Al-Sharatain

Definition

Al-Sharatain is the first of the twenty-eight Arabic lunar mansions (manazil al-qamar) — the segment that opens Aries, running from 0 to roughly 12 degrees 51 minutes under the standardised, equal-width division. Its name means "The Two Signs," after the two bright stars Beta and Gamma Arietis — Sheratan and Mesarthim — which mark the head and horn of the constellation Ram. Those stars were the anchor for this mansion in early Arabic astronomy, before the twelve-sign zodiac took hold.

In Tradition

In Arabic and medieval Latin electional work — choosing a favourable moment to begin something — Al-Sharatain is read as the mansion that opens the lunar cycle, so it carries the meanings of beginnings, journeys, and bold, assertive action. The Picatrix tradition links it to operations of separation, hindrance, and travel-magic, and Warnock places it first in the twenty-eight-mansion talisman cycle.

In Practice

You read the Moon as occupying Al-Sharatain when its longitude falls in early Aries. In electional work the mansion is chosen for ventures that need boldness, for the start of journeys, or for operations of separation; its Picatrix talisman use centres on hindering and binding enemies. Its fixed stars Sheratan and Mesarthim are tracked for their heliacal rising and setting — their first and last visibility near the Sun — to sharpen the chosen moment. Because Al-Sharatain begins the lunar cycle, it also serves as the reference mansion against which the meanings of the later mansions are calibrated. Modern practice uses the equal 12-degree-51-minute division beginning at 0 Aries; anchoring instead to the true position of Beta Arietis drifts over time with precession.

Historical Origin

The mansion is listed by name in Al-Biruni's Kitab al-Tafhim (c. 1029), and the Latin Picatrix (1256, completed at the court of Alfonso the Wise) preserves its talisman use. Warnock 2019 gathers the Arabic and Latin sources into a working modern reference.

Further Reading

• Al-Biruni, Kitab al-Tafhim
• Christopher Warnock, The Mansions of the Moon
• John Michael Greer & Christopher Warnock, Picatrix (Ghayat al-Hakim)