Schedar

Alpha Cassiopeiae — the breast of the Queen in her chair

Position (J2000)

7°47′ Taurus

Magnitude

2.23

Colour

Orange

Spectrum

K0 IIIa

Distance

~228 light-years

Nature

Saturn · Venus

In the sky

Schedar is the brightest star in Cassiopeia, an orange giant about 228 light-years away, some five times the Sun's mass and forty-three times its width, quietly burning helium at its core. It turns very slowly, once in about a hundred and two days, and Allen, who knew it by eye, called its colour pale rose. It was long reported as slightly variable, but no change has been seen since the nineteenth century, and the old variability is now only suspected.

The star lies in the W of Cassiopeia, and because the figure circles the pole the queen is carried round through the night, upright for some hours and head-down for others. The name comes from the Arabic al-sadr, the breast, and the star marks the queen's breast.

The myth

Cassiopeia was queen of Ethiopia, wife of Cepheus and mother of Andromeda, and she boasted that she, or her daughter, was fairer than the Nereids of the sea. Poseidon answered with the monster Cetus, and Andromeda was chained to a rock as its offering until Perseus came. The queen was set in the sky bound to her chair, and because she turns with the pole she hangs head-down for part of every night, a lesson in humility the heavens repeat without end.

Ptolemy gives the stars of Cassiopeia the nature of Saturn and Venus, and the old texts read haughtiness and boastful pride here; Robson adds the power of commanding respect. Venus is the grace and the self-regard, Saturn the weight of the chair and the price of the boast. Read whole, the star is not a verdict on pride but its education: the dignity that remains when vanity has been turned upside down and the queen still sits, composed, in her chair.

What it gives

• Natural command The native carries authority in the body — in the way of sitting, of entering a room, of waiting to speak. Gatherings settle around them, and respect arrives without being asked for.
• Pride in its true sense There is a proper regard under this star for one's own worth and for what one loves. It lets the native stand up for the house, the family and the work without apology.
• Composure when overturned The queen hangs head-down every night and does not fall from her chair. The native keeps their dignity through reversal and loss of face, and is often most impressive in exactly those hours.
• Beauty given weight Saturn with Venus lends grace a lasting form. The native's taste runs to the enduring and the well-made, and what they make or keep tends to outlive the fashion of its day.

What to watch for

• Command stiffening into distance Presence that is never set down becomes a throne nobody can approach, and the native is respected and alone. It softens when the native leaves the chair on purpose among the people they trust.
• The boast Regard for what one loves can tip into claims made on its behalf, and the queen's boast was made for her daughter. The gift returns when praise is kept true in size and spoken to the loved one rather than about them.
• The fall denied Where composure hardens into denial, the native cannot admit the overturning, and it repeats until it is admitted. The remedy is to name the reversal plainly and early, and to let it teach.
• Form before feeling Beauty with weight can grow heavy: the house kept for show, the self kept for inspection. The native comes back to Venus by choosing, now and then, what is loved over what will impress.

How to work with it

Let the dignity be seen at ease. A regular setting in which the native is only a guest, a friend or a learner keeps command from hardening into distance, and it costs the authority nothing.

Keep the praise of loved ones accurate, and private where possible. In the myth the boast was made for a daughter and the daughter paid for it.

When the chair turns, say so. An honest word about a failure, given before anyone else can give it, is the quickest way through the humbling this star arranges, and each turning of the sky then weighs a little less than the one before.

In brief

Schedar is the star at the breast of the queen in her chair. It gives natural command, a proper pride in what is loved, composure when overturned, and beauty given lasting form. Its risks are pride's own — command stiffened into distance, the boast that endangers those it praises, the fall denied, and form preferred to feeling. The placement works best when the native can leave the chair among friends and admit the turning of the sky, and least well when dignity becomes a throne that no one may approach.