#κελαινώ

[thetudorslovers]

Often known as "the young stars",  in Greek mythology the Seven Sisters (Alcyone, Maia- mother of Hermes, Electra, Merope, Taygete, Celaeno, and Sterope, names now assigned to individual stars), daughters of Atlas and Pleione, were changed into the stars. The heliacal (near dawn) rising of the Pleiades in spring of the Northern Hemisphere has marked from ancient times the opening of seafaring and farming seasons, as the morning setting of the group in autumn signified the seasons’ ends. Some South American Indians use the same word for “Pleiades” and “year.Sometimes they are related to the Hesperides, nymphs of the morning star.

Several of the most prominent male Olympian gods (including Zeus, Poseidon, and Ares) engaged in affairs with the seven heavenly sisters. These relationships resulted in the birth of their children.

-Maia (Μαῖα), eldest of the seven Pleiades, was mother of Hermes by Zeus.

-Electra ��(Ἠλέκτρα) was mother of Dardanus and Iasion, by Zeus.

-Taygete (Ταϋγέτη) was mother of Lacedaemon, also by Zeus.

-Alcyone (Ἀλκυόνη) was mother of Hyrieus, Hyperenor and Aethusa by Poseidon.

-Celaeno (Κελαινώ) was mother of Lycus and Nycteus by Poseidon; and of Eurypylus also by Poseidon, and of Lycus and Chimaereus by Prometheus.

-Sterope (Στερόπη) (also Asterope) was mother of Oenomaus by Ares.

-Merope (Μερόπη), youngest  of the seven Pleiades, was wooed by Orion. In other mythic contexts she married Sisyphus and, becoming mortal, faded away. She bore Sisyphus several sons.

[lineffability]

So this isn't on the list but a ficlet with palm kisses? Like Aziraphale reaches out to Crowley to comfort him or something and he kisses his palm? I'm a bit partial to Crowley being tender and it surprising Aziraphale (if you can't tell), but either way would be lovely

There is a magic trick that time plays with light.

It shows you the light of fires that have long since burned out. If you are looking at the night sky, at dark velvet spangled with millions of stars, you are looking at the past. And then the light fades and is forever gone. But you, you have witnessed it. You have been there, on this day, in this time, long after the stars sent you their love–and exploded.

Time shows you ghosts.

Crowley is thinking of ghosts.

If you look at the sun, what you see is the sun as it was eight minutes ago. So little time, so much distance. Eight minutes for light to travel into your eyes.

From Proxima Centauri, the red dwarf outlier burning up around the Alpha Centauri star system, it’s four light years. From the Pleiades cluster, four hundred. Light travels for four hundred years to show you ghosts.

Ghosts of old friends.

The Pleiades, the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione. Crowley had told Hesiod all about them. (Oh, he would have sailed to them. If Alpha Centauri had not been enough, he’d have paid them a visit. They were his, too.) Atlas, who shouldered the world for his sins, because he had stood on the wrong side of a war. Crowley, who did too.

Maia (Μαῖα), Electra (Ἠλέκτρα), Taygete (Ταϋγέτη), Alcyone (Ἀλκυόνη), Celaeno (Κελαινώ), Sterope (Στερόπη), Merope (Μερόπη). They had been his friends, and he had only seen it fit to have his stars named after them. So he had whispered their names into the authors’ ears, and the Greeks had turned them myths. But they are long gone, now. So long gone.

Humanity is so very fleeting.

(Crowley doesn’t like looking at the stars for too long. Can you blame him?)

But light is eternal. Light lasts longer than life.

A hand on his shoulder, soft. “Crowley?”

Sometimes light blinds you, momentarily. It does now, and Crowley looks away, back up to the stars, and then down, onto the ground. They are outside, on the little rooftop terrace above Crowley’’s flat.  

(What had been here, two thousand years ago? Who had looked at the stars in the sky in this very spot? Someone else. The same stars. Different light. How long had they been dead, the old stars, and the old people?)

“Angel.” The word has a bitter tang to it, sometimes. When he separates it from him, and lets it remind him of himself. He’d made the stars. How about that, angel? But it is never a bitter word when it means Aziraphale. How could it ever be?

The angel sits down beside him, quietly. He glances at Crowley, in just the right second, and their eyes meet. Aziraphale smiles, reassuringly.

“You’re no ghost, are you?” 

Crowley watches Aziraphale trying to comprehend the words; he isn’t sure he does, but it doesn’t matter, because he comprehends something far more important.

“Do you want me to leave?” he asks. Crowley does not answer right away, his face immobile, so Aziraphale begins to get up.

Don’t leave me. Not you. 

Crowley’s fingers enclose the angel’s wrist. Tug, gently. No, I don’t want you to leave. Never, never his fingers say. “Nah,” his mouth says. 

He doesn’t say more, because he can’t. (He’s not always good with words, not when it counts. They fail him, sometimes.) But words are not the only thing mouths are good for. 

Aziraphale sucks in a little breath of air when Crowley’s lips touch the spot right between palm and wrist, but Crowley doesn’t notice. His eyes are fixed on the angel’s light skin, and then they close, and when they open again the ghost of dead starlight fades from his memory a little.  

Aziraphale softens. “Alright, dear. I’ll stay. Do you want me to tell you about what I found today, when I reorganized a bookshelf?” Do you want me to talk to you? 

“Sure.” Thank you. 

“A manuscript on the catasterism. An original, of course,“ Aziraphale says smugly. He, too, is looking at the stars. 

Finally, a grin. “Is that so?”

“Oh, yes. The British Library would turn green with envy. You see, I came upon it when I met Perses, son of Hesiod, back in Askra in…”

Aziraphale talks, and Crowley listens. They are looking at the stars, as so many have–but not before them. Not after them, either. But with them.  

When you are looking at the night sky, think of the ghosts speaking to you.

Think of the angel who created them, and the demon who loves them, still. 

[wtfzodiacsigns]

Signs as Amazons

Aries: Thalestris (Θάληστρις) - queen of the Amazons

Taurus: Hippolyta (Ἱππολύτη) - a queen of Amazons and daughter of Ares, Heracle stole her belt

Gemini: Otrera (Ὀτρήρα) - an Amazon queen, consort of Ares and mother of Hippolyta

Cancer: Marpesia (Μαρπεσία) - an Amazon queen who ruled with her sister Lampedo

Leo: Alcibie (Ἀλκιβίη) - an Amazonian warrior, killed by Diomedes at Troy

Virgo: Antiope (Ἀντιόπη) - a daughter of Ares and sister of Hippolyta and Melanippe

Libra: Celaeno (Κελαινώ) - an Amazonian warrior, killed by Heracles

Scorpio: Penthesilea (Πενθεσίλεια) - an Amazon queen who fought in the Trojan War, Achilles killed her and then fell in love with her

Sagittarius: Molpadia (Μολπαδία) - an Amazon who killed Antiope

Capricorn: Lampedo (Λαμπεδώ) - an Amazon queen who ruled with her sister Marpesia

Aquarius: Melanippe (Μελανίππη) - a daughter of Ares and sister of Hippolyta and Antiope

Pisces: Eurypyle (Εὐρυπύλη) - an Amazon leader who invaded Ninus and Babylonia

Source: you-drool-when-you-sleep

[asteri-seirios]

(スバル)/Subaru (ιαπωνικά)

Πλειάδες στην αστρονομία ονομάζεται ένα ανοικτό αστρικό σμήνος, που ανήκει στον αστερισμό Ταύρο.

Από τους αστέρες του σμήνους των Πλειάδων είναι ορατοί με γυμνό μάτι μόνο έξι ή οκτώ, ενώ με το τηλεσκόπιο αποκαλύπτεται ότι το σμήνος αποτελείται από 2.500 περίπου αστέρες μέχρι του 17ου μεγέθους. Οι λαμπρότεροι από αυτούς έχουν ιδιαίτερα ονόματα και είναι οι κόρες του Άτλαντα και της Πλειόνης: Αλκυόνη, Μαία, Μερόπη, Ηλέκτρα, Κελαινώ, Ταϋγέτη και Στερόπη.

Η Αλκυόνη είναι πολλαπλό αστρικό σύστημα, που εμφανίζεται στον αστερισμό Ταύρο. Απέχει περίπου 440 έτη φωτός από τον Ήλιο και είναι το φωτεινότερο αστέρι του αστερισμού στο ανοικτό σμήνος των Πλειάδων.

The Pleiades.

Credit: Bob Lockwood

[conandelia]

"sed non ante datam cingetis moenibus urbem
quam vos dira fames nostraeque iniuria caedis
ambesas subigat malis absumere mensas." (Æneis, L. III). 'A Virgi', tiè! 🤘 #fresella & #insalatagreca #tomatoes #freshonions #garlic #olives #feta #oilevo #origan #basil #celery all on #durumwheatbread #teggiano #vallodidiano #campania #italy #cucinaitaliana #mangiareitaliano #food #italianfood #amateurfood #eneide #æneis #virmagnùsbellònullìpietàtesecùndus (loro ci mangiavano sopra, noi ce le mangiamo). #favorite #favete #celeno #Κελαινώ #ktstrmrt (presso Teggiano Centro Storico)