True North

•October 8, 2025•

by Janet Roney

When I was a child, on clear, cloudless nights, my father and I often went on walks to see the stars. It was before farms had all-night security lights, so it was dark as pitch down below, but above us, the magnificent, infinite canopy of the sparkling Milky Way filled the heavens. How beautiful! How amazing! How humbling!

To the south, there was Orion, the hunter, followed by his two dogs, Canis Major and Minor. Almost above us were the Pleiades, the seven sisters, riding on the shoulder of Taurus the Bull. In the north was the Big Dipper pointing to the Little Dipper and the North Star, the most important star for travelers to find their true path since the beginning of human history.

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