working the sidereal stations

a technical guide to my approach (with tutorials!)

Nov 04, 2024

We have arrived, my friends!

Later on this month, we will be beginning our stroll with the 3rd lunar station:

Thurayyā • ثريا indicated by the Pleiades

There are two variant systems for ordering the stations. The most popular one starts with Sharaṭain, the first stars of Aries, but the (likely) more ancient one starts with Thurayyā, the Pleiades (the 3rd station when starting from Sharaṭain). The Babylonians started their proto-zodiac with the Pleiades as the first asterism, after all. Perhaps this variant numbering system has a lineage that eventually connects back to them? Perhaps we could say that Sharaṭain is the mathematically first station, while Thurayyā is more like their spiritual origin? That’s how I read it.

Before we start, though, I have one more little gift to share with y’all!

M16, the Eagle Nebula, via arnauld girault

Over on my website, I have built for you a technical guide to working with the sidereal stations.

I start off outlining the foundational theoretical principles I have chosen to orient myself to this system. I advocate a nondogmatic approach as always.

I used this space to distill the way I engage with the stations into 4 foundational principles:

I use equal-sized sidereal boundaries
I return to the stars in all cases and follow their lead
I use divination to solve problems that arise
I start with the Moon but don’t end with her

I also prepared two tutorials for finding the stations in your nativity (or any other chart) using Astro-Seek and Astro Gold.

And I finished it out with a couple of cheat sheets and reference charts. Hopefully these can help my readers visualize and conceptualize the sidereal approach I’m advocating.

For the tutorials, check out my website.

Would you let me leave you with my most used reference chart? Use it to eyeball which stations your tropical chart placements fall into. A good place to start would be the degree of your natal Moon!