Markab star meaning and the name Mankib al-Faras
The Markab star meaning starts with a question of names. Canopy gives the Markab fixed star the Arabic name Mankib al-Faras, "the shoulder of the horse", printing it on the Chart tab, the Today screen and the talisman screens. Modern studies of the star names give that phrase first to its neighbor Scheat, Beta Pegasi, and read Markab as the Arabic markab, a saddle, or as a copyist's slip for mankib. In Markab astrology, then, the Arabic name is Canopy's pairing.
Arabic star lore saw a well bucket, al-Dalw, in the Great Square of Pegasus, and Markab and Scheat were its first spout, al-Fargh al-Muqaddam, the stars of the twenty-sixth lunar mansion (al-Fargh al-Awwal on Canopy's list). In Canopy's equal tropical mansions, counted from 0° Aries, Markab's degree now falls in the twenty-eighth, Baṭn al-Ḥūt, which the app calls al-Rishāʾ. Markab is not one of the fifteen Behenian stars.
Where the Markab fixed star sits
By tropical longitude Markab stood at about 23°50′ Pisces in 2025, about six degrees short of 0° Aries. Its star page shows the current, precessed degree and a magnitude of 2.49. In zodiac order it is the last of Canopy's 35 stars: Achernar, at 15°40′ Pisces, lies eight degrees behind, and no other star's three-degree natal orb overlaps Markab's.
In the sky Markab is the southwest corner of the Great Square of Pegasus, 19 degrees north of the ecliptic. The Moon keeps within about five degrees of the ecliptic, so when Canopy has her conjoining Markab it means the star's zodiac degree; the star itself stays at least fourteen degrees away.
Markab in astrology: a Martial star of Mars and Mercury
Canopy files Markab as a Martial star of Mars and Mercury: the badge on its star page, the Chart tab's chip "Star: Martial", the Today card's "Star nature: Mars–Mercury". Its Traditional Uses line reads: "Talismans for speed, wit, and overcoming obstacles through quick thinking." When Markab leads the day's fixed-star contacts, the Today card adds what to seek, swift action and wit, and what to avoid, impulsive decisions.
Markab conjunct the Sun, Moon, Ascendant or Midheaven
Canopy calculates your chart in the app from your birth date, time and place, and reads Markab by conjunction. When the star, precessed to your birth date, lies within three degrees of one of the seven classical planets, the Ascendant, the Midheaven, the Vertex or a lunar Node, the Chart tab lists the contact with its orb and the star's page gives the reading, drawn from the classical sources: "Mankib al-Faras (Shoulder of the Horse) brings Mars-Mercury energy of swift action and sharp intellect. When conjunct a natal planet, you have quick reflexes and an agile mind, though impulsiveness can lead to accidents or conflicts. Success comes through calculated boldness."
That one reading serves every contact: Markab conjunct the Sun, the Moon or the Ascendant reads the same as Jupiter, Mercury, Venus or Saturn conjunct Markab. Canopy writes no planet-by-planet text and tests no other aspect in the birth chart. A natal Sun in orb means a birth from about March 10 to 17. Transits show on the Today screen and in the full reading.
How to make a Markab talisman: bloodstone and pennyroyal
Canopy pairs Markab with bloodstone and pennyroyal, the Gemstone and Herb rows of the Correspondences card on the star's own page. The classical Behenian lists gave a stone and an herb to fifteen stars, not to Markab, so the pairing is Canopy's. A Markab window's About & Correspondences page does not repeat it: it says correspondence data is unavailable for this star and links to the star's page.
Beyond the two materials and the moment, Canopy gives no method of making. For the planets of its nature, see the Mars talisman and the Mercury talisman.
When to make a Markab talisman: the Markab election
In Canopy the Markab talisman and the Markab election are one search. A moment qualifies only while Markab's zodiac degree, not the star above the horizon, is within one degree of the Ascendant or the Midheaven and the Moon applies to it by conjunction, sextile or trine within two degrees, from about 22° to 24° of Pisces, of Taurus or Capricorn, or of Cancer or Scorpio. Canopy sets aside a Moon in Capricorn, her detriment, or in Scorpio, her fall, unless she is conjoining a star in that same sign, and Markab is in Pisces. So every Markab window comes from a Moon in Pisces, Taurus or Cancer.
A moment is also set aside if the Moon is combust, applies by square or opposition to Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter or Saturn, or by conjunction to an afflicted planet or the South Node, or if Mars, Saturn, the South Node or an afflicted planet stands within three degrees of the star (the full list is under fixed-star talisman windows in Canopy). Two fall hard on Markab. From about March 4 to 22 a Moon conjoining the star is combust. And Mercury, one of the star's own natures, is in both detriment and fall in Pisces: while Mercury is within three degrees of Markab's degree, a few days each year between mid-February and mid-April and longer when it turns retrograde there, every Markab moment is set aside.
A moment that passes scores out of ten: 6 for a Moon conjunction or 3 for a sextile or trine, 2 for the angle, and a point each for a waxing Moon and a Moon not void of course. Markab's Martial nature adds and subtracts nothing. A waxing Moon at 23° Pisces, not void, conjoining the degree as it culminates scores 100 percent; the same Moon waning, 90. A Moon at 22° Capricorn sextiling the rising degree is set aside. A waning, void Moon at 22° Cancer trining it scores 50, Good, and is still listed; waxing and not void, 70, Excellent.
The windows are brief: about seven minutes with the degree at the Midheaven, at any latitude. On the Ascendant it depends on latitude, because late Pisces rises quickly in the northern hemisphere: about seven minutes at the equator, four and a half at New York, three and a half at London and nine at Sydney. In Canopy's purpose searches, a wedding or a contract, the nature does count: Markab's degree on the Ascendant or Midheaven sets the moment aside, as for every Martial star (see electional astrology).
Finding a Markab window in Canopy
Open the Talismans tab and choose Fixed Star Talismans, or Fixed Stars in the Elections tab. The picker lists all 35 stars, the fifteen Behenian preselected: tap None, choose Markab, set the place and a range of up to about six months, and tap Search Stars; searching needs a subscription. Filters cover the Moon's phase and motion, the angle and the lunar mansion; with Markab alone, mansion 28, al-Rishāʾ, keeps only the conjunctions. Each window opens as Markab Talisman or Markab Election, with its score and "Why this time?"; Canopy keeps only the best-scored windows per star.
Check Markab against your chart, and find its next window on the Ascendant or Midheaven.
Free to download · 7-day free trial where offered · then a subscription · Supports iPhone Duo
Questions
What is the meaning of the Markab star?
Canopy gives Markab the Arabic name Mankib al-Faras, the shoulder of the horse, a phrase that modern studies of the star names give first to its neighbor Scheat; the name Markab itself may come from the Arabic for a saddle. Canopy reads it as a Martial star of Mars and Mercury.
What does Markab conjunct the Sun, Moon, Ascendant or Midheaven mean?
Canopy gives one reading for any natal contact within three degrees, with a planet, the Ascendant, the Midheaven, the Vertex or a Node: quick reflexes and an agile mind, with a warning that impulsiveness can lead to accidents or conflicts. A natal Sun in orb means a birth from about March 10 to 17.
How do you make a Markab talisman?
Canopy pairs Markab with bloodstone and pennyroyal on the star's own page and times the work to the minutes when its degree holds the Ascendant or Midheaven as the Moon applies to it. The Behenian lists do not include Markab, so the pairing is Canopy's.
When is the best time to make a Markab talisman?
When its degree, about 23°50′ Pisces, is within one degree of the Ascendant or Midheaven and an unafflicted Moon in Pisces, Taurus or Cancer applies to it within two degrees, with Mercury, Mars, Saturn, the South Node and any afflicted planet clear of the star.
Where is the Markab fixed star?
At about 23°50′ Pisces by tropical longitude (2025 position), the last of Canopy's 35 stars in zodiac order. In the sky it is the southwest corner of the Great Square of Pegasus.
