Pleiades and Subaru

It’d a cold rainy night in Paradelle so there will be no Geminid meteors to see. But standing in my driveway, Christmas lights were reflecting very nicely from the stars on the logo on my Subaru.

Subaru means “unite” in Japanese, but there is also a celestial meaning to the logo. The six star cluster represents six stars in the Taurus constellation that the ancient Greeks called them Pleiades and they represented the seven daughters of Greek mythological figures Atlas and Pleione.

But you only see six stars. What about daughter #7? There are seven stars but only six are visible to the naked eye, so only six appear on the logo.

Alcyone is the “queen who wards off evil” and is the central and largest star of the Pleiades constellation.

Asterope is a double star in the Pleiades constellation whose name translates as “lightning.”

Merope is the only daughter to marry a mortal so she shines less brightly than her sisters.

Maia was the eldest and most beautiful. According to Greek myth, Maia was a lover of Zeus and gave birth to Hermes.

Zeus also defiled sister Taygeta while she was unconscious! She went into hiding and to protect her she was transformed into a doe.

Celaeno was married to Poseidon. Her name means “darkness” and this “Lost Pleiad” is sometimes difficult to see with the naked eye.

And finally, there is Electra whose name means amber, shining and bright. She was the wife of Corythus and was also seduced by Zeus – what a horrible god – and gave birth to Dardanus, who became the founder of Troy.