next page

previous page

up

home

Close to the surface of the water we may find otters. Let's see what Lévi-Strauss (in his The Raw and the Cooked) said about the 5 otters trying to steal barbecued fish:

"... then Leo ('the crab), then Gemini, Canis Major with Columba below, and moving up along the length of the Milky Way again, Orion and Eridanus ('the dance axe').

For the Indians this group (minus Eridanus) consists of the five otters busy stealing the fish placed on a barbecue (Columba), by a fisherman armed with a net (stretched between Rigel, Betelgeuse, and three stars of the constellation Orion) ..."

We need to orient ourselves by looking at the same chart as Lévi-Strauss (i.e. seen from a point north of the equator):

We can no longer rely on Lévi-Strauss (because of the proven carelessness as regards astronomy), but given that his star chart is correct we can as a first step try to identify the 'dance axe' (to eliminate this constellation from the otter story):

Eridanus (the name of a river) lies at left of Cetus (the Jaguar with watery eyes) in the chart above. Following the line drawn from right to left we find the first star to be Achenar (α Eridani). Allen:

"Achenar is from Al Ahir al Nahr, the End of the River ..."

"The River Eridanus ... is divided into the Northern and the Souther Stream; the former winding from the star Rigel of Orion ..."

Of course, looking from the south side of the equator the 'watery' characteristics of the constellation must evaporate. Instead of a river we find a 'dance axe':

The line drawn for the constellation 'the dance axe' begins with Achernar and ends with Rigel. The whole constellation is above the 'water'.

The 'group' referred to by Lévi-Strauss is: '... Gemini, Canis Major with Columba below ... and ... Orion ...'

Columba is a little constellation located between Orion and the south celestial pole. We find it straight above Orion in the chart above, with a 'longitude' close to winter solstice (the deepest part of the solar path). Allen:

"... Smyth wrote of its modern formation, and of its nomenclature in Arab astronomy:

Royer cut away a portion of Canis Major, and constructed Columba Noachi [The Dove of Noah] therewith in 1679.

The part usurped was called Muliphein, from al-muhlifeïn, the two stars sworn by, because they were often mistaken for Soheil, or Canopus, before which they rise: these two stars are now α and β Columbae.

Muliphein is recognized as comprehending the two stars called Had'ár, ground, and al-wezn, weight ..."

Sirius is the bright star at a 'latitude' (declination) between Orion and Columba, slightly to the right of these two constellations. Canopus (at 'latitude' 55° S) is outside the star chart, at about the same 'longitude' (right ascension) as Orion and Columba.

Procyon - rising 'before the dog' (Sirius) - i.e. α Canis Minor is marked on the star chart (just below the 'surface of the water' and straight above Gemini), but not mentioned by Lévi-Strauss.

That Procyon rises over the horizon before Sirius means that the eastern horizon (and of course also the western horizon and a line through zenith) passes from right to left in the star chart above.

α Columba = Phakt according to Klepešta. According to Allen:

"Phaet, Phact, and Phad are all modern names for this, perhaps of uncertain derivation, but said to be from the Hadar already noted under the constellation.

The Chinese call it Chang Jin, the Old Folks.

Although inconspicious, Lockyer thinks that it was of importance in Egytian temple worship, and observed from Edfu and Philae as far back as 6,400 BC; but that it was succeeded by Sirius about 3,000 BC, as α Ursae Majoris was by γ Draconis in the north.

And he has found three temples at Medinet Habu, adjacent to each other, yet differently oriented, apparently toward α, 2525, 1250, and 900 years before our era: all these to the god Amen.

He thinks that as many as twelve different temples were oriented to this star; but the selection of so faint an object for so important a purpose would seem doubtful.

"Amon (Amun, Ammon) is the name of the great Egyptian deity who was often given the title 'king of the gods' ... His name ... seems to be derived from a root meaning 'hidden' ..." (Larousse)

Phaet is 33° south of ε Orionis, the central star in the Belt, and culminates on the 26th of January."

We should here remember how I in vain tried to find the Tahitian Ana-iva (pillar of exit) which Makemson called Phaet:

'... As to the name Phaed I must first confess that I have not been able to find the name Phaet (which according to my manual notes is the name Makemson gives - I have to check that note). But I am fairly sure that the star Ana-iva is γ Ursae Majoris: - Phacd and Phachd, Phad, Phaed, Phecda, Phekda, and Phegda, are all from Al Falidh, the Thigh, where this star is located in the figure ...'

I have since then checked and found that indeed Makemson wrote Phaet. The table over the 10 Tahitian pillars is therefore revised into:

I still think that the names Phaet (α Columbae) and Phaed (γ Ursae Majoris) are too similar for coincidence. These two stars should have something in common.

Phaet lies at slightly less than 6^h right ascension and Phaed as slightly less than 12^h, which means that they are 90° away from each other. Therefore, while Phaet signifies solstice Phaed signifies equinox and vice versa. About 4,500 BC Phaet was at equinox and Phaed at solstice, nowadays the positions are reversed.

According to Lockyer, we remember, Isis was 'anything luminous to the eastward heralding sunrise'.

Before 3,000 BC α Columbae had that position and was called Amen-t (the wife of Amen).

Another name was Teχi. We should remember that, as it is a word suspiciously similar to Teke. But this is not the place to dive deeper into that subject.

The Pillar of Exit (Ana-iva) should refer to autumn equinox, I guess, the point where sun leaves. North of the equator, 4500 BC, α Columbae was announcing spring equinox.

Here I think about the heliacal rising of the star as seen in the east in the morning. Studying the sky in the west just after the sun has set in the evening would of course get quite another result - cfr how the reappearance of Pleiades in the autumn sky announced the end of the agricultural year.

But Tahiti lies south of the equator, and consequently α Columbae should be announcing autumn equinox. Nowadays Ana-iva marks the end (exit) of the old year.

"Chilmead's Treatise has this brief description of Columba: '11 Starres: of which there are two in the backe of it of the second magnitude, which they call the Good messengers, or bringers of good news: and those in the right wing are consecrated to the Appeased Deity, and those in the left, to the Retiring of the waters in the time of the Deluge.'

4,500 BC, north of the equator, Columba would indeed be rising over the 'water' (celestial equator) again, after being immersed during half a year.

Heis locates α and β in the back; ν² in the right wing, and ε in the left. θ and κ were included by Kazwini in the Arabic figure Al Kurud, the Apes.

In China they were Sun [!], the Child; λ being Taze, a Son; and the nearby small stars, She, the Secretions." (Allen)

(Source: Klepešta)

If we then turn the chart around we have the 'barbecue':

6^h is the vertical line and no part the the 'barbecue' lies at right of the line. Moving from right to left in the picture we can identify γ and β in line with each other, then we go down to α (Phaet), after that yet more down and slightly rightwards to find μ (the red colour means a star more than 1,000 lightyears away).

There are 5 stars in the 'barbecue' (according to Lévi-Strauss) and we need to locate the last one. It should be straight above α, but no star is located there. ε is not straight above and λ (the Chinese 'Son') is below. I guess that Lévi-Strauss once again has made a mistake and that the missing star is ξ, completing the outline of the 'barbecue'.

Maybe λ (the Chinese 'Son') is the 'fish' on the 'barbecue'?