The Demon Star and River of Souls

I tried to post this before Samhain but my internet has been wonky. Since Nov. 2 is Dia de Muerte in some Latin countries, I'm counting this as a win.  Barely but a win, nevertheless.

I love this time of year. In my mind, it's not December but October that is The Most Wonderful Time of Year. Monsters, ghosts, Geoff Peterson - it's all good. Of course, some of this wonderful weirdness is reflected in the stars.

Take for example Ras al Ghul, better known these days as Algol. Algol is found in the constellation of Perseus. Although it appears to be one star in our skies, Algol is actually two stars orbiting around a common center of gravity. These stars eclipse each other on a very regular basis of two days, twenty hours, forty nine minutes and eight seconds. This gives Algol the appearance of dimming and brightening again.

Because of this, Algol has gathered quite a reputation as bad luck. Ras al Ghul in arabic, means either "eye of the ogre" or "Mischief Maker," depending on what sources you check. It's said that the Arabs wouldn't even begin an important battle if Algol was in its dim phase.

The Arabs weren't the only ones to be spooked (pardon the pun) by this star. It has also been known as the "Demon star" for centuries. The Hebrew name for this star, Rosh ha Satan, translates as "Satan's Head" while in Latin, it is Caput Larvae or the "Spectre's Head." Even today, astrologers tend to view this star as a malevalent force, causing all kinds of violence, sickness and mayhem.

Of course, the best known story associated with Algol is that of snake-haired Medusa. Several names for the star is "Eye of the Gorgon" or "Gorgon's Head." She was one of three sisters and the only mortal one. When she was beheaded by Perseus, it is said she was pregnant with Poseidon's children which sprang out of her headless corpse - the winged horse, Pegasus and a son, Chrysaor. Chrysaor was a piece of work himself, going on to father several little monsters of his own. Allow me to go on a tangent for a second. I know Perseus was the hero who cut off Medusa's head but it's always looked to me as if the constellation itself was the headless one. I've always seen it up there in the sky as if he's dancing, arms out-stretched and ecstatic, as if to say, "Yay! I'm headless!" See:

The Milky Way has some spirit lore to it as well. Many cultures have seen it the same way - as a pathway for the newly dead to follow to the afterlife. Jan de Vries speculates that it is the Milky Way, rather than a rainbow that is mentioned in the Eddas as a road to the Land of the Dead. It is also speculated that it was seen as a path that had good times to cross as well as bad, depending on where it was in the sky. It was possibly easier to cross during winter, when it was seen as being frozen and more solid but thawing in the spring. It could also have points during the twenty four hour period that was easier to cross, depending on where it was in the sky.

Cherokee lore sees it as the River of Death. The souls cross over the river on a log which is bounded on either end by two canine stars, Sirius (Agise'gwa or the Great Female) on one end and Antares (Wa'hyaya or the Alpha Male) on the other. It is said to be a dangerous passage that only the brave will make - fall off the log and land into the raging river below. The wolves have to be fed as well - if not, the soul is doomed to walk back and forth across the river. Presumably, this is a test on the way back to the stars of which we are all reflections.

Well, that's it for now, people. Take care and happy Halloween, Samhain and Dia de Muertes..

Azra