Alphecca, al-Fakkah: the fixed star in astrology, its talisman and its election

Alphecca star meaning: the name al-Fakkah

Alphecca, the bright star of the Northern Crown, takes its name from the Arabic nayyir al-fakka, "the bright one of the broken (ring)". The ring is Corona Borealis, a small horseshoe of stars between Boötes and Hercules that curves toward a circle and stops short of closing. Canopy shows the Alphecca fixed star with its Arabic name, al-Fakkah, which its natal reading glosses "The Broken Ring".

Its star page reads the name as a crown not quite whole, set beside the star's old association with honor in the arts. Alphecca is also one of the fifteen Behenian fixed stars, each given a stone and an herb by the talismanic tradition, and Canopy gives it a talisman and an election besides a reading.

Where the Alphecca fixed star sits

By tropical longitude Alphecca stood at 12°37′ Scorpio in 2025; on October 25, 2026, its star page in Canopy read 12°38′. Precession moves it forward about fifty seconds of arc a year. The degree falls in the eighteenth lunar mansion, al-Qalb, the Heart, from 8°34′ to 21°26′ Scorpio, a mansion named for Antares, not for the Crown.

That degree is only the star's place projected onto the ecliptic. Alphecca itself lies about 44 degrees north of the ecliptic and 27 degrees north of the celestial equator: it never sets north of about latitude 63° north, and it fails to rise only south of about 63° south. Canopy gives it magnitude 2.24, modest beside the first-magnitude stars of the Behenian list.

Alphecca in astrology: a star of Venus and Mercury

Canopy files Alphecca as a benefic star of the natures of Venus and Mercury, and here the app and Ptolemy agree: the Tetrabiblos (I.9) gives the bright star of the Northern Crown the temperament of Venus and Mercury. Canopy gives the same mixture to Spica and Vega.

The star page's Planetary Nature card reads the pairing as the refinement of Venus joined to the skill of Mercury with words and craft: in a person, a talent for language or music. Its Talisman Correspondences card lists healing and artistic work to seek and excess to avoid; the Today card, which prints the first two of each, shows both whole.

Alphecca conjunct the Sun, Moon, Ascendant or Midheaven

Canopy calculates your chart from your birth date, time and place, then tests Alphecca against the seven classical planets, the Ascendant, the Midheaven, the Vertex and both lunar Nodes. Within three degrees, the Chart tab lists the contact under Behenian Fixed Stars, tagged "Star: Benefic", and the star page gives the reading, drawn from the classical sources: al-Fakkah "brings poetic and artistic ability alongside honor in artistic professions"; on a natal planet "you have refined aesthetic sensibilities and may achieve recognition in creative fields". Traditional Uses adds: "Talismans for love, honor in arts, and healing ability, using topaz and rosemary."

That one reading serves every point, so Alphecca conjunct Venus, Mars or Jupiter and Saturn conjunct Alphecca all read alike. The check uses only the classical planets, so Canopy reports no contact with Uranus, Neptune or Pluto, and it does not test the Descendant or the IC. The Sun reaches Alphecca's degree about November 5, so a natal Sun within orb belongs to births from about November 2 to 8; an Alphecca Ascendant or Midheaven depends on the hour and place of birth.

Day to day, a transiting planet within two degrees of an aspect to Alphecca appears on the Today screen's Fixed Stars card with "Nature: Benefic" and "Star nature: Venus–Mercury". The full reading's Fixed Star Influences allows wider orbs, four and a half degrees for a transiting Saturn, across the conjunction, sextile, square and trine.

How to make an Alphecca talisman: topaz, rosemary and the natures

Canopy defines an Alphecca talisman by what it shows and the moment it finds. On any Alphecca window's About & Correspondences page, the Correspondences card gives the gemstone, al-Jawhar, as topaz; the herb, al-Ḥashīsha, as rosemary; and the planetary nature as Venus and Mercury. The star page's own Talisman Correspondences card names the same stone, plant and natures.

That page opens with the line "Nature of Venus (al-Zuhrah)" and the window's grade, then: "Alphecca (al-Fakkah) is a benefic fixed star of the nature of Venus and Mercury. It is one of the fifteen Behenian stars of the talismanic tradition." The star page ties topaz to the warm gold of artistic aspiration and rosemary to memory and the heart. Canopy supplies the stone, the herb, the natures and the minutes, not a procedure; the Venus talisman and the Mercury talisman follow other rules.

When to make an Alphecca talisman: the Alphecca election

The Alphecca talisman and the Alphecca election are one search under one set of rules. A moment qualifies only when Alphecca's zodiac degree is within one degree of the Ascendant (rising) or the Midheaven (culminating), so the window shows Scorpio on that angle; the Descendant and the IC do not count. Canopy does not check whether the star is above the horizon, and for a star 44 degrees off the ecliptic the difference is wide: Alphecca crosses the meridian nearly an hour after its degree reaches the Midheaven, and at latitude 40° north it rises about an hour and forty minutes before its degree does.

The Moon must be applying to Alphecca by conjunction, sextile or trine within two degrees. She must not be combust, nor applying by square or opposition to Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter or Saturn, nor applying to a conjunction with an afflicted planet, to the South Node, or to an undignified Mars or Saturn (Algol and Alkaid alone are excused). Alphecca must have no Mars, Saturn, South Node or afflicted planet within three degrees. A moment that fails any test is set aside.

Alphecca's sign shapes its windows. Scorpio is the Moon's fall and Capricorn her detriment, and a window with the Moon in either is set aside unless she is conjoining a star in that star's own sign. So a Moon conjoining Alphecca from Scorpio passes, while a Moon in Capricorn applying to its sextile is always set aside, which leaves the conjunction, the sextile from Virgo and the trines from Cancer and Pisces. The conjunction is a meeting of degrees: the Moon keeps within about five degrees of the ecliptic and never nears the star itself. Her monthly pass in late October or the first half of November finds her combust, and the moment is set aside.

A window that passes is scored on the Moon's aspect, a conjunction counting double; the angle; and the Moon's condition, best when she is waxing and not void of course. Conjunction windows score 80 to 100 percent, sextiles and trines 50 to 70, and Excellent begins at 70; Alphecca's benefic nature does not enter the score. Take the degree culminating with the Moon at 11° Capricorn applying to the sextile: set aside. Take it rising with a waxing Moon at 11° Pisces, not void of course, applying to the trine: 3 points for the trine, 2 for the angle and 2 for the Moon make 70 percent, Excellent. In purpose searches, such as a wedding date, Alphecca on an angle adds points instead.

Windows last minutes: the exact crossing, plus the time the angle takes to move one degree either side, at most half an hour each way. The Timing block gives the exact time, the start and end, the hour and day rulers, both angles' signs and the Moon's aspect. The rules every star shares are under fixed-star talisman windows in Canopy.

Finding an Alphecca window in Canopy

Open Fixed Star Talismans in the Talismans tab, or Fixed Stars in the Elections tab, where the results are called elections. The picker lists all 35 of Canopy's stars with their Arabic names, the fifteen Behenian stars preselected: tap None, choose Alphecca, set the place, pick a range of up to about six months, a week by default, and tap Search Stars. The search needs a subscription.

Canopy returns up to fifty of the best-scored windows, sorted Soonest or Top Rated, with filters for the Moon's phase and motion, the angle and the lunar mansion. With Alphecca chosen alone, the mansion filter set to al-Qalb leaves only the conjunction windows, its strongest. Each window opens on a page headed Alphecca Talisman or Alphecca Election; an empty search in the Talismans tab reads "No moment worthy of a talisman in this stretch."

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