Lovely Taygete - Star of the Pleiades Talismans
Taygete is one of the Pleiades, seven star-nymph sisters. This write-up begins with the story of the Pleiades and their transformation into stars before focusing on Taygete and the Talismans.
The Pleiades
The Pleiades are the seven daughters of the Oceanid nymph Pleione and the Titan Atlas. Born on Mt. Cyllene in Arcadia, Pindar refers to them as mountain maids—a nod to their origins as mountain nymphs or Oreads. The sisters were said to be companions of Artemis, the huntress goddess.
One myth tells how Pleione and her daughters were out hunting when the giant Orion saw them and pursued them in lust. They prayed to Zeus for rescue, and he transformed them into doves before placing them among the stars. The name "Pleiades" means "doves."
The constellation Orion appears on the opposite side of the heavens, perpetually pursuing the Pleiades across the sky. Hesiod notes that the Pleiades appear to "flee and plunge into the misty deep," marking the end of the sailing season:
When the Pleiades flee mighty Orion and plunge into the misty deep
And all the gusty winds are raging,
Then do not keep your ship on the wine-dark sea,
But, as I bid you, remember to work the land.
—Hesiod
The celestial movements of the Pleiades acted as seasonal guides, signaling when to cease seafaring and focus on agricultural work in preparation for winter. The Pleiades were considered vital markers for both navigation, time keeping and farming practices.
When Pleiades, the Maidens seven,
Are set into the Western-Heaven,
When Ariadne’s Crown full bright
Before the Sun comes in our sight,
Then sow your ground with wheat and rye;
’Tis of October the eighteenth day.
—Virgil
Another myth describes Atlas and Pleione as having 12 daughters and a son, Hylas. When Hylas was killed by a wild boar or lion, the sisters died of grief. The first five sisters became the Hyades, placed between the horns of the Bull (Taurus/Dionysus). The remaining seven became the Pleiades, positioned close together in the heavens near their sisters.
The name "Pleiades" is sometimes interpreted as deriving from plesion, meaning "close together," reflecting their clustered appearance in the night sky. Additionally, it is said to mean "Daughters of Pleione" or "Ladies of Plenty," from the Greek word pleiôn (“plenty”).
The Pleiades and Dionysus
Located in the constellation of Taurus, the nymph sisters, both the Hyades and Pleiades, are under the protection of the great Bull of the sky. Peter Mark Adams identified the Taurus constellation with Dionysus in his book Mystai,and wrote that both the Hyades and the Pleiades “constitute a celestial choral dance which therefore provides the imaginal basis for the deity’s rites.” We can imagine the Pleiades as choral dancers who are part of the retinue of Dionysus whenever we see their glittering form in the night sky near Aldebaran.
We also find references to Dionysus in connection with the Bull by Manilius, in his book Astronomica:
“It rises into the sky hind-before with a bevy of maidens, for it brings with it the stars of the Pleiades massed in a tiny cluster. The Bull is also attended by the wealth of the countryside and furnishes its sons with its own endowment of steers amid fields upturned by the plough.”
Manilius further adds:
“As he emerges in his backwards rising with head hanging down, the Bull brings forth in his sixth degree the Pleiades, sisters who vie with each other's radiance.”
Under their influence, he describes devotees of Bacchus (Dionysus) and Venus, whose mirth and feasts align with the revelry these stars inspire.
Together with the Hyades, the Pleiades were also called the Atlantides, serving as nursemaids and teachers of the infant Dionysus. Nonnus, in Dionysiaca (13.411 ff), mentions:
“As the armed host gathered to Dionysos with his thyrsus, Elektra’s star rose with her six sisters in the sky in happy augury of the conflict; and the echoing voice of the Pleiades resounded for victory, giving confidence to the host.”
Taygete
There is very little lore about Taygete. Hesiod refers to her as “lovely Taygete,” with her name meaning “of Mount Taygetus.” Before her catasterism she was the local deity of the Taygetus mountain range in the southern Peloponnese, which overlooks Sparta and Kalamata. The range's tallest peak, Profitis Ilias (Saint Elijah), is often syncretized with Zeus. According to Greek myth, Taygete had a son with Zeus named Lakedaimon, who became the ancestor of the Spartan kings.
Tagyete was a known companion of Artemis, in one story, when Zeus pursued Taygete, she sought refuge with Artemis. To protect her, Artemis transformed Taygete into a cow. In gratitude, Taygete later dedicated the Cerynitian Hind with golden antlers to Artemis. This mythical deer, with its golden antlers and bronze hooves, became a key figure in Greek mythology as the subject of Hercules’ third labor.
Visiting the Mountain
In August and September of 2024, I traveled to Greece with Gray Crawford, where we later joined Jason Holley for a sacred tour of the Peloponnese that Jason was leading with Gray. Before the tour began, Gray and I visited several sacred sites on our own.
As we made our way to the Taygetus Mountains, we first visited the Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia in Sparta. Gray was particularly eager to visit this site, as he had previously written a research paper for his Hellenistic astrology certification with Demetra George about an ancient processional ritual held at the sanctuary, timed with the heliacal rising of the Pleiades. In this ritual, the Pleiades, including Taygete, heralded the rising of the sun with their glimmering light, while devotees of Artemis danced around her living statue, embodying the reborn light of the Pleiades.
When Demetra George read Gray’s paper about the heliacal rising of the Pleiades in ancient Sparta, she had a vision that Gray would one day journey to Greece to connect with the spirits of the land. As fate would have it, her vision guided us to stay in the Taygetus Mountains, overlooking Sparta.
On the mountainside, the air felt alive with the songs of dryads in sacred groves and the dances of naiads in the bubbling springs and hidden caves. Nymphs dancing and singing in honor of their celestial queen, Taygete.
While exploring the mountain, we discovered a natural spring near two small cave-like openings reminiscent of the Cave of the Nymphs on Ithaca. Nearby ruins, including an abandoned church dedicated to Saint George, made us think that this may once have been a sacred site for nymph worship. In Greece, churches dedicated to Saint George are often built upon older sacred sites.
In the spring, I washed the gemstones with prayers, hymns to the nymphs, and an invocation. Ancient Greeks understood freshwater springs and fountains as the dwelling places of nymphs and sacred sources of healing and poetic inspiration. Porphyry, in On the Cave of the Nymphs, describes water as essential for the soul’s descent into material existence. Naiads, he explains, are “souls” requiring moisture to descend into being.
Where nymphs dwell, caves and bees are also found. At this site, a bee landed on my page as I finished reciting the Orphic Hymn to the Nymphs in an auspiciously affirming moment.
The making of the Talismans and the Astrological Election
These rings were hand-carved from wax, cast in tarnish-resistant sterling silver, and set with rutilated quartz washed in the freshwater spring atop the Taygetus mountains. The quartz, with its golden thread-like inclusions of rutile, echoes the mythic golden thread of Ariadne. Beneath each gemstone, I placed dirt collected from the Taygetus mountains and crushed fennel seeds that I grew and harvested, encapsulated in resin and suffumigated with frankincense and fennel, following Agrippa’s instructions:
“When any star ascends fortunately, with the fortunate aspect or conjunction of the Moon, we must take a stone, and herb that is under that star, and make a ring of that metal that is suitable to this star and fasten the stone, putting the herb, or root under it…”
These talismans were created during the elected time of 12:50 PM on Thursday, January 9, 2025. The Moon exalted in Taurus applied to a conjunction to the projected degree of Taygete on the Ascendant and was free from hard aspects to the malefics. Venus was ruling the ascendant from her exaltation in Pisces and in the house of the Good Daimon. While she was co-present with Saturn at this time, she was outside of orb and being intersected by Jupiter, with whom she was applying to a square aspect. On this day, the Moon, near her extreme northern declination, passed directly over the Pleiades and occulted them.
Talismanic Properties
Historically, talismans made under the Pleiades are said to preserve the light of the eyes, gather daimons and the spirits of the dead, call the winds, and reveal secrets and hidden things:
Fennel seed placed under a crystal with a corresponding character, the moon conjoined with the rising Pleiades or in the middle of the sky, keeps the light of the eyes, gathers daimons and the spirits of the dead, calls the winds, and makes known secrets and hidden things.
—Bodleian MS
In addition to these traditional qualities, these talismans draw upon the symbolic qualities of the Pleiades as navigators and guides, as well as their connection to abundance as the "Ladies of Plenty." They were created to aid in recognizing companion spirits and fostering collaboration with them. Intended to serve as a guiding light as one travels the oneiric seas, and support the discovery of one's true heart desire.
Just as the Pleiades have long been the bearers of the knowledge the right times for sailing and planting, may they offer support in shaping the fluid dream world in alignment with the heart, pushing those shapes into the dense, material realm—to mold, form, and create desired changes.
Taygete herself, in my understanding is a bringer of dreams, a guiding star, and a guardian of transformative journeys. She had the role of potnia theron, which means “Mistress of the Animals,” and we must not forget that she is a huntress. In this context, I’ve been reflecting on filmmaker David Lynch’s analogy about catching ideas like catching fish: and how you must position yourself in the right place at the right time, doing the right thing, to catch the "big fish." >>Watch a short clip of David Lynch on 'Catching Ideas'
In my divination on these talismans there were repeated themes of wealth and joy. Wealth as the balancing of something needed—whether it be financial, community, companionship, etc. This is wealth as a resource in a broader sense.
Joy here I consider to be connected to the Naiad nymphs. These nymphs are associated with nourishment, purification, the generative power of life, and transformative energy. Their nature speaks to creation, inspiration, sweetness—whether physical, intellectual, or spiritual—and pleasure, as well as the embodiment of generative energy.
View the Lovely Taygete - Star of the Pleiades Talisman collection
