Lunar mansion
A lunar mansion is one of twenty-eight divisions of the Moon's monthly path, each roughly the distance it travels in a day, used across the Arabic, Indian and Chinese traditions.
The Arabic system, the manazil, divides the zodiac into twenty-eight arcs of about twelve degrees and fifty minutes and attaches a meaning and a set of elections to each. The Moon spends about a day in every one, which makes the scheme a calendar as much as a zodiac.
It sits alongside the twelve signs rather than replacing them, and it is the older of the two frames for the Moon in several traditions. Our charts report the mansion the Moon occupied at birth.
Frequently asked
How many lunar mansions are there?
Twenty-eight in the Arabic and Indian systems, which is close to the number of days the Moon takes to circle the zodiac.
Do mansions replace the signs?
No, they run alongside them. A placement has both a sign and a mansion, and the two frames answer different questions.