AbstractThis article sets down a number of approximate but easily memorised ways of using the sun, moon and a few stars to provide navigational and other information without the help of special instruments, astronomical tables, or even computing aids beyond a pencil and a scrap of paper. Some of the rules are well known and, though others have been evolved by the author on his own account, it is likely that all have previously been discovered. No originality is claimed for any of them, but the author believes that no convenient collection of these“stick and string”methods exists and that to have them brought together in one place may be of interest, even of use.