Caer Ibormeith the shapeshifting Swan maiden in the Cygnus Constellation - 48'' x 36'' oil and dry pigments, price and giclee prints on request.
From the mythical race from the stars came the shapeshifting girl turning into the Swan laying the cosmic egg.
Cygnus is a northern constellation of the Milky Way, known as the Northern Cross.
Cygnus Bird myths fly through the world cultures, etched into stone temples and caves,
Of great importance to the Babylonians, Sumerians, Egyptians as well as the cultures of Europe, India, China, and the Americas.
17,000 years ago Deneb, the brightest star of Cygnus, was the pole star.
Myths held that Cygnus was the doorway to the Sky People, in the pyramid texts it was the boat pulled by a celestial bird through the Milky Way to a new life, and the Goddess of wisdom and the arts Sarasvati's swan mount.
In the 2nd century CE Cygnus was named, cataloged and depicted as the crooked necked swan by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy, did Ptolemy know there was a black hole, in the crook of that crooked neck?
Just in 2011, Cygnus X-1 was determined to be a black hole with a visible star orbiting around it.
The ancients believed that the Cygnus was where the cosmic egg resided.
Did they know that gamma rays were pointed directly at the earth?
In the 70s scientists, including Carl Sagan, discovered cosmic rays alter human DNA, and spark leaps in human evolution. In the center of Cygnus is Cyg. X-3, a source of a powerful burst of cosmic rays directed directly toward earth.
Many and varied are the mysterious myths of Cygnus.
In this Painting, I am drawn to the link between Cygnus and the megalithic passage-mound of Newgrange, and the mythic romance of Caer Ibormeith the shapeshifting Swan maiden.
Oengus a chieftain