History of Pleiades

Well, as I’ve s-l-o-w-l-e-y spelt the name over the phone or corrected the pronunciation /plaieid:z/ I’ve had occasion to ask myself the same question.

But then, Nick and I have always been a little too esoteric for our own good.

The name Pleiades, started out as a private joke amongst old friends…sort of a Peoples Republic of Boulder thing, back when folks in Boulder Colorado still had a sense of humor. Anyway, my friend, Craig and I shared a common, extremely annoying habit, at least in the opinion of those who lived with us.  We were clickers; speed of light channel surfers, who, when on mental overload, simply sat and clicked channel after channel, never stopping long enough to watch anything. For some bizarre reason it soothed us, while making those who loved us nuts.

My friend’s wife was so upset by this trait; she consulted a physic for advice. Hey, it’s Boulder. The physic assured her it was harmless, even necessary; and went on to explain that my friend and I were originally siblings from the Pleiades star system; and that we fed our souls with light and sound to sooth us in time of stress. So, our respective mates were advised to just deal with the fact we were feeding our little light bodies and needed to support our self-soothing, healing processes and just leave us in peace.

Cool… best fifty bucks Craig ever spent.

So being the natural-born Irish-energy brats were are, we milked it for all it was worth.  We Pleiades star system souls needed our light and sound fix.  Yeah…that was the ticket.

So one sweet rocky mountain summer day in 1992, we were talking about our evolving business. This was before the benefits of an easily spelled URL were widely known. Pleiades Publishing Services honestly seemed like a logical name. My partner and I had founded one of Denver’s first desktop publishing service bureaus in 1986. Yes, the very bleeding edge of technology. Our company motto was; “Thank you sir. May I have another?” 

By mid-1992 we decided to change the direction of our business. We wanted to get back to creating, rather than implementing other people’s designs. So, on that warm summer afternoon, I believe margaritas were involved, we set to the task of re-naming our design studio.

With our combined decades of graphic arts experience, we understood the primary directive — graphic design customers want everything immediately.

You know it is true.

So we came up with Pleiades Publishing Services. Pleiades is a cluster of seven stars in the constellation of Taurus. Our new motto, “Pleiades Publishing: seven planets no waiting.”

We decided not to put to fine a point on the whole planet/star thing. It struck us as perfect and we filed the papers that afternoon…and we have been carefully spelling the name to others ever since.

Over the years some folks have asked how the Pleiades constellation came to be named.

Well, like everything else in Greek mythology…
the story starts when someone got frisky.

Diana, the moon goddess, was the sister of Apollo. Like him, she loved all woodland pastimes, so she also became the goddess of hunting. In today’s terms, Diana was a major babe. Although she had many suitors, she vowed never to marry. She declared that she loved best to be free and live with her nymphs in the forest. Like their Goddess, Diana’s nymphs also vowed to remain unmarried.

OK, so you get the picture, pretty girls, short white tunics, frolicking gaily in the forest…

One day, seven of the nymphs, the daughters of Atlas, and known as the Pleiades, were walking through the woodland when they heard a shout.

There, running toward them was Orion, son of Poseidon, — tall, dark, and handsome — your basic alpha male.

Having vowed to shun the society of man, the Pleiades turned and ran in the opposite direction. They were strong and lithe and trained in running, so it was difficult to catch them. Orion followed, and when the strength of the nymphs began to fail, and they called on Diana to help them.

The goddess heard the prayer of her followers, and when Orion put out his hand, thinking to touch the fair form of a maiden, a white dove fluttered from his grasp and flew swiftly, with its six companions, toward the heavens. To Orion’s astonishment the white doves became points of light, and there shinning in the sky above him he saw a group of seven stars.

So, how did Orion get placed amongst the stars, where he shines to this day, with his faithful dog Sirius following, and the Pleiades flying before him in the an eternal race across the sky?

Well it all started when someone got frisky…

If you want to read the rest of Orion’s story, contact Sandi and ask how Orion made the big leap.