Corona Borealis

greek: Στέφανος Βόρειος (Stephanos Boreios) · latin: Corona Borealis; Alphecca alternate Gemma · arabic: al-Fakkah (الفكة)

Definition

Corona Borealis (Latin 'Northern Crown') is a small but distinctive horseshoe-shaped constellation between Boötes and Hercules. Its alpha star is Alphecca (Alpha Coronae Borealis, also called Gemma), the 12th of the fifteen Behenian fixed stars in the Bodleian MS. 52 tradition. The constellation's Arabic name al-Fakkah ('the broken one' or 'the dish') reflects the broken-ring shape of its arc.

In Tradition

In the fixed-star tradition Corona Borealis is read primarily through Alphecca, which carries a Venus-Mercury planetary nature in the Behenian lineage — the same double-benefic profile as Spica, signifying chastity, intellectual purity, and social harmony. Among the Behenian stars Alphecca is notable for explicitly granting friendship as part of its talismanic signification, reflecting the Northern-Crown-as-wreath social-bonding symbolism.

In Practice

When reading a chart for fixed-star influences, you note any natal planet conjunct Alphecca (currently c. 12° Scorpio per Greer's 2017 longitude). In the Behenian-talismanic tradition Alphecca is one of the fifteen stars eligible for talismanic election; the assigned correspondences are topaz as the stone, with rosemary, trefoil, and ivy as botanical correspondences, used in talismans for chastity, friendship, and divine-and-human favour. The constellation also matters in mythological-symbolic readings (the Greek Ariadne crown, the Christian Crown of Thorns) when those reception traditions are in view.

Historical Origin

Corona Borealis is part of Ptolemy's 48-constellation catalogue in the *Almagest*. The Arabic transmission preserved the alpha star as al-Fakkah and the alternate Latin name Gemma ('gem'). In the Behenian fixed-star tradition (BM Bodleian MS. 52, ff. 44-47), Alphecca is the 12th of fifteen, with Agrippa preserving the talismanic schema in *Three Books of Occult Philosophy* II.xlvii. Robson's *The Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology* (1923) gives the standard 20th-century reception.

Etymology

Origin: Latin. Meaning: Corona Borealis — 'Northern Crown' (corona, 'crown'; borealis, 'northern'). Alphecca from Arabic al-Fakkah ('the broken one' / 'the dish'). Gemma — Latin for 'gem.'.

Further Reading

  • Bernadette Brady, Brady's Book of Fixed Stars
  • Vivian Robson, The Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology
  • Claudius Ptolemy, Almagest