The Fixed Stars
Graffias
Acrab, Beta Scorpii
The claws, the pincers. It stands at about 4° Sagittarius (tropical).
The upper claw, closed and patient, first jewel of the Scorpion's crown.
Graffias stands at the top of the arc of stars crossing the Scorpion's brow, the crown the lunar mansion tradition calls Al Iklil. Robson gives it the nature of Mars and Saturn, and the old books read it hard, force without mercy, gain gripped too tightly. Modern practice tempers that to the pinch of the claw, pressure that tests what a person is holding and why.
♂︎ Nature. Mars and Saturn.
☾︎ Mansion. A determinant star of
Al Iklil, the crown of the forehead.
★︎ Nakshatra. Counted among the stars of
Anuradha, following radha, the subsequent success.
The alternate name Acrab is simply the Arabic for scorpion; the origin of Graffias itself is uncertain, possibly a claws word borrowed from the crab.