OK, folks; constellations are projections placed onto the visible stars by cultures since time immemorial. The earliest depiction of the stars we call Orion go back some 32,000-38,000 years, carved into mammoth ivory and identified by the 3 central stars of the "modern" constellation. But just because Greek mythology depicting it as a Hunter was carried into present time more effectively by our literature doesn't mean that other cultures at other times and in other places weren't similarly impressed by the bright stars that exist in that part of the sky, inspiring a wide variety of other projections of their psyches including seeing the spine of a bison, a canoe, a scythe, a judge's stick, a deer, a rooster, a sheep and other images, just like a celestial Rorschach blot. Check out the following website for a summary discussion of this profusion of celestial projections:
http://www.crystalinks.com/orion.html
Given the active minds of our ancestors, may I humbly suggest that as our telescopes and other imaging technologies have "lifted the loincloth" of our much vaunted Orion the Hunter, it surprises me that nobody has caught on that instead of a progenitor of fatherhood, a close look at the nebulosity has revealed a very fecund birthing zone, a placental paradise for hundreds of proto and natal stellar-planetary systems! Isn't it obvious that our famed Hunter has been a Huntress all along?
One can rule out the sword theory since anyone who has worn a sword knows that the last place you want to hang it is between your legs. As to the phallic theory, well, star forming regions are about as female as you can get in my estimation. The fact that it lies between the legs only enhances this fact, and indeed the trail just shows how the birthing process has been going on for a while, leaving a trail of many newborn stars and planets.
And lest folks be offended by such "realities" and fear that such statements are not for the ears and eyes of young ones, I cannot think of a single girl who would not be delighted to look up at the newborn stars and planets between the Huntress' legs and feel a connection in a very healthy and natural way.
