Lunar lodges as cribs?

["Bradley E. SCHAEFER" <schaefer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi;
	Some recent exchanges have been exploring the idea that the
'Pleiades' diagram might depict seasonal star markers.  The paradigm is
that the four asterisms quarter the sky and are near the ecliptic.
Roughly 90 degrees from the Pleiades near the ecliptic is a well-known
asterism now called the waterjar (a part of Aquarius) which has the same
shape as the four stars in the corresponding VMS asterism.  The other two
VMS asterisms are problematic.  There should be a pair of stars somewhere
near the Leo/Cancer border; and there should be an equilateral triangle of
stars near the Scorpio/Libra border.  Force fits can be given to the
prominent pair of bright equal stars in Gemini (Castor & Pollux) and
perhaps to Alpha/Beta/Gamma Libra.  The troubles are that Gemini is fairly
far from the quarter position while the Libra asterism is not a notorious
equilateral triangle.
	I got to wondering if the VMS author might be harking back to a
much more ancient and widespread tradition of the Lunar Lodges.  These are
a series of 28 (or 27) asterisms roughly along the ecliptic.  The Chinese,
Indians, and Arabs have major systems (obviously genetically related)
while there are many other derivative systems used throughout Asia.  Often
the asterism stars are fairly faint.  The Pleiades is one of the lodges
used by everyone.  The Hyades with Aldebaron is the next Lodge along.  So
at least for the most obvious asterism assignment we have a match with
Lunar Lodges.  And the Waterjar is an Arabic Lodge and also forms part of
the Chinese Lodge.  So for the more likely Arab source for the VMS, our
paradigm has two matches with Lunar Lodges.  What about the others?  For
the pair of stars near the Leo/Cancer border, it turns out that the Arab
Lodge is a pair of stars on the Cancer/Leo border!  The exact identities
of these stars are not known (variously ascribed to AlphaCancri&LambdaLeo
or XiCancri&LambdaLeo) yet are named 'Tarf' in Arabic for something like
"eye" or "look" in translation.  So now we have three good matches.  The
fourth asterism (an equilateral triangle near Sco/Lib) has no such obvious
match.  At least my primary source on the Arab Lodges identifies the Libra
equivalent as being only a pair of stars (Alpha and Beta).  The next lodge
over is notorious for being a prominent triple of stars (Beta, Delta, and
Pi Sco), yet they are also notoriously in an approximate straight line.
So the Lunar Lodge hypothesis for cribs has a fairly good match in all
cases, except that the triple of real stars is not in an equilateral
triangle.
Cheers,
Brad