Alkes
Alpha Crateris · Crater
Position (2026)
♍ 24°04' Virgo
Magnitude
4.08
Planetary Nature
Venus / Mercury (robson)
Robson: Venus and Mercury. Alpha Crateris, the Cup.
Spectral Type
K1III
Appearance
An orange giant in the base of the celestial Cup
Name Origin
Language
Arabic
Original Form
Al Ka's
Meaning
The Cup, the Chalice
Alpha Crateris. From the Arabic Al Ka's or Al Ka'b, the Cup. Allen notes that Crater was the cup of Apollo, and the constellation connects mythologically with Corvus (the Raven) and Hydra (the Water Snake) in a linked Greek myth.
Known As
Alkes in Astrology
Alkes, in the Cup of Crater, carries Venus-Mercury energy that bestows a talent for moral discernment and the revelation of truth. It grants you a ceremonial precision in distinguishing the genuine from the false, and you possess an instinct for exposing deception through careful, measured examination. The Venus-Mercury nature combines aesthetic refinement with analytical clarity, giving you the capacity to see through surfaces to the substance beneath.
Mythology & History
Alkes, also known as Alpha Crateris, takes its name from the Arabic al-Ka's, meaning 'the cup,' the same root from which the constellation name Crater derives. In Greek mythology, the Cup was associated with Apollo and a tale of deception: the god sent a crow to fetch water in the cup, but the crow delayed to eat figs and then brought a water serpent as a false excuse. Apollo saw through the lie and placed all three in the sky as a warning. Alkes represents the vessel itself, the container of truth that reveals dishonesty.
Crater Context
Alkes is the brightest star in Crater the Cup, a small constellation south of Leo. Crater represents the drinking cup of Apollo, placed in the sky alongside the crow (Corvus) and the water serpent (Hydra) that features in the tale of the crow's deception. The cup sits on the back of Hydra, the great water serpent that stretches across the southern sky. The constellation's association with truth, deception, and the consequences of dishonesty gives Alkes a quality of moral discernment and the revealing of hidden motivations.
Learn more about Crater and its stars.
Natal Conjunctions
Find your conjunctions →Alkes Conjunct Sun
Alkes conjunct the Sun produces a personality of moral discernment and the capacity for revealing truth through the quality of your integrity. You possess the sacred cup's quality of containing what is genuine and exposing what is false.
Alkes Conjunct Moon
Alkes conjunct the Moon creates emotional instincts of moral sensitivity and truth-revealing feeling. Your emotions function as vessels for genuine expression, and emotional security comes through the integrity of what your feelings contain.
Alkes Conjunct Mercury
Alkes conjunct Mercury gives a mind of morally discerning intelligence and the capacity for truth-revealing communication. You articulate what is genuine with the precision of someone whose intellectual integrity is their primary vessel.
Alkes Conjunct Venus
Alkes conjunct Venus brings morally discerning beauty and truth-revealing devotion to love and creative expression. You create beauty that functions as a vessel for genuine meaning and attract through the integrity of your aesthetic and relational truth.
Alkes Conjunct Mars
Alkes conjunct Mars channels assertive energy into morally discerning, truth-revealing action. You fight for integrity and expose deception with the quality of someone whose cup contains only what is genuine.
Alkes Conjunct Jupiter
Alkes conjunct Jupiter expands moral discernment into broad, philosophically informed truth-revealing leadership. You contain and distribute genuine wisdom with the sacred cup's quality of exposing deception and honoring integrity.
Alkes Conjunct Saturn
Alkes conjunct Saturn deepens moral discernment into a lifetime of disciplined, truth-sustaining integrity. Your authority comes from decades of demonstrated containment of what is genuine and exposure of what is false.
Alkes Conjunct Uranus
Alkes conjunct Uranus brings unexpected truth revelations and surprising demonstrations of moral discernment. Your integrity exposes deception through unconventional, startling means.
Alkes Conjunct Neptune
Alkes conjunct Neptune infuses moral discernment with spiritual sensitivity and the capacity for perceiving truth at levels that transcend rational verification.
Alkes Conjunct Pluto
Alkes conjunct Pluto transforms moral discernment into encounters with the most fundamental truths and the most deeply concealed deceptions.
Alkes Conjunct North Node
Alkes conjunct the North Node orients destiny toward developing the moral discernment and integrity-based containment that reveals truth and exposes deception.
Alkes Conjunct Ascendant
Alkes on the Ascendant gives a morally discerning, truth-containing presence. Others sense the integrity of what you carry and trust the revealing quality of your honest, genuine bearing.
Alkes Conjunct Midheaven
Alkes on the Midheaven builds a career through moral discernment and truth-revealing professional integrity. Recognition comes for the genuine quality of what your professional work contains.
Paran Interpretations
Parans describe what happens when Alkes and a planet simultaneously occupy the four angles (rising, culminating, setting, nadir) at a given location.
Alkes in Paran with Sun
Rising
Alkes rising with the Sun marks someone who enters life with natural moral discernment and truth-revealing integrity.
Culminating
Alkes culminating with the Sun places morally discerning, truth-revealing leadership at the peak of achievement.
Setting
Alkes setting with the Sun suggests a legacy of moral integrity and truth-revealing contributions honored over time.
At the Nadir
Alkes at the nadir with the Sun reveals deeply private moral discernment that shapes all outward integrity.
Alkes in Paran with Moon
Rising
Alkes rising with the Moon instills early emotional moral sensitivity and truth-revealing intuitive feeling.
Culminating
Alkes culminating with the Moon brings morally discerning emotional integrity to its most publicly visible form.
Setting
Alkes setting with the Moon indicates emotional moral discernment that grows more truth-revealing with experience.
At the Nadir
Alkes at the nadir with the Moon conceals deep moral emotional sensitivity and truth-containing integrity.
Alkes in Paran with Mercury
Rising
Alkes rising with Mercury bestows early morally discerning intelligence and talent for truth-revealing communication.
Culminating
Alkes culminating with Mercury elevates truth-revealing, morally discerning thinking to professional distinction.
Setting
Alkes setting with Mercury suggests thinking that grows more morally discerning and truth-revealing with decades.
At the Nadir
Alkes at the nadir with Mercury reveals hidden reserves of moral analytical integrity beneath genuine communication.
Alkes in Paran with Venus
Rising
Alkes rising with Venus shapes early love with moral discernment and truth-revealing, genuinely beautiful devotion.
Culminating
Alkes culminating with Venus brings recognition for beauty expressed with moral integrity and genuine truth.
Setting
Alkes setting with Venus suggests creative expression that grows more morally genuine and truth-revealing with maturity.
At the Nadir
Alkes at the nadir with Venus conceals a private moral aesthetic and truth-containing creative integrity.
Alkes in Paran with Mars
Rising
Alkes rising with Mars channels early energy into morally discerning, truth-revealing assertive action.
Culminating
Alkes culminating with Mars places morally directed, truth-revealing fighting ability at the apex of achievement.
Setting
Alkes setting with Mars indicates moral fighting integrity that grows more truth-revealing with experience.
At the Nadir
Alkes at the nadir with Mars conceals reserves of morally directed energy deployed for truth-revealing action.
Alkes in Paran with Jupiter
Rising
Alkes rising with Jupiter expands early moral discernment into broad, philosophically truth-revealing leadership.
Culminating
Alkes culminating with Jupiter brings peak achievement through expansive, morally discerning wise leadership.
Setting
Alkes setting with Jupiter indicates growing scope for moral truth-revealing in the later years.
At the Nadir
Alkes at the nadir with Jupiter reveals vast inner moral vision and truth-containing philosophical integrity.
Alkes in Paran with Saturn
Rising
Alkes rising with Saturn demands early discipline in developing the sustained moral discernment and integrity of maturity.
Culminating
Alkes culminating with Saturn achieves lasting authority through decades of disciplined moral integrity and truth-revealing work.
Setting
Alkes setting with Saturn builds an enduring legacy of moral discernment and truth-containing integrity.
At the Nadir
Alkes at the nadir with Saturn establishes inner reserves of disciplined moral truth and integrity-sustaining patience.
Alkes in Paran with Ascendant
Rising
Alkes rising with the Ascendant stamps the personality with morally discerning, truth-containing presence.
Culminating
Alkes culminating with the Ascendant projects moral integrity and truth-revealing discernment onto the broadest stage.
Setting
Alkes setting with the Ascendant draws others who trust your moral discernment and truth-containing integrity.
At the Nadir
Alkes at the nadir with the Ascendant grounds identity in deeply private moral discernment and truth-revealing integrity.
Alkes in Paran with Midheaven
Rising
Alkes rising with the Midheaven launches a career built on morally discerning, truth-revealing professional integrity.
Culminating
Alkes culminating with the Midheaven represents peak career achievement through morally genuine, truth-containing work.
Setting
Alkes setting with the Midheaven indicates a career legacy of moral integrity and truth-revealing contributions.
At the Nadir
Alkes at the nadir with the Midheaven builds career success on hidden foundations of moral discernment and truth-containing discipline.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the name Alkes mean?
The name Alkes comes from Arabic: Al Ka's, meaning "The Cup, the Chalice." Alpha Crateris. The star is known by 2 different cultural names across world traditions.
Lunar Mansions
Alkes serves as the determinant star for this lunar mansion across different traditions.
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