Antares and Pleiades

Book of Shadows

The astronomical observations for these constellations are for the Southern Hemisphere.

I have separated them out from the Southern Wheel of the Year because they do not rise in the same place on the Southern Wheel as they do on the Northern Wheel.


Antares

The brightest star in the constellation Scorpio. Apparently Scorpio is directly overhead in October-November so it must rise considerably earlier.

"The name Antares means "rival of Mars" and it is called this because its colour, red, is nearly as bright as the red of the planet Mars. Antares' name derives from the Greek Αντάρης, meaning "(holds) against Ares (Mars)", due to the similarity of its reddish hue to the appearance of the planet Mars. Its distinctive coloration has made the star an object of interest to many societies throughout history.

According to ancient Arab tradition, Antares is the warrior-poet Antar's star.

Many of the old Egyptian temples are oriented so that the light of Antares plays a role in the ceremonies performed there.

Antares was also known as Satevis in ancient Persia and was one of the four "royal stars" of the Persians around 3000 BC.

It was also known as Jyeshtha in ancient India. In the religion of Stregheria, Antares is a fallen angel and quarter guardian of the western gate.

In astrology Antares is one of the Behenian fixed stars.

An old Arabic name was Ķalb al Άķrab, the 'Scorpions heart'. This had been directly translated to the Greek Kardia Scorpiou/Καρδια Σκορπιου and Latin Cor Scorpii." (Wiki)

So far, I haven't found a lot of information on the ancient British or Lithuanian cultural meanings assigned to Antares.


Pleiades

Also known as the Seven Sisters. It is a small group of seven stars in Taurus. It visible in the Southern sky in February.

"The Pleiades are a prominent sight in winter in the Northern Hemisphere and in summer in the Southern Hemisphere, and have been known since antiquity to cultures all around the world, including the Māori and Australian Aborigines, the Chinese, the Maya (who called them Tzab-ek), the Aztec and the Sioux of North America.

Some Greek astronomers considered them to be a distinct constellation, and they are mentioned by Hesiod, and in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.

They are also mentioned three times in the Bible (Job 9:9, 38:31; Amos 5:8).

The Pleiades (Krittika) are particularly revered in Hindu mythology as the six mothers of the war god Skanda, who developed six faces, one for each of them. Some scholars of Islam suggested that the Pleiades (At-thuraiya) are the Star in Najm which is mentioned in the Quran." (Wiki

"The Pleiades' high visibility in the night sky has guaranteed it a special place in many cultures, both ancient and modern. In Greek mythology, they represented the Seven Sisters, while to the Vikings, they were Freyja's hens, and their name in many old European languages compares them to a hen with chicks.

"To the Bronze Age people of Europe, such as the Celts (and probably considerably earlier), the Pleiades were associated with mourning and with funerals, since at that time in history, on [Samhain] the cross-quarter day between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice, which was a festival devoted to the remembrance of the dead, the cluster rose in the eastern sky as the sun's light faded in the evening. It was from this acronychal rising that the Pleiades became associated with tears and mourning. As a result of precession over the centuries, the Pleiades no longer marked the festival, but the association has nevertheless persisted, and accounts for the significance of the Pleiades astrologically."

"Depending on the tribe or clan, some Indigenous Australian peoples believed the Pleiades was a woman who had been nearly raped by Kidili, the man in the moon.

Another version, often painted by Gabriella Possum Nungurayyi as this is her dreaming (or creation story), daughter of the late Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri from the Central desert art movement of Papunya, depicts the story of seven Napaltjarri sisters being chased by a man named Jilbi Tjakamarra. He would practice love magic to seduce the sisters but they had no intention of being with him and ran away. They sat down at Uluru to search for honey ants but when they saw Jilbi, they went to Kurlunyalimpa and with the spirits of Uluru, transformed into stars. Jilbi transforms himself into what is commonly known as the Morning Star in Orion's belt, thus continuing to chase the seven sisters across the sky. (Source:Aboriginal Fine Art Gallery)"

"In Western astrology they represent coping with sorrow and were considered a single one of the medieval fixed stars. As such, they are associated with quartz and fennel."
(Wiki)

The Pleiades features on the Nebra Sky Disk, a beautiful Bronze Age map of the night sky found in Germany and dated to around 1600 BC.

The Pleiades are also the emblem on the Japanese car Subaru, from "their Japanese name, Subaru; their Persian name, Soraya."

"Aboriginal legends, of course, about these stars are quite common as well, and one of them involves the Seven Sisters and the Spirit Men, and it’s a story about the Minma-Birnee and Woode Gooth-Tha Rra. If you’d like to see this fabulous presentation about the Woode Gooth-Tha Rra, please come to Sydney Observatory, where you can see the Aboriginal Nations Cartoon. It really is quite spectacular." (Sydney Observatory)


Celebrating Antares and Pleiades

So far, I have not found a lot of information on whether they are celebrated on the Southern Wheel or how, other than that the Pleiades are associated with fear and harassment on the Aboriginal Wheel.

Antares rises just after Summer Solstice on the Southern Wheel and sets at Vernal Equinox. That means it is the sky at Samhain and also covers First Harvest, Autumnal Equinox, Winter Solstice and Brigit's Day.

Pleiades rises a few days before First Harvest and sets halfway between Brigit's Day and Vernal Equinox, covering First Harvest, Autumnal Equinox, Samhain, Winter Solstice and Brigit's Day.


Please Note

My astronomical information may not be 100% correct. I am finding it hard to come to grips with it.

Until I find out or work out how, or if, these events in the night sky more firmly tie into and are celebrated on the Southern Wheel, I will simply mark their setting and rising by observing them and learning more about them. Such as whether I've got their risings and settings right.