(59) Lunar Mansions: An Introduction

The knowledge of Lunar Mansions is one of the oldest techniques of classical Hindu Astrology. For centuries, though, it was unused in Western Astrology

Then the poet William Butler Yeats wrote a book called "A Vision," which is an analysis and interpretation of channeled information that came through his wife. At the time of his writing this book he thought of it as a way of describing personality types only, and was unaware that he had also written one of the most important astrology manuals of the 20th century. When I first read it over 30 years ago I started testing out Yeats' information on charts, and was astounded at the vividness and accuracy of the information. I thought seriously of writing a book for astrologers on how to use Yeats' book, but I was involved in too many other things and never got around to it. After several years a book called "Phases of the Moon" by Dorthy Wergin and Marilyn Busteed came out. They had had the same idea as me, and did a great job of translating Yeats into astrologese.

The history of Yeats writing "A vision" is told, at least partially in the introduction to that book, and is quite interesting and worth looking into, if you have the time and energy. You can order it through Amazon.com.

There are 28 Lunar mansions. The first Lunar Mansion begins at the exact location of the Sun in a chart, and each successive Lunar Mansion occurs every 12 degree and 51 minute intervals. What we are interested in finding out is the Lunar Mansion in which the Moon falls in a chart.

To calculate which Lunar Mansion the Moon is in in, measure the exact distance from the Sun counterclockwise through the zodiac to the Moon then refer to the table below.

0 degrees 00 minutes – 12 degrees 51 minutes=phase 1
12 degrees 51 minutes – 25 degrees 42 minutes=phase 2
25 degrees 42 minutes – 38 degrees 33 minutes=phase 3
38 degrees 33 minutes – 51 degrees 26 minutes=phase 4
51 degrees 26 minutes – 64 degrees 17 minutes=phase 5
64 degrees 17 minutes – 77 degrees 08 minutes=phase 6
77 degrees 08 minutes – 90 degrees 00 minutes=phase 7
90 degrees 00 minutes – 102 degrees 51 minutes=phase 8
102 degrees 51 minutes – 115 degrees 42 minutes=phase 9
115 degrees 42 minutes – 128 degrees 33 minutes=phase 10
128 degrees 33 minutes – 141 degrees 26 minutes=phase 11
141 degrees 26 minutes – 154 degrees 17 minutes=phase 12
154 degrees 17 minutes – 167 degrees 08 minutes=phase 13
167 degrees 08 minutes – 180 degrees 00 minutes=phase 14
180 degrees 00 minutes – 192 degrees 51 minutes=phase 15
192 degrees 51 minutes – 205 degrees 42 minutes=phase 16
205 degrees 42 minutes – 218 degrees 33 minutes=phase 17
218 degrees 42 minutes – 231 degrees 26 minutes=phase 18
231 degrees 26 minutes – 244 degrees 17 minutes=phase 19
244 degrees 17 minutes – 257 degrees 08 minutes=phase 20
257 degrees 08 minutes – 270 degrees 00 minutes=phase 21
270 degrees 00 minutes – 282 degrees 51 minutes=phase 22
282 degrees 51 minutes – 295 degrees 42 minutes=phase 23
295 degrees 42 minutes – 308 degrees 33 minutes=phase 24
308 degrees 33 minutes – 321 degrees 26 minutes=phase 25
321 degrees 26 minutes – 334 degrees 17 minutes=phase 26
334 degrees 17 minutes – 347 degrees 08 minutes=phase 27
347 degrees 08 minutes – 360 degrees 00 minutes=phase 28

In the next few blogs I will be describing in order the significance of each of these Lunar Mansions.