The Meaning in the Night Sky

A Minoan Star Map and the World Asterism Project

The night sky is a constant across human history. Even in the most light-polluted areas, we can still see a handful of the brightest stars. And in darker areas, the points of light twinkle against the velvety blackness.

For as long as we’ve had eyes and language, we’ve looked up at the night sky and told stories about the patterns we see in the stars. Every culture, around the world and across time, finds meaning in those little points of light. That’s something that connects us with each other now and with our ancestors… and our descendants.

Before the coming of monotheism, what people saw most often in the stars was their deities. The patterns in the night sky reminded them of the stories about their deities. In Ariadne’s Tribe, we’ve been inspired to create our own set of Minoan star maps, with our deities’ stories spreading out in the night sky above us.

We don’t make any claim that our star maps are the ones the ancient Minoans used, but they work for us as a modern Pagan spiritual tradition. I expect we’ll add more over time as our lore evolves. I’ve collected up our star-stories for you in this Minoan Path blog post. See if you can picture these deities and their adventures in the night sky:

Minoan Star Maps

If you find myth-connected star maps as fascinating as I do, you might like to know about the World Asterism Project. It’s an amazing, continually updated collection of information about cross-cultural star maps, both ancient and modern. It’s curated by amateur astronomer Charles Ennis, whom you might know in the Pagan community as Kerr Cuhulain.

Part of the project involves encouraging modern Pagan spiritual traditions to develop their own star maps as part of their lore. We had already begun working on our Minoan star map when I found out about the World Asterism Project, but the project definitely encouraged us to keep going.

In fact, creating star lore for our spiritual tradition is one of the ways we honor our cosmic goddess Ourania. The night sky is her domain, the stars her special Mystery. Of course, our star maps also honor all the other deities whose stories sparkle for us in the night sky.

What stories do you see in the stars? How do they enrich your spiritual life?

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About Laura Perry

I'm an author, artist, and creator who works magic with words, paint, ink, music, textiles, and herbs. I'm the founder and Temple Mom of Ariadne's Tribe, an inclusive Minoan spiritual tradition. My spiritual practice also includes spirit work and herbalism through the lens of lifelong animism. I write Pagan / polytheist non-fiction and fiction across several different subjects and genres. I'm currently working on an illustrated book of modern Minoan myths and a Minoan entry in the Moon Books Pantheons series. I’m also an avid gardener and living history demonstrator.