The 13th Lunar Mansion
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What are the lunar mansions? Read my intro to the lunar mansions here!
13. The Thirteenth Mansion - “A Fascinus” - Al Awwa
Indicator Star: Zavijava (27° Virgo)
Zodiacal Location: 4°18’ - 17°08’ Virgo.
Natal Properties:
This lunar mansion is the only sexually explicit one in our corpus — its talismanic applications are pretty much geared towards healing sexual impotence in the Picatrix. Its name signifies “the Howling Dog”, and makes it the only lunar mansion whose star is placed under the Arabic constellation of the same name. A prolific, fertile mansion, Al Awwa oozes sexiness, abundance and the controlled provocation characteristic of the most glamorous of individuals. In it lies the power and mysteries of creation in all its glory, for everything that is fecund, that engenders life and is a constant act of self-renewal is sacred. This is why I have chosen the image of the Fascinus to represent it, following the work of Shuly Rose who has been engraving this image on some of her own 13th mansion talismans. In Ancient Rome, the Fascinus was a magical entity representing a winged phallus, known to bring prosperity, fertility and to ward of the Evil Eye and other enchantments. Embodying this fortunate spirit, those born under Al Awwa are often daring symbols of charm and sensuality who defy established norms.
A prime example of this is singer Madonna, born with the Moon at 11°33’ Virgo. A symbol of brilliance, longevity and sensuality, throughout her career Madonna has sought to push back against established norms and defy patriarchal authority — her trademark being provocative, risqué performances and lyrics in which she would sing about love, sexuality, pleasure with no guilt, but also mock established religious and political institutions. This perfectly embodies the spirit of Al Awwa — “the howling dog” — which gives both a taste for risqué and sexually explicit endeavours and an extraordinary longevity and prolific development, as attested by Madonna’s 45 (!) years-long career and counting! On a very different note, billionaire businessman Elon Musk is also a native of Al Awwa — although I don’t particularly like the man, I find it quite striking and funny that in addition to his business success (a testimony to the prolific nature of the 13th lunar mansion), he has become known for his growing obsession with fathering children from different mothers — he is reported to have at least 12 kids from three different mothers. It is rumoured that it is because he has bought into an ideology of a population and low-birth rate crisis that he (apparently) single-handedly wants to solve. Aside from these considerations, it is funny to see the fertility properties of Al Awwa jump out in such a literal way!
Electional & Talismanic Properties:
The 13th lunar mansion is known for its sexually explicit themes of “curing impotence” in men so that they are able to make love again. In my experience, this can be extended to sex in general, and an image made under Al Awwa is powerful in creating and increasing sexual desire between two people or to remedy sex drive problems. These talismans are usually potent, so if you create one make sure to 1) use it only with consenting partners, 2) don’t take it with you in situations where you don’t want things to get explicit or have sexual innuendos (at work, with platonic friends, where you might regret it later.) If you’re unsure what to do with it, simply keep it on an altar or in your bedroom!
Interestingly, Astromagia seems to refer more to Al Awwa as presiding over the “affairs of women” — is this a euphemism for sexual matters, a conflation of any “feminine” affairs with the realm of the intimate, of beauty and desire, or a genuine understanding of the 13th mansion as presiding over anything that pertains to women? Probably a mix of all three. Here’s what the text says about the talismanic applications of this mansion: “It is good for any beginning of learning, and from it comes into the world a spirit that [gives] knowledge of how to convene with women; and it is good for compounding medicines for [women], and to go to kings and to speak with them about doings of women, and to dress and cut clothes, and to go on the road; and its not good for fighting or commencing hostilities.” (Astromagia)
It’s also worth noting that in my personal experiments with this mansion, I’ve observed it is good for generally *growing* things — whether that thing is a… sexual organ, a plant/crop or even more intangible things like a fanbase/acquire followers on a social media account. If you’re gonna use Al Awwa for that purpose, just make sure that the Moon is waxing (increasing in light) when placed in this mansion to make sure that what you are aiming for will actually increase instead of decreasing.
Talismanic Image: joined red and white wax figures of two people in an embrace respectively (Picatrix), “a maiden with a beautiful face, and a man on his feet taking her hand to kiss” (Astromagia).
Good for: sex and curing sexual impotence, learning something new, anything “pertaining to women”, for commerce and growing things.
Not good for: fighting, arguing, “starting hostilities”.
Spirit/Angel: Azerut, Jazeriel, Mahyeyl.
Suffumigation: amber and lignum aloes.