This page groups stars by whether medieval astrology singled them out as carrying a planet's own power. Wikipedia notes that the 11th-century polymath al-Biruni "lived at Ghazni under Mahmud of Ghazni, serving as court astrologer," in the same medieval milieu that catalogued such stars. Browsing by behenian-star lets a visitor find every star given that same special standing.
Facts
Origins
Place of OriginMesopotamian celestial omen literature and Greek astronomy, reaching the Latin West through Arabic intermediaries 2 Origin of the NameA large share of the star names in use, Aldebaran, Algol, Altair, Betelgeuse and many more, are Arabic, reaching Europe through Latin translations of Arabic astronomical works, often garbled in transmission. 3 Overview
What Defines This GroupingIndividual named fixed stars carrying an interpretive reputation in astrology, as against the constellation patterns they belong to. The set is open: no tradition fixes a canonical list, and different authors read different stars. 1 Learn More
The Fixed Stars in Astrology
The fixed stars are the individual named stars used in astrology (Aldebaran, Regulus, Antares, Sirius, Algol and the rest), distinguished from the planets by their apparently unchanging positions relative to one another. In a chart a planet or angle conjunct a notable fixed star is read as taking on that star's character.
Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos assigns each prominent star a planetary nature, Aldebaran is of the nature of Mars, Regulus of Mars and Jupiter, and the medieval Arabic and Latin traditions added magical images and used the brightest stars, the "behenian" stars, in talismanic magic.
Character and Use
The great fixed stars carry strong and often fated reputations in the tradition (Regulus the royal star of honour and downfall, Algol the most ill-omened point in the sky, Spica a star of gifts), and they are read chiefly by conjunction with the planets, the angles or the lights. Their slow movement by precession, about a degree in seventy years, means their positions must be updated over the centuries.
The atlas gives each star its position, its Ptolemaic planetary nature, and its traditional meaning and magical use. The stars sit among the finer factors of the chart alongside the decans and the constellations they belong to.
Behenian
Filter Results15 entries
Sources
1. A History of Western Astrology
2. The Heavenly Writing: Divination, Horoscopy, and Astronomy in Mesopotamian Culture
3. The Arabs and the Stars
Divinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptions
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