Resources / Celestial timing
Locate the Moon within the 28 lunar mansions using an approximate ecliptic division and see the Moon’s zodiacal position.
Lunar mansion
The Moon is placed in the Al Awwa mansion by an approximate 28-mansion division of the ecliptic.
Approximate zodiacal position: 13° 54′ Virgo.
Mansion correspondences differ by source tradition, so this first version identifies placement and progression before adding a fuller interpretive library.
Where the decans divide the zodiac by the Sun's year, the mansions divide it by the Moon's month. Twenty-eight stations, each roughly 12°51', mark where the Moon rests on successive nights of its circuit.
The system is best documented in the Arabic tradition as the manāzil al-qamar, though comparable lunar station schemes appear independently in Indian and Chinese astronomy — a reminder that the Moon's monthly circuit invites the same solution wherever the sky is watched carefully.
The lunar position is an approximation. The Moon moves roughly its own diameter every hour, so mansion boundaries are the place where a compact model is least reliable — verify against a precise ephemeris before acting on a boundary case.