Al-Thurayya

Definition

Al-Thurayya is the third of the 28 Arabic lunar mansions (manazil al-qamar), centred on the Pleiades star cluster (Alcyone, Eta Tauri). The Arabic name al-Thurayya means "the many little ones," after that bright cluster in the shoulder of Taurus, which in early Arabic astronomy marked the Moon's third nightly station. In Warnock's 2019 tropical scheme — adjusted for precession, the slow drift of the star background — the mansion runs from 25 Aries 42 to 8 Taurus 34. Ptolemy gives the Pleiades the combined planetary nature of Moon and Mars.

In Tradition

In the medieval Western mansion practice that grew out of Picatrix, Al-Thurayya is read as a mansion of mixed and disputed character. Its talisman image — a seated woman with her right hand raised — is treated as benefic in Picatrix and Agrippa, good for choosing moments for safe sailing, alchemy, hunting, and "causing love between man and wife"; yet the individual Pleiades stars have a harder reputation. Warnock's reading and Al-Biruni's description agree on the core: a third-mansion Moon-Mars station of fortune, abundance, and creative fire.

In Practice

You locate the Moon by tropical or constellational longitude and read it as being in Al-Thurayya — Mansion 3 — when it falls within the assigned bounds. Traditional electional uses include sailing, hunting, alchemy, fire-work, and love-magic between spouses; Agrippa's Three Books II.47 lists a benefic Pleiades fixed-star talisman. The mansion's ruling spirit (Agrippa names it Amixiel) is invoked when timing a talisman. In horary readings, the Moon crossing Al-Thurayya tilts the question toward Pleiades-themed fortune — abundance, beauty, creative energy — coloured by that contested benefic-or-malefic register. The anchor star's longitude must be adjusted for the chart's era: Warnock places Alcyone at 0 Gemini 15 in 2019.

Historical Origin

The 28-mansion system, with this naming, appears in Al-Biruni's Kitab al-Tafhim (c. 1029, §164) and is preserved in the Picatrix (Arabic c. 11th c., Latin c. 1256). Cornelius Agrippa elaborated its electional use in Three Books of Occult Philosophy II.33 (1531-1533), under the name Achaomazon/Athoray, and it was recovered for modern Western traditional practice through Christopher Warnock's Mansions of the Moon (2010-2019).

Further Reading

• Christopher Warnock, The Mansions of the Moon
• Al-Biruni, Kitāb al-Tafhīm
• John Michael Greer & Christopher Warnock, Picatrix