The Pleiades: Seven Sisters © Craig Stocks

Seven Sisters l Craig Stocks via NASA APOD

The Pleiades by Babak Tafreshi on Instagram

(Approaching Puberty) The Pleiades, Max Ernst, c 1920

M45, Daughters of Atlas and Pleione

myth moodboards: the pleiades

in greek mythology, the pleiades were seven sister-nymphs, companions of artemis, the goddess of the hunt. together with their sisters, the hyades, they were called the atlantides, dodonides, or nysiades, nursemaids and teachers of the infant dionysus. the pleiades were thought to have been translated to the night sky as a cluster of stars.

requested by anon

Elihu Vedder  ( US 1836 - 1923 )

The Pleiades  1885

While long overdue on my part by weeks, this post will serve as informative to the worship of Maia. I will try my best to make it cohesive but it might end up being a patchwork.

"I know the Dove best by night blue in the sky she remains diligently guiding us from the heavens so none may be lost even when alone when cared for by the herald of seasons"

-For the Night-Wandering, by me

Maia, daughter of the Titan Atlas, who shifts the heaven's axis, and Titanide sheep-nymph Pleione (Aithrê is her alt. name) who increases in number as a lady of plenty, is one of many stars making up the constellation Taurus. She is the oldest of the seven sisters and the leader of the Pleiades born in Arkadia on Mt. Kyllene where she would take up permanent residence in the caves. She is a sister to the Hyades as well. Maia is known both as a star-nymph (part of the Astrothesiai) and Oread. She has only one natural child, far-famed and widely-loved Hermes who helps her name stay relevant even now when knowledge about her is obscure.

Generally, the word maia means mother but for the goddess means Nursing Mother primarily but also Great Mother, Good Mother, Foster Mother, Female Doctor, or Dame. Her name also can be a way to address older women, grandmothers, and nurses/midwives. Maia's domain mentioned above is her most prominent aspect as a goddess of motherhood along with Leto. It led to her having a part in a myth otherwise separated from her as she became the foster mother of Kallisto's son Arkas, whom she named promptly after Zeus gave him to her.

Maia has many additional complexities with her important role to play noting her position as one of the main factors of all the seasons as the one to tell of the changes between each season (with the Pleiades). Her importance with humanity comes from this as the seven sisters tell when the earth will be renewed with life and when that renewal is at its end. She is a vegetation and earth goddess, from which she is renewal and rebirth to the earth as well as the barrenness of the earth. Maia is a maritime deity as well, without her showing up in the sky navigation by nighttime would become a challenge, something that anyone traveling in the dark would know. Through this connection she has a deep relationship with waters of oceans, springs, and rivers.

Fondly, the Seven Sisters are called Doves (Pigeons) by many writers and are the ones that attend Zeus with ambrosia. With the stars accompanying the moon, the Pleiades are called companions of Artemis. Under the epithets Atlantides, Dodonides, or Nysiades, they are nursemaids and teachers to the infant Bacchus.

The month of May earned its name from her as a 50/50 deal between her and Roman goddess Maia who's also a spring/fertility and earth goddess associated with mountains. While Rome started it first, the Greeks took it up for themselves near the end of the Hellenic era and the start of the Hellenistic era.

*On a more speculative mindset to the knowledge that Maia more than likely is a pre-Greek/older local mother goddess to the area in a similar way that Hermes is confirmed to be pre-Greek/an older local god. The older tradition and connection she has with caves in a similar manner to Hermes could speak to her being liminal and khthonic originally as they are/were seen as the point between the living and the dead and the entrance to the underworld. There is a possibility that she could of the Mycenaean goddess Preswa (dove deity), Manasa, or Diwija with Komawenteja: long-haired goddess as an epithet. Another fun little possibility is the indication that Maia is a bi-gendered deity, more than likely a part of her older iteration that survived on a largely diminished scale.

Epithets: With deep dark eyes  Honored mother The nurturer  She who nurtures   Great (Mighty) nurse  Of the lovely black eyes  Maia Prôtogonê - First-born Maia Kedná - Careful, diligent, trusty cherished, dear good, valued Maia Eratoplocamus - Lovely-haired Maia Euplokamos - Having lovely locks Maia Ioplokos/Ioplokamos - With violet hair / With dark locks Maia Kuanokhaitēs - Dark-haired Maia Hulaios - Belonging to the wood or forest Maia Aitherolampēs - Shining in ether Maia Himeronous - Lovely of soul Maia Earotrephḗs - Flourishing in Spring Maia Drymocharēs - Delighting in the woods Maia Philodendros/Philodendron - Fond of trees / Fond of the wood Maia Peleia - The Dove Maia Dôdônides - Of Dodona Maia Ekprepḗs - Distinguished out of all, pre-eminent, remarkable, surpassing Pôtnia Maia - Queenly Maia Maia Aeiphengēs - Ever-shining Maia Nyktaugḗs - Shining by night Maia Asteroommatos - Star-eyed Maia Kyanôpis- Dark-eyed Atlantis - Daughter of Atlas Atlagenes - Born of Atlas Pleias - Daughter of Pleione Maia Kyllḗnē/Kyllênê - Of Mt. Kyllene Maia Kourotróphos - Nurse of the Young, Good Nursing-Mother Eurysternos - Broad-bossomed Matêr Pantôn - Mother of All Maia Pleiôn - Lady of Plenty Maia Entropḗ - To turn away. In place of most shy (since I can't find those exact words) while also being a play on Hermes' epithet Polytropos: Many-turning. Maia Erēmophílēs - Loving solitude Maia Aidoîos - Modest, bashful, honored, respected, having a claim to regard, reverence Maia Gaia - The conflation of two goddesses tied to the earth and nurses/mothers making Mother Earth Maia Oureias or Maiados Oureias - Mountain Maia Mêtêr Oreiês - Mountain Mother Maia Oreiplanktos - Mountain-roaming Maia Kuanéā - Dark, Dark-Blue, To denote a dark shade of blue merging into black

Sacred Associations: Doves Pigeons Dodona Arkadia Mt. Kyllene Kingfishers Navigation Sailing June Thirteenth Caves Mountains Winnowing-baskets Night time The color Black Light Blue Dark Blue

Festivals: The month of May, Mounichia (Greek: Μουνιχιών) is important to the sisters as the Pleiades rise and it signifies the start of the navigational year and the time the earth can be sown with seeds again/the growing season is in full swing. The end of October or the month of November is also a festival when they set, the navigational year ends and the growing season ends. The cluster's conjunction with the sun in spring and opposition in fall marked the start and end of the summer sailing season in ancient Greece.

*While not mandatory any donations for any posts I do like this would mean the world as this stuff takes literal months to do. Ways to donate outside of Tumblr tipping can be found here

Sources:

terpsikeraunos' tumblr page

Theoi's pages for Maia, the Pleiades, Kyllene, Persephone's epithets and Amphitrite's epithets

University of Penselvania's page on the Pleiades

The exile of Ovid, the Pleiades, Maia, and the secret name of Rome by Felice Vinci

Athenaeus: The Deipnosophists Book 11, Pages 484-496, Translated by C.B. Gulick

A Minoan deity from London Medicine Papyrus by Alexander Akulov

The Pleiades on holladaypaganism./com

Astereoasteroseismology by Gough, D. O.

Hymn 4 to Hermes

Mythology of the Seven Sisters

The Winter Stars are Coming by Dennis Mammana

Phaenomena by Aratus

Maia Goddess of Birth by Despena Dalmaris

Elihu Vedder (1836–1923) “The Pleiades” (1885) Source (35MP)

Elihu Vedder (American, 1836-1923) The Pleiades, 1885

The Pleiades by Elihu Vedder, 1885

Seven Sisters: one of the night sky’s brightest clusters

Ghostly Reflections in the Pleiades

ESA/Hubble

IMAGE: NASA

Messier 45: The Pleiades

Nick Fritz on Instagram

The Pleiades star cluster in the middle!!

The Pleiades, an open cluster consisting of approximately 3,000 stars at a distance of 400 light-years (120 parsecs) from Earth in the constellation of Taurus. It is also known as ‘The Seven Sisters’, or the astronomical designations NGC 1432/35 and M45.

https://hubblesite.org