The meteor shower of the mighty giant Orion peaks overnight Monday and Tuesday this week, and with Moon at New Phase October 21st, conditions are great for casting your wishes up to the falling stars.
The parent comet of the shower is perhaps one of the most famous of all~ Halley’s. But astronomers don’t name meteor showers for the comets that seem to cause them, but for the constellation from in front of which the shower radiates through the sky. The radiant of the Orionids is near what appears to be the giant’s upraised right arm, above the star Betelgeuse, that marks the shoulder.
Orion is one of only three constellations directly named in the Bible, appearing in chapter 38 of the Book of Job. In the King James version, Job is asked by God: Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? There’s a lot packed into this question, which points to indigenous creation stories around the world, which are often rooted in the star cluster of the Pleiades, and to a potential relationship between Orion and Osiris, the Egyptian God of the Dead. To bind the sweet influence of Pleiades is to call something forth into life. To loose the bands of Orion is to see it through the threshold of death.
And now the meteor shower, active in this region of sky, just before we enter the traditional season of honoring the dead.
There’s a sweet little fairy tale in Andrew Lang’s Yellow Fairy Book that I love for this shower, called the Giants and the Herd-boy. There was once upon a time a poor boy who had neither father nor mother. In order to gain a living he looked after the sheep of a great Lord. Day and night he spent out in the open fields, and only when it was very wet and stormy did he take refuge in a little hut on the edge of a big forest. Now one night, when he was sitting on the grass beside his flocks, he heard not very far from him the sound as of someone crying. He rose up and followed the direction of the noise. To his dismay and astonishment he found a Giant lying at the entrance of the wood; he was about to run off as fast as his legs could carry him, when the Giant called out: ‘Don’t be afraid, I won’t harm you. On the contrary, I will reward you handsomely if you will bind up my foot.’
We’ll let the Giant’s foot be the star blue-white Rigel in the constellation Orion. And it gets even more starry, because the Giant then goes on to tell the herd-boy that there’s going to be a marriage celebration, and in order for the herd-boy to join him, he gives him a belt to wrap around his waist, to make him invisible. So there’s Orion’s belt!
The herd-boy stays close to the Giant and sure enough, a merry feast begins, when all at once, at midnight (after which time the meteor shower begins), the giants tore up a plant by its roots, and they all made themselves thin enough so they could slip through the hole it left in the earth. The herd-boy follows his friend the giant into the earth and is astonished to find everything there an exactly the same as it was in his master’s home.
There’s such a marvelous wisdom here, and a magic in the idea that when the stars of the Giant rain down, then there’s a mighty marriage with the earth ~ as above, so below.
Eventually the herd-boy and the giant leave the party, but not before the boy stuffs a loaf of bread beneath his tunic. The next day he tries to take a slice from the loaf, but to no avail, he can’t cut it. Exasperated, he bites it instead, and what was his astonishment when a piece of gold fell out of his mouth.
The story goes on, with the boy gathering the gold to secretly gift to his master’s daughter ~ he slips into her room each night with Orion’s belt of invisibility wrapped around his waist, to leave a bag of gold. He does this for seven nights but then on the eighth night, some mischief happens that nearly prevents the happily ever ~ but, spoiler alert, all ends well!
What I especially love about this tale right now is that it’s offers creative way to engage with this week’s meteor shower at New Moon. It’s possible to imagine that the meteor shower, like the fairy tale, is a set up for union with the greater (or giant) self, which, when realized, yields endless riches. Now, if, like the herd-boy, you make an anonymous gift to someone you admire, then after 8 days, when the Moon has come to its first quarter and is setting with the stars of Capricorn, known as the gateway of the gods, then some good may become just when and where it’s needed. If gifting isn’t your thing, you could say a prayer or dedicate a poem, or do some small deed in honor of another. And don’t forget to read the tale at my website, and get out to catch the falling stars!
All the best,
Mary
Hear this week’s episode of The Storyteller’s Night Sky on podcast here and wherever you listen.