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The Constellation of Cygnus, often depicted as a swan, is recognizable in the night sky as the Northern Cross, set in the northern hemisphere of the night sky, among the Milky Way in late Summer and Autumn months. It is thought in Hinduism the period of time roughly between 4:24am-5:12am is "the Creator's time", or the Brahma Muhurtha, and the star system that correlates to this is the constellation Cygnus. This 48 minute period of time is believed to be the perfect time for meditation, yoga, or religious practices or starting your day.

 

Later, the Greeks would adapt these stories of the stars and the Swan to tell their own mythos on the origins of the universe.

Cygnus was indexed by the Greek astronomer Claudius Ptolemy in his work Almagest in the 2nd century CE. In Greek tradition, the Swan is the symbol of the Muses. It was said by Socrates that the swan would only sing it's most beautiful song just before dying, giving us the phrase "swan song".

 

In Greek mythology, the constellation of Cygnus has correlations to many stories of swans. We learned about one story as a part of the origin of Eridanus, and the god Zeus turned himself into a swan to seduce Leda - who then gave birth to Helen of Troy, Gemini and Clytemnestra. Now we will take a look at the story of Orpheus and his lyre.

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The Story of Orpheus (Ὀρφεύς)-

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Once upon a Greek myth there lived Orpheus, who was a known in ancient Greece as prophet, poet, and musician - said to have influenced many religious texts. An augur and seer, he practiced astrology and magic, and Orpheus is even said to have founded the worship of the Goddess Hecate in Aegina. He was the son of the Thrace king Oeagrus (some writings say his father was the God Apollo) and the beautiful Muse Calliope. Calliope was the Muse of eloquence and epic poetry, so named because of the euphoria one would feel when listening to her voice. Musical attributes she no doubt passed to her offspring.

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There are several tales of Orpheus found in ancient Greece. Most tell of his musical talents, enchanting the Earth, humans, and animals alike with his melodies. The most famous of his instruments being his lyre, which to the Greeks symbolized wisdom- as knowledge was passed down through music, and playing the lyre was an essential part of Greek education. Apollo was said to have taught Orpheus how to play this instrument, Apollo himself was known to be the best at playing. In The Argonautica, an epic Greek poem, we see Orpheus drowning out the dangerous Sirens song, who sang tempting songs to the Argonauts, with his lyre.

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But perhaps the most interesting tale of Orpheus is when we see him venture into the underworld to save his beloved wife Euridice and bring her back from the dead. One day Euridice was being pursued by a man who had wanted her for himself, she stepped on a viper which bit her and she died instantly. Orpheus was obviously devastated and sang and played his music in mourning. The nymphs and deities were moved and told Orpheus to go to Hades and get Euridice back, which he did. Orpheus played for Hades and Persephone, who by his music were enchanted -  even the Furies had succumb to his song.

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Euridice was allowed to follow Orpheus out of the underworld. On one condition, he was to walk ahead of her and not look back until they were back in the world of the living. But fearing his wife was no longer behind him, Orpheus looked back before she reached the threshold and Euridice disappeared back to the underworld forever.

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Orpheus was again devastated and it was said that he would no longer worship any God except Apollo. Because of this, he was literally ripped to pieces by Maenads - woman followers of Dionysus - his body was gathered by the Muses and buried under Mount Olympus, his head and lyre, still singing mournfully, were carried and placed among the stars as Cygnus and Lyre.

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