STARLIGHT FOR THE SOUL: Mysteries and Legends of the Pleiades Star Cluster
by Sandra Cline
“Now in the West the slender moon lies low,
And now Orion glimmers through the trees,
Clearing the earth with even pace and slow,
And now the stately-moving Pleiades,
In that soft infinite darkness overhead
Hang jewel-wise upon a silver thread.”
Marjorie Lowry Christie Pickthall
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During the mid to late 80’s, I produced and hosted a radio show in the San Francisco Bay Area. One person I was especially honored to interview on my show was an inter-tribal medicine man named Rolling Thunder.
Rolling Thunder’s birth name was John Pope; he came to the planet in 1916 and he passed beyond the veil in 1997.
R.T. was born in Oklahoma to Cherokee parents. During his life, he became an activist of sorts, one who strove to preserve the heritage of his ancestors.
Rolling Thunder’s healing abilities and other gifts convinced even the most ardent skeptics, at least those who took the time to look closer at his work, that R.T. was the real deal.
Rolling Thunder’s traditional name means “speaking the truth” and he offered a message about modern-day societal values (or lack of) that was sometimes grim and sometimes optimistic, but his message always represented his true beliefs.
R.T.’s teachings about how best to live on 3-d Earth were tinged with thoughts aimed toward living lightly on the planet and were based in spirituality.
Like most Native Americans, Rolling Thunder had a profound respect for Mother Earth and for all of Her life-forms. He was aware of (and sensitive to) the Spirit contained in all living things.
R.T. referred to Earth as Turtle Island. When I asked him about the seven-pointed star pinned to his turban, he said that it represented the Pleiadian Star System, the place he believed his tribal people came from; his ancestors, he said, were extraterrestrial in origin.
I have never forgotten this….and, being an open-minded person with countless metaphysical experiences of my own and a tinge of Cherokee blood flowing through my veins, I have remained interested in the Pleiades, particularly any and all spiritual and/or metaphysical knowledge or legends connected to the “Seven Sisters”.
If you’d like to know more about Rolling Thunder, he is the subject of an excellent 1974 biography entitled, “Rolling Thunder Speaks: A Message for Turtle Island.” It was written by American journalist Doug Boyd.
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Yes, my fascination with the Pleiades continues and they play a key role in my novel, “Pug Sheridan”. In a brief article such as this one, I can only offer a very brief summary that can serve as a primer.
According to an excerpt from an article published by the International Metaphysical University
(http://intermetu.com/) :
“The ancient Egyptians also singled out the Pleiades as a female goddess, probably most often recognized as Neith, the ‘Divine Mother.’ Pyramidologists have found pyramidal texts that suggest the Egyptians revered the Pleiades as a higher divine star system, especially Alcyone, its brightest star.
“The Pleiades are a well-known sight in the Northern Hemisphere in winter and in the Southern Hemisphere in summer, and have been known since ancient times to cultures all around the world.
“Early Dakota stories speak of the ancestors as being the Pleiades. The Hopis called the Pleiadians the ‘Chuhukon’, meaning “those who cling together”. They [like the Cherokee and other tribes] considered themselves direct descendents of the Pleiadians.

“Navajos named the Pleiades the ‘Sparkling Suns’, the home of the ‘Black God’. The Iroquois pray to them for happiness. The Cree claim to have come to Earth from the stars in spirit form first and then became flesh and blood.
“Some Native Americans believed that all tribes in North America came from the Pleiades. That they were actually descendants and had been given a task by the Pleiadians to keep the Earth safe.”
“In the endless starry nights
Of cold Midwestern winters
I will contemplate the heavens
With the shining seven sisters
of Pleiades and feel the
psychic energy that calls me
to your side.”
Coach Roth
Many of us, no matter what our ancestral lineage might be, consider ourselves “Star Seeds.” One way to know if this might be true for you is to reflect upon your attitude about the environment. If you carry a profound, innate, emotionally-based caring and love for our planet, a world represented by countless names including Mother Earth, Turtle Island, Gaia, Mother Goddess, etc., then you may very well be a “Star Seed” or “Light-Worker”, one charted with a mission similar to that expressed by so many Native Americans, tasked to “keep the Earth safe.”
If this is true for you, your active work could take many forms—from picking up the trash in your neighborhood, working for or donating to environmental causes or foundations, working for progressive environmental legislation or legislators, healing modalities, caring for animals, holistic agriculture or nutrition, artistic expression through writing, painting, music, etc…..or something else suited especially to you.
Enlightening info about the Pleiades is not hard to come by….such works include those by Barbara Marciniak, Edgar Cayce, Delores Cannon, and Billy Meier to name but a few.
Perhaps the most famous and inspirational star cluster in the sky, the Pleiades can be seen without binoculars from even the depths of a light-polluted city. It’s no wonder that the “Seven Sisters of the Pleiades” have been a source of Inspiration, Awe, and Mystery throughout Time.
I’ll end this piece with a quotation that underscores this truth; the words are from “Locksley Hall” by Alfred Lord Tennyson: “Many a night I saw the Pleiads. Rising through the mellow shade, glitter like a swarm of fireflies tangled in a silver braid.”
I Wish You Peace and Abundant Joy,
Sandra
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