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About this star:
A brilliant white star on the tail of the Great Bear Ursa Major. The Arabic name for Alkaid or Alcaid is Al-Qa'id, "Leader" of the mourning maidens.
In this Al Ka'id we see the derivation, through the Moors, of the modern Spanish word Alcaide the commander or governor of a fortress. Ideler translated the original as the "Stadtholder" [from Dutch stadhouder ‘place-holder’, and was applied to governors of former Dutch colonies].
Assemani transcribed from the Borgian globe Alcatel "Destroying".
Another title Benatnasch from Ka'id Banat al Na'ash, the "Governor of the Daughters of the Bier", i.e. "the Chief of the Mourners".
Al Biruni gave it as Marici or Marichi "A ray of light.", one of the Seven Rishis of India, sons of Brahma. Marichi was father of Surya, the Sun (or the deity presiding over the planet). Marichi is the chief of the Marutas. The Marutas are armed with lightnings and thunderbolts, and ride on the whirlwind and direct the storm. The Marutas, according to Aurobindo, represent the progressive illumination of human mentality, until from the first obscure movements of mind which only emerge out of the darkness of the subconscient, are transformed into an image of the luminous consciousness of which Indra is the Purusha, the representative being.
This star is located on the Bear's tail which occurred when Jupiter lay hold of the tails of the two bears, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, and lifted them up into the heavens by their tails. On the long journey, the tails stretched which explains why these bears have long tails unlike earthly bears.
Ursa Major has been called "the Bear with her train," referring to these stars epsilon (Alioth), zeta (Mizar), and eta (this star, Alkaid) which mark the tail. These three stars along the tail have been depicted as three draught-horses in line, pulling the Plough. "The Plough", also called "the Big Dipper", is the bucket shaped figure in the back of the Bear Ursa Major, outlined by the stars; Merak (beta), Dubhe (alpha), Phecda (gamma) and Megrez (delta).
These three stars in the tail of the Great Bear were also portrayed by the Arabs as "Mourners" around a Bier or coffin (bear and bier come from the same root word). The bier was marked by the Plough or Big Dipper stars as named above. The coffin was followed by "Mourners" (these three stars; Alioth, Mizar and Alkaid), as in the Arabic Banat Na'ash al Kubra, "the Daughters of the Great Bier"; and this constellation was seen as a funeral procession, attributing this title to the slow and solemn motion of the figure around the pole. These mourners, the children of Al Na'ash, who was murdered by Al Jadi, the pole-star (Polaris), are still nightly surrounding him in their thirst for vengeance. (Allen).
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Influence of the constellation:
It is said to give a quiet, prudent, suspicious, mistrustful, self-controlled, patient nature, but an uneasy spirit and great anger when roused. By the Kabalists it is associated with the Hebrew letter Zain and the 7th Tarot Trump "The Chariot". (Robson).
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Influence of the star:
The last star in the Great Bear. Benetnash means 'hired mourners'. If the influence of this star is exercised, an influence of a Mars-Uranus-Saturn nature is present. Experience has shown that many human lives are to be mourned. Reinhold Ebertin made a survey of this fixed star covering centuries when associated with transits of the major planets over this degree. The results have been recorded in the 40th yearbook for Cosmobiological Research 1969. In accordance with adopted belief of ancient times, this fixed star is supposed to be bound up with the realm of the dead and is therefore associated with death and mourning. In an important position in a mundane map, Benetnash will claim human lives in calamities such as mine accidents, collapse of houses and bridges, mountain slides, earth tremors and catastrophes caused by weather. Uranus was in exact conjunction with Benetnash at the end of July 1969. This time was marked with extreme tension between Prague and Moscow, followed later in August by the Russian takeover of the USSR. The Czech reformers in Schwarzau on the Theiss fought for the freedom of their nation on the 30th July with the Russian political bigwigs. The Soviets widened their 'maneuvers' in Poland. (Ebertin).
Alkaid was known as "the destroyer of nations" by Islamic astrologers. (Noonan).
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