Algorab, al-Ghurāb: the fixed star in astrology, its talisman and its election

Algorab star meaning: al-Ghurāb, the crow

Algorab is the Arabic al-ghurāb, "the crow", and the Algorab star meaning begins with the bird: the star lies in Corvus, the Crow, and its brighter neighbor Gienah takes its name from al-janāḥ, "the wing". The Algorab fixed star is one of the fifteen Behenian stars of the talismanic tradition, and in Algorab astrology it is a warning more than a gift: with Algol, it is one of only two of the fifteen that Canopy marks Malefic. Below: where it stands, how Canopy reads it in a birth chart, what an Algorab talisman is made with, and the Algorab election.

Astronomers know the star as Delta Corvi, and in 2016 the International Astronomical Union adopted Algorab as its proper name. It is not the Crow's brightest star: Gienah, Gamma Corvi, shines at magnitude 2.58, while Canopy lists Algorab at 2.94. It is a white A-type star about 87 light-years away, some 2.7 times the mass of the Sun.

Where the Algorab fixed star sits: 13° Libra

Canopy's 2025 position for Algorab is 13°46′ of tropical Libra; on October 25, 2026 the star page's Current Position card read 13°47′ Libra. Because precession advances the fixed stars by about 50 seconds of arc a year, a natal chart takes Algorab's place on the day of birth. The degree lies just inside the sixteenth lunar mansion, al-Zubānā, the Claws, a mansion of ill omen spanning 12°51′ to 25°43′ Libra, which Algorab shares with two brighter Behenian stars, Spica and Arcturus, both near 24° Libra.

Lying about 16½ degrees south of the celestial equator, the star rises everywhere but the far Arctic, north of about 73°. What Canopy times is the degree, not the light: a window comes when 13°47′ Libra reaches the Ascendant or the Midheaven, whatever the star's own height above the horizon.

Algorab in astrology: a Malefic of Mars and Saturn

Canopy files Algorab as a Malefic star of the natures of Mars and Saturn, and the About & Correspondences page of an Algorab window begins "Nature of Mars". Here Canopy and Ptolemy agree: the Tetrabiblos (I.9) gives the stars in Corvus a temperament "like that of Mars and Saturn", a judgment on the whole constellation rather than on Algorab alone. Algol is the only other one of the fifteen Behenian fixed stars with the Malefic badge. The star page's callouts are brief: avoid it for good fortune and honest dealings.

Algorab conjunct the Sun, Moon, Ascendant or Midheaven

Canopy checks Algorab's degree against the seven classical planets of your birth chart, its Ascendant and Midheaven, the Vertex and both lunar Nodes, allowing three degrees. A contact appears in the Chart tab's Fixed Star Conjunctions, under Behenian Fixed Stars, as a row naming your natal point and the orb, marked "Star: Malefic". Whatever point the star touches, the reading, drawn from the classical sources, is one text: "When conjunct a natal planet, you may experience malice from others or struggle with your own destructive impulses. Care is needed to channel this energy constructively or face its consequences."

So Algorab conjunct the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter or Saturn, or on the Ascendant or Midheaven, receives that one text. Canopy does not use the outer planets, so there is no reading for Algorab conjunct Pluto, and the Descendant and the IC are not checked. The Today screen's Fixed Stars card also flags a transiting planet within two degrees of an aspect to it.

How to make an Algorab talisman: onyx, burdock, Mars and Saturn

Canopy's correspondences for Algorab are three: onyx for the gemstone, burdock for the herb, and the natures of Mars and Saturn. A window's About & Correspondences page labels them Gemstone · al-Jawhar, Herb · al-Ḥashīsha and Planetary Nature, and the star page's Talisman Correspondences card gives the same values under Stone, Plant and Planetary Natures. The window's about text adds: "Algorab (al-Ghurāb) is a malefic fixed star of the nature of Mars and Saturn. It is one of the fifteen Behenian stars of the talismanic tradition."

The star page's Traditional Uses line ties Algorab talismans to protection, made with onyx and burdock, "but with caution", and the Avoid list points the same way, away from fortune. Canopy sets out no construction steps; what the app adds to the materials is the moment.

When to make an Algorab talisman: the Algorab election

Canopy opens an Algorab window only while 13°47′ Libra is within a degree of the Ascendant or the Midheaven, the star rising or culminating by degree, not setting or at the lower meridian. In those minutes the Moon has to be closing on the star by conjunction, sextile or trine, no more than two degrees from exact, so she stands just short of 13°47′ of Libra for the conjunction, of Leo or Sagittarius for a sextile, or of Gemini or Aquarius for a trine. None of these is the Moon's detriment or fall, so the rule against a Moon in Capricorn or Scorpio never touches Algorab.

The Moon holds each of those five approaches for only three or four hours a month, and the star's degree reaches each angle about once a day, so on average they meet once or twice a month, and a week's search often comes back empty. Each window spans the time the angle needs to travel one degree on either side of the exact crossing, capped at thirty minutes. Libra rises slowly north of the equator: at latitude 40° north the Ascendant needs about five minutes to move one degree there, at 35° south about two and a half.

Canopy also sets a window aside for any of the standing faults in the fixed-star talisman rules: a combust Moon; a Moon applying by square or opposition to Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter or Saturn, by conjunction to an afflicted planet, or to the South Node; or Algorab itself within three degrees of Mars, Saturn, the South Node or an afflicted planet. And though Algorab shares Algol's Malefic badge, it does not share Algol's exemption: a Moon applying to Mars or Saturn out of dignity sets an Algorab window aside, as it does for every star except Algol and Alkaid.

Algorab's malefic nature does not move its score. A waxing Moon at 12° Libra, not void of course, closing on a culminating Algorab earns all ten points: six for the conjunction, two for the angle and two for the Moon's condition, shown as 100 percent, Excellent. A sextile or trine is worth three in place of six, so those windows read 50, 60 or 70 percent by the Moon's phase and course.

Purpose searches treat the star differently. When Canopy looks for a wedding, a contract or a journey, a window with Algorab's degree on the Ascendant or the Midheaven is set aside outright; Fixed Star Talismans lifts that veto so the star can be chosen deliberately. For the faults Canopy checks in every election, see how Canopy reads an election.

Finding Algorab in Canopy

In the Talismans tab, Fixed Star Talismans holds the search. Its picker shows each of Canopy's 35 stars beside its Arabic name, with the fifteen Behenian stars already selected; clear them with None and choose Algorab on its own. Then set a place and dates, a week unless changed and six months or so at most, and filter if you wish by Moon phase, angle, applying Moon or lunar mansion. Search Stars returns up to fifty of the best-scored windows, listed Soonest or Top Rated. The same search sits in the Elections tab under Fixed Stars, where each window is titled "Algorab Election".

A window shows the exact moment and the span around it, the rulers of the hour and the day, the Ascendant and Midheaven signs, and the Moon's aspect to Algorab. Its About & Correspondences page links to Algorab's star page, which shows the Malefic badge, magnitude 2.94, the current position and any contact with your chart. Talisman scanning needs an active subscription.

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