Lunar Mansion Report, March 17, 2025 to March 23rd, 2025

  This is an entry in a continuing series of posts looking at the Moon's position and condition in the week ahead with an eye to the Mansions of the Moon. This is an exercise to help track the speed of the Moon, organize my thoughts on the Mansions, and think about the practical applications. 

All times are for me locally, United States Pacific Time. I will be making note of the Moon's phase, speed, and Mansion position in my assessment. Currently, I'm not considering aspects with other planets.

Lunar Mansion Report, March 17, 2025 to March 23rd, 2025.

Monday, March 17th, 2025. The Moon is in Alichlil, the Crown of the Scorpion, when March 17th begins and she will remain in that Mansion for a good part of March 17th. At 4:54PM the Moon will make ingress into the next Mansion, Alcalb, the Heart of the Scorpion. The phase is Waning Gibbous which is strong for works of diminishment and erosion.

The Moon will transit across Alichlil from 3:46PM on March 16th until 5:54PM on March 17th. This a period of 26 hours and 8 minutes, which means she is slow. After Alichlil, the Moon will be in Alcalb from 5:54PM on March 17th until 7:58PM on March 18th. This is 26 hours and 4 minutes, 4 minutes less time than the previous Mansion and so she is accelerating. A slow Moon can make magical effects more enduring but may also delay when they come about. 

The wrathful powers of Alichlil are isolating cities (Gayat al Hakim), to improve deception, and to besiege cities and villages (Latin Picatrix). The power of expelling thieves will be listed as a beneficial power and a wrathful power.  

The image of Aliklil in the Latin Picatrix is a monkey holding its hands up above its shoulders. I imagine this gesture to resemble a criminal putting their hands up at being apprehended. The monkey and its ability to imitate is a symbol for deception. 

Aliklil is the second half of the Via Combustua which is difficult for the Moon and adds to the wrath of this Mansion. 

The wrathful powers of Alcalb include creating disagreements among partners (Gayat al Hakim), to conspire against kings, vengeance against enemies, to separate friends, to expel serpents and harmful creatures from a house (Latin Picatrix), and to inflict quarrels and discord (Celestial Magic).

The image for Alcalb in the Latin Picatrix is an adder with its tail above its head. A venomous snake is dangerous enough but with its tail above its head it takes on the defensive qualities of a scorpion and so cannot be attacked from in front or in the rear. 

The Moon continues to transit across Alcalb for the rest of March 17th. 

Tuesday, March 18th, 2025. When the clock strikes midnight and March 18th begins, the Moon is in Alcalb, the Heart of the Scorpion. The Moon continues through Alcalb until 7:58PM at which point she moves into Axaula, the Sting of the Scorpion. The phase is Waning Gibbous which makes the Moon wrathful and is best for works of loss and decline.

The Moon will transit through Alcalb for 26 hours and 4 minutes which is slow. She will move through Axaula for 25 hours and 54 minutes. Since this is 8 minutes faster, the Moon is accelerating. A slow Moon may delay the effects of magical works but may also make them last longer. 

The wrathful powers of Axaula are isolating cities, defeating enemies, making a person lose all his money, separation and alienation, breaking and destroying ships, creating discord between partners (Gayat al Hakim), to besiege cities and take them, to destroy the wealth of whoever you please, to expel men from a place, to separate and destroy the wealth of allies, to break and destroy ships (Latin Picatrix), and to annul contracts (Shams al Marif). 

The image in the Latin Picatrix for Axaula is a woman with her hands covering her face. The special power of Axaula is as a purgative, especially to bring on menstrual bleeding. Repulsion, expulsion, and forceful pushing are all under the influence of Axaula. The gesture of a woman covering her face is one of despair.

The Moon remains in Axaula for the rest of March 18th. 

Wednesday, March 19th, 2025. March 19th begins with the Moon in Axaula, The Sting of the Scorpion. The Moon continues through Axaula until 9:52PM and then steps into Alnaym, the Beam or The Ostriches. The phase is Waning Gibbous which is best for works of subtraction and division. 

The Moon will be in Axaula from 7:58PM on March 18th until 9:52PM on March 19th. The Moon is slow but accelerating, spending 8 minutes less in Axaula than the previous Mansion. In turn, she spends 25 hours and 32 minutes in Alnaym, 22 minutes less than Axaula but still slow. A slow Moon may delay the effects of magical works but may also make them more enduring. 

The Moon will spend the last two hours of March 19th in Alnaym. 

Thursday, March 20th, 2025. March 20th begins with the Moon in Alnaym, the Beam or the Ostriches. The Moon will be in Alnaym for nearly all of March 20th, moving out at 11:24PM. It is then that she moves into Albelda, the Wasteland. The Moon's phase is Waning Gibbous. This brings out the wrathful powers of the Moon and is best for workings of degradation and decay.

It will take the Moon 25 hours and 32 minutes to get through Alnaym. This is 22 minutes less than the previous Mansion which means she is slow and accelerating. A slow Moon may make the effects of magical workings take longer to manifest but may also make them more enduring. 

The wrathful powers of Alnaym include worsening the situation of partners (Gayat al Hakim), to bring evil and destruction to the riches of allies (Latin Picatrix), to bring about imprisonment and containment, and destroy ill-gotten gains (Celestial Magic).

The image of Alnaym in the Latin Picatrix is a centaur shooting a bow. The power ascribed to it is for finding and taking whatever you hunt. It is also for taming wild beasts. 

The Moon will spend the last 36 minutes of March 20th in Albelda. 

Friday March 21st, 2025. The entirety of March 21st has the Moon in Albelda, the Wasteland. The phase is Waning Gibbous but this is the last day of that phase during this cycle. A Waning Gibbous Moon lends strength to works of lessening and diminishment. 

The Moon will transit through Albelda from 11:24PM on March 20th until 12:28AM on March 22nd. This is 25hours and 4 minutes which means the Moon is in a slow period but it is 28 minutes less than the previous Mansion so she is accelerating. A slow Moon may prolong the effects of magic but may also slow down those effects taking place.

The wrathful powers of Albelda are for a wife to divorce and never remarry (Gayat al Hakim), to separate wives from their proper husbands, destruction of a place (Latin Picatrix), for the destruction of a person (Agrippa), and creating enmity, hostility, divisiveness, and everything calamitous (Shams al Marif).

The image for Albelda in the Latin Picatrix is a man with a face like Janus, with one face on the front and another face on the back of the head. Janus was the Roman god of the threshold, the place in between, and marked passages. In my experience Albelda is a Mansion of waiting, holding, and immobility.

March 21st ends with the Moon in Aldelda. 

Saturday, March 22nd, 2025. The Moon is near the end of Albelda, the Wasteland, when March 22nd begins. Less than a half hour later she will move into the next Mansion, Sadahaca, the Lucky Star of the Slaughterers, at 12:28AM. She remains in Sadahaca for the remainder of March 22nd. A few hours later, at 3:28AM she makes the square aspect with the Sun and the phase changes from Waning Gibbous to Waning Crescent. A Waning Gibbous Moon is best for works of decline and diminishment. A Waning Crescent is best for works of abrupt endings and cutting off. 

The Moon will be in Sadahaca from 12:28AM on March 22nd until 12:54AM on March 23rd. This is a  period of 24 hours and 26 minutes which is 30 minutes less than the previous Mansion so she is slow and getting faster. A slow Moon may delay the effects of magic but may also make the effects more enduring. 

The wrathful powers of Sadahaca include separation between kings and wazirs (Ibn Hatim), separation of spouses and lovers, for a woman to be raped and discord between partners (Gayat al Hakim), to bind tongues against slander (Latin Picatrix), evil (Liber Luneae), and to agitate rulers into wrath and to hide secrets (Shams al Marif). 

The image for this Mansion in the Latin Picatrix is "the figure of a man with winged feet wearing a helmet", a very Mercurial image. Considered together with the title of this Mansion, The Lucky Star of the Slaughterers, this Mansion has connotations of spiritual communication. The slaughterers are those who make the animal sacrifice to the gods. During this Mansion making entreaties to heaven and making offerings to seek favors and boons are greatly enhanced as are devotional acts of giving. 

The Moon is in Sadahaca at the end of March 22nd. 

Sunday, March 23rd, 2025. The Moon is in Sadahaca, the Lucky Star of the Slaughterers when March 23rd begins but will be there for less than an hour. Then, at 12:54AM she moves into Zaadebola, the Lucky Star of the Devourers. The phase is Waning Crescent, which is wrathful, and is best for works of destruction and endings. 

The Moon will transit across Zaadebola from 12:54AM on March 23rd until 12:37AM on March 24th. This is a period of 23 hours and 43 minutes, technically slow but close to an average time for the Moon to cross a Mansion. A slow Moon may slow down the manifestation of magical effects but may also make them more enduring.

A wrathful Zaadebola has the strength to impose ruin and disease on whomever you wish (Ibn Hatim), damaging assets, causing estrangement between spouses (Gayat al Hakim), divide husbands from their wives, destruction and devastation (Latin Picatrix), and to inflict destruction and wasting (Celestial Magic).

The image for Zaadebola in the Latin Picatrix is a cat with a dog’s head. The head and the body are at odds, each wanting to do violence to the other. Ultimately, neither is left the winner. Pitting a group against its leaders for the purpose of destroying the entire group would be a wrathful work that is strengthened in this Mansion. 

The Moon ends March 23rd with the Moon in Zaadebola.