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Astrology from the House of Wisdom

The stars that advised the caliphs, now in your hands

In the summer of 762, the astrologer Nawbakht chose the hour to found Baghdad for the caliph al-Manṣūr. For centuries afterwards, scholars such as Abū Maʿshar read the sky in the city of the Abbasids, building on the astrologers of the Persian kings before them. Lazward brings their methods back to life, for you to use every day.

See tonight's Moon station Find your birth mansion

Free. No sign-up. Everything is calculated on your device; nothing is stored.

Bahram Chubina meets a lady who foretells his fate, from a Shāhnāma. Probably Isfahan, c. 1330–40. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1974.290.41, public domain. Colours gently cleaned and parts of the original set in motion; nothing has been redrawn. See the full page.

Tonight

Tonight's Moon station

Your nightly almanac from Baghdad. One look tells you which of the Moon's 28 stations we are in, and what the old astrologers thought tonight was good for.

What it is

The Moon circles the sky in about 27 days. Arab astronomers split its path into 28 stations, the manāzil al-qamar, roughly one per night, each named after the stars it passes.

Why people used it

For a thousand years, from Baghdad to Córdoba, people checked the Moon's station the way we check a forecast: to pick a night for travel, trade, a wedding or a new start.

How you can use it

Look before you plan. Use it as a prompt, not a rule. Come back each evening and you will meet all 28 stations in a month.

Taking the height of the Moon. A new painting in the style of Persian miniatures, made with AI for Lazward. Not a historical work.

Turning the heavens…

Drag the wheel to visit any station.

Calculating…

Reading the sky

This needs JavaScript to compute the Moon's position on your device.

In the tradition, a night for

    Better left for another night

      Your birth mansion

      Which station was the Moon in when you were born?

      Medieval astrologers began every birth chart here. Enter your birth date and, if you know it, the time. The wheel will turn to your mansion.

      We work out the time zone for you, including old daylight-saving rules. Nothing you enter leaves this page.

      Three skies

      Same sky, three measuring sticks

      Western astrology counts the signs from the spring equinox. Indian (Vedic) astrology counts them from the fixed stars. Baghdad knew both: Indian astronomy reached the city in the 770s, and al-Bīrūnī later compared the two traditions in his book on India. Enter your birth date above and see your birth sky measured all three ways.

      Western ζῳδιακός

      tropical zodiac

      Sun signYour core self: will, energy and the way you shine. This is the "sign" most people mean.
      —
      Moon signYour inner life: feelings, needs and what makes you feel at home. The Moon changes sign every two or three days, so it often differs from your Sun. Not the same as your rising sign.
      —
      Rising sign (ascendant)The sign rising on the eastern horizon at the minute and place you were born: how you meet the world and how others first see you. It changes about every two hours, so it needs your birth time and birthplace.
      —

      Indian (Vedic) ज्योतिष

      sidereal zodiac, Lahiri

      Sun signThe same Sun, counted from the fixed stars. In India it stands for the soul, authority and the father.
      —
      Moon signIn India this is your main sign (janma rashi): it describes the mind and emotions, and daily horoscopes there are read from it. Not the same as the lagna (rising sign).
      —
      Rising sign (lagna)The same rising degree, counted from the fixed stars. In India the lagna is the starting point of the whole chart.
      —
      Birth nakshatraYour Moon's star station, one of India's 27, cousins of the 28 mansions. It is read for temperament, and used for choosing names and matching couples.
      —

      Baghdad بغداد

      the 28 mansions of the Moon

      Birth mansionThe Moon's station at your birth, one of 28, read the Baghdad way: the theme your nature returns to.
      —
      Meaning
      —

      The nakshatra and mansion readings are modern ones, drawn from each station's traditional name and meaning. They describe tendencies, not events.

      Plan ahead

      Thinking of doing something this week? Ask the Moon.

      Type your plan in your own words, or pick one. We match it to the activities the Baghdad astrologers wrote about and tell you which days they would have chosen. Times are in your time zone.

        ✓ and ✕: the old books name your plan for that night. ○ and ◌: they don't, so we show the night's general character in the same books.

        Premium · in the app Plan a whole month, or start from a date. Pick any day and see everything the tradition favoured and warned against, with the nights matched to your own birth chart. See what's coming →

        Your Lunar Passport

        Collect the 28 mansions, one night at a time

        The Moon visits a new mansion about every night. Come back while it is there and the mansion joins your book. No sign-up, no scores to lose: it all lives in this browser.

        0night watch
        0of 28 mansions
        0longest watch

        Your title:

        Missed a night? The Moon waits. One cloudy night a week is always forgiven.

        This moon's passport

          🌑 new moon · 🌓 first quarter · 🌕 full moon · 🌗 last quarter

          The Book of Mansions ink on your first visit, colour on the second, gold on the third

            Safari and private windows can clear what a site stores. Copy your save code now and then to keep your book safe.

            The method

            Astrology that shows its work

            CALCULATED

            From the real sky

            Positions come from a modern astronomical ephemeris, accurate to about one arc-minute. Nothing is invented, nothing is generic.

            SOURCED

            From the books themselves

            Each rule comes from the scholars themselves: Abū Maʿshar, al-Bīrūnī, al-Qabīṣī, Māshāʾallāh.

            COMPARED

            Three skies, one chart

            See your sign as the West reads it, as India reads it, and your mansion as Baghdad read it, with the reason they differ. Coming soon.

            Coming in 2027 · iPhone and Android

            The Lazward app: your whole chart, read the Baghdad way

            The website stays free. The app goes further, with readings built from your full birth chart.

            Free, here and in the app

            • Tonight's Moon station, every night
            • Your birth mansion
            • Three skies: your Western and Vedic signs and your nakshatra
            • A compatibility card for two people
            • The Library of essays

            Premium

            Lazward Premium

            • Your birth chart, read as Abū Maʿshar would read it
            • Your year ahead: the planet that rules it and the time lords of your life
            • A daily message: each day, a short note on the Moon's station read against your own chart. One a day, never more.
            • Three skies in full: your rising sign and whole chart, with a full Vedic reading beside the Western and Baghdad ones
            • Plan ahead a whole month, or pick a date and see everything the tradition favoured and warned against
            • The full relationship reading
            • Your album of the 28 mansions
            In Baghdad, astrology was taught beside astronomy, mathematics and medicine. We read it the way they did: with the working shown.

            The Baghdad Library

            Essays on the stars, the scholars and the stories

            A new essay every week, illustrated with manuscripts from museum collections.

            Painting of a chained demon led between two dark figures

            Coming soon

            Siyah Qalam: the mysterious demons of the albums

            Who drew the strangest creatures in Islamic art, and why nobody is sure.

            Demon in chains, Iran or Central Asia, c. 1453. Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982.63. CC0. A painting from the same world, not by Siyah Qalam: the paintings under his name are in the Topkapı Palace albums in Istanbul.

            Mughal painting of King Solomon enthroned among angels, demons, birds and animals

            Coming soon

            Solomon, the jinn and the limits of foresight

            An old story in which even the jinn could not see what was coming.

            Allahabad, 1602. Walters Art Museum, W.650.157A. CC0.