Scorpius Redeemed

With the winter constellations setting, Orion is disappearing over the western horizon. Appearing on the eastern side is one of the most prominent summer constellations, his mortal enemy Scorpius. I shared one story of Orion and Scorpius in an earlier post (http://miskwaadesi.blogspot.com/2013/03/meet-orion.html), but it turns out that Scorpius isn't necessarily the bad guy he's painted to be in that story.

Scorpius is one of the twelve zodiac constellations. Scorpios are born in late October and November, when the sun is shining through the constellation (which is why you can't see a zodiac constellation in the night sky during its reigning month). Scorpios are said to have some similar qualities to scorpions,  namely that they can be fairly reclusive, but also passionate and emotional. The sign of Scorpio is correlated with the time that farmers are putting their crops into storage (after weighing and distributing the grains in October, under Libra, the scales). The dark cellars, silos and barns are the ideal habitat of a scorpion.

In fact, on very clear nights, you can see that Scorpio appears to be crawling out of a dark spot in the Milky Way. Some believed that this dark spot was actually a portal to the Underworld, from which the scorpions emerged.

It is easy to see this reclusive, vermin-like creature that lives in dark holes and crevices as a villain, and the Orion story we tell children in the star lab perpetuates that image. However, other versions of the story paint Orion as the true villain, a boastful hunter, famous for bragging that he would one day kill every creature on the Earth. Hera, watching Orion from Mount Olympus, was a fan of neither his boasting nor his claims, and so sent Scorpius on a mission to humble him. While Scorpius did manage to sting the hunter, he was mortally wounded by Orion's club in doing so. Hera placed the scorpion in the stars in honor of his service to the gods of Mount Olympus and as a reminder of the cost of being too boastful.

An addendum to the story brings a few more constellations into the plot. Ophiucus, the great physician, apparently brought Orion back to life with a scorpion antidote, which is why the doctor is seen standing above the scorpion as it sets in the west, simultaneous with Orion's recovery and reappearance in the east. Zeus, disapproving of Ophiucus' interference with the work of the gods, sent Aquila the eagle with a lightning bolt to kill the physician. Look to see the eagle, poised in a threatening posture above Ophiucus, as the physician disappears below the horizon, mortally wounded.

Depending on how the story is told, Scorpius is either the hero or the villain. Either way, the constellation will be appearing low on the horizon as the night continue to get warmer.

Orion's Story

I've spent a lot of nights this past week outside listening for owls (see previous post). While I haven't heard much, I have been able to enjoy the beautiful night sky. Readers of this blog are aware that I'm pretty passionate about the science and natural history side of nature, but I secretly also love the stories, and one of my favorite sources for awesome stories is in the constellations. Orion, for example, has been particularly prominent these past few nights.

The Orion constellation is one of the most easily recognized and prominent in the winter night sky. Three particularly bright stars located very close to each other, Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka, make Orion's belt. Above and below the belt are two pairs of very bright stars, making Orion's shoulders and knees. Orion's left shoulder is the star Betelgeuse (pronounced "beetle juice"), which glows reddish-orange. Betelgeuse is one of the largest visible objects in the night sky, with a diameter larger than the orbit of Mars! In contrast Rigel, the star of Orion's right knee is the brightest in the constellation, giving off a blue-white glow.

At Wolf Ridge, there is one story about Orion in our Star Lab (inflatable planetarium) lesson plan. As I've read and researched more about the protagonist, I can find no other accounts of this particular story. Nonetheless, it's one of my favorites, so I will share it here. Maybe in a future blog post, I'll share other stories of this constellation that I've found elsewhere.

Orion was a strong, very good looking hunter, who enjoyed to hunt for nocturnal critters. At day, he would rest under a tree in the woods and at night, he was out hunting. While hunting, he ended up catching the eye of an admirer: Artemis, the goddess of the moon. Artemis' job was to drive a chariot, pulling the moon across the sky each night and every night, she would watch Orion, longing to join him. One night, she petitioned her father, Zeus, for the chance to go meet Orion. Zeus, truly nervous at the thought of his daughter, grown as she may be, wanting to go meet a man, insisted that she had a job to do, thus she was not allowed to go meet Orion.

However, every night, Artemis' longing grew stronger until, eventually, she took matters into her own hands, parking the chariot with the moon in the middle of the sky. She went down to the earth and met Orion; of course, it was love at first sight. Orion and Artemis began to spend lots of time together as Orion taught Artemis how to hunt and Artemis taught Orion the ways of the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus.

Zeus, thoroughly upset by this developing romance, decided that he needed to make it stop, by removing Orion from the picture entirely. He recruited Scorpio the scorpion to take care of Orion, but Zeus required the assassin to make it look like an accident so that he would remain blameless in his daughter's eyes. The scorpion found Orion and Artemis, napping under Orion's favorite tree. Sneaking up on the great hunter, it only took one sting to kill him. Artemis, waking immediately, realized what had happened and, in her anguish, grabbed the scorpion by the tail and flung him into the sky.

To honor Orion, Artemis took his body and placed it in the night sky, where she could be with him every night. She was very intentional about the placement, though, because she didn't want Orion to ever have to face the scorpion again. So, as the constellation of Orion rises in the east, the constellation of Scorpius sets in the west. Zeus, realizing the sadness he had caused his daughter, decided to allow Orion to remain in the night sky and that is where he and Artemis spend every night together to this very day.

The Turtle

One of my favorite Ojibwe stories to share with students is about a turtle, a long time ago. In short, the turtle used to be best of friends with the birds, which was all well and good until the birds flew south every autumn and the turtle was left all alone for the long, cold winter.

One autumn, as the birds are gearing up for their southwardly flight, the turtle decides that he wants to come with this year. The birds don't undertand how that could be possible, since he can't fly, but he comes up with a plan. He proposes that crow and blackbird, the two strongest flyers, hold a stick with their legs. With his strong jaw, turtle will bite down on the stick, and thus the birds will carry him south for the winter.

It sounds a little silly, but the birds agree to give it a try. And for awhile, it works. The turtle sees so many amazing new things as they fly south. His curiosity is overwhelming, but he can't ask any questions because he would fall. Eventually, inevitably, his curiosity does get the better of him, and he opens up his mouth to ask crow and blackbird a question. Of course, the turtle falls down, down, down. When he hits the ground, he is so embarrassed that he crawls to the nearest river-bank, buries himself under the mud, and there he spends every winter forevermore.

In my last few times telling this story, I've come to realize that I am the turtle. The turtle was craving an adventure, the turtle was really curious to learn more about the natural world around him, the turtle was invested in his community (and the turtle really liked birds). The turtle in this story represents who I am as a naturalist.

Weaver Dunes, circa May 2011. This is me with a Blanding's turtle, quite different from the river turtle described above.

Thus, this blog. "Miskwaadesi" is the Ojibwe word for river turtle. I have recently been wishing I was recording my adventures, my observations, the things I've learned, and my stories as a naturalist. This is the place where I intend to do that. It's for me, of course, but for anyone else who's interested as well. Once more, I'm giving this blogging thing the ol' college try. We'll see what happens.