Alkaid
BehenianEta Ursae Majoris · Ursa Major
Last updated
Position (2026)
♍ 27°18′ Virgo
Magnitude
1.85
Planetary Nature
Mars (Robson)
Ptolemy and Robson give Ursa Major the nature of Mars. The Moon and Venus mixture belongs to Coma Berenices beneath the Bear's tail, which some modern lists transfer to Alkaid.
Spectral Type
B3V SB
Appearance
A blue-white star at the tip of the Big Dipper's handle, the third brightest in Ursa Major
Behenian Correspondences
Gemstone
Magnet, lodestone
Plant
Chicory
Read: The 15 Behenian Stars → background on Agrippa's list, the magical tradition, and how each star was historically used.
Name Origin
Language
Arabic
Original Form
Al Qā'id Banāt al Na'sh
Meaning
The Leader of the Daughters of the Bier
Eta Ursae Majoris. From the Arabic Al Qā'id, the leader or governor, referring to the leader of the mourning daughters in the Arabic star-figure of the Bier (al Na'sh). The three handle stars of the Big Dipper were the 'daughters' following the bier (the bowl). Also known as Benetnasch, a corruption of Banāt al Na'sh. The tip of the Bear's tail in Western tradition.
Known As
Alkaid leads the mourning daughters at the end of the Great Bear's tail. In the Arabian story, they circle the pole star in pursuit of their father's killer, with the bier ahead of them. Grief and the demand for redress belong together here. The Bear's Mars nature describes patience that turns to revenge when provoked; later astrologers read the star as protection of life. Alkaid's loyalty has a long memory for injury. Protection can become control. A protector's wish to settle a score can outlast the wishes of the person being defended.
A funeral procession circles the northern sky in Allen's account of Alkaid. The four stars of the Great Bear's quadrangle form the bier; the three at the end follow as its daughters. Alkaid leads them, the Chief of the Mourners. In the Arabian story Allen reports through Wetzstein, the children pursue the pole star because he killed their father. The mourning has anger in it. [1]
You keep watch over people you care about, and opposition tests how far that protection goes. Robson's Great Bear is patient and guarded until provoked, then capable of revenge; Brady reads the Bear as a protector of life. [3] [7] With a close Alkaid contact, look at what happens when someone resists your help. Settling a score is easy to mistake for defending the person who was hurt.
Ptolemy assigns Mars to Ursa Major, the constellation containing Alkaid. [2] Restraint belongs in this martial reading. You might tolerate a great deal quietly before anyone knows you are angry, then find it hard to stop fighting once the quarrel has begun.
Alkaid by birth year
On 1 January 2026, Alkaid stood at ♍ 27°18′ Virgo in the tropical zodiac.
It has been in Virgo since before the year 1000 and reaches Libra in 2216.
Positions are for 1 January of each year; a star moves about 50 arcseconds a year, so a birth late in the decade sits close to the next row.
| Born in | Position |
|---|---|
| 1900 | ♍ 25°32′ Virgo |
| 1910 | ♍ 25°40′ Virgo |
| 1920 | ♍ 25°49′ Virgo |
| 1930 | ♍ 25°57′ Virgo |
| 1940 | ♍ 26°05′ Virgo |
| 1950 | ♍ 26°14′ Virgo |
| 1960 | ♍ 26°22′ Virgo |
| 1970 | ♍ 26°31′ Virgo |
| 1980 | ♍ 26°39′ Virgo |
| 1990 | ♍ 26°48′ Virgo |
| 2000 | ♍ 26°56′ Virgo |
| 2010 | ♍ 27°05′ Virgo |
| 2020 | ♍ 27°13′ Virgo |
| 2030 | ♍ 27°22′ Virgo |
From latitudes poleward of 40.8° S it never rises, and from latitudes poleward of 40.8° N it never sets (geometric horizon, refraction ignored).
Computed by the Augurine engine on the apparent equinox of date from HYG coordinates with proper motion applied (engine build 1c1cc33).
Alkaid's mourners are seeking redress
the Governor of the Daughters of the Bier, i. e. the Chief of the Mourners.
Allen gives Alkaid and Benetnasch among the names of the tail star. In the story he relates through Wetzstein, Mizar holds the infant Alcor while Suhail struggles up from the south to help the family. The figures have different jobs within a shared grievance. Alkaid's name gives her precedence in the company, while the mother and child are placed elsewhere in the group. [1]
How do you respond when someone you care about has been wronged? A long memory for injury and a readiness to speak on someone else's behalf both fit Alkaid's mourning company. Ask what the person you are defending wants you to do. Your loyalty needs to leave them a say in how the dispute ends.
Allen also records early Arabic poets calling the daughters idle because their rising and setting produced no rain. [1] That is a much less solemn response to the same sky figure. Even within Allen's Arabic material, the mourners can be objects of impatience as well as sympathy. Does keeping an old grievance alive still help the people on whose behalf it began?
In the Babylonian prayers Francesca Rochberg discusses, the Big Dipper is the Wagon, Eriqqu, and people call upon it during divination. [4] Allen's mourning company gives the same northern figure a family grievance and puts Alkaid at its head. [1] The leader speaks for people whose loss is shared, even when their wishes differ.
The patient Mars of the Great Bear
Influence. According to Ptolemy, Ursa Major is like Mars. It is said to give a quiet, prudent, suspicious, mistrustful, self-controlled, patient nature, but an uneasy spirit and great anger and revengefulness when roused.
Robson begins with restraint. This Bear watches before acting, and the anger arrives after a threshold has been crossed. [3] Ask what you tolerate quietly and what finally prompts a response. A quiet manner sometimes conceals considerable readiness to fight.
Ptolemy assigns Mars to Ursa Major and the Moon with Venus to Coma Berenices beneath its tail. Hephaistio makes the same distinction. [2] [5] Alkaid belongs to the Bear's tail, so it receives Mars. The lunar and Venusian assignment belongs to Coma; applying it to Alkaid would blur the distinction both authors make.
Brady describes Ursa Major as protecting life while circling the pole. [7] Protection and revenge sometimes begin from the same concern for someone else's safety. Ask whether your response still serves that person's needs. Once settling the score takes precedence, you risk keeping a conflict going after the person you defend wants it finished.
Alkaid's move from Virgo in December 2216
Allen identifies Alkaid as Eta Ursae Majoris. [1] Its tropical position is 27°18′ Virgo in 2026, and it reaches Libra in December 2216. Its calculated position in 1920 was 25°49′ Virgo. Use the position for the birth year when judging a close conjunction; a twentieth-century chart needs the earlier degree.
The Libra degree will still locate the end of the Great Bear's tail. Ptolemy assigns Mars by constellation, while Allen places the mourning daughters in that same figure. [2] [1] The sign change alters the degree you compare with a planet. Keep the Bear's martial nature when interpreting the contact.
Why the Behenian badge follows Alkaid
Robson's tenth entry under Magical Influences of Fixed Stars names Polaris and gives it lodestone and succory. [3] Augurine's catalog badges Alkaid, at the Great Bear's tail, and gives it lodestone and chicory. The site's Behenian badge follows the Great Bear reading. It differs from the identification printed in Robson's magical list.
Robson describes a pensive man, a bull, or a calf as the image and gives it protection against spells and security during travel. [3] Those instructions concern making an image for protection. They give no natal promise of safety to someone with Alkaid prominent.
The two Bears explain the anatomical confusion. Allen puts Alkaid at the Great Bear's tail; Robson puts Polaris at the Lesser Bear's tail. [1] [3] Check which star an author names before transferring a correspondence from one Bear to the other.
Alkaid's self-control at home and in command
Neither Robson nor Brady wrote a planet-by-planet Alkaid sequence, so what follows reads the Great Bear's constellation character into individual placements. [3] [7] Augurine's calculator uses a conjunction orb of 45′ for Alkaid.
With Alkaid conjunct your Sun, pride in being dependable makes delegation difficult. Robson's self-control and Brady's protection meet in the person who holds a position under pressure. [3] [7] Notice how freely you step back when someone else is ready to take responsibility.
With the Moon, notice how quickly you feel a threat to someone close and what helps that feeling settle. Robson describes an uneasy, watchful Bear. [3] Separate a present need for protection from a familiar expectation of injury. The mourning name alone tells you nothing about your family history.
An Ascendant conjunction points to the guarded manner others meet first. Firmicus's collective Big Dipper rising account imagines people at ease with wild animals. [6] The image is composure around what makes others wary. Alkaid lies about 54° north of the ecliptic and is circumpolar north of about 41° latitude, where an Ascendant longitude conjunction is a projected contact. Goold's note to Manilius explains the ancient Bear's rising through its lower circuit near the horizon. [9]
Fiorenza reads Benetnash through administration and the political or religious power of government and big business. He favors leadership that gives others freedom to act. [8] Apply that to the Midheaven by looking at how you use authority. Let people make decisions within their own remit without treating every choice as a threat to the institution.
Alkaid's mourning company and Callisto's long tail
Allen calls Alkaid, at the end of the Great Bear's tail, the Chief of the Mourners. In the Arabian tale, the four bowl stars form a bier. The three end stars are the dead man's children, who pursue the pole star for killing their father. Mizar holds the infant Alcor, while Suhail comes from the south to help them. Night after night the children surround their father's killer, still wanting revenge. [1]
Callisto, daughter of Lycaon, king of Arcadia, of whom Jupiter was enamoured, became a follower of Diana on account of her love of hunting. Jupiter sought Callisto by assuming the form of Diana, and Juno who discovered the intrigue turned Callisto into a bear. Angry that the bear was placed in heaven, Juno requested her brother Neptune never to let those stars set within his kingdom, and for this reason they are always above the horizon in Europe.
Jupiter feared the Bear's teeth and lifted her by the tail to carry her up into the sky. It stretched under her weight over the long distance from earth to heaven. Robson tells this part of Callisto's story to explain why the Bear in the sky has such a long tail. [3]
How the authors read Alkaid
| Source | Nature | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| Ptolemy | Mars | Ursa Major receives Mars in Book 1, section 9; Coma Berenices beneath its tail receives the Moon and Venus. [2] |
| Hephaistio | Mars | Book 1, section 4 gives Ares to the Great Bear and the Moon with Aphrodite to Coma. [5] |
| Robson | Mars | His Great Bear is self-controlled and patient, with anger and revengefulness when roused. [3] |
| Brady | no planetary mixture given | Her Ursa Major protects life as it circles the pole. [7] |
| Fiorenza | no planetary mixture given | His Benetnash concerns administration and the difference between leadership that permits freedom and manipulative control. [8] |
Natal Conjunctions
Find your conjunctions →Alkaid Conjunct Sun
Responsibility sits close to identity in this reading, especially the pride of taking charge when others hesitate. Robson describes the Great Bear as patient until provoked; Brady gives the constellation a protective role. You may take charge readily and find it harder to let someone else finish the job. The test comes when someone else is ready to act and you still want to take charge.
Alkaid Conjunct Moon
Someone close appears to have been hurt, and you are ready to respond before they have explained. The watchfulness in Robson's Great Bear gives this lunar reading its starting point. A familiar disagreement may stir more feeling than the present circumstances explain. Look at what reassurance you can accept, and how long anger lasts once the immediate problem is settled. Trust can recover once both people recognise that the quarrel has ended.
Alkaid Conjunct Mercury
Behind a measured answer there may be a detailed memory of who said what. Robson's cautious, suspicious Bear is the basis for reading Mercury here as attentive to inconsistencies and reluctant to take assurances on trust. That can help when you speak for someone whose concerns have been dismissed. It can also keep an argument alive through repeated examination. A clear account of the problem gives the other person a specific concern to answer.
Alkaid Conjunct Venus
Standing beside someone in a dispute is a possible expression of affection here. Brady's protective Ursa Major supplies the constellation image; the application to Venus concerns how loyalty works within an actual relationship. Defending a partner can feel loving even when they would prefer to speak for themselves. Notice whether shared pleasure survives the shared grievance. A relationship needs occasions for enjoyment as well as reasons to close ranks against an opponent.
Alkaid Conjunct Mars
The threshold between endurance and retaliation deserves close attention. Ptolemy assigns Mars to Ursa Major, and Robson describes considerable restraint before the Bear is roused. You may tolerate a problem for too long, then respond as though every earlier incident is happening again. Addressing the first breach plainly gives your capacity for defence a more proportionate and effective use.
Alkaid Conjunct Jupiter
Protecting a group can grow into a broad conviction about how people ought to be treated. Fiorenza reads Benetnash through administration and the freedom allowed by those in authority. Applied to Jupiter, this concerns the principles behind your generosity or leadership. You may support people readily while expecting them to adopt your view of their situation. Their freedom to make decisions after receiving your help is the test of that assistance.
Alkaid Conjunct Saturn
When a duty outlasts the circumstances that required it, withdrawing can feel like abandoning someone. Robson's patient, guarded Bear supports a Saturn reading concerned with endurance and the difficulty of relaxing a defensive position. Even a manageable task can become tiring when there is no agreement about its duration. Examine the actual commitment and whether its terms still fit. Lasting support can include a smaller role, with clear limits on what you can reasonably keep doing.
Alkaid Conjunct Uranus
After a long period of accommodation, you reach the point of refusing outright. The Great Bear's martial character, described by Robson as restrained until roused, gives this Uranus reading its basis. The wish to protect someone can become a reason to challenge the organisation they depend on. Examine which arrangement needs changing and who gets a say in its replacement. The people affected need a say in the change, including the option to keep an arrangement you would leave.
Alkaid Conjunct Neptune
Hearing about another person's injury, you might feel ready to defend them as though you had been hurt yourself. This application of the protective Bear to Neptune concerns the point at which compassion becomes an assumed obligation to rescue. You may hear a difficult account and begin preparing a defence before learning what help is wanted. Give the person room to describe their needs in their own terms. Support becomes more reliable when it follows an agreed request rather than an imagined emergency.
Alkaid Conjunct Pluto
You may find control difficult to relinquish when it feels essential to someone's safety. The protective reading turns toward the use of power here, especially the tendency to treat disagreement as a threat to the whole group. Notice who can question your decisions without losing your support. The practical work is to make protection accountable to the people receiving it, so that loyalty allows them to refuse help or choose another course.
Alkaid Conjunct North Node
Taking someone's side may become a recurring choice in the relationships and commitments you pursue. Allen's account of the mourning daughters gives loyalty after an injury a concrete image; applying it to the Node concerns the affiliations you develop. Shared opposition can establish a bond quickly, but sustaining that bond asks for more than a common opponent. A commitment needs something to do together after the dispute has ended and the common opponent has gone.
Alkaid Conjunct Ascendant
In a tense encounter, others might notice your composure before they know how you feel. Firmicus describes people born with the Big Dipper rising as comfortable with wild animals; applying his collective rising image here suggests guarded ease around what others find threatening. A longitude conjunction to the Ascendant differs from Alkaid's actual rising because the star lies far north of the ecliptic. Read the contact through your manner of meeting a tense situation, especially whether calm attention leaves enough room for someone else to speak.
Alkaid Conjunct Midheaven
Authority needs room for other people to exercise their own judgment. Fiorenza's Benetnash reading addresses administration and the difference between freedom and manipulative control. On the Midheaven, the question concerns how much freedom colleagues have within your professional responsibility. You may become the person who checks every decision because the institution matters to you. Colleagues need clear responsibilities they can carry out without seeking permission for every step.
Paran Interpretations
Parans describe what happens when Alkaid and a planet simultaneously occupy the four angles (rising, culminating, setting, nadir) at a given location.
Alkaid in Paran with Sun
Rising
Taking charge of someone else's safety might feel like a source of pride early in life, before you have learned to share the responsibility.
Culminating
Handling a difficult situation puts you in public view when responsibility is greatest. Colleagues still need a meaningful share in decisions.
Setting
A later partner's growing competence gives you reason to step back from a familiar responsibility and let them share the work of protection.
At the Nadir
Keeping others safe might be a source of pride when you reflect privately. How much independence did they develop within that protection?
Alkaid in Paran with Moon
Rising
When a family disagreement never seems finished, you might learn early to stay watchful. Feeling safe depends on being able to let the quarrel end.
Culminating
Others see how much care you provide as your responsibilities reach their height. The person receiving that support still needs some choice.
Setting
Close relationships later in life can expose an old defensive habit. Reassurance needs to be something you can receive as well as give.
At the Nadir
A long memory for hurt can shape ordinary reactions at home. Quietly revisiting what happened may help separate present needs from older expectations.
Alkaid in Paran with Mercury
Rising
Words and actions differ, and you start questioning assurances early in life. Direct questions help resolve what suspicion alone leaves uncertain.
Culminating
A group may rely on you to speak publicly on its behalf. Precision matters most when anger might turn an account of events into accusation.
Setting
Unfinished disputes might recur in later conversations with longstanding companions. A specific request gives the other person something they can answer.
At the Nadir
An unspoken objection might occupy your private thoughts. Writing it out helps identify which part of the old disagreement still needs an answer.
Alkaid in Paran with Venus
Rising
Loyalty may become an early measure of affection. A friendship can include disagreement without requiring either person to withdraw their care.
Culminating
Allies matter at the height of your work. Supporting colleagues includes allowing them to describe their own interests, even when yours differ.
Setting
An established partnership has room for fresh enjoyment in later life once you find something to do together beyond fighting shared battles.
At the Nadir
Quiet acts of protection express attachment at home. Ordinary affection also needs occasions when neither person has a problem to solve.
Alkaid in Paran with Mars
Rising
Holding anger in might be familiar early in life. Naming a small breach promptly helps keep several grievances from entering one confrontation.
Culminating
Defending a position risks absorbing considerable effort during your most prominent working years, before you have decided what outcome you want.
Setting
A present disagreement might reopen an old rivalry in later relationships, or a score that one person had considered settled.
At the Nadir
Stored resentment may be most apparent away from public responsibilities. Private recovery needs an end to rehearsing the confrontation as well as rest.
Alkaid in Paran with Jupiter
Rising
Defending someone early in life gives fairness a personal setting. Their response shows how closely your help fits what they need.
Culminating
Institutional influence widens the reach of your protection at the height of your work. Others need authority to use the opportunities you create.
Setting
Someone takes your advice seriously and still chooses differently. Mentoring later in life tests whether you can remain supportive through that disagreement.
At the Nadir
Personal convictions may rest on loyalty to a family or community, with private reflection gradually changing which commitments feel worth maintaining.
Alkaid in Paran with Saturn
Rising
Taking on duties early might leave you cautious about accepting help. Knowing where a responsibility ends makes it easier to keep doing your part.
Culminating
An institution might rely increasingly on your availability as professional demands reach their height. Sustaining that responsibility takes effort that others need to recognise.
Setting
Withdrawing from a duty might feel disloyal at retirement or when a family role changes, even if the people concerned are ready to manage it themselves.
At the Nadir
An old obligation may continue to organise private life. Review its present requirements so that endurance includes adequate time for recovery.
Alkaid in Paran with Ascendant
Rising
Guarded composure shapes the first impression when the star is angular at birth. Early encounters can teach you when a defensive stance is useful.
Culminating
Your protective manner becomes more publicly apparent in middle life. Others need to know that questioning you need not start a conflict.
Setting
Partners may encounter the guarded manner more directly with time, while increasing familiarity can make a softer response possible in a secure relationship.
At the Nadir
Beneath a composed appearance, private life may require considerable vigilance. A secure home allows that watchfulness to ease without a loss of self-respect.
Alkaid in Paran with Midheaven
Rising
Protective responsibility receives early emphasis when the star is angular at birth. Initial roles offer practice in acting without controlling every detail.
Culminating
Professional authority puts your response to opposition on public display. At its height, leadership depends on allowing colleagues to fulfil their own responsibilities.
Setting
Colleagues need to continue without your supervision when you leave an office. The test is whether protection has become possession.
At the Nadir
Sustaining an institution might occupy years outside public view. Later recognition concerns the independence your arrangements allowed other people.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Alkaid conjunct the Sun mean?
Protective authority and pride in being dependable are the main concerns with Alkaid on your Sun. Robson's restrained Bear and Brady's protective Bear are the basis for that judgment. [3] [7] Look at how readily you let others take responsibility once they can manage it themselves.
Why is Alkaid called the Chief of the Mourners?
Alkaid leads the daughters of the bier in the Arabic sky figure recorded by Allen. He reports a story in which the children pursue their father's killer around the pole. [1] The story gives a natal reading a way to explore loyalty and the demand for redress.
What does the name Alkaid mean?
The name Alkaid comes from Arabic: Al Qā'id Banāt al Na'sh, meaning "The Leader of the Daughters of the Bier." Eta Ursae Majoris. The star is known by 4 different cultural names across world traditions.
Sources
- Richard Hinckley Allen, Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning, Dover Publications, Inc., 1899. Used for Alkaid's names and the Arabic stories of the mourning daughters.
- Claudius Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos, translated by Frank Egleston Robbins, 1940. Used for Ursa Major's Mars nature and Coma Berenices in Book 1, section 9.
- Vivian E. Robson, The Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology, American Federation of Astrologers, Inc., 1923. Used for Ursa Major entry 104 and Polaris in Magical Influences of Fixed Stars, item 10.
Text of the 1923 edition; the site quotes a 2017 reprint.
- Alan C. Bowen and Francesca Rochberg (editors), Hellenistic Astronomy: The Science in Its Contexts, Koninklijke Brill NV, 2020. Used for Rochberg's Babylonian Wagon identification.
- Hephaistio of Thebes, Apotelesmatics, Book I, translated by Robert Schmidt, The Golden Hind Press, 1994. Used for the Bear and Coma planetary assignments in Book 1, section 4.
- Firmicus Maternus, Ancient Astrology: Theory and Practice, translated by Jean Rhys Bram, Noyes Press, 1975. Used for the Big Dipper rising account in VIII.17.6.
- Bernadette Brady, Brady's Book of Fixed Stars, Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1998. Used for Ursa Major's protective reading.
- Nick Anthony Fiorenza, An Introduction to Astronomical Astrology, 2015. Used for Benetnash and administration.
- Marcus Manilius, Astronomica, translated by G. P. Goold, Harvard University Press and William Heinemann Ltd, 1977. Used for Goold's note on the Great Bear's lower circuit in Book V.
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