Seven Sisters :
The Seven Sisters
I came to the sisters on a somewhat circuitis route. My investigation began with the foggy recollection of a conversation ten or so years back with someone we’ll call Ralph. My fuzzy version places Ralph describing a story his Uncle had told him about an opium lantern with seven sides each side having a different silhouette like symbol. The seven symbols each represented successive levels or depths to the opiate stone, culminating with the seventh and ultimate high. My research revealed little in regard to such a lantern, placing doubt on it’s existence at all. However, two near misses did pop up. A book by Mordecai Cubitt Cooke titled, The Seven Sisters of Sleep and the notion of Seven Heavens.
“Cooke's Seven Sisters of Sleep (1860) was not the first popular press book on psychopharmacology. However, it was far more popular than its predecessors, largely because of its charming tone and amusing writing. The book was structured on the (invented) myth that the Queen of Sleep had seven sisters who were jealous of her powers. In order to reduce their jealousy, the Queen instructs her Minister of Sleep to give each of the sisters domain over part of humanity's waking hours. Each of the seven sisters is allocated a different part of the world and a different drug through which humanity can have dream-like experiences while awake. The dedication from this book is reproduced below, a charming relic from a by-gone era.”
The search also led to several other versions of the seven sisters structure. Variations include :
The Seven Sisters, Seven New England Women's Colleges :
Barnard, Bryn Mawyr, Mount Holyoke, Radcliffe, Smith, Vassar, Wellesley)
The Seven Sisters Oil Cartel, The seven major oil companies : Amoco, BP, Chevron, Exxon, Mobil, Shell, Texaco.
The Seven Sisters Rose,A Victorian era climbing rose which blossoms in clusters of seven flowers.
The Seven Sisters Smokestacks, over a power plant on the Detroit river.
The Seven Sisters Star Cluster, “The Pleiades”
aka : M45 and the Greek myth surounding their names. additional myth notes the mystery that only six of the seven stars are visable by the naked eye.
An aboriginal dream story from a western Australian story teller describing their myth of the Seven Sisters stars group.
A Jewish perspective on Seventh Heaven.
More on Seventh Heaven according to the Qur’an
As per The Gospel St. John
Other references to No. Seven are provided by this web site from a New Orleans Voodoo shop called “Lucky Number Seven” including Willie Dixons song "7th Son" and No.7’s signifigance to the Free Masons.
To be continued.....
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- bill 4-26-2000 6:14 pm
The Seven Sisters
I came to the sisters on a somewhat circuitis route. My investigation began with the foggy recollection of a conversation ten or so years back with someone we’ll call Ralph. My fuzzy version places Ralph describing a story his Uncle had told him about an opium lantern with seven sides each side having a different silhouette like symbol. The seven symbols each represented successive levels or depths to the opiate stone, culminating with the seventh and ultimate high. My research revealed little in regard to such a lantern, placing doubt on it’s existence at all. However, two near misses did pop up. A book by Mordecai Cubitt Cooke titled, The Seven Sisters of Sleep and the notion of Seven Heavens.
“Cooke's Seven Sisters of Sleep (1860) was not the first popular press book on psychopharmacology. However, it was far more popular than its predecessors, largely because of its charming tone and amusing writing. The book was structured on the (invented) myth that the Queen of Sleep had seven sisters who were jealous of her powers. In order to reduce their jealousy, the Queen instructs her Minister of Sleep to give each of the sisters domain over part of humanity's waking hours. Each of the seven sisters is allocated a different part of the world and a different drug through which humanity can have dream-like experiences while awake. The dedication from this book is reproduced below, a charming relic from a by-gone era.”
The search also led to several other versions of the seven sisters structure. Variations include :
The Seven Sisters, Seven New England Women's Colleges : Barnard, Bryn Mawyr, Mount Holyoke, Radcliffe, Smith, Vassar, Wellesley)
The Seven Sisters Oil Cartel, The seven major oil companies : Amoco, BP, Chevron, Exxon, Mobil, Shell, Texaco.
The Seven Sisters Rose,A Victorian era climbing rose which blossoms in clusters of seven flowers.
The Seven Sisters Smokestacks, over a power plant on the Detroit river.
The Seven Sisters Star Cluster, “The Pleiades” aka : M45 and the Greek myth surounding their names. additional myth notes the mystery that only six of the seven stars are visable by the naked eye.
An aboriginal dream story from a western Australian story teller describing their myth of the Seven Sisters stars group.
A Jewish perspective on Seventh Heaven.
More on Seventh Heaven according to the Qur’an
As per The Gospel St. John
Other references to No. Seven are provided by this web site from a New Orleans Voodoo shop called “Lucky Number Seven” including Willie Dixons song "7th Son" and No.7’s signifigance to the Free Masons.
To be continued.....
- bill 4-26-2000 6:17 pm [add a comment]