--- title: "Aldebaran Fixed Star: Meaning, Talisman & Election — Canopy" description: "Aldebaran astrology: al-Dabarān, the Follower, a Royal star of Mars and Venus at 10° Gemini. Its meaning, natal contacts, talisman and election in Canopy." canonical: https://canopyastro.com/aldebaran.html markdown: https://canopyastro.com/aldebaran.md date_modified: 2026-10-25 publisher: Stellar Apps LLC app: "Canopy: Arabian Astrology (iPhone, iPhone Duo and Android)" --- A Behenian star # Aldebaran, al-Dabarān: the fixed star in astrology, its talisman and its election al-Dabarān — the follower, Alpha Tauri 7 min read · From the classical sources · Updated October 25, 2026 ## Aldebaran star meaning: the Follower **Aldebaran** is the Arabic *al-Dabarān*, "the follower", named because the star seems to follow the Pleiades across the sky. That is the short answer to the Aldebaran star meaning, and it is where Aldebaran astrology begins. Canopy lists the Aldebaran fixed star under the same Arabic name, marks it Royal and gives it the natures of Mars and Venus. It is also one of the fifteen [Behenian stars](https://canopyastro.com/fixed-stars.html#the-fifteen-behenian-stars) of the talismanic tradition. The fuller old form was *Nayyir al-Dabarān*, "the bright one of the follower", and another Arabic name, *ʿAin al-Thaur*, "the eye of the Bull", fixes its place in Taurus. The fourth lunar mansion, [*al-Dabarān*](https://canopyastro.com/lunar-mansions.html#al-dabaran), is named for it, and Canopy reads that mansion as *Naḥs*. In Hindu astronomy it is identified with Rohini, "the red one", one of the [nakshatras](https://canopyastro.com/nakshatra.html); Canopy works with the Arabian mansions. ## Where the Aldebaran fixed star sits The Aldebaran fixed star degree is about 10° of tropical Gemini: 10°06′ in 2025 and 10°07′ on its star page's Current Position card on October 25, 2026, moved on for precession at 50.29″ a year. Natal contacts use the star's place on your birth date, a little past 9° Gemini in 1960. Aldebaran is Alpha Tauri, the brightest star in Taurus, but the tropical zodiac is counted from the spring equinox, which slides backward against the stars, so its degree now falls in Gemini, well past its own mansion and inside the sixth, [*al-Hanʿa*](https://canopyastro.com/lunar-mansions.html#al-hana) (4°17′–17°09′ Gemini). [Antares](https://canopyastro.com/antares.html) stands almost exactly opposite, near 10° Sagittarius. Aldebaran lies 5.47° south of the ecliptic and about 16.5° north of the celestial equator, so it can be seen from nearly everywhere people live; only beyond about 73.5° south, in Antarctica, does it never rise. Canopy shows it at magnitude 0.85. It is a red giant some 65 light-years away, in front of the Hyades rather than one of them. ## Aldebaran in astrology: a Royal star of Mars and Venus Aldebaran in astrology is read by its nature and by the points it touches. In Canopy its badge reads Royal and its planetary natures are Mars and Venus; the Today screen writes "Star nature: Mars–Venus". Ptolemy's *Tetrabiblos* gives the star of the Hyades that is "bright and somewhat reddish, called the Torch" the temperature of Mars alone. The Venus comes from the later Behenian lists, so the pairing is Canopy's, not Ptolemy's. On an Aldebaran window, the About & Correspondences page opens with the app's label, "Royal Star · Watcher of the East"; [Regulus](https://canopyastro.com/regulus.html) and Antares share the Royal label as watchers of the North and the West. The star page lists what Aldebaran is for. Seek: honor, fixed assets, wealth. Avoid: quick change, flexibility, and "workings while it stands beneath the earth". ## Aldebaran conjunct the Sun, the Moon or an angle Canopy checks Aldebaran against each natal planet, the Ascendant, the Midheaven, the Vertex and both lunar Nodes, and counts a contact within three degrees. It shows on the Chart tab under Fixed Star Conjunctions, in the Behenian group, with the orb and the Royal tag, and again on the star page under In Your Chart. The reading is the same whichever point the star touches; Canopy writes no separate text for Aldebaran conjunct the Sun, the Moon, the Ascendant or the Midheaven. Drawn from the classical sources, it gives honor, a sharp mind and military success while integrity holds, and on a natal planet "it bestows leadership ability and material success, but loss follows if you act dishonorably." The Sun reaches the star's degree around the turn of May into June, so many people born then have it near the Sun; Moon and angle contacts depend on the hour and place of birth. On transit, the Today screen's Fixed Stars card shows a transiting planet's aspect to the star within two degrees, and the full reading lists wider orbs under Fixed Star Influences. ## How to make an Aldebaran talisman In Canopy, how to make an Aldebaran talisman comes down to a red stone, a thistle and a moment. The Correspondences card, opened from any Aldebaran window, gives: - **Gemstone** (*al-Jawhar*): ruby. - **Herb** (*al-Ḥashīsha*): milk thistle. - **Planetary Nature**: Mars and Venus. The star page agrees under Stone, Plant and Planetary Natures, and its Traditional Uses line gives the purpose: "Talismans for honor, wealth, and favor with authorities, using ruby and milk thistle." Canopy names no metal and no step-by-step method, only materials and timing; the old hopes are recorded here, not promised. ## When to make an Aldebaran talisman: the Aldebaran election The tradition worked under a star as it rose or culminated, and Canopy turns that into a test of degrees. An Aldebaran window needs the star's ecliptic degree within one degree of the Ascendant or the Midheaven, never the Descendant or the IC, and the Moon applying to the star by conjunction, sextile or trine within two degrees of exact. Canopy tests the degree, not the star's light, and does not check whether Aldebaran itself has cleared the horizon. To apply within two degrees the Moon must stand between about 8° and 10° of Gemini for a conjunction, of Aries or Leo for a sextile, or of Libra or Aquarius for a trine. So her detriment and fall, Capricorn and Scorpio, never touch an Aldebaran window, and a Moon conjoining the star always lodges in *al-Hanʿa*. Five times in each circuit she spends a few hours within reach, and in those hours the star's degree must reach an angle where you are. The shared tests, set out under [fixed-star talisman windows](https://canopyastro.com/talismanic-timing.html#fixed-star-talisman-windows-in-canopy), still apply: a combust Moon, or one applying by square or opposition to one of the five planets, to an undignified Mars or Saturn, to the South Node or to an afflicted planet, sets a moment aside, and nothing is offered while Mars, Saturn, the South Node or an afflicted planet is within three degrees of the star. Algol and Alkaid are excused the test on Mars and Saturn; Aldebaran is not. A passing moment is scored out of ten: six for the Moon's conjunction or three for a sextile or trine, two for the angle, and two for a waxing Moon not void of course, one if only one holds. Every Aldebaran window therefore scores 50 to 100 percent; 70 or more is Excellent. The Royal nature adds nothing here. In Canopy's other election searches, such as for a wedding, Aldebaran on an angle helps a window and never rules one out. Each window lasts minutes, never more than thirty either side of the exact time. ### An Aldebaran window set aside, and one that passes In one imagined sky, early in June just before local noon, Aldebaran's degree is on the Midheaven and the Moon, at 9° Gemini, is closing on the star by conjunction. But the Sun is at 12° Gemini, so the Moon is combust and the moment is set aside. In another, on a May morning, the degree is rising and a waxing Moon at 9° Leo applies by sextile, not void of course, clear of the South Node and of any applying square or opposition, and Mars and Saturn are far from the star. It passes: three for the sextile, two for the Ascendant and two for the Moon make 70 percent, Excellent. ## Finding Aldebaran in Canopy Open Talismans, then Fixed Star Talismans; the Elections tab's Fixed Stars runs the same search, and there each window opens as "Aldebaran Election". The picker lists all 35 stars with their Arabic names, the fifteen Behenian stars preselected: tap None, then Aldebaran. Set the place, since the angles differ from city to city; choose up to about six months of dates; and tap Search Stars. Searching needs an active subscription. Canopy keeps the best-scored windows for each star, so expect a short list, sorted Soonest or Top Rated, with filters for the Moon, the angle and the mansion. Each opens on an Aldebaran Talisman page, al-Dabarān beneath, with its score and a TIMING block giving the exact time, the window's start and end and the hour and day rulers, then Celestial Configuration, "Why this time?" and About & Correspondences. ![Canopy on iPhone Duo in the Coffee Cream theme: the Today screen's fixed-star card, with the Moon applying by trine to a fixed star, beside that star's page with its nature badge, magnitude, planetary nature and current position](https://canopyastro.com/images/app/duo/coffee-cream/08-fixed-stars-today-800.webp) ![The same two screens in the Midnight theme: a fixed-star card on the Today screen and the star's own page, on iPhone Duo](https://canopyastro.com/images/app/duo/midnight/08-fixed-stars-today-800.webp) *Today's fixed-star card and a star's own page on iPhone Duo, here for Deneb.* See whether Aldebaran touches your chart, and find its next window. [Download on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/canopy-ancient-arabian-astro/id6780314504?pt=638207&ct=seo-in-aldebaran&mt=8&ppid=27c6fd93-918a-48f6-b7e0-0ee4b89bf83b) [Get it on Google Play](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=stellarappsllc.com.canopy&referrer=utm_source%3Dcanopyastro%26utm_medium%3Dseo%26utm_campaign%3Dinline-aldebaran&listing=timing-planets-stars) Free to download · 7-day free trial where offered · then a subscription · **Supports iPhone Duo** ## Questions **What does Aldebaran mean in astrology?** In Canopy it is a Royal fixed star of the natures of Mars and Venus, one of the fifteen Behenian stars, favoring honor, fixed assets and wealth over quick change. On a natal planet or angle the reading, drawn from the classical sources, bestows leadership ability and material success, with loss if you act dishonorably. **What does the name Aldebaran mean?** It is the Arabic *al-Dabarān*, the follower: the star seems to follow the Pleiades across the sky. Its fuller form was *Nayyir al-Dabarān*, the bright one of the follower. **What degree is Aldebaran?** About 10° of tropical Gemini: 10°06′ in 2025 and 10°07′ on Canopy's star page on October 25, 2026. It moves about one degree in 72 years, and Canopy uses its place on your birth date for natal contacts. **Is Aldebaran in Taurus or Gemini?** Aldebaran is Alpha Tauri, the brightest star in the constellation Taurus, but its degree lies near 10° of the tropical sign Gemini, because the zodiac is counted from the spring equinox, which drifts against the stars. **What does Aldebaran conjunct the Sun or Ascendant mean?** Canopy gives one reading for any contact within three degrees, to a planet, the Ascendant, the Midheaven, the Vertex or a Node: leadership ability and material success, but loss if you act dishonorably. A Sun contact is common for births around the turn of May into June. **How do you make an Aldebaran talisman?** Canopy shows the materials and the moment, not a method: ruby, milk thistle and the natures of Mars and Venus, and a window when the star's degree is within one degree of the Ascendant or the Midheaven while the Moon applies to it. It names no metal and no step-by-step method; what the tradition hoped for is recorded, not promised. **When is the best time to make an Aldebaran talisman?** In Canopy, when Aldebaran's degree is within one degree of your Ascendant or Midheaven while a waxing Moon, not void of course, applies to it within two degrees, best by conjunction; such a window can score 100 percent. Windows last minutes, so search a few months at a time. ## Keep reading - [The fixed stars](https://canopyastro.com/fixed-stars.html) — al-kawākib al-thābita - [The Pleiades](https://canopyastro.com/pleiades.html) — al-Thurayyā - [Antares](https://canopyastro.com/antares.html) — Qalb al-ʿAqrab ## The Follower still keeps its watch. Canopy sets Aldebaran and thirty-four more classical fixed stars against your chart and today's sky, and finds the minutes their degrees rise and culminate — every reading drawn from the classical sources. [Download on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/canopy-ancient-arabian-astro/id6780314504?pt=638207&ct=seo-aldebaran&mt=8&ppid=27c6fd93-918a-48f6-b7e0-0ee4b89bf83b) [Get it on Google Play](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=stellarappsllc.com.canopy&referrer=utm_source%3Dcanopyastro%26utm_medium%3Dseo%26utm_campaign%3Daldebaran&listing=timing-planets-stars) ![QR code that opens Canopy in the App Store or Google Play](https://canopyastro.com/images/qr-get-canopy.svg) On a computer? Scan with your phone's camera to get Canopy. Featured in [Thrive Insider](https://thriveinsider.com/business/canopy-ancient-arabian-astrology-app/) --- *Markdown rendering of https://canopyastro.com/aldebaran.html. Readings in Canopy are drawn from the classical Arabic sources; the HTML page is the canonical version.*