Some night this summer when the sky is clear, pick up a pair of binoculars, step away from the fire pit and open your mind to celestial high-drama echoing down to us from the Babylonians, the Greeks, and from the phantasmic beginning of life and time itself.
After your eyes adjust to the dark, look to the south and follow the gauzy light of the Milky Way as it rises from the horizon to a bright yellow star, Antares.
This is the pulsating heart of the mighty scorpion, Scorpio, who at the behest of the goddess Gaia stung Orion, who had vowed to hunt down and slaughter every animal on Earth. Each spring, as the weather warms and the animals wake, Scorpio appears, chasing the winter constellation Orion from the nighttime sky.
Look down and to the left of Scorpio and see the tip of Sagittarius, the centaur’s arrow
