Alkes

Alpha Crateris — the foot of the Cup

Position (J2000)

23°41′ Virgo

Magnitude

4.07

Colour

Orange

Spectrum

K1 III

Distance

~160 light-years

Nature

Venus · Mercury

In the sky

Alkes is a modest orange giant about a hundred and sixty light-years away, nearly twice the Sun's mass, twelve times its width and some two billion years old, most likely resting in the helium-burning stage of a giant's life. Although it bears the first letter of its constellation, it is no longer the brightest star there; Delta Crateris outshines it.

Crater, the Cup, is a small and faint figure in the southern sky beside Corvus the Crow and the long body of Hydra. The name comes from the Arabic al-kas, the cup, and the old Latin lists called the star Fundus Vasis, the base of the vessel, placing it at the foot of the Cup, the part that bears the weight and keeps the rest upright.

The myth

Apollo sent his raven with a cup to fetch water for a sacrifice. The bird lingered by a fig tree until the figs were ripe, and came back late carrying a water-snake as its excuse. Apollo saw through the lie and set cup, raven and snake in the sky together, with the snake forever between the bird and the cup, so that the raven is always thirsty.

Ptolemy gives the Cup the nature of Venus and, in a lesser degree, of Mercury, and the tradition reads a kind, generous, cheerful and hospitable nature, receptive, with good mental abilities. Robson adds indecision and a disordered life of sudden events, yet usually some eminence. Alkes holds the foot of the vessel, and the reading this book takes is that its gift is to hold: to receive what is poured and keep it steady for others while the table is shaken. The sudden events are the jostling every full cup meets, and the native's art is to carry it without spilling.

What it gives

• An open table Venus gives this native the host's warmth. Their house and their attention take others in easily and cheerfully, and people leave feeling that something good was poured out for them without being measured.
• A mind that receives Mercury lends the vessel understanding. The native takes in confidences and other people's views without distorting them, and friends bring their troubles here because they are held faithfully once given.
• Steadiness when the table shakes Through the sudden turns the old texts describe — the move, the loss, the unexpected summons — this native keeps what matters level, and others steady themselves against them.
• Eminence through what is offered The tradition's promise of eminence comes by way of the cup itself. The native becomes known for what they give: the gathering they host, the service they keep, the hospitality that becomes a reputation.

What to watch for

• The cup that runs dry Pouring for everyone, the native can forget that a cup must also be filled. The gift returns when the native lets others pour for them as readily as they pour for others.
• Holding without choosing A mind that receives every view can lose the power to decide among them, which is the indecision Robson noted. The balance is restored by setting a day for each decision and keeping to it.
• Disorder accepted as normal Being good at steadiness, the native can come to live amid constant upheaval and never ask why the table is always shaking. It eases when one settled place in the life is kept free of the jostling.
• The raven's thirst Hoping for the promised eminence, the native can wait on recognition as the raven waits on the cup, always within sight of it and never drinking. The remedy is to return attention to the offering itself, where this star's eminence has always come from.

How to work with it

Refill the vessel on purpose: a regular evening as someone else's guest, a friend who looks after the host, a season of receiving rather than giving.

Gather opinions freely, then close the gathering. Naming the day of decision in advance lets the receptive mind do its best work without waiting on the next voice to arrive.

Keep one part of life deliberately steady — a room, a routine, a companion — so that the gift for holding things level has somewhere to rest.

In brief

Alkes is the foot of the Cup, the part of the vessel that bears its weight. It gives an open table, a mind that receives faithfully, steadiness when life is shaken, and an eminence earned by what is offered. Its difficulties are the host's — the cup run dry, views gathered and never chosen among, upheaval accepted as ordinary, and recognition waited on like the raven's water. The placement works best when the native lets themselves be refilled and keeps one place of calm, and least well when the cup is held out endlessly to others and never raised to the native's own lips.