There’s a demon star flickering overhead every year at this time, lending an air of legitimacy to that spooky sense that creeps in when we find ourselves outside in the dark late in October.
The demon star is Algol, also known as the ‘eye of the Medusa’ in the constellation of the hero Perseus. If you know your Greek mythology, then you know that Perseus is sent on a quest to slay the Gorgon Medusa, a snake-haired beast that will turn you to stone if you find yourself in the unfortunate circumstance of encountering her face to face.
But what you may not know about the Medusa, is that in many traditions, her being slain by Perseus actually represented the historic movement away from the power of the divine feminine, or the matriarchal society, to one that was predominantly patriarchal. When things turn to stone in mythologies, that means an old way of knowing has come to its end.
The star Algol is visible to the naked eye and actually does appear to flicker and fade in and out, with predictable regularity. This is caused by its being an “eclipsing binary”, a system of two stars revolving around each other. Over a period of almost three days, the dimmer star will swing in front of the brighter in this system, causing it to appear like the demon star is winking.
My favorite way to approach this star through fairy tale is with the story “The Princess in the Chest”~a tale of bravery and courage complete with being closed into a church at night with only a coffin for a companion, a bewitched princess, and a marriage witnessed by the dead.
In the tale, the princess is cast into a terminal state of sleep until someone is brave enough to stand guard over her coffin three nights in a row (about the time it takes for the demon star Algol to fade in and out).
Together, this star and this tale are the perfect set up for a week of Halloween scares that end with a happily ever after! You can find the story on the Interlochen Public Radio website, and the demon star testing your courage in the northeast region of the sky after dark.
http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/145/the-pink-fairy-book/4837/the-princess-in-the-chest/