Alcyone, released last month as one of the seven tracks of my album Pleiades, is considered one of the top five recordings of 2020 by ZMR (Zone Music Reporter). Alcyone is also the youngest of the seven sisters, and the Pleiades’ brightest star. She shares her reputation with her older sister Maia, who also claims to be the brightest, but Greek legends clearly speak of Alcyone as being the group’s leader. Whether the confusion about who is the brightest is the result of historical error in the original naming of the stars, or whether Maia may have outshone Alcyone in the distant past, remains unknown.
Some say that Alcyone is related to the Halcyon days of Greek tradition, when the mediterranean is smooth and calm for about 14 days around the time of the winter solstice. In Greek myth, Alcyone was a sea goddess that sailors prayed to for protection, and is related to the Halcyon bird, a kingfisher, which broods its eggs on sea rocks and is usually only seen during the solstices.
“Extraordinarily beautiful on every level, this tribute to 7 stars in the Pleiades cluster, speaks to us in languages that may seem foreign to the ears, but not to the soul […]
Dyan Garris, New Age CD
In many of the world’s mythologies it is common practice to depict the Pleiades as birds. After all, Zeus transformed the sisters into doves, in order to protect them from the relentless pursuits of Orion.The flight of the Halcyon birds, representing the woeful journey of Alcyone in Greek myth, carry their dead mate on their back over the sea while mourning him with a plaintive cry as she carries him to his watery grave.
The imagery of this myth has been the muse of many a poet and transports us to the deepest realms of the human soul.