Pleiades in folklore and literature

# Pleiades in folklore and literature

## Abstract

The high visibility of the star cluster Pleiades in the night sky and its position along the ecliptic (which approximates to the Solar System 's common planetary plane) has given it importance in many cultures, ancient and modern. Its heliacal rising, which moves through the seasons over millennia (see precession) was nonetheless a date of folklore or ritual for various ancestral groups, so too its yearly heliacal setting.

As noted by scholar Stith Thompson, the constellation was "nearly always imagined" as a group of seven sisters, and their myths explain why there are only six. Some scientists suggest that these may come from observations back when Pleione was further from Atlas and more visible as a separate star as far back as 100,000 BC.

## North Africa

### Berber people

Tuareg Berbers of the northern Sahara call the Pleiades Cat iheḍ (or -ahăḍ). This Berber name means: "daughters of the night". To many other Berbers it is Tagemmunt ("the group").

A Tuareg Berber proverb says:

Meaning: When the Pleiades "fall" with the sunset on the west, it still roughly (at J2000) means the hot, dry summer is coming. When they rise from the east with sunrise, the cold somewhat rainy season is coming. Nomads and others need to brace for these.

## Middle East

### Mesopotamia

The Mesopotamian cuneiform texts of the MUL.APIN, which were produced from the seventh century BC onwards, describe Pleiades leap rules for the intercalation of months. They refer to a time well before the creation of the surviving clay tablets, which have been copied several times, namely the 26th century BC. This results from the astronomical dates explicitly given in the texts for the visibility of the Pleiades (Sumerian term MUL.MUL = "stars") and the beginnings of the months. The two surviving Babylonian Pleiades leap rules are recorded in lines eight to eleven of the second clay tablet of the MUL.APIN series. Although the cuneiform characters of the beginnings of lines ten and eleven have not been completely preserved, they can be reconstructed relatively reliably and meaningfully. A normal year has twelve lunar months. A full year requires the intercalation of a thirteenth lunar month. According to this leap rule, seven synodical month have to be intercalated within the duration of a Metonic cycle, which has exactly nineteen solar years.

8 When on the first Nisannu Pleiades and moon are in balance, this year is normal. 9 When on the third Nisannu Pleiades and moon are in balance, this year is full. 10 When the Pleiades rise on the first Ajaru, this year is normal. 11 When the Pleiades rise on the first Simanu, this year is full.

### Bible

In the Old Testament, the Pleiades (Hebrew: כימה, romanized: Khima) are mentioned three times. Each passage also mentions Orion, a nearby, bright, anthropomorphic constellation: Amos 5:8; Job 9:9; and Job 38:31. The first two are references about their creation. The third (taken in the context of following verses) stresses their ongoing nature in the night sky; God is speaking directly to Job and challenges him, asking if he can bind the chains of the Pleiades — the implication being that Job cannot, but God can.

### Talmud

The Talmud (Berakhot 58b) suggests understanding ke' me-ah as kimah (כימה as כמאה) "about one hundred" stars in the Pleiades star cluster. Like most astronomical figures in rabbinic writing, the Jewish sages pointed to this as having come from Mount Sinai.

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki ("Rashi") suggested even more stars within the cluster when he commented on the Talmud with a question, "What is meant by Kimah?" It is then understood that the Talmud was suggesting hundreds of stars in the Pleiades cluster, and that only the first hundred are mentioned due to them being the most important.

### Other Jewish sources

According to Jewish folklore, when two fallen angels named Azazel and Shemhazai made it to the Earth, they fell strongly in love with the women of humankind. Shemhazai found a maiden named Istehar who swore she would give herself to him if he told her the sacred name which granted him the power to fly to Heaven. He revealed it to her, but she flew up to Heaven, never to fulfill her promise, thus she was placed in the constellation Pleiades, although she is also associated with the planet Venus.

### Turkey

In Turkish the Pleiades are known as Ülker. According to the Middle Turkic lexicographer Kaşgarlı Mahmud, writing in the 11th century, ülker çerig refers to a military ambush (çerig meaning 'troops in battle formation'): "The army is broken up into detachments posted in various places," and when one detachment falls back the others follow after it, and by this device "(the enemy) is often routed." Thus ülker çerig literally means 'an army made up of a group of detachments', which forms an apt simile for a star cluster. Ülker is also a unisex given name, a surname and the name of a food company best known for its chocolates.

### Iran

In Farsi, the Pleiades is primarily known as Parvin (پروین). It is a common given name of Iranians, Afghanis and some Pakistanis.

## Europe

Pleiades has gained, in a few tongues, several creative derivations of its French quite well-known, non-stellar meaning: "multitude".

### Greek mythology

In Greek mythology, the stars of Pleiades represented the Seven Sisters. The constellation was also described as ἑπτάποροι "heptaporoi", by poet Aratus.

### Western astrology

The astrological Pleiades were described in Three Books of Occult Philosophy by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (Köln, 1533, but published manuscript as early as 1510).

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.

In esoteric astrology the seven planetary systems revolve around Pleiades.

### Celtic mythology

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 the cross-quarter day between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice (see Samhain, also Halloween or All Souls Day), 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 may account for the significance of the Pleiades astrologically.

### Baltic mythology

In Baltic languages, the name for this constellation is Sietynas in Lithuanian and Sietiņš in Latvian, which is derived from sietas meaning " a sieve ". In Lithuanian folk songs this constellation is often personified as a benevolent brother who helps orphan girls to marry or walks soldiers along the fields. But in Lithuanian folk tales as well as Latvian folk songs this constellation is usually depicted as an inanimate object, a sieve which gets stolen by the devil from the thunder god or is used to conjure light rain by thunder's wife and children.

### Danish folklore

Ethnographer Svend Grundtvig collected a folkloric account of the myth of the Pleiades in Danish folklore ("The Pleiades, or the Seven Stars"). In this variant, six brothers travel the world to learn a trade and, with their combined help, rescue a kidnapped princess from a dwarf. Unable to choose which brother she likes best, God allows the seven to pass out in their sleep and turns them into the seven stars of the constellation.

### Hungarian folklore

The old name of the starcluster in Hungarian is Fiastyúk, meaning "a hen with chicks".

### Slavic folklore

#### Russian folklore

In historical Russian treatises about astronomy, the constellation was known as semizvedie, as well as vlasozelisci. Another Russian name to the constellation is Volosozhary or Volosynia, related by some scholars to the word volosy ('wool'), and to the god Volos.

#### Ukrainian folklore

In Ukrainian folklore, the Pleiades are known as Stozhary (Стожари), Volosozhary (Волосожари), or Baby-Zvizdy (Баби-Звізди).

Stozhary can be etymologically traced to stozharnya (стожарня) meaning a 'granary', 'storehouse for hay and crops', or can also be reduced to the root sto-zhar (сто-жар), meaning 'hundredfold glowing' or "a hundred embers".

Volosozhary (lit. ' the ones whose hair is glowing ') or Baby-Zvizdy (lit. ' female stars ') refer to the female tribal deities. According to the legend, seven maids lived long ago. They used to dance the traditional round dances and sing the glorious songs to honor the gods. After their death the gods turned them into water nymphs, and, having taken them to the Heavens, settled them upon the seven stars, where they dance their round dances (symbolic for moving the time) to this day.

In Ukraine, this asterism was considered a female talisman until recent times.

#### Belarusian tradition

The constellation of the Pleiades is known by several names in Belarusian tradition, such as Sitechko ('a sieve'), and, in a legend from the Horvats, there are seven vil ('spirits of deceased maidens') who dance around in a circle. Further studies by researcher Tsimafei Avilin show the main names of the constellation in Belarusian: Sieve (Sita or, rarely, Rešata, and variations) and The Hens (Kuročka and variations).

#### Serbian folklore

In Serbian folklore, the Pleiades can be called Vlašići (“children of Vlas"), a title possibly connected to Slavic deity Veles. The members of this asterism, considered to be "seven starry brothers", each receive an individual name: in one version, duos Mika and Mioka, Raka and Raoka, Orisav and Borisav, and the last Milisav; in another, Vole and Voleta, Rale and Raleta, Mile and Mileta and Pržožak; in a third, Mile and Mileta, Rade and Radeta, Bore and Boreta and Prigimaz.

In a version collected by Vuk Karadzic and published in the Archiv für slavische Philologie with the title Die Plejaden, a pair of brothers, Dragoman and Milan, lose their sister to a dragon and try to get her back. The dragon kills them. Years later, their mother gives birth to another son, named Busan. The boy suckles on his mother's breast for 7 years, becomes immensely strong and goes to kill the dragon. He rescues his sister and resurrects his brothers. Milan and Dragoman marry princesses, and the first fathers seven golden-haired children. The children, however, die in their sleep and are elevated to the sky as the Pleiades.

In another version by Karadzic, translated as Abermals die Plejaden ("Once again, the Pleiades"), a human prince recruits the services of five brothers, sons of a "dragon-woman", to rescue a princess. After the mission, they quarrel about who gets to keep the princess. Their mother solves the quarrel by taking the princess as their sister. The narration then tells that these are the seven stars of the Pleiades, also known in Serbian as Vlašići.

## Indigenous peoples of the Americas

It was common among the indigenous peoples of the Americas to measure keenness of vision by the number of stars the viewer could see in the Pleiades, a practice which was also used in historical Europe, especially in Greece. According to scholarship, some of the themes in their Pleiades stories involve dancing, a punishment inflicted on the characters, or the characters escaping to the sky.

### Andean cultures

In the ancient Andes, the Pleiades were associated with abundance, because they return to the Southern Hemisphere sky each year at harvest-time. In Quechua they are called Qullqa (storehouse).

### Assiniboine

In a tale collected in Belknap, attributed to the Assiniboine, seven youths discuss among themselves what they could change into. They decide to transform into stars by climbing a spiderweb.

### Arawak

Dutch cartographer Claudius de Goeje reported that the Pleiades constellation among the Arawak is named wīwa yó-koro and marks the beginning of the year. De Goeje also states that the Pleiades as the beginning of the year occurred "with all the tribes of Guiana".

### Aztec

According to Anthony Aveni, ancient Aztecs of Mexico and Central America based their calendar upon the Pleiades. Their year began when priests first remarked the asterism heliacal rising in the east, immediately before the Sun's dawn light obliterated the view of the stars. Aztecs called the Pleiades Tiānquiztli (Nahuatl pronunciation:; Classical Nahuatl for "marketplace". Compare tianguis).

### Blackfoot

Paul Goble, a British-American author who often depicted Native American stories, tells a Blackfoot legend that he says is told by other tribes as well. In the story, the Pleiades are orphans ("Lost Boys") that were not cared for by the people, so they became stars. Sun Man is angered by the mistreatment of the children and punishes the people with a drought, causing the buffalo to disappear, until the dogs, the only friends of the orphans, intercede on behalf of the people. Because the buffalo are not available while the Lost Boys are in the skies, the cosmic setting of the Pleiades was an assembly signal for Blackfoot hunter to travel to their hunting grounds to conduct the large-scale hunts, culminating in slaughters at buffalo jumps, that characterized their culture.

Another Pleiades story, attributed to the Blackfoot, names the constellation The Bunched Stars.

### Caddo

In a Caddo tale, compiled by Frances Jenkins Olcott, a mother has seven boys who did not want to work. One night, their mother sent them to bed without supper and, in the next morning, without breakfast. The boys, who knew magic song, began to dance around their house and slowly make their ascent to the heavens, to become the Seven Stars, which can only be seen in winter.

### Cherokee

A Cherokee myth (similar to that of the Onondaga people) indicates that seven boys who would not do their ceremonial chores and wanted only to play, ran around and around the ceremonial ball court in a circle, and rose up into the sky. Only six of the boys made it to the sky; the seventh was caught by his mother and fell to the ground with such force that he sank into the ground. A pine tree grew over his resting place.

### Cheyenne

A Cheyenne myth "The Girl Who Married a Dog", states that the group of seven stars known as the Pleiades originated from seven puppies which a Cheyenne chief's daughter gave birth to after mysteriously being visited by a dog in human form to whom she vowed "Wherever you go, I go".

### Hopi

The Hopi determined the passage of time for nighttime rituals in the winter by observing the Pleiades (Tsöötsöqam) and Orion's belt (Hotòmqam) through a kiva entrance hatch as they passed overhead. The Pleiades were depicted in a mural on one kiva wall.

### Iroquois

A tale attributed to the Iroquois people tells that the Pleiades were six boys who danced atop a hill to the tune a seventh was singing. On a certain occasion, they danced so fast and so light they began to ascend to the skies, and thus became the constellation.

### Kiowa

The Kiowa of North America legend of the Seven Star Girls links the origin of the Pleiades to Devils Tower. The seven little girls were chased by bears, and climbed a low rock. They begged the rock to save them, and it grew higher and higher until they were pushed up into the sky. The seven girls became the Pleiades and the grooves on Devils Tower are the marks of the bear's claws.

### Lakota

The Lakota Nation of North America had a legend that linked the origin of the Pleiades to Devils Tower.

### Mono

The Monache people tell of six wives who loved onions more than their husbands and now live happily in "sky country".

### Monte Alto Culture

The early Monte Alto Culture, and others in Guatemala such as Ujuxte and Takalik Abaj, made their early observatories using the Pleiades and Eta Draconis as reference; they were called the seven sisters, and thought to be their original land.

### Nez Perce

A Nez Perce myth about this constellation mirrors the ancient Greek myths about the Lost Pleiades. In the Nez Perce version the Pleiades is also a group of sisters, however the story itself is somewhat different. One sister falls in love with a man and, following his death, is so absorbed by her own grief that she tells her sisters about him. They mock her and tell her how silly it is of her to feel sad for the human after his death, and she in return keeps her growing sadness to herself, eventually becoming so ashamed and miserable about her own feelings that she pulls the sky over her face like a veil, blocking herself from view. This myth explains why there are only six of the seven stars visible to the naked eye.

### Navajo

The Pleiades (dilγéhé) play a major role in Navajo folklore and ritual. In the Navajo creation story, Upward-reachingway, the Pleiades was the first constellation placed in the sky by Black God. When Black God entered the hogan of creation, the Pleiades were on his ankle; he stamped his foot and they moved to his knee, then to his ankle, then to his shoulder, and finally to his left temple. The seven stars of dilγéhé are depicted on ceremonial masks of Black God, in sand paintings and on ceremonial gourd rattles.

### Ojibwe

The Ojibwe language calls the Pleiades Bagone-giizhig (Hole in the Sky) or Madoo'asinik (Sweating Stones). One myth says that the Ojibwe/Anishinaabe themselves came from the stars through Bagone-giizhig. In traditional beliefs it is described as a gateway between the earth and the "star world", through which the star people come to speak to the Jiisakiiwin seers during their ceremonies.

A story similar to Iroquois and Cherokee stories describes the Pleiades as seven children who danced and played all day rather than helping around the camp, until they danced into the sky and can be seen there to this day, but one fell back to Earth. In summer, when the Pleiades are not in the sky, the children are said to be down on Earth joining in with the ceremonial dances.

### Onondaga

The Onondaga people 's version of the story has lazy children who prefer to dance over their daily chores ignoring the warnings of the Bright Shining Old Man.

### Pacific Coast

In a tale attributed to Pacific Coast indigenous populations, the Pleiades are a family of seven sisters who, fed up with their husbands (all brothers) not sharing with them their game, want to be changed into stars. The husband of the youngest sister, the youngest of the seven brothers, accompanies his spouse and transforms into the Taurus constellation.

### Pawnee

The Skidi Pawnee consider the Pleiades to be seven brothers. They observed the seven brothers, as well as Corona Borealis, the Chiefs, through the smoke hole of Pawnee lodges to determine the time of night.

A second tale tells the Pleiades are six brothers who rescue their sister, who becomes the seventh star of the constellation.

### Seri

According to the Seris (of northwestern Mexico), these stars are seven women who are giving birth. The constellation is known as Cmaamc, which is apparently an archaic plural of the noun cmaam "woman".

### Shasta

The Shasta people tell a story of the children of raccoon killed by coyote avenging their father's death and then rising into the sky to form the Pleiades. The smallest star in the cluster is said to be coyote's youngest who aided the young raccoons.

### Tachi

In a tale from the Tachi people, the Pleiades are five sisters who lived in sky and marry a man named Flea. When he is ailed by an itch, they no longer like him and plan to leave him. He follows them to the sky.

### Wyandot

In a tale attributed to the Wyandot people, seven Singing Maidens, daughters of the Sun and the Moon, who live in Sky Land, descend to Earth and dance with human children. Their father, wrathful at their disobedience, banishes them to another part of the sky. In another tale, the Pleiades are seven Star Sisters who descend to Earth in a basket. One day, a human hunter captures the youngest by her girdle while their sisters escape in the basket. The maiden promises to become the hunter's wife, but before he must accompany her to the sky.

## Asia

### Nepal

To the Ban Raji people, who live semi-nomadically across western Nepal and Uttarakhand, the Pleiades are the "Seven sisters-in-law, and brother-in-law" (Hatai halyou daa Salla). They hold or held that when they can first make them out annually over the mountains straddling the upper Kali they feel happy to see their ancient kin. This is about eight hours afternoon by local, traditional time standards.

### China

The earliest recorded reference to the Pleiades may be in Chinese astronomical literature dating from 2357 BCE. For agricultural tribes in the northern hemisphere, the course of the Pleiades indicated the beginning and ending of the growing seasons. In Chinese constellations they are known as mǎo (昴), the Hairy Head of the white tiger of the West.

### India

In Indian astrology the Pleiades were known as the nakshatra Kṛttikā which in Sanskrit is translated as "the cutters". The Pleiades are called the star of fire, and their ruling deity is the fire god Agni. It is one of the most prominent of the nakshatra and is associated with anger and stubbornness. Karthigai (கார்த்திகை) in Tamil refers to the six wives of the seven rishis (sages), the seventh being Arundhati the wife of Vasistha which relates to the star Alcor in Ursa Major. The six stars in the Pleiades correspond to six wives, while the faithful wife Arundhati stuck with Sage Vasistha in Ursa Major. The six wives fell in love with Agni, hence the name Pleiades (star of fire).

### Japan

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In Japan, the Pleiades are known as Subaru (昴) which means "coming together" or "cluster" in Japanese and have given their name to the car manufacturer whose logo incorporates six stars to represent the five companies that merged into one. Subaru Telescope, located in Mauna Kea Observatory on Hawaii, is also named after the Pleiades.

### Korea

In Korea, the Pleiades are known as Myoseong (묘성; 昴星, with the suffix seong meaning 'star'. It also goes by many other names, directly transliterated from English (Korean: 플레이아데스) and translated literally (일곱으로 된 한 벌 or 7인조 referring to "seven sisters").

### Malay Archipelago

The cluster, known as Bintang Tujuh ("seven stars") or Bintang Puyuh (" sparrow stars") in Malay, is a marker in the traditional rice planting season in Kedah for sowing paddy seeds.

In the island of Java, the asterism is known in Javanese as Lintang Kartika or Gugus Kartika (" Kartika cluster"), a direct influence from the ancient Hindu Javanese. Influenced by Hinduism, the stars represent the seven princesses, which is represented in the court dance of Bedhaya Ketawang of the royal palaces of Surakarta. The dance is performed once per year, on the second day of the Javanese month of Ruwah (during May) and is performed by the nine females, relatives or wives of the Susuhunan (prince) of Surakarta before a private audience in the inner circle of the Sultanate family. Another name for Pleiades in Java is Wuluh.

In northern Java, its rising marks the arrival of the mangsa kapitu ("seventh season"), which marks the beginning of rice planting season.

Pleiades was once of most asterisms that used by Bugis sailors for navigation, called worong-porongngé bintoéng pitu, meaning "cluster of seven stars"

### Philippines

In the Philippines the Pleiades are known as "Moroporo", meaning either “the boiling lights” or a flock of birds. Its appearance signified a new agricultural season, and thus starts the preparation for the new planting season.

### Thailand

In Thailand the Pleiades are known as Dao Luk Kai ({{lang-th|ดาวลูกไก่; literally, "Chick Stars") due to a Thai folk tale. The story tells that a poor elderly couple who lived in a forest had raised a family of chickens: a mother hen and her six (or alternately seven) chicks. One day a monk arrived at the couple's home during his dhutanga journey. Worried that they had no suitable food to offer him, the elderly couple contemplated cooking the mother hen. The hen overheard the conversation and rushed back to the coop to say farewell to her children. She told them to take care of themselves, and that her death would repay the kindness of the elderly couple, who had taken care of all of them for so long. As the mother hen's feathers were being burned over a fire, the chicks threw themselves into the fire to die along with their mother. The deity (in one version, Phya In in Northern Thai and Phra In in Thai, both referring to Indra), impressed by and in remembrance of their love, immortalized the seven chickens as the stars of the Pleiades. In tellings of the story in which there were only six chicks, the mother is included but often includes only the seven chicks.

## Oceania

The Motif Index of Polynesian Narratives locates stories about the genesis of the Pleiades in New Zealand, Cooks and in Rotuma. The myth of the Pleiades in South Pacific Islands is related to Matariki, and the stars were originally one.

### Australia

Depending on the cultural/language group, there are several stories or songlines, regarding the origins of the Pleiades among Aboriginal Australian peoples, usually referred to as the Seven Sisters.

In the western desert region and cultural bloc, they are said to be seven sisters fleeing from the unwelcome attentions of a man represented by some of the stars in Orion, the hunter. In these stories, the man is called Nyiru or Nirunja, and the Seven Sisters songline known as Kungkarangkalpa. The seven sisters story often features in the artwork of the region.

A legend of the Wurundjeri people of south-eastern Australia has it that they are the fire of seven Karatgurk sisters. These women were the first to know fire-making and each carried live coals on the end of their digging sticks. They refused to share these coals with anybody and were ultimately tricked into giving up their secret by Crow, who brought fire to mankind. After this, they were swept into the night sky. Their glowing fire sticks became the bright stars of the Pleiades cluster.

The Wirangu people of the west coast of South Australia have a creation story embodied in a songline of great significance based on the Pleiades. In the story, the hunter (the Orion constellation) is named Tgilby. Tgilby, after falling in love with the seven sisters, known as Yugarilya, chases them out of the sky, onto and across the Earth. He chases them as the Yugarilya chase a snake, Dyunu.

### Hawaii

There is an analogous holiday in Hawaiʻi known as Makahiki. The makahiki season begins with a new moon following the rising of the pleiades (or makali`i) just after sunset instead of the heliacal rising.

The Hawaiian creation chant known as the Kumulipo also begins with reference to the pleiades (known as the makali`i).

### New Zealand

Occurring June 20 – June 22, the winter solstice (Te Maruaroa o Takurua) is seen by the New Zealand Māori as the middle of the winter season. It follows directly after the first sighting of Matariki (The Pleiades) and Puanga/Puaka (Rigel) in the dawn sky, an event which marked the beginning of the New Year and was said to be when the Sun turned from his northern journey with his winter-bride Takurua (Sirius) and began his journey back to his summer-bride Hine Raumati.

Author Kate Clark retold a Maori tale titled Matariki, or the Little Eyes.

### Rotuma

C. Maxwell Churchward transcribed a tale from the Rotuma about the origin of the Pleiades he dubbed The Two Sisters Who Became Constellations, or in the original language Sianpual'etaf ma Sianpual'ekia' ("Sianpual'etaf and Sianpual'ekia"). In this tale, two sisters, the older Sianpual'etaf, ("Girl Shining In The-Light") and the younger Sianpual'ekia ("Girl Shining In The-Sunset-Glow"), escape from their cruel husbands and become constellations: the older becomes "The Little Eyes" and the younger "The Fan".

### Samoa

In Samoa, the Pleiades constellation is called Matalii or Mataalii, meaning "Eyes of the Chiefs".

## Subsaharan Africa

### Bantu languages

Across the Bantu languages of Southern Africa, the Pleiades are associated with agriculture, from a verb -lima 'cultivate', e.g., Giryama kirimira, Kaguru chilimia; Xhosa and Zulu isilimela; Sotho and Tswana selemela; Tsonga shirimela, Venda tshilimela; Karanga chirimera; Nyabungu kelemera; Nyasa lemila.

In Swahili, the cluster is called "kilimia" (from Proto-Bantu "*ki-dimida" in Bantu areas E, F, G, J, L and S), meaning 'The Ploughing Stars'. The word comes from the verb -lima meaning "dig" or "cultivate", as their visibility was taken as a sign to prepare digging as the onset of the rain was near.

In related Sesotho (of far Southern Africa 's Basotho (people of Sotho)) the Pleiades are called "Seleme se setshehadi" ("the female planter"). Its disappearance in April (the 10th month) and the appearance of the star Achernar signals the beginning of the cold season. Like many neighbours, the Basotho associate its visibility with agriculture and plenty.

Among the Zulu people, the Pleiades are called in Zulu isi-limela or isiLimela ('the-planting-sign', in Bryant's translation; 'the digging-for (stars)', in James George Frazer 's), which, according to ethnologue Alfred Thomas Bryant, marked the beginning of the rain or planting season.

## Modern beliefs

### Jehovah's Witnesses

The 19th century astronomer Johann Heinrich von Mädler proposed the Central Sun Hypothesis, according to which all stars revolve around the star Alcyone, in the Pleiades. Based on this hypothesis, the Jehovah's Witnesses denomination taught until the 1950s that Alcyone was likely to be the site of the throne of God.

### Theosophy

In Theosophy, it is believed the Seven Stars of the Pleiades focus the spiritual energy of the Seven Rays from the Galactic Logos to the Seven Stars of the Great Bear, then to Sirius, then to the Sun, then to the god of Earth (Sanat Kumara) and finally through the seven Masters of the Seven Rays to us.

### UFOs

In Ufology some believers describe Nordic alien extraterrestrials (called Pleiadeans) as originating from this system.

## Modern literature

The name of the constellation inspired a group of Alexandrian poets, the Alexandrian Pleiad, then the French literary movement La Pléiade.

The "Netted Stars" known as Remmirath in The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien are likely a reference to the Pleiades, given their appearance and proximity to a red star called Borgil (identified with Aldebaran) and the constellation Menelvagor of the Shining Belt (Orion). As in real life, Remmirath rise before Borgil and Menelvagor.

Children's book author Edith Ogden Harrison gave the myth of the Pleiades a literary treatment in her book Prince Silverwings, and other fairy tales, as the tale of The Cloud Maidens. The story tells of the courtship of one of the Seven Sisters by the legendary Man in the Moon. Unfortunately, the Cloud Maiden is banished to Earth and becomes the "Maid of the Mist".

Another etiological tale, from a Slavic source, is The Seven Stars: a princess is kidnapped by a dragon, so the high chamberlain seeks a "Dragon-mother" and her sons, who each possess extraordinary abilities, to rescue her. At the end of the tale, the rescuers and the chamberlain enter a dispute on who should have the princess, but the "Dragon-mother" suggests they should treasure her as a sister, and to keep protecting her. As such, the seven are elevated to the sky as "The Seven Stars" (the Pleiades).

The Irish writer Lucinda Riley has published a series of books about The seven sisters that is based on the Pleiades of the ancient Greek mythology.

## New Age

In New Age lore, some believe that Sun and the Earth will pass through a Photon belt from the Pleiades, causing a cataclysm and/or initiating a spiritual transition (referred to variously as a "shift in consciousness," the "Great Shift," the "Shift of the Ages").

Barbara Marciniak, author of Bringers of the Dawn, is one of the authors who contributes to the New Age mythos of Pleiadian ET beings who are linked to human ancestry.


Spider-Man (Pavitr Prabhakar)

# Spider-Man (Pavitr Prabhakar)

## Abstract

Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics in collaboration with Gotham Entertainment. Pavitr Prabhakar is an Indian alternate version of Spider-Man who lives in Mumbai, India.

In the Marvel Comics universe, Spider-Man lives on Earth-50101. His secret identity is Pavitr Prabhakar, a shy high school student living with his Aunt Maya and Uncle Bhim in Mumbai. He has several supporting characters, such as Meera Jain, Flash Thompson, Nalin Oberoi, and Doctor Octopus. Pavitr moved to Mumbai from a small village. Despite financial struggles, his uncle was determined for him to receive a good education at the Heritage International School, one of the top schools in Mumbai.

Pavitr was often bullied in school for being from a village and wearing a dhoti. A Yogi gives him the magical powers of a spider, which he uses to fight Nalin Oberoi, an evil businessman searching for a powerful, magical amulet. In his quest, Oberoi destroys Pavitr's village, killing everyone. As Spider-Man, Pavitr defeats Oberoi and hands him over to the police.

Pavitr "Pav" Prabhakar / Spider-Man India made his cinematic debut in the 2023 animated feature film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, voiced by Karan Soni in English and Shubman Gill in Hindi and Punjabi. He is depicted as a member of Miguel O'Hara 's Spider-Society. He is set to reappear in the film's sequel, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.

## Publishing history

Pavitr Prabhakar first appeared in Spider-Man: India #1 (January 2005). Marvel created this Indian version in collaboration with the Gotham Entertainment Group, with Debdatta Das as a co-creator.

## Fictional character biography

Pavitr Prabhakar, an Indian boy from a remote village, moves to Mumbai with the encouragement of one of his aunts named Maya and Uncle Bhim after receiving a partial scholarship to go to the Heritage International School, a prestigious academy. At school, he is frequently bullied for his rural background. His uncle encourages him to ensure it and stay at the school because he has strong potential. A popular girl at the school, Meera Jain, befriends him after connecting over their shared history of moving to the city from a small village.

Meanwhile, a local crime lord named Nalin Oberoi uses an amulet to perform an ancient ritual in which he is possessed by a demon committed to opening a gate for other demons to invade Earth. While being chased by bullies, Pavitr encounters an ancient yogi who grants him the powers of a spider to fight the evil that threatens the world. Pavitr obtains the iconic Spider-Man costume and tests out his new abilities to create webs and stick to walls. While discovering his powers, Pavitr sees a woman being attacked by several men, but brushes it off, saying that the police would handle it. Unbeknownst to Pavitr, his uncle was in the area and attempted to help the woman, becoming fatally injured in the process. Pavitr hears his uncle cry out and rushes over, but by the time he gets there, it's too late. He finds the men who murdered his uncle, beating them before coming to his senses. Pavitr then understands that with great power comes great responsibility, and swears to use his powers for the good of others.

Nalin Oberoi briefly becomes human again and transforms a mild-mannered doctor into a demon with four magical tentacles (the Indian version of Doctor Octopus) and sends him to kill Spider-Man, as instructed by the demon voices. "Doc Ock" fails, and Spider-Man makes his public debut as a hero. The newspapers, however, label him as a threat.

Oberoi kidnaps Pavitr's aunt, taking her to a refinery outside Mumbai. There he betrays Doctor Octopus, blasting him into the ocean. Spider-Man arrives and fights Oberoi, who has also kidnapped Meera. He drops both Maya and Meera from the top of the refinery. Spider-Man dives for his aunt, but fails to rescue Meera, who is saved by Doctor Octopus. Pavitr reveals his identity to Meera and asks her to take his aunt to safety.

Oberoi gets rid of Doctor Octopus for good and touches Spider-Man with the amulet. A Venom -like creature emerges from the amulet and tries to lure Spider-Man to the dark side. Pavitr remembers his uncle's saying about responsibility and rejects the evil, shattering the link between the demons and Oberoi, and making Oberoi human again. Spider-Man throws the amulet into the ocean, and Oberoi is sent to a mental institution.

Peace is eventually restored to Mumbai. Pavitr Prabhakar begins a romance with Meera and is shown celebrating the festival of Diwali with his aunt. The story ends with a quote from the Bhagavad Gita, showing the Venom-Demon still alive.

### Spider-Verse

During the Spider-Verse storyline, which featured Spider-Men from various alternate realities, Pavitr Prabhakar fought a mysterious new villain named Karn, whom he mistook for a demon. The Superior Spider-Man (Doctor Octopus ' mind in Peter Parker's body) managed to save him and recruited him into his army of Spiders. In the second volume of Spider-Verse set during the Secret Wars event, Pavitr Prabhakar found himself in the domain of the Battleworld called Arachnia, where he teamed up with Spider-Gwen, Spider-Ham, Spider-Man Noir, Spider-UK, and Anya Corazon, though none of them remembered their previous encounter during the original Spider-Verse.

Following the conclusion of Secret Wars, the team of six Spiders that formed during the event will rename itself and feature in a new ongoing series called Web Warriors, a name coined by Peter Parker from the Ultimate Spider-Man TV series during the original Spider-Verse.

### Spider-Geddon

During the Spider-Geddon storyline, Pavitr has been keeping surveillance on Earth-3145 with the help of Spider-Girl, Spider-Punk, Spider-UK, and Master Weaver. They find out that the Inheritors have become malnourished since they were last seen.

## In other media

### Film

- Pavitr "Pav" Prabhakar / Spider-Man India appears in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023), voiced by Karan Soni. This version is a member of Miguel O'Hara 's Spider Society and a friend of Spider-Punk and Spider-Woman. Additionally, he lives in Mumbattan, an Indian city based on Mumbai and Manhattan, and is dating Inspector Singh 's daughter Gayatri. Pavitr Prabhakar is set to return in the upcoming sequel Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.

- Pavitr Prabhakar is set to return in the upcoming sequel Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.

### Video games

- Pavitr Prabhakar appears as an unlockable playable character in Spider-Man Unlimited.

- Pavitr Prabhakar appears as an unlockable playable character in Marvel Strike Force.

## Reception

James Whitbrook of io9 placed Pavitr as number fourteen as the greatest alternate take of Spider-Man, explaining that he "shares much in common with the general Spider-Man legacy, but he's probably the best example of a foreign Spider-Man Marvel's ever attempted." Ryan Linch of Screen Rant placed Pavitr as number ten, saying that the character "has some really clever deviations from his American counterparts, but still retains everything that makes Spider-Man great."


Gregory Andrews

# Gregory Andrews

## Abstract

Gregory Andrews is the founder and managing director of Lyrebird Dreaming. He was Australia's first Threatened Species Commissioner, and was the former Australian High Commissioner to Ghana and West Africa.

He gained national attention in 2006 due to his controversial appearance on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) program Lateline, where he assumed a false identity and made false allegations about widespread child sexual abuse in Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory.

## Early life and education

Gregory Andrews was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and is a Dharawal man of shared Aboriginal and European ancestry.

He holds a Master of Arts (Foreign Affairs and Trade) from the Australian National University and a Bachelor of Economics, majoring in econometrics, with First Class Honours from the University of Newcastle.

## Career

Andrews joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade as a graduate in 1992.

In 2014, Andrews was appointed Threatened Species Commissioner, a position created by the incoming Coalition Government. Environment monister Greg Hunt conceded the role lacked statutory powers and would have to liaise with other agencies.

Andrews served as assistant secretary of the International Organisations Branch. He has previously served overseas as first secretary at the Australian Embassy, Beijing. From 2017 to 2019, Andrews was Australia's national focal point for the Responsibility to Protect and represented Australia in United Nations, bilateral and non-government negotiations on atrocity prevention.

In June 2020 Andrews was appointed as Australia's High Commissioner to Ghana to Ghana and West Africa. His appointment was reportedly marred with controversy based on his support for marginalised people such as so called accused witches and Ghana's LGBT community. On 20 December 2021, it is reported that the Australian Government ended Andrews appointment to Ghana, and he returned home.

Andrews served as Australia's deputy chief climate negotiator to the United Nations.

He is the founder and managing director of Lyrebird Dreaming.

## Climate activism

On 2 November 2023, Andrews begun a hunger strike on the lawns of Australian Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, protesting the lack of government action on climate change. Andrews was taken to hospital after a 16-day hunger strike, ending the longest hunger strike for climate action by a single person in Australia. His petition received over 4,500 signatures.

On 9 August 2024, Andrews set out on a community awareness trip, intending to cycle 4,500 km (2,800 mi) across Australia from west to east on an ebike. In addition to promoting the importance and benefits of renewable energy, Andrews encouraged donations made online will be earmarked to specific projects which help to provide more renewable energy for people living regional and remote areas.


No Such Thing (film)

# No Such Thing (film)

## Abstract

No Such Thing (previously titled Monster, Icelandic: Skrímsli) is a 2001 supernatural drama film directed by Hal Hartley. It tells the story of Beatrice (Sarah Polley), a journalist whose fiancé is killed by a monster in Iceland. The story is based very loosely on the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the May 2001 Cannes Film Festival.

## Plot

Beatrice (Sarah Polley) is a young woman working in a television network under a woman known only as The Boss (Helen Mirren). She receives a recording from her fiancé Jim, who has been sent as part of a small production crew to Iceland to investigate a Monster that lives there. Determined to find her fiancé, Beatrice convinces her boss to send her to Iceland, but her plane crashes. She is the only survivor and, in order to walk again, undergoes an extremely painful, radical surgery. As she recovers, she befriends Dr. Anna (Julie Christie), who helps her travel to the remote village where the monster lives.

After cajoling Beatrice into drinking herself into unconsciousness, the villagers strip her and leave her as an offering to the Monster himself (Robert John Burke), a foul-mouthed, alcoholic beast old enough to remember human ancestors crawling from the seas. Beatrice shows him no real fear, although the Monster tells her he has killed her friends and might kill her, too. He tells her that he wants to die, but is indestructible. In an effort to force Beatrice to try to kill him, he proves that he killed Jim and his crew. She shoots him twice and he reacts in obvious pain, but heals almost instantly. He tells her of a mad scientist, Dr. Artaud (Baltasar Kormákur, presumably named for Antonin Artaud), who had discovered a way to kill him, but Dr. Artaud had been "taken away in a straitjacket." Beatrice offers to help him find Dr. Artaud if the Monster comes with her to New York and promises not to kill anyone while he is there.

In New York, the Monster becomes a celebrity, with the Boss staging a media frenzy as they search for Dr. Artaud. They find that he is working for the government. While Beatrice revels in the attention, the Monster remains miserable and drunk. The Boss makes a deal with a government scientist to study the Monster and he's rushed away by army guards who mislead him into believing he is going to see Dr. Artaud. Instead, he is subjected to torturous experiments as the scientists try to discover the key to his indestructibility, one of them noting that he can't seem to tolerate new information. One of those experiments involves the Monster being ridiculed and beaten on the street to study his behavior. The Monster holds to his promise to Beatrice and does not kill anyone.

Meanwhile, Beatrice meets Dr. Artaud by chance. With Margaret (Annika Peterson), a remorseful former coworker of Beatrice's, they hatch a plan to escape back to Iceland with the Monster. They make their escape but are pursued by the government, who fears the Monster and Artaud might fall into the wrong hands. Artaud builds a machine that will kill the Monster. Beatrice bids the Monster a tearful farewell and kisses him goodbye. As the machine starts, the army storms their hideout. As the lights flicker on and off and the machine moves the Monster into place (in a process mirroring Beatrice's surgery), the Monster and Beatrice face each other one last time. Her face flickers in his vision for several minutes before the screen blackens.

## Cast

- Sarah Polley as Beatrice

- Robert John Burke as Monster

- Helen Mirren as The Boss

- Julie Christie as Dr. Anna

- Baltasar Kormákur as Dr. Artaud

- Annika Peterson as Margaret

- Erica Gimpel as Judy

## Production

For Hartley, writing and directing No Such Thing was like coming "full circle for a filmmaker": early in his career he had written a script for a horror film, later revised to be a vampire film; that movie was never made, but No Such Thing mirrors its ideas. It was shot in Iceland and New York City during September and October 2000. It was the first Hartley production for a major company, MGM/United Artists, and Francis Ford Coppola was one of the executive producers. The film was ill-received at the Cannes Film Festival, after which the studio demanded the movie be recut. Hartley refused, and Coppola supported him. These events, and the September 11 attacks, complicated the relation with the studio. The release, in early 2002, was a low-key affair; after two weeks, only three screens showed the film. It went to home video within months.

In 2012, the film's screenplay was made available on Hal Hartley's website in a book that also included the screenplays for The Book of Life and The Girl From Monday.

## Critical reception

No Such Thing was poorly received by critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 30% based on 43 reviews with an average rating of 5.03/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Stocked with talented stars but lacking any clear idea of what to do with them, No Such Thing is ultimately far too uneven to recommend." According to Metacritic, which sampled 21 critics and calculated a weighted average score of 36 out of 100, the film received "generally unfavorable reviews".

Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film one star, saying " No Such Thing is inexplicable, shapeless, dull. It doesn't even rise to entertaining badness."


Pleiades in folklore and literature

# Pleiades in folklore and literature

## Abstract

The high visibility of the star cluster Pleiades in the night sky and its position along the ecliptic (which approximates to the Solar System 's common planetary plane) has given it importance in many cultures, ancient and modern. Its heliacal rising, which moves through the seasons over millennia (see precession) was nonetheless a date of folklore or ritual for various ancestral groups, so too its yearly heliacal setting.

As noted by scholar Stith Thompson, the constellation was "nearly always imagined" as a group of seven sisters, and their myths explain why there are only six. Some scientists suggest that these may come from observations back when Pleione was further from Atlas and more visible as a separate star as far back as 100,000 BC.

## North Africa

### Berber people

Tuareg Berbers of the northern Sahara call the Pleiades Cat iheḍ (or -ahăḍ). This Berber name means: "daughters of the night". To many other Berbers it is Tagemmunt ("the group").

A Tuareg Berber proverb says:

Meaning: When the Pleiades "fall" with the sunset on the west, it still roughly (at J2000) means the hot, dry summer is coming. When they rise from the east with sunrise, the cold somewhat rainy season is coming. Nomads and others need to brace for these.

## Middle East

### Mesopotamia

The Mesopotamian cuneiform texts of the MUL.APIN, which were produced from the seventh century BC onwards, describe Pleiades leap rules for the intercalation of months. They refer to a time well before the creation of the surviving clay tablets, which have been copied several times, namely the 26th century BC. This results from the astronomical dates explicitly given in the texts for the visibility of the Pleiades (Sumerian term MUL.MUL = "stars") and the beginnings of the months. The two surviving Babylonian Pleiades leap rules are recorded in lines eight to eleven of the second clay tablet of the MUL.APIN series. Although the cuneiform characters of the beginnings of lines ten and eleven have not been completely preserved, they can be reconstructed relatively reliably and meaningfully. A normal year has twelve lunar months. A full year requires the intercalation of a thirteenth lunar month. According to this leap rule, seven synodical month have to be intercalated within the duration of a Metonic cycle, which has exactly nineteen solar years.

8 When on the first Nisannu Pleiades and moon are in balance, this year is normal. 9 When on the third Nisannu Pleiades and moon are in balance, this year is full. 10 When the Pleiades rise on the first Ajaru, this year is normal. 11 When the Pleiades rise on the first Simanu, this year is full.

### Bible

In the Old Testament, the Pleiades (Hebrew: כימה, romanized: Khima) are mentioned three times. Each passage also mentions Orion, a nearby, bright, anthropomorphic constellation: Amos 5:8; Job 9:9; and Job 38:31. The first two are references about their creation. The third (taken in the context of following verses) stresses their ongoing nature in the night sky; God is speaking directly to Job and challenges him, asking if he can bind the chains of the Pleiades — the implication being that Job cannot, but God can.

### Talmud

The Talmud (Berakhot 58b) suggests understanding ke' me-ah as kimah (כימה as כמאה) "about one hundred" stars in the Pleiades star cluster. Like most astronomical figures in rabbinic writing, the Jewish sages pointed to this as having come from Mount Sinai.

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki ("Rashi") suggested even more stars within the cluster when he commented on the Talmud with a question, "What is meant by Kimah?" It is then understood that the Talmud was suggesting hundreds of stars in the Pleiades cluster, and that only the first hundred are mentioned due to them being the most important.

### Other Jewish sources

According to Jewish folklore, when two fallen angels named Azazel and Shemhazai made it to the Earth, they fell strongly in love with the women of humankind. Shemhazai found a maiden named Istehar who swore she would give herself to him if he told her the sacred name which granted him the power to fly to Heaven. He revealed it to her, but she flew up to Heaven, never to fulfill her promise, thus she was placed in the constellation Pleiades, although she is also associated with the planet Venus.

### Turkey

In Turkish the Pleiades are known as Ülker. According to the Middle Turkic lexicographer Kaşgarlı Mahmud, writing in the 11th century, ülker çerig refers to a military ambush (çerig meaning 'troops in battle formation'): "The army is broken up into detachments posted in various places," and when one detachment falls back the others follow after it, and by this device "(the enemy) is often routed." Thus ülker çerig literally means 'an army made up of a group of detachments', which forms an apt simile for a star cluster. Ülker is also a unisex given name, a surname and the name of a food company best known for its chocolates.

### Iran

In Farsi, the Pleiades is primarily known as Parvin (پروین). It is a common given name of Iranians, Afghanis and some Pakistanis.

## Europe

Pleiades has gained, in a few tongues, several creative derivations of its French quite well-known, non-stellar meaning: "multitude".

### Greek mythology

In Greek mythology, the stars of Pleiades represented the Seven Sisters. The constellation was also described as ἑπτάποροι "heptaporoi", by poet Aratus.

### Western astrology

The astrological Pleiades were described in Three Books of Occult Philosophy by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (Köln, 1533, but published manuscript as early as 1510).

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.

In esoteric astrology the seven planetary systems revolve around Pleiades.

### Celtic mythology

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 the cross-quarter day between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice (see Samhain, also Halloween or All Souls Day), 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 may account for the significance of the Pleiades astrologically.

### Baltic mythology

In Baltic languages, the name for this constellation is Sietynas in Lithuanian and Sietiņš in Latvian, which is derived from sietas meaning " a sieve ". In Lithuanian folk songs this constellation is often personified as a benevolent brother who helps orphan girls to marry or walks soldiers along the fields. But in Lithuanian folk tales as well as Latvian folk songs this constellation is usually depicted as an inanimate object, a sieve which gets stolen by the devil from the thunder god or is used to conjure light rain by thunder's wife and children.

### Danish folklore

Ethnographer Svend Grundtvig collected a folkloric account of the myth of the Pleiades in Danish folklore ("The Pleiades, or the Seven Stars"). In this variant, six brothers travel the world to learn a trade and, with their combined help, rescue a kidnapped princess from a dwarf. Unable to choose which brother she likes best, God allows the seven to pass out in their sleep and turns them into the seven stars of the constellation.

### Hungarian folklore

The old name of the starcluster in Hungarian is Fiastyúk, meaning "a hen with chicks".

### Slavic folklore

#### Russian folklore

In historical Russian treatises about astronomy, the constellation was known as semizvedie, as well as vlasozelisci. Another Russian name to the constellation is Volosozhary or Volosynia, related by some scholars to the word volosy ('wool'), and to the god Volos.

#### Ukrainian folklore

In Ukrainian folklore, the Pleiades are known as Stozhary (Стожари), Volosozhary (Волосожари), or Baby-Zvizdy (Баби-Звізди).

Stozhary can be etymologically traced to stozharnya (стожарня) meaning a 'granary', 'storehouse for hay and crops', or can also be reduced to the root sto-zhar (сто-жар), meaning 'hundredfold glowing' or "a hundred embers".

Volosozhary (lit. ' the ones whose hair is glowing ') or Baby-Zvizdy (lit. ' female stars ') refer to the female tribal deities. According to the legend, seven maids lived long ago. They used to dance the traditional round dances and sing the glorious songs to honor the gods. After their death the gods turned them into water nymphs, and, having taken them to the Heavens, settled them upon the seven stars, where they dance their round dances (symbolic for moving the time) to this day.

In Ukraine, this asterism was considered a female talisman until recent times.

#### Belarusian tradition

The constellation of the Pleiades is known by several names in Belarusian tradition, such as Sitechko ('a sieve'), and, in a legend from the Horvats, there are seven vil ('spirits of deceased maidens') who dance around in a circle. Further studies by researcher Tsimafei Avilin show the main names of the constellation in Belarusian: Sieve (Sita or, rarely, Rešata, and variations) and The Hens (Kuročka and variations).

#### Serbian folklore

In Serbian folklore, the Pleiades can be called Vlašići (“children of Vlas"), a title possibly connected to Slavic deity Veles. The members of this asterism, considered to be "seven starry brothers", each receive an individual name: in one version, duos Mika and Mioka, Raka and Raoka, Orisav and Borisav, and the last Milisav; in another, Vole and Voleta, Rale and Raleta, Mile and Mileta and Pržožak; in a third, Mile and Mileta, Rade and Radeta, Bore and Boreta and Prigimaz.

In a version collected by Vuk Karadzic and published in the Archiv für slavische Philologie with the title Die Plejaden, a pair of brothers, Dragoman and Milan, lose their sister to a dragon and try to get her back. The dragon kills them. Years later, their mother gives birth to another son, named Busan. The boy suckles on his mother's breast for 7 years, becomes immensely strong and goes to kill the dragon. He rescues his sister and resurrects his brothers. Milan and Dragoman marry princesses, and the first fathers seven golden-haired children. The children, however, die in their sleep and are elevated to the sky as the Pleiades.

In another version by Karadzic, translated as Abermals die Plejaden ("Once again, the Pleiades"), a human prince recruits the services of five brothers, sons of a "dragon-woman", to rescue a princess. After the mission, they quarrel about who gets to keep the princess. Their mother solves the quarrel by taking the princess as their sister. The narration then tells that these are the seven stars of the Pleiades, also known in Serbian as Vlašići.

## Indigenous peoples of the Americas

It was common among the indigenous peoples of the Americas to measure keenness of vision by the number of stars the viewer could see in the Pleiades, a practice which was also used in historical Europe, especially in Greece. According to scholarship, some of the themes in their Pleiades stories involve dancing, a punishment inflicted on the characters, or the characters escaping to the sky.

### Andean cultures

In the ancient Andes, the Pleiades were associated with abundance, because they return to the Southern Hemisphere sky each year at harvest-time. In Quechua they are called Qullqa (storehouse).

### Assiniboine

In a tale collected in Belknap, attributed to the Assiniboine, seven youths discuss among themselves what they could change into. They decide to transform into stars by climbing a spiderweb.

### Arawak

Dutch cartographer Claudius de Goeje reported that the Pleiades constellation among the Arawak is named wīwa yó-koro and marks the beginning of the year. De Goeje also states that the Pleiades as the beginning of the year occurred "with all the tribes of Guiana".

### Aztec

According to Anthony Aveni, ancient Aztecs of Mexico and Central America based their calendar upon the Pleiades. Their year began when priests first remarked the asterism heliacal rising in the east, immediately before the Sun's dawn light obliterated the view of the stars. Aztecs called the Pleiades Tiānquiztli (Nahuatl pronunciation:; Classical Nahuatl for "marketplace". Compare tianguis).

### Blackfoot

Paul Goble, a British-American author who often depicted Native American stories, tells a Blackfoot legend that he says is told by other tribes as well. In the story, the Pleiades are orphans ("Lost Boys") that were not cared for by the people, so they became stars. Sun Man is angered by the mistreatment of the children and punishes the people with a drought, causing the buffalo to disappear, until the dogs, the only friends of the orphans, intercede on behalf of the people. Because the buffalo are not available while the Lost Boys are in the skies, the cosmic setting of the Pleiades was an assembly signal for Blackfoot hunter to travel to their hunting grounds to conduct the large-scale hunts, culminating in slaughters at buffalo jumps, that characterized their culture.

Another Pleiades story, attributed to the Blackfoot, names the constellation The Bunched Stars.

### Caddo

In a Caddo tale, compiled by Frances Jenkins Olcott, a mother has seven boys who did not want to work. One night, their mother sent them to bed without supper and, in the next morning, without breakfast. The boys, who knew magic song, began to dance around their house and slowly make their ascent to the heavens, to become the Seven Stars, which can only be seen in winter.

### Cherokee

A Cherokee myth (similar to that of the Onondaga people) indicates that seven boys who would not do their ceremonial chores and wanted only to play, ran around and around the ceremonial ball court in a circle, and rose up into the sky. Only six of the boys made it to the sky; the seventh was caught by his mother and fell to the ground with such force that he sank into the ground. A pine tree grew over his resting place.

### Cheyenne

A Cheyenne myth "The Girl Who Married a Dog", states that the group of seven stars known as the Pleiades originated from seven puppies which a Cheyenne chief's daughter gave birth to after mysteriously being visited by a dog in human form to whom she vowed "Wherever you go, I go".

### Hopi

The Hopi determined the passage of time for nighttime rituals in the winter by observing the Pleiades (Tsöötsöqam) and Orion's belt (Hotòmqam) through a kiva entrance hatch as they passed overhead. The Pleiades were depicted in a mural on one kiva wall.

### Iroquois

A tale attributed to the Iroquois people tells that the Pleiades were six boys who danced atop a hill to the tune a seventh was singing. On a certain occasion, they danced so fast and so light they began to ascend to the skies, and thus became the constellation.

### Kiowa

The Kiowa of North America legend of the Seven Star Girls links the origin of the Pleiades to Devils Tower. The seven little girls were chased by bears, and climbed a low rock. They begged the rock to save them, and it grew higher and higher until they were pushed up into the sky. The seven girls became the Pleiades and the grooves on Devils Tower are the marks of the bear's claws.

### Lakota

The Lakota Nation of North America had a legend that linked the origin of the Pleiades to Devils Tower.

### Mono

The Monache people tell of six wives who loved onions more than their husbands and now live happily in "sky country".

### Monte Alto Culture

The early Monte Alto Culture, and others in Guatemala such as Ujuxte and Takalik Abaj, made their early observatories using the Pleiades and Eta Draconis as reference; they were called the seven sisters, and thought to be their original land.

### Nez Perce

A Nez Perce myth about this constellation mirrors the ancient Greek myths about the Lost Pleiades. In the Nez Perce version the Pleiades is also a group of sisters, however the story itself is somewhat different. One sister falls in love with a man and, following his death, is so absorbed by her own grief that she tells her sisters about him. They mock her and tell her how silly it is of her to feel sad for the human after his death, and she in return keeps her growing sadness to herself, eventually becoming so ashamed and miserable about her own feelings that she pulls the sky over her face like a veil, blocking herself from view. This myth explains why there are only six of the seven stars visible to the naked eye.

### Navajo

The Pleiades (dilγéhé) play a major role in Navajo folklore and ritual. In the Navajo creation story, Upward-reachingway, the Pleiades was the first constellation placed in the sky by Black God. When Black God entered the hogan of creation, the Pleiades were on his ankle; he stamped his foot and they moved to his knee, then to his ankle, then to his shoulder, and finally to his left temple. The seven stars of dilγéhé are depicted on ceremonial masks of Black God, in sand paintings and on ceremonial gourd rattles.

### Ojibwe

The Ojibwe language calls the Pleiades Bagone-giizhig (Hole in the Sky) or Madoo'asinik (Sweating Stones). One myth says that the Ojibwe/Anishinaabe themselves came from the stars through Bagone-giizhig. In traditional beliefs it is described as a gateway between the earth and the "star world", through which the star people come to speak to the Jiisakiiwin seers during their ceremonies.

A story similar to Iroquois and Cherokee stories describes the Pleiades as seven children who danced and played all day rather than helping around the camp, until they danced into the sky and can be seen there to this day, but one fell back to Earth. In summer, when the Pleiades are not in the sky, the children are said to be down on Earth joining in with the ceremonial dances.

### Onondaga

The Onondaga people 's version of the story has lazy children who prefer to dance over their daily chores ignoring the warnings of the Bright Shining Old Man.

### Pacific Coast

In a tale attributed to Pacific Coast indigenous populations, the Pleiades are a family of seven sisters who, fed up with their husbands (all brothers) not sharing with them their game, want to be changed into stars. The husband of the youngest sister, the youngest of the seven brothers, accompanies his spouse and transforms into the Taurus constellation.

### Pawnee

The Skidi Pawnee consider the Pleiades to be seven brothers. They observed the seven brothers, as well as Corona Borealis, the Chiefs, through the smoke hole of Pawnee lodges to determine the time of night.

A second tale tells the Pleiades are six brothers who rescue their sister, who becomes the seventh star of the constellation.

### Seri

According to the Seris (of northwestern Mexico), these stars are seven women who are giving birth. The constellation is known as Cmaamc, which is apparently an archaic plural of the noun cmaam "woman".

### Shasta

The Shasta people tell a story of the children of raccoon killed by coyote avenging their father's death and then rising into the sky to form the Pleiades. The smallest star in the cluster is said to be coyote's youngest who aided the young raccoons.

### Tachi

In a tale from the Tachi people, the Pleiades are five sisters who lived in sky and marry a man named Flea. When he is ailed by an itch, they no longer like him and plan to leave him. He follows them to the sky.

### Wyandot

In a tale attributed to the Wyandot people, seven Singing Maidens, daughters of the Sun and the Moon, who live in Sky Land, descend to Earth and dance with human children. Their father, wrathful at their disobedience, banishes them to another part of the sky. In another tale, the Pleiades are seven Star Sisters who descend to Earth in a basket. One day, a human hunter captures the youngest by her girdle while their sisters escape in the basket. The maiden promises to become the hunter's wife, but before he must accompany her to the sky.

## Asia

### Nepal

To the Ban Raji people, who live semi-nomadically across western Nepal and Uttarakhand, the Pleiades are the "Seven sisters-in-law, and brother-in-law" (Hatai halyou daa Salla). They hold or held that when they can first make them out annually over the mountains straddling the upper Kali they feel happy to see their ancient kin. This is about eight hours afternoon by local, traditional time standards.

### China

The earliest recorded reference to the Pleiades may be in Chinese astronomical literature dating from 2357 BCE. For agricultural tribes in the northern hemisphere, the course of the Pleiades indicated the beginning and ending of the growing seasons. In Chinese constellations they are known as mǎo (昴), the Hairy Head of the white tiger of the West.

### India

In Indian astrology the Pleiades were known as the nakshatra Kṛttikā which in Sanskrit is translated as "the cutters". The Pleiades are called the star of fire, and their ruling deity is the fire god Agni. It is one of the most prominent of the nakshatra and is associated with anger and stubbornness. Karthigai (கார்த்திகை) in Tamil refers to the six wives of the seven rishis (sages), the seventh being Arundhati the wife of Vasistha which relates to the star Alcor in Ursa Major. The six stars in the Pleiades correspond to six wives, while the faithful wife Arundhati stuck with Sage Vasistha in Ursa Major. The six wives fell in love with Agni, hence the name Pleiades (star of fire).

### Japan

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In Japan, the Pleiades are known as Subaru (昴) which means "coming together" or "cluster" in Japanese and have given their name to the car manufacturer whose logo incorporates six stars to represent the five companies that merged into one. Subaru Telescope, located in Mauna Kea Observatory on Hawaii, is also named after the Pleiades.

### Korea

In Korea, the Pleiades are known as Myoseong (묘성; 昴星, with the suffix seong meaning 'star'. It also goes by many other names, directly transliterated from English (Korean: 플레이아데스) and translated literally (일곱으로 된 한 벌 or 7인조 referring to "seven sisters").

### Malay Archipelago

The cluster, known as Bintang Tujuh ("seven stars") or Bintang Puyuh (" sparrow stars") in Malay, is a marker in the traditional rice planting season in Kedah for sowing paddy seeds.

In the island of Java, the asterism is known in Javanese as Lintang Kartika or Gugus Kartika (" Kartika cluster"), a direct influence from the ancient Hindu Javanese. Influenced by Hinduism, the stars represent the seven princesses, which is represented in the court dance of Bedhaya Ketawang of the royal palaces of Surakarta. The dance is performed once per year, on the second day of the Javanese month of Ruwah (during May) and is performed by the nine females, relatives or wives of the Susuhunan (prince) of Surakarta before a private audience in the inner circle of the Sultanate family. Another name for Pleiades in Java is Wuluh.

In northern Java, its rising marks the arrival of the mangsa kapitu ("seventh season"), which marks the beginning of rice planting season.

Pleiades was once of most asterisms that used by Bugis sailors for navigation, called worong-porongngé bintoéng pitu, meaning "cluster of seven stars"

### Philippines

In the Philippines the Pleiades are known as "Moroporo", meaning either “the boiling lights” or a flock of birds. Its appearance signified a new agricultural season, and thus starts the preparation for the new planting season.

### Thailand

In Thailand the Pleiades are known as Dao Luk Kai (Thai: ดาวลูกไก่; literally, "Chick Stars") due to a Thai folk tale. The story tells that a poor elderly couple who lived in a forest had raised a family of chickens: a mother hen and her six (or alternately seven) chicks. One day a monk arrived at the couple's home during his dhutanga journey. Worried that they had no suitable food to offer him, the elderly couple contemplated cooking the mother hen. The hen overheard the conversation and rushed back to the coop to say farewell to her children. She told them to take care of themselves, and that her death would repay the kindness of the elderly couple, who had taken care of all of them for so long. As the mother hen's feathers were being burned over a fire, the chicks threw themselves into the fire to die along with their mother. The deity (in one version, Phya In in Northern Thai and Phra In in Thai, both referring to Indra), impressed by and in remembrance of their love, immortalized the seven chickens as the stars of the Pleiades. In tellings of the story in which there were only six chicks, the mother is included but often includes only the seven chicks.

## Oceania

The Motif Index of Polynesian Narratives locates stories about the genesis of the Pleiades in New Zealand, Cooks and in Rotuma. The myth of the Pleiades in South Pacific Islands is related to Matariki, and the stars were originally one.

### Australia

Depending on the cultural/language group, there are several stories or songlines, regarding the origins of the Pleiades among Aboriginal Australian peoples, usually referred to as the Seven Sisters.

In the western desert region and cultural bloc, they are said to be seven sisters fleeing from the unwelcome attentions of a man represented by some of the stars in Orion, the hunter. In these stories, the man is called Nyiru or Nirunja, and the Seven Sisters songline known as Kungkarangkalpa. The seven sisters story often features in the artwork of the region.

A legend of the Wurundjeri people of south-eastern Australia has it that they are the fire of seven Karatgurk sisters. These women were the first to know fire-making and each carried live coals on the end of their digging sticks. They refused to share these coals with anybody and were ultimately tricked into giving up their secret by Crow, who brought fire to mankind. After this, they were swept into the night sky. Their glowing fire sticks became the bright stars of the Pleiades cluster.

The Wirangu people of the west coast of South Australia have a creation story embodied in a songline of great significance based on the Pleiades. In the story, the hunter (the Orion constellation) is named Tgilby. Tgilby, after falling in love with the seven sisters, known as Yugarilya, chases them out of the sky, onto and across the Earth. He chases them as the Yugarilya chase a snake, Dyunu.

### Hawaii

There is an analogous holiday in Hawaiʻi known as Makahiki. The makahiki season begins with a new moon following the rising of the pleiades (or makali`i) just after sunset instead of the heliacal rising.

The Hawaiian creation chant known as the Kumulipo also begins with reference to the pleiades (known as the makali`i).

### New Zealand

Occurring June 20 – June 22, the winter solstice (Te Maruaroa o Takurua) is seen by the New Zealand Māori as the middle of the winter season. It follows directly after the first sighting of Matariki (The Pleiades) and Puanga/Puaka (Rigel) in the dawn sky, an event which marked the beginning of the New Year and was said to be when the Sun turned from his northern journey with his winter-bride Takurua (Sirius) and began his journey back to his summer-bride Hine Raumati.

Author Kate Clark retold a Maori tale titled Matariki, or the Little Eyes.

### Rotuma

C. Maxwell Churchward transcribed a tale from the Rotuma about the origin of the Pleiades he dubbed The Two Sisters Who Became Constellations, or in the original language Sianpual'etaf ma Sianpual'ekia' ("Sianpual'etaf and Sianpual'ekia"). In this tale, two sisters, the older Sianpual'etaf, ("Girl Shining In The-Light") and the younger Sianpual'ekia ("Girl Shining In The-Sunset-Glow"), escape from their cruel husbands and become constellations: the older becomes "The Little Eyes" and the younger "The Fan".

### Samoa

In Samoa, the Pleiades constellation is called Matalii or Mataalii, meaning "Eyes of the Chiefs".

## Subsaharan Africa

### Bantu languages

Across the Bantu languages of Southern Africa, the Pleiades are associated with agriculture, from a verb -lima 'cultivate', e.g., Giryama kirimira, Kaguru chilimia; Xhosa and Zulu isilimela; Sotho and Tswana selemela; Tsonga shirimela, Venda tshilimela; Karanga chirimera; Nyabungu kelemera; Nyasa lemila.

In Swahili, the cluster is called "kilimia" (from Proto-Bantu "*ki-dimida" in Bantu areas E, F, G, J, L and S), meaning 'The Ploughing Stars'. The word comes from the verb -lima meaning "dig" or "cultivate", as their visibility was taken as a sign to prepare digging as the onset of the rain was near.

In related Sesotho (of far Southern Africa 's Basotho (people of Sotho)) the Pleiades are called "Seleme se setshehadi" ("the female planter"). Its disappearance in April (the 10th month) and the appearance of the star Achernar signals the beginning of the cold season. Like many neighbours, the Basotho associate its visibility with agriculture and plenty.

Among the Zulu people, the Pleiades are called in Zulu isi-limela or isiLimela ('the-planting-sign', in Bryant's translation; 'the digging-for (stars)', in James George Frazer 's), which, according to ethnologue Alfred Thomas Bryant, marked the beginning of the rain or planting season.

## Modern beliefs

### Jehovah's Witnesses

The 19th century astronomer Johann Heinrich von Mädler proposed the Central Sun Hypothesis, according to which all stars revolve around the star Alcyone, in the Pleiades. Based on this hypothesis, the Jehovah's Witnesses denomination taught until the 1950s that Alcyone was likely to be the site of the throne of God.

### Theosophy

In Theosophy, it is believed the Seven Stars of the Pleiades focus the spiritual energy of the Seven Rays from the Galactic Logos to the Seven Stars of the Great Bear, then to Sirius, then to the Sun, then to the god of Earth (Sanat Kumara) and finally through the seven Masters of the Seven Rays to us.

### UFOs

In Ufology some believers describe Nordic alien extraterrestrials (called Pleiadeans) as originating from this system.

## Modern literature

The name of the constellation inspired a group of Alexandrian poets, the Alexandrian Pleiad, then the French literary movement La Pléiade.

The "Netted Stars" known as Remmirath in The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien are likely a reference to the Pleiades, given their appearance and proximity to a red star called Borgil (identified with Aldebaran) and the constellation Menelvagor of the Shining Belt (Orion). As in real life, Remmirath rise before Borgil and Menelvagor.

Children's book author Edith Ogden Harrison gave the myth of the Pleiades a literary treatment in her book Prince Silverwings, and other fairy tales, as the tale of The Cloud Maidens. The story tells of the courtship of one of the Seven Sisters by the legendary Man in the Moon. Unfortunately, the Cloud Maiden is banished to Earth and becomes the "Maid of the Mist".

Another etiological tale, from a Slavic source, is The Seven Stars: a princess is kidnapped by a dragon, so the high chamberlain seeks a "Dragon-mother" and her sons, who each possess extraordinary abilities, to rescue her. At the end of the tale, the rescuers and the chamberlain enter a dispute on who should have the princess, but the "Dragon-mother" suggests they should treasure her as a sister, and to keep protecting her. As such, the seven are elevated to the sky as "The Seven Stars" (the Pleiades).

The Irish writer Lucinda Riley has published a series of books about The seven sisters that is based on the Pleiades of the ancient Greek mythology.

## New Age

In New Age lore, some believe that Sun and the Earth will pass through a Photon belt from the Pleiades, causing a cataclysm and/or initiating a spiritual transition (referred to variously as a "shift in consciousness," the "Great Shift," the "Shift of the Ages").

Barbara Marciniak, author of Bringers of the Dawn, is one of the authors who contributes to the New Age mythos of Pleiadian ET beings who are linked to human ancestry.


JHW-007

# JHW-007

## Abstract

JHW-007 is a cocaine analogue and a high affinity atypical dopamine reuptake inhibitor that is being researched for the treatment of cocaine addiction. JHW-007 has been found to blunt the psychostimulant effects of cocaine and reduce self-administration in rodents. JHW-007 exposure has been shown to block the conditioned place preference effects of cocaine. JHW-007 may directly antagonize the autoregulatory dopamine D receptor, a hypothesis that was developed following the observation of JHW-007's ability to inhibit D receptor-mediated currents in the midbrain.

## Atypical dopamine reuptake inhibition

In contrast to cocaine and other cocaine-like dopamine reuptake inhibitors, JHW-007 binds to the dopamine transporter (DAT) in an occluded (closed) conformation, similar to (R)-modafinil. This type of receptor binding to the DAT has been observed to result in a gradual and sustained increase in extracellular dopamine in the nucleus accumbens. Peak levels of extracellular dopamine are also markedly reduced. Both modafinil and JHW-007 have been investigated for the treatment of cocaine addiction.