Pilgrims of Pleiades

Legend

A pilgrim (lat. peregrinus) is one who undertakes a pilgrimage, literally ‘far afield’. This is traditionally a visit to a place of some religious or historic significance; often a considerable distance is traveled.

1885 The Pleiades by symbolist painter Elihu Vedder

The Pleiades (pronounced /ˈplaɪ.ədiːz/, also [ˈpliːədiːz]; from the Greek Πλειάδες [pleːˈades], Modern [pliˈaðes]), companions of Artemis, were the seven daughters of the titan Atlas and the sea-nymph Pleione born on Mount Cyllene. They are the sisters of Calypso, Hyas, the Hyades, and the Hesperides. The Pleiades were nymphs in the train of Artemis, and together with the seven Hyades were called the Atlantides, Dodonides, or Nysiades, nursemaids and teachers to the infant Bacchus.

In astronomy, the Pleiades, or seven sisters, (Messier object 45) are an open star cluster containing relatively young hot blue stars located in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky. Pleiades has several meanings in different cultures and traditions.

Hubble Space Telescope image of reflection nebulosity near Merope

What’s even more spectacular is that every nation on earth has a Pleiadean Myth/Folklore of some kind. Long after we had decided on Subaru as our vehicle of choice for reasons defined under the Vehicle Page, we discovered the synchronicity of our decision as if the Logos is one step ahead of us, smirking and winking.

The company is named after the star cluster Pleiades, which in Greek mythology is known as the Seven Sisters, and in Japanese mythology the name is “Subaru”, which roughly translated into English means, “to govern”, “unite,” or “gather together”. The company logo is influenced by the star cluster. The large star in the logo represents Fuji Heavy Industries, and the five smaller stars represent the current five companies that are united under the FHI group.^[2]

Life is not as chronological and simple as all that. If all the puzzle pieces fell into place than life would be a mundane mold of utter predictability forcing us to an early suicide. So what’s up? Subaru was not to be and it was only their own engineering flaws that kept us from changing our minds from a Forester XT to finally a Nissan Xterra Off-Road. Had they made a manual Forester XT instead of a ridiculous 4 speed automatic we would be in that car today.

But none of that means anything really, it’s just anecdotal inspiration, a complication of meaning, a guide, and a source of humor. When Jack John said, “Look there, it’s the mini-dipper, the seven sisters.” We looked at him funny wondering if he was an agent that had researched our blog and knew exactly who we were. The percepts of naive realism leave one bellowing for times immortal dear friends.

Also of note: We will venture on with or without a car. The main objective is to keep learning and the best way of doing that for us is to continue to travel, to place ourselves at the gate of new experiences.

Wishing you all the best.

It’s been almost two years since our trip and now we live in Brooklyn NY, and we share Lucinda’s wonderful 2002 Honda Civic.