Image of the Lion's Head (Tenth Lunar Mansion)

The tenth mansion, Algebha, the "forehead" of the Lion, spans the end of Cancer and the beginning of Leo. When the Moon enters it, the Picatrix directs the operator to make in gold, or in latten (a brass alloy), the image of a lion's head, and to write above it the name of the lord of the mansion. The image is censed with amber while the operator asks that sadness, sluggishness and infirmity be lifted. The use of gold reflects the mansion's place in the solar sign of Leo. Here, as throughout the chapter, the image is effective only because it is made at the moment the Moon occupies its station, joining the virtue of the heavens to a fitting material and form.

Purpose

According to the Picatrix, the image made when the Moon is in the tenth mansion heals illness and eases childbirth.

Timing

Lunar mansion

The moon in mansion 10 (the twenty-eight mansions)

Made when the Moon is in the 10th mansion (Algebha, approx. 25°43' Cancer to 8°34' Leo); in the tropical reckoning each mansion spans 12°51'26". The Moon passes through each mansion roughly once a month for about a day.

Materials

• gold or latten (brass)
• amber (for fumigation)

Tools

• engraving or casting tools
• censer