| Fixed star: DENEB ADIGE Arided | |
| Constellation: Alpha (α) Cygnus | |
| Longitude 1900: 03PIS57 | Longitude 2000: 05PIS20 |
| Declination 1900: +44.55′ | Declination 2000: +45.16′ |
| Right ascension: 20h 41m | Latitude: +59.54′ |
| Spectral class: A2 | Magnitude: 1.25 |
The history of the star: Deneb Adige
from p.195 of Star Names, Richard Hinckley Allen, 1889.
[A scanned copy can be viewed on this webpage
Alpha (α) Cygnus, Deneb Adige, is a brilliant white star in the tail of the Swan.
Deneb is from Al Dhanab al Dajajah, the Hen’s Tail, which has become Denebadigege, Denebedigege, Deneb Adige, etc.
In the Alfonsine TablesArided appears, and is still frequently seen for this star, as Al Ridhadh and El Rided formerly were for the constellation. Referring to this last title, the 17th century Dutch astronomer Caesius termed alpha (α) Os rosae, the German Rosemund, although he also designated it as Uropygium, the Pope’s Nose of our Thanksgiving dinner-tables. [Uropygium from Ancient Greek ouropugion, “tail feathers” is actually the posterior part of a bird’s body, from which the tail feathers grow, sometimes called pope’s nose].
Alpha (α) also, and correctly enough, is Aridif, from Al Ridf, the Hindmost; but the 17th century German astronomer Bayer changed it to Arrioph, and Cary changed it to Arion
The 17th century German astronomer Bayer gave Gallina as an individual title.
Star Names, Their Lore and Meaning, Richard Hinckley Allen, 1889].
Arion is one of the alternative titles for this star, Alpha Cygnus, or Deneb Adige: Arion may refer to the mythological character Arion. Both Arion and Orpheus were famous lyre-players turned into swans at death. Arion, who lived in Corinth was the best citharist or lyre-player of his time. On his return from an artistic tour in Italy he was robbed by the crew of his ship and forced to cast himself into the sea. Against all odds, however, he landed on shore in Greece, riding on the back of a dolphin (Cygnus and Delphinus, the Dolphin, are adjacent constellations).
“Now Arion, not wishing to die in a meaningless way, decided to take for his shroud the sophisticated attire he used to wear at competitions, and with it on sing a final song to life, as swans generously do”. http://www.maicar.com/GML/Arion2.html
Another Arion, Arion, was the title of a black horse (an immortal horse born to the goddess Demeter after she was raped by Poseidon in the shape of a horse) and Cygnus would seem an unlikely placement for it, but it might relate to the fact that under those white feathers of swans is pure black skin?
The astrological influences of the constellation Cygnus
Legend: Cygnus, the Swan, represents Zeus/Jupiter, who seduced Leda, queen of Sparta, in the form of a swan. The same night Leda slept with her husband Tyndareus, the King of Sparta. In some versions, she laid two eggs that produced four offsprings; one, fathered by Zeus and producing Helen of Troy and Polydeuces, or Pollux, one of the Gemini Twins; from the other egg fathered by Tyndareus was hatched the other Gemini Twin, Castor, and Clytemnestra.
Influences: Cygnus gives a contemplative, dreamy, cultured and adaptable nature. The affections are ill regulated and unsteady, the talents develop late. There is some love of water and swimming and the arts. By the Kabalists it is associated with the Hebrew letter Resh and the 20th Tarot Trump “Judgment”. [Robson, p.42.]
The astrological influences of the constellation Cygnus given by Manilius:
“Hard by is the place allotted to the Swan: as a reward for the shape with which he [Jupiter or Zeus] snared the admiring Leda [see Leda], when, a god changed into a snow-white swan, he came down and offered his feathered form to the unsuspecting woman. Now too with outspread wings it flies among the stars” [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 1, p.31.]
“Its down and glittering wings figured by stars. Accordingly he who at its rising leaves his mother’s womb and beholds the light of day shall make the denizens of the air and the race of birds that is dedicated to heaven the source of his pleasure and profit.
“From this constellation shall flow a thousand human skills (artes): its child will declare war on heaven and catch a bird in mid-flight, or he will rob it of its nestling, or draw nets up and over a bird whilst it is perched on a branch or feeds on the ground (swans had a reputation for being hostile to other birds). And the object of these skills is to satisfy our high living. Today we go farther afield for the stomach than we used to go for war: we are fed from the shores of Numidia and the groves of Phasis; our markets are stocked from the land whence over a new-discovered sea was carried off the Golden Fleece. Nay more, such a man will impart to the birds of the air the language of men and what words mean; he will introduce them to a new kind of intercourse, teaching them the speech denied them by nature’s law.
“In its own person the Swan hides a god (as being in the disguise of Jupiter) and the voice belonging to it; it is more than a bird and mutters to itself within. Fail not to mark the men who delight to feed the birds of Venus in pens on a rooftop, releasing them to their native skies or recalling them by special signs; or those who carry in cages throughout the city birds taught to obey words of command, men whose total wealth consists of a little sparrow (for such performing birds).” [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 5, p.331].
The astrological influences of the star Deneb Adige
It is of the nature of Venus and Mercury, and gives an ingenious nature and a clever intellect that is quick at learning. [Robson, p.159.]
The star corresponds to a combination of Mercury and Venus influence and is therefore favorable for artistic and scientific pursuits which are carried out with the aim of gain. To prove this, it is interesting to find several well known artists and writers, who could make good money with their art, be it manifold activities in the acting art or achieving record sales of their printed works. [Fixed Stars and Their Interpretation, Elsbeth Ebertin, 1928, p.79.]
With Sun and Mars above the earth, and the Moon at the same time with Procyon (25 Cancer), death by the bite of a mad dog. [Robson, p.159.]
If setting: Deneb provides the native with an income from others, when setting. But Maternus asserts that badly aspected in this position, Deneb presages public punishment because of theft of the spoils of war. [Fixed Stars and Judicial Astrology, George Noonan, 1990, p.12.]
References:
Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology, Vivian E. Robson, 1923].