The Fixed Stars
Betelgeuse
Alpha Orionis, Yad al-Jauza
The hand of the giant, from the Arabic yad al-jauza. It stands at about 29° Gemini (tropical).
The red shoulder of the hunter, a storm star that weeps and clears.
The great red star at Orion's shoulder, a supergiant that visibly brightens and fades on its own slow weather. Robson gives it the nature of Mars and Mercury and an ample fortune, martial honors, preferment and wealth, strongest of all when the star stands at the height of the sky. In the Vedic reckoning it is Ardra, the teardrop of the storm god Rudra, upheaval that clears the air for new growth.
♂︎ Nature. Mars and Mercury.
★︎ Nakshatra. Counted among the stars of
Ardra, the moist one, the teardrop.
The popular translation armpit of the giant rests on a misreading; the older Arabic yields the hand.