces 8 28. Albotham or Alchalcy, 17 Pisces 8 to 0 Aries

¹Also Aldelamen.
²Also Azimeth, Alhumech or Alcheymech.
³Also Hycula or Axala.
⁴Also Zandeldena.

I also provide a more detailed listing of the tropical mansions, their names and uses at Lunar Mansions in the Magus. A complete introduction to the Mansions, plus an ephemeris for 2006-2018, English translations of the complete Picatrix sections on the Mansions, 28 black and white Mansions images by Nigel Jackson and much more can be found in my book Mansions of the Moon, published by Renaissance Astrology.

Mansions of the Moon Mini-Course & Astrological Magic Full Course

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The Mansions of the Moon Mini-Course on CD is a fully self contained course that requires no knowledge of magic or astrology. The Mini-Course provides a complete introduction to the 28 Mansions of the Moon. The Course includes a free copy of the Mansions of the Moon book and Mansion Tracker, the lunar Mansions software
Also included are 28 black and white and hi-res color Mansion images from Picatrix by the renowned occult researcher and artist Nigel Jackson which students can download and use to make their own talismans. Complete instructions for talisman ritual and consecration are provided.
Students of the Mansions Mini-Course receive a discount on the full Astrological Magic Course which includes the Mansions Mini-Course!





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